GERMANY AND RUSSIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 278, 24 November 1936, Page 6

GERMANY AND RUSSIA

pl-JLMANY and Russia should be close friends, for they arc. or could be. complementary to each other. Unfortunately they seem to be destined to lie forever unable to see each other's point of view. Indeed, obliqueness of vision seems to be the outstanding trait of German rulers since Bismarck. It is natural for the highly intellectual and methodical German to consider himself superior to the Russian, and undoubtedly he is; but it is unwise to allow Russia to Im irritated by that fact. Germany has been irritating Russia for quite a long time now Io the detn ment of her own trade. Germany also felt that her superiority justified her maintaining a close espionage system in Russia before the Great War, but whether she has been equally concerned since that catastrophe is quite another matter. Tn xien of the language used at the Nurcmburg Nazi Congress by Her'' Hitler, it is not improbable, for a ruler does not make threatening speeches against a nation whose infernal condition is a dosed book to him. Tlic foregoing consideriitioiis nre preliminary Io review ing lhe tri.il which hns been staged at Moscow, whereat a German mining engineer named Strickling has been sentenced to death on a diarge of sabotage. It is claimed that St ridding maintained contact with a German Consul and acted iindci' the Consul's instructions in sabotaging public works in Russia. It is difficult Io bring an impartial mind to the belief that. Germany is interested in a plan of sabotage for Russia, because a wealthy Russia would bo a better customer for Germany.- Secondly, sabotage charges are an easy way of diverting public attention from breakdowns in Russia's planned economy, and consequently 7 such charges are always under suspicion.