The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1946. RUSSIA IN PERSIA.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 56, 8 March 1946, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1946. RUSSIA IN PERSIA.

’’THE continued presence of Russian forces in Persia constitutes a source of aggravation to the United Kingdom and' to the United Statest After the successful conclusion of a large-scale war it is distressing to find that one of the Powers concerned to overthrow power polities should now be engaged in prosecuting the same technique which Nazi Germany pursued to her undoing. Is Russia taking the place of Nazi Germany in this post-war world? When dealing with individuals it is desirable, in order to understand them, to look at their upbringing and general background. This procedure is not to be laid aside when dealing with nations. It would appear from a general survey of history that the rules of conduct which apply to individuals apply with equal force in respect to nations. It might, therefore, be helpful in the endeavour to understand Russia’s strange conduct to-day to go back over Russia’s past, relate that past to an individual and gauge what would be the reactions of an individual of like experience. It must be conceded that Russia is both an old and a new country. She has a culture of her own which goes back into the past, but that culture is of, the peasant kind, it is of the earth earthy. This is the natural result of her primitive economy since most of the people have lived near to'the soil and seldom got far from it. Russia looked westward from the time of Peter the Great and was conscious of the leeway which marked her own development when compared with the culture of the West. Sometimes she borrowed from Germany, sometimes from France, sometimes from England. It was this cultural leeway which caused Russia to be sensitive concerning her own prestige and position in the world.

The reaction to this sensitiveness was to retire into herself as does a shy individual when aware of his own lack of cultural standards. Too delicate to withstand the rebuffs of the world and anxious to overcome existing handicaps, the individual and the nation make essays into the open often to be bruised. This once again leads to a further period of retirement. That is Russia’s psychology which is, to-day as yesterday, expressed in her varying lines of policy.

The Russian peoples, however, are by no means combined into the racial amalgam whieh constitutes a nation such as England, France or Spain. Too many of the Russian people are descendants from the nomadic tribes which invaded the country from the Asian wastes. These have retained their wandering instincts and to-day create the great problem of Russian industry, namely, the heavy rate of manpower turnover. The superimposition of this nomadic stock on the autochthonous peoples of the European Russia has created within the race itself a sense of conflict whieh can be compared to a gypsy marrying a peasant. The instinct for journeying conflicts with the instinct for establishment, and the lack of a continuous abiding place makes the individual look into the distance to see whether another wanderer is coming and also whether the distance contains pastures new which arc good for the wandering feet to walk in. Is not this the psychological explanation of the Russian policy of always looking into the buffer Stages on the borders of the country and itching it to go into the possession of of such buffer States’

After the Revolution the Russian peoples found themselves opposed by elements which had been dispossessed and it was these elements which worked from foreign soil and seemingly with foreign aid. There were instances of foreign armed intervention in purely Russian affairs, and it would seem that the world desired to overthrow the great Russian experiment in community living. Russia’s experiment was a challenging one and more so when it was undertaken by the least developed of the great peoples of the world. Devoid of administrative experience, lacking a mechanical ability, losing much of her skill through the terrorist destruction of the bourgeoise, Russia felt her mental, economical and physical isolation. Was this to continue and were the nations of the world sincere in their change of heart toward the Bolshevist regime? Did they genuinely desire that the Russian peoples should work out their own salvation in their own way? The .Russian rulers were not easily to be satisfied on that point and the Russian populace was never allowed to draw its own conclusions because it was denied access to the facts. Here again the people who controlled Russia could not act otherwise than they did for they were conscious that, despite their advantages of debt repudiation and the selling of the accumulated treasures of the old regime, it was still necessary, in order to acquire capital goods, to restrict consumption to a degree whieh the peoples of the west would have regarded as intolerable. The standard of living by all available measuring rods did not improve before the war but was actually lower than it was in the days of the Tsar. This sensitive people then had another skeleton in the cupboard whieh the rulers felt desirable to keep behind the dosed door. Could it, after a devastating war in which it suspected the Allies could have done more to prevent so much destruction occurring in Russia, take steps whieh would speed up the recovery movement or retard the advantages whieh the West had over Russia in its post-war condition? Men have been prompted to satisfy such promptings before now and it is not surprising if Russia’s conduct fits into such a psychological pattern to-day. Opinion is divided as to whether the United States is using up her oil re<erves faster than she is accumulating them or finding new sources and securing new oil territory. There is one school of thought whieh believes that the United States from being the largest producer will in a few years’ time become the largest importer. The most promising field for oil production is the Middle East. America and Britain have come to a mutual agreement in respect to oil concessions whieh provides for the needs of the two peoples. Russia has ample resources to-day and promises to produce more oil than any other territory when those resources are further develop! a. There is no doubt that Russian needs will increase cnorn ously. If Russia could come to a dominant position in respect to the production of oil she would be able to satisfy her psychological inhibitions by gaining a position of economic advancement. She would be able to exploit nations of the West by selling oil at a good.price and holding the world in fee to her material gain. The prospect is as alluring for Russia as the opportunity would be to most men to make a quick fortune by exploiting a monopoly. Does this explain why Russia is to-day so dominant in respect to Persian territory? If it doesn’t, what is the answer to th: Russian riddle?