NAZI INTERFERENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22515, 4 September 1936, Page 10

NAZI INTERFERENCE

A few days ago the news that the Rumanian Cabinet had been reconstructed and that the . veteran Foreign Minister, M. Titulescu, had been dropped was interpreted as the creation of another Fascist State. It was held to be a disturbing move, with its possible effect on the relations between Rumania, France and Czechoslovakia, and its threat to the very existence of the Little Entente. The disquiet so aroused will not be at all allayed by the further report that M. Titulescu's fall was the direct result of Nazi intrigue. This side of the story has evidently disturbed Balkan opinion generally, and has provoked very significant comment from Russia. There is no need "to take the extremely pessimistic view of such a response to what might reasonably be considered a purely domestic change in Rumania. On the other hand, Europe as a whole is sufficiently the victim of nerves, the Balkans are so un--stable at all times, that such a focus of unrest cannot be dismissed too lightly. There is a feature in it that goes further than the effect on Balkan or Southern European affairs. The story of Nazi intervention to bring about M. Titulescu's downfall is far too much like other accounts, from different places, of interference across national borders. If the Nazis see fit to thrust a finger into Rumanian affairs, what better precedent could there be for Russia trying to do the same, or for France staging an attempt to save the Little Entente from the threat of disruption it faces? There are enough causes of ill-feeling already without jealousy and intrigue in such a.country as Rumania to complicate them. Such movements as the Nazis in Germany represent would be far less dangerous if they would remain within their own borders and refrain from fomenting trouble abroad.