King Country Chronicle. Monday, July 10, 1939. RUSSIA AND PEACE FRONT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4808, 10 July 1939, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Monday, July 10, 1939. RUSSIA AND PEACE FRONT.

While Europe pauses on the brink of war the British negotiations for a treaty with Russia designed to deter Germany from further aggression in Eastern Europe drag on. Last week it was reported from Paris that an agreement in principle was pending, but a day later came the report that the Soviet's new demands, made since hope was raised, have taken France by surprise, not being compatible with the favourable report received after the meeting of representatives of the English, French and Russian Governments the previous Saturday. Though the concrete details of the negotiations are not known, it is not difficult to understand that a section of the French press affirms that Moscow is raising the price every time Herr Hitler puts the democracies into a sweat over Danzig. So far as is known the question at issue is whether Britain and France are prepared to join in guarantees against aggression to the Baltic States. The Russians are not prepared to join in guarantees to the countries in which Britain and France are primarily interested, unless they in turn are insured against aggression through those countries on the north-western frontier which may be powerless if ever they are forced to defend their neutrality. But even if Great Britain and France were prepared to pledge their support against aggression in such an instance, they are faced with the practical difficulty that not all the States referred to are anxious or willing to receive such protection with Russia as a joint guarantor.- Caught between the Russian and the German Empires, they feel that Russia offers a threat, as well as Germany, to their precarious independence, and acquiescence in such a pact must destroy the hopes they hold to maintain neutrality. Behind the negotiations lies the Russian mistrust engendered of Munich, and the Soviet remains unduly careful and excessively vigilant that there is to be no further appeasement at her expense. On the other hand, the most likely way of preventing Great Britain from again being forced to offer appeasement to Germany would be for the Soviet, Great Britain and France to show a solid front, backed, if possible, by the United States through the neutrality proposals offering her resources to the democracies. The negotiations have been dragging on for three months now, and the danger is that Herr Hitler will, because of the failure to reach a settlement on the various points of view, and the ugly situation confronting Britain in the Far East, be encouraged to precipitate action. Though well aware of the value her services would be to the peace bloc, and their worth as a bargaining weapon in these times of tension, Russia must also be aware of the possible consequences of sidestepping the main issue to drive a harder bargain. Because of the threat to the Ukraine her interest in checking German aggression is actually greater than that of Britain. In the meantime, however, the negotiations continue, the French and the British Governments at the present time being in the act of submitting new proposals to the Soviet.