POLICY IN PERSIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26042, 4 January 1946, Page 5

POLICY IN PERSIA

THE SOVIET’S METHODS INDIRECT PRESSURE (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 2. “The circumstances in which the Government of/ Persia is breaking up must be viewed with disquiet by the British people,” says the Daily Mail in an editorial. “ Moscow’s policy forced the resignations at Teheran.. Russia denies that she is interfering’ but she is exerting tremendous indirect pressure by fomenting in Azerbaijan unrest designed to separate the province from the State. Russia followed more open methods against Turkey. It is all painfully familiar. It -is the same as the war of nerves practised by the Nazis. We see the same incitement of minorities, the same protestations of innocence, the same cat and mouse tactics. Nevertheless, there is a fundamental difference between Nazi and Russian policies. No one could accuse Russia of embarking on a career of aggression. Russia’s greatest interest is peace. “ Russia’s almost psychopathic state of mind is the reason for the course she is pursuing. She is still riven by distrusts. One outcome is the secrecy shrouding all Russian occupied territories. This also isolates Russia from current thoughts and sentiments in the world, to Russia’s disadvantage. Russia should know that there is not one man in the democracies who wants another war anywhere, yet Russia is playing with fire when she stretches the nerves of Middle East countries. There will come a time when a small nation will refuse to be browbeaten by a greater Power. The last war began when Poland resisted Germany. . The Turks are as proud a race as the Poles.”