Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1918. GERMANY AND RUSSIA.

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 February 1918, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1918. GERMANY AND RUSSIA.

The Central Powers and the Ukraine have signed a treaty of peace on the basis ot the status quo ante helium. Whether the Russians have improved their position remains 1o he seen, hut if we may judge Germany on her past performances, the Russians have gone from the frying-pan

into the fire. • The pact just signed is, from the German view■point, merely, “a scrap of paper.” £ iThe Huns find it profitable at pre- c sent to secure tranquility on tneir eastern front, but should they claim an ultimate victory over the t Entente Powers, they will quickly j abrogate the treaty with Bussia ] and make most exacting demands - for concessions of territory. The Germans are hard pushed to feed ] the starving people, and the rich stores of wheat from the Black : Lands will be in the nature of a God send. Boumauia is now , practicadly isolated, and may be expected .very soon to drop out of the war on the best terms available. Some weeks ago the Germans sent an ultimatum to Boumauia demanding that the little Latin State should accept the terms of peace offered by Germans. The Bounianians made no reply to this, and although the date of accepting the German offer has expired no action has been taken by the Germans to enforce their demands. The confusion in Bussia shows no sign of abatement, and Trotsky has so far failed to bring about a reconciliation among the contending factions. In Finland the Bed Guards pursue their policy of terrorism, but their opponents, the White Guards, are gradually asserting their superiority. The Swedish Government is watching the

situation very closely, and no one Avouid be surprised to find the Swedes intervene on behalf of the ill-treated Finns. In Russia itself Lenin lias ordered the demobilisation of the Rusian Army. There should be very little difficulty in carrying- this out, for the once famous Russian Army has become a disorganised rabble. Whole regiments have melted away. The men have thrown aside their arms and equipment or, in small bauds, are traversing the country. Russia badly requires a strong hand to control the disorderly elements that now hold the nation in subjection. ISA country is more richly endowed by nature than the Russian Empire- Its resources have hardly been investigated, but before anything can be done order must be restored. Extremists throughout the world lauded the Russian revolution as a great scheme for the emancipation of the Russian people. *Tf Ave may judge by the results achieved, the experiment is not likely to be imitated in other countries. We do not think that eA'en in the darkest days of the Romanolfs Avere such scenes enacted as are uoav of hourly occurrence, in Retrograd and other Russian cities. The Russians have arranged a peace with Germany, but it AA’ould have been more to their advantage if they had made peace among themselves. The old fable of the bundle of- sticks evidently does not appeal to -the Bolsheviks and other parties at present cutting each other's throats.