The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1943 Russian Aims

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22791, 15 January 1944, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1943 Russian Aims

J\ recent months there have been frequent statements on the postwar aims of Great Britain and the Lnitccj States. Russia, on the other hand, has remained silent on the subject. But two significant pointers to the prospective post-war policy of the Soviet Union have come within the past week. The Soviet Government has rejected the claim of the Polish Government in London concerning the liberation of Poland. The statement says: “The Russian and Polish Frontier could follow roughly the so-called Curzon line, which provided for the inclusion of Western.. Ukraine and Byelorussia in the Soviet Union. PoJand’s western borders must be restored by the return to Poland of Polish lands seized by Germany.” The other pointer was the reply of Pravda to an article by Mr Wendell Willkie in the A'etc Tor A: Times. Mr Willkie pointed out that “one of the most pressing and immediate questions is Russia’s, intentions towards the border States. Our principal objectives must now be to persuade Russia to accept and give guarantees for the general -organisation in which we are both members, rather than to seek her protection by political and military control of adjoining territories.” Mr Willkie is accused by Pravda .of. double-dealing in American politics; it adds; “The question of the Baltic States is an internal Russian one. Russia knows how to deal with Poland, Finland and the Baltic States without Mr Willkie’s help.” Since Mr Willkie is regarded as a chqjnpion of Russia in the United States, the retort of the Moscow newspaper is all the more important, especially as Soviet newsbeing Government controlled, do not speak on matters of foreign policy without good reason. The Czars have gone, but Russia pursues an age-old policy laid down before Peter the Great. M. Stalin appears to follow the plan of a long line of Emperors. For almost every trend of modern Russia’s foreign policy,.,an historical parallel can be found, not the least being the SovietGerman pact of 1939, which may be compared with the treaty between Alexander 1 and Napoleon. Botn treaties shocked the world, but both were made with the single-minded purpose of gaining time, and botn achieved their object. It was the policy of Peter the Great to make the Baltic Sea a Russian Lake; before the German invasion, M. Stalin gave a. practical demonstration that Russian ideas on this matter had not greatly changed, and on more than one occasion the Soviet press has niade it clear that the Baltic States will become part of the Soviet Union, Bessarabia was annexed from Rumania by Russia in 1940. The attitude of Rumania to Russia since then does not make it likely that Russia will abandon her claims to this territory. Only a few weeks ago the conclusion of a treaty between Czechoslovakia and Russia promising aid was announced, coupled with a declaration of the independence of Austria. It is known that this treaty between Czechoslovakia and Russia was not popularly received in the United States, for it implied a return to the system of “balance of power. Nevertheless the bulk of Russian territory, js in Asia and Russia is primarily an Asiatic power. Corresponding to Germany in the west, the enemy of the eastern border is Japan. Russia is probably as anxious to see the defeat of Japan as Britain,, and the United States are, and still more so, anxious to see the Japanese driven from the Asiatic mainland. lhe Anglo-American admiration for Marshal Chiang Kaishek may tlot be generally shared in Moscow, and Russia might not be adverse to a series of Soviet republics in China. Almost certainly she will want Port Arthur from the Japanese. The fact cannot be overlooked that Russia must emerge from this war a great Power, and whatever may be the feeling about her claims, the recent'Tour-power agreement signed in Moscow shows what can be accomplished when representatives of the various nations meet in the spirit of understanding.