RED MENACE IN RUSSIA.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1587, 12 June 1920, Page 5

RED MENACE IN RUSSIA.

COUNTRY AN EASY PREY. BRITISH INTERESTS JEOPARDISED. [By Electric Cable —Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] LONDON, June 10. “The Times,” commenting on the Bolshevik occupation of Resht (on the Caspian Sea), infers that the Reds intend to make a definite move upon Teheran. The small British force in Resht was withdrawn 5 2 miles to a position in the Menjil Pass, guarding the Teheran road. The other British troops scattered ineffectively over North Persia are probably endangered. The whole position is obscure, owing to the lack of official information, but there is apparently nothing to prevent Persia falling an easy prey to the Bolsheviks. The Government is weak, and is honeycombed with intrigue. Starosselesky’s Cossack division, quartered at Teheran, is now anti-British, is deeply tainted with Bolshevism. Kutchiq Khan, a notorious freebooter, and leader of the Persian revolutionaries, has become the head of a Provisional Government formed in Resht, and will probably encourage the Red advance upon Teheran. The British Government has still not defined its policy regardig Persia, though its interests are immediately threatened. Simultaneously a dangerous position is developing in Asia Minor, owing to the increasing co-operation of the Turks and Bolshevists. The “Daily News” fears that a new large-scale war is beginning. Wrangel’s offensive, aiming to link up with the Poles, and create a thousand mile front, is like throwing a lighted match into a powder magazine. The Middle East is seething with unrest as far as the Indian border.