SYMPATHY OF AMERICANS

Southland Times, Issue 23987, 30 November 1939, Page 5

SYMPATHY OF AMERICANS

Interest Taken In Washington OFFENSIVE NOT EXPECTED (United Press Assn—Telegraph Copyright) (Received November 29, 11.15 pm.) WASHINGTON, November 28. Despite the Soviet denunciation of the Non-Aggression Pact, White House officials are confident that Russia does not want war if her objectives can be achieved otherwise. It is believed that Moscow will continue her efforts to encourage the Finns to overthrow their Government and otherwise attempt to win her claims short of war. However, should all these fail it is feared that Russia will unleash her .army, as she is anxious to achieve her aims in the Baltic before the end of the year in order to be free to turn to the Balkans and Persia in the spring. It is argued that if Russia fails in Finland her weapons will be blunted in the southeast. It is believed that Germany already has given Russia her assent to proceed in the Black Sea, even possibly to provide ports in the Adriatic and certainly in Persia, as this will bring Russia into direct conflict with Britain. Thus increasing anti-Finnish pressure is expected. The New York Times, in a leading article, says that the Russian Government may not care what American opinion thinks of the matter, but it is entitled to know before it takes the final step. Finland holds a particularly warm place in the respect and affection of the American people and a Soviet invasion of the country would trouble RussianAmerican relations for many years to come.

It is still difficult to be dogmatic about the Soviet’s intentions in Finland, says G. E. R. Gedye, the Moscow correspondent of The New York Times. Reviewing calmly all the sound and fury of the Press and radio’s popular antiFinnish campaign, it would be most unwise to treat it as signifying nothing, but probably it does not signify any intention to attack immediately. The impression persists that the whole is intended to keep the Finns on the qui vive and prevent them releasing men from the colours and following evacuees to return to the cities. Certainly the Soviet is without the wish to be drawn into the world war. Moreover, the recent formal expression of Scandinavian sympathies with Finland must be considered in the possible consequences of attack. The American display of sympathy with the Finns also made its mark in Moscow. OBJECTIVE OF CAMPAIGN The chief objective of the Soviet’s anti-Finnish campaign clearly has been to force a change in Government in Finland by making the present Government’s position untenable through ridicule and discontent due to prolonged mobilization, says Mr Gedye. _ It is perhaps now thought that fear of invasion may induce the Finns to force the Government’s resignation, but it is difficult to imagine that any other regime could, apart from full capitulation, cede the territory which is considered vital to Finland’s preservation. The greatest indignation is felt in Finnish circles, not against the Soviet, but Germany, whose forces defeated the Russian Revolutionary Army, establishing Finland as one of Germany’s anti-Soviet outposts and obliging her until now to accept this role. Today, at the bidding of Herr Hitler and his Foreign Minister (Herr Joachim von Ribbentrop) she has been handed over to become an outpost of the Soviet.

M. Leon Blum, the former French Socialist Prime Minister, in his newspaper Populaire, and other commentators, offer the opinion that Russia will not follow up her demands against Finland with an armed attack no matter what Finland does. Finland is already snow-bound and has only five hours of daylight each day. The Soviet dictator, M. Joseph Stalin, does not desire to enter the general was as an open ally of Herr Hitler. At the invitation of the Foreign Secretary, Viscount Halifax, M. Ivan Maisky, Soviet Ambassador in London, yesterday called at the Foreign Office. The conversation, it is understood, was mainly concerned with the clarificatoin of Soviet foreign policy.