The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, August 25, 1949. IS TITO A PORTENT?

Grey River Argus, 25 August 1949, Page 4

The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, August 25, 1949. IS TITO A PORTENT?

JF Western Europe, especially Britain, lias now a critical situation, it looks as if a crisis of quite a different kind is growing inside the Soviet bloc, hi fact it appears that the Kremlin fears a big rift, not only defection by Tito and the Yugoslav area, but the cutting off of Albania, and possible overthrow of the Communist dictatorship over most of the Balkans. Greece must breathe easier now that Moscow is after the hide of Tito. The rumours of Red divisions on his frontier may be groundless, but they indicate a strong belief behind the Iron Curtain that, the Kremlin is afraid, and when the fears of the Politburo are aroused nobody could predict, the extremes to which it will go in liquidating all whom it distrusts or cannot dominate. There is yet sense in the American diplomat, Mr Lane’s warning that his country will blunder if it now aids Tito economically in the hope he may rip open the Iron Curtain. Tito is no more estimable than his enemies of the Cominform, and as Lane hints, the Yugoslavs mostly would be as pleased as the Politburo to see the last of him. Au interesting sidelight is the news that Anna Panker, the Rumanian woman Foreign Minister, who used to breathe fire at nonCommunists, is doing a little bit of non-Communist co-operation on the side, and building up for herself a bank balance in the West by letting Jews escape to Israel. She may sense a split of no mean dimensions. If the Red colossus goes at the knees, then the collapse may be serious- Meantime, however, the grip loosens only at the margins. Trotsky met a tragic fate as far away as Mexico, and Tito, being much closer, is in as great danger as anybody is anywhere. The Communists are nothing if not radical, and if Tito is judged an obstacle his destination will be liqudation. He now is simply forced to look abroad for assistance, just as he was forced to disobey the Soviet dictate of liquidation for all holders of land, the correct line being collectivisation, be it ever so cruel. But in Yugoslavia it would mean starvation not merely for the farmers, as in Southern Russia years ago, but starvation for the "whole country. Tito, whatever his faults, looks like makinghistory. He is a potential «signal of danger for the dictators of Russia, or, if not, then a warning that they arc nearing an end of their tether beyond their own border. It will be interesting to see whether the Red Army carries out. its scheduled withdrawals.