The Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1947. CRISIS IN STRATEGIC AREA.

Evening Star, Issue 26041, 4 March 1947, Page 6

The Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1947. CRISIS IN STRATEGIC AREA.

The situation that has developed in regard to British aid to Greece is a salutary reminder of Britain’s straitened economic position, now so critical that she has been forced to concede her hold on the balance of power in a troubled world. Whether or not Britain is too worn out to effect a recovery that will restore some—but never all—of her •rormer greatness is, at the moment,-tie-side the point, although knowledge of the British character encourages hope. The dominant factor is that in the immediate hour of world crisis Britain is in no state to carry a burden which yet lias to be borne if international security is to be maintained in the future. With Britain given no alternative but to admit her weakness the balance of power swings either to America or to Russia, and in no part of the world is this of greater significance than in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, the strategic zone between Europe and Asia.,

(Russia has long been resentful of the manner in which Greece has stood aloof from the Soviet influence under which the rest of the Balkan countries exist. Only the-presence of (British forces has prevented Russia, from a more or less peaceful penetration into Greek affairs, and the withdrawal of these forces would certainly see the Bear reaching out an acquisitive paw. With Greece eventually enfolded, Turkey’s position, particularly as it , seems likely that Palestine will become less a British sphere of interest, would become such that she, willy-nilly, would be driven into Moscow’s arms. It needs little imagination to envisage a steady extension of Russian power over the whole of the Mediterranean, and even less imagination to picture the Hammer and Sickle as a barrier between Europe and Asia. By quiet means, against ever-weakening voices . of protest, Russia could fasten her grip on to an area of far greater strategic importance than any held by Germany at the height of her expansion. Russia, in fact, already possessing many friends in the countries of the Middle East, could soon be in a position to dominate ail India voluntarily stripped of British interests and influence, and she would’ then be in a position to dictate to the rest of the world. Her 'form of Leftist tyranny would cover a greater area than ever did the tyranny of Hitler. It is a grim and disquieting prospect, and it is a measure of Britain’s tremendous weakness that, fully aware of all the possible consequences of her action, she should have made the decision, to withdraw from so vital an area.

All these developments, of course, may not ensue, but Russia is an .opportunist country, and, given the opportunity, it seems certain she would avail herself fully of all it entails. The alternative would be .for America to take over ’ from Britain or to provide the means, free of embarrassments, by which Britain could carry on.‘ American security may not be immediately threatened by the suggested Russian expansion, but sooner or later there would be a clash, and the odds then would be against America. The time to move and to depide is now, and for America there can be, must be, only one decision. She must aid a wounded Britain whose-wounds were gained in a cause that in the end was no less America’s than her own. so that convalescence may " be as speedy as possible, enabling Britain to reassume her proper place in world affairs alongside the United States. Fortunately for the success of the present negotiations regarding the future of the area, the United States has shown a live post-war interest in the Mediterranean, and the recent tour of American warships had, perhaps, some association with the position that lias now arisen.