Untitled

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 885, 11 December 1916, Page 6

The ugly development in Greece [will come as no surprise to those I who have watched events in that I discredited country. All the signs I point to war between Constantinc , i and the Allies when a suitable opportunity favours such a step. Berlin I predicts a diplomatic break between the Entente and Greece shortly, and Count Tisza, the Hungarian Premier, in a speech at Budapest, used words which at least suggest that an agreement has been reached as between the Central Powers and Greece. As to the nature of that agreement there i can be no misunderstanding. The fall of Bucharest has convinced the already confident Constantinc of Germany's capacity to win the war. That Prussianised monarch is at last openly a traitor and enemy of the Allies. He has published these facts to the world by what has happened and what is happening in Athens and Thessaly to-day. When the time is ripe, General Sarrail is to be attacked by Greece from the rear, simultaneously ■ with a Bulgar-German thrust on the Allied front in Macedonia. That is one obvious conclusion that may be deduced from recent and present happenings. The fear that some such a stab in the back was being prepared for him has tied General Sarrail's sword arm to his side, and in achieving this result without active overt hostility Constantine may be said to have well pleased his German masters. Probably Greece is better prepared for war than the Entente is aware, for the protracted diplomatic negotiations which have been going on for months will have given the Government ample time to perfect its plans and improve the equipment of the Greek army to the necessary standard. And what a farce the "theft" of I the Greek Army Corns appears iirftreI ht of the situation to-day! That situation is undoubtedly fraught with difficulties for General Sarrail, and, in a lesser degree, for that j splendid pro-Ally statesman, M.! Venizelos. German and Bulgari troops will probably be diverted I j from Rumania to Macedonia, where! j the Allied line is said to be thinly I I held. No doubt a serious effort will j jbe made to recapture Monastir, the j goal in Serbian Macedonia so dear to J the hearts of the Bulgars. If Con-1 stantine declares war and marches' against Salonica, General Sarrail j would thus be caught between two I fires. Fortunately, however, the En- j tente has still to play its trump card I | in the JEgean game—the blockade of; Greek ports has already been begun, | and, if circumstances require it, a j searching bombardment by the Al-! lied Fleet will follow. But the j blockade should be sufficient if enforced without mercy. Once thej Franco-British Navies get a strangle j hold on Greece it should not be long, I before gasping appeals for mercy are heard. But that prospect may not deter the war party in Athens, inflamed as it is by enemy success in Rumania, and encouraged by lavish! promises from Germany, from making a serious attempt to use the sword against the Allied forces in Macedonia. Hence trouble on a large! scale may be anticipated. Whatever the outcome of the existing situation, the Allies would be justified in taking the most drastic measures with' the pro-German King and Govern- j ment. Force, emphatically applied,! is the only argument they will heed, i