Thorny Passes Through the Oaks
Thorny Passes Through the Oaks Does the Dumbarton Oaks Conference Promise Collective Security? By David J. Dallin THE veil of secrecy around the hoary Oaki of Dumbarton i» aa thick and heavy aa...
...If this limited sim of the league could be achieved, it would be a success, slthough far below the hope of universsl collective security against tmg aggression...
...Greece was backed by Great Britain, while Turkey had the support of France...
...London prefers to settle possible conflicts In Africa without the help of America or Russia...
...Aware of what invasion meana better than any ether nation, she proposes the principle that a ¦ember-slate of the league cannot vote in case it la accused of aggression...
...4 (Special cable to The New Leader).— A high German SS leader, holding the rank of General, who is now in Turkey, recently made the following statement about Allied plans regarding the punishment of war criminals: "Before the Allied forces reach Berlin there will be many opportunities to negotiate an amnesty for German war criminals, especially those of the Schutrstaffel (SS...
...In 1945 Russia sttacks one of her neighbors, for instance, Turkey or Poland...
...They will be stronger when thia wsr ends than they ware after other wan...
...appeals for help...
...Moreover, should any of the tep SS leadert with to emigrate and live in a foreign land on the capital they have acquired through their work for the Nszis, they can do so easily enough, since their funds have long since been transferred overseas...
...But what about k'uropst Even today serious conflicts threaten and in the years to come, they will threaten central and eastern Europe, with her multitude of unsettled national questions, ambitions, rlvslries...
...But the diplomacy of America and Britain are to blame for accepting, as far as the new league is concerned, one principle which may become fateful for the world in the very near future...
...Britain, aad the VJB.A...
...But thus far we' are * still wsitlng...
...the conferences at Moscow, Teheran, and Bretton Woods gave aa vagae promises ef cooperation...
...Europe Is by far the most dangerous spot, as far aa new conflicts arc concerned...
...But such an idea will meat with atrong opposition, and has, it seems, no chance of aucceas...
...For a long time they will not sit at the Executive Council of the League...
...The truth ia that the public would feel disillusioned and disappointed . * To begin with, take ¦ highly improbable ease...
...Accepted by the Powera, it will he the prelude to new wars...
...it secured peace in the heart of Europe for at laaat four decades...
...A war-weary world awaits hopefully the emergence of some plan for collective security which will net have the weaknesses and fault* which made the eld League ef Nations a fiasco...
...They may not be in any particular danger...
...between South American Republics...
...This is a long time...
...David J. Dallin, a former Ruaeian Menehevik exiled in 1923, author ef twe very Important books— "Soviet Kussis's Foreign Policy" snd "Russia In Postwar Europe"—wrltea the firat of a aeries of * articles iu The New Leader dlocueeiug these vital issues...
...Having no real police force of its own, the league will have to use the armies, navies, and the air force of members interested in the Inflamed territories...
...Despite all this, in the limited field of coercion of Germany and Japan, the new league may achieve a limited significance...
...Washington aad London are a bit mare considerate ef the rights aad future role ef the small nations...
...The disappointed Irish turn to France or to America for help...
...are "very much alike la eeeentlala"—all seem to agree oa the necessity ef a Big Power peace, with the world polked by the armed forces ef the four main victors hi that war...
...If they achieve it, no action of the league against their dangerous rearmament will be possible, no action against their aggression can be taken...
...If the British decide to give help to the Turks or to the Poles, British imperialism will be declared the aggressor...
...according to the proposed statutes, consent of the "big four" is required in every case...
...Bat ef all the plana, Moscow seems to insist mast emphatically en the continued dominance af the Big Three...
...The Chinese delegation, kept waiting at the Seerstep of Dumbarton, brought a plan of its own...
...Should the Allies fail to do ao, the SS la absolutely determined to liquidate all these hostages...
...The Executive Council meets to decide about military operationa to coerce the aggreeaor...
...It la reported from Dumbarton Oaks, despite the , secrecy that veils the deliberations of the Big Three aad Fear there, that the plana submitted by Russia...
...The Idea of "spheres" suggested by Stalin aa early aa 1941, and at that time refected by Britain and America, seems to find its way bach through the windowa of Dumbarton Oaka...
...Thia certainly in a necesssry...
...In reality, their purpose is "to mske the world secure," not "for democracy," as the old Wilaonian slogan went, but against Germany and Japan...
...Supported by some well-known politicians and columnleta, it now haa won a degree of popularity in thia country...
...Today the situstion Is, by far, worse than it was In 1814, and the collaboration of the Big Four is bound to meet obstacles unknown a century ago...
...The SS controls all offices which issue Identity documents...
...It is bound to direct military forces of one or more of its big members to suppress the aggression...
...But the new league will rarely be in a position to find a remedy since it it «•aenNaUg a weapon against Gtpnany and Japan...
...The Russian delegates in the imaginary Executive Council would not support the motion declaring Germany an aggressor snd dispstching military forces against her...
...If somewhere in the world an act of aggression is committed, the league will have to direct military force to suppress it, these military forces being put at her disposal by the groat power in whose sphere the conflict arose...
...It is even more preferable perhaps not to create any new league than to divide the world into new Empires...
...During ten or twenty years new points of dissension are sure to arise between the great powers, and the only chance of the defeated is to exploit a split between them...
...And afterwards, when these two nations will revive— and what Is more than likely—look for a road to resi mament, their only chance will be to find a quasi-ally among the big four, or at least to neutralise one of the four...
...It is doomed to impotence...
...When Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, the world security organization would not have been able to prevent World War II, since Russia was committed to neutrality by her nonaggression pact with Germany concluded in August of the same year...
...They will be prepared to chjnge their plant for retribution and punishment in order to tave the Uvea of thtir nationalt whom Germany holds at prisoners* Even if these negotiations fail the situation would still not be hopeless...
...But since, they are unauthorized by the world league, the British Government csn denounce them si the real aggressors...
...We are not apeaking of the small fry In the 88 and in the Gestapo, aad atlll lata of the foreign • gents of the Wsffen BS...
...often both sides are backed by two big governments...
...Bat we ef the Bite have already taken care ef our future...
...Resourceful Germany needed more than fifteen years to start resrmament after her defeat in 1918...
...However, it will never come to that, because of the softness and weakneta and exaggerated humanitarianism of the democratic powers...
...Ten, fifteen or twenty years will pass hefare these nations can dream of new revanthes and <-omruests...
...In the six years from 1933 to 1939, dozens of problems had deeply divided France, England and Russia...
...Ireland, a member of the world leagwe...
...The diplomatic operations, it ia aaid, might be endangered If the public knew what la being discussed...
...between Czechoslovakia and Poland...
...Suppose these nations sgree to send an sir force to bomb Belfast, the center of British operations...
...The same procedure takes place, and no decision of the League can be achieved...
...The Russian Ttar Alexander 1 waa able to construct, after Napoleon's fall, a league of the Big Four powers, which soon, through inclusion of the defeated Prance, constituted the "Pentarchy...
...However, it cannot reach any decision since the British delegate votes against the "punitive action...
...World events will develop, new problems will arise, new powers as wouldbe-aggros tore will emerge...
...One of the first wars after World War I ("the war to end wars") was the Graeco-Turkish conflict...
...If American diplomacy is not able to achieve more than this modest success, it is not the fault of these diplomats...
...By David J. Dallin THE veil of secrecy around the hoary Oaki of Dumbarton i» aa thick and heavy aa a smoke screen around soldiers passing over a dangerous bridge...
...It Is easy to understand why the United Btatea prefers not to see British or Russian forces in operation in the esse of a conflict in South America...
...A SPECIAL case is that of Germany anil Japan aa possible aggressors in the future...
...Imagine that in 1946, after the end of the war in Europe, and after the new world organisation had been created, Great Britain becomes an aggressor and invades the ¦mall Irish Republic...
...This ia not the way to a secure peace...
...hence there will be no difficulty involved in obtaining for SS leaders false papers identifying them aa Innocent citizens...
...a most important goal...
...This, at least, is the plan which leems to have the best chance to become the basic law of the new league...
...Suppose a league of the new kind had existed since Hitler's access to power...
...In these cases again the most important and dangerous conflicts cannot be suppressed...
...This mob must took out for themselves...
...This great region will be declared the Russisn sphere...
...This lathe problem which the three governments ef the Dumbarton conference have primarily in mind when they elaborate the scheme of the world organization...
...If they begin to violate the terms of the peace treaties, if remilitarization of these countries starts again, not to mention warlike action against other nations, the new league will have to take measures of a military nature...
...Nazi Elite Takes Care of Itself By Leon Dennen ISTANBUL, Sept...
...However, it la the moat shortsighted and dangeroaa plan...
...It is evident that the new league will be unable, in such a case, unanimously to decide upon military operations...
...Conflicts between the Balkan states...
...The prisoners of war held in Germany and the foreign workers there represent in fact just to many hostaget whose fate the enemy must necessarily take into consideration...
...It cannot be different after thia war...
...More often thsn not a great power tacitly supports one of the conflicting minor nations...
...If one of the great powers commits an art of aggression, the new league haa to play a tragicomic role...
...But if the aggressor is a medium or a small power, the league begins to function...
...by far more dangerous thsn South America, Asia or Africa, A "sphe-e" or "orbit" is an invitation to an expansionist policy, If the power supposed to play the role of a guardian of peace in the region, is inclined to expansion...
...It la rather the predicament created by the whole world situation, a consequence af antagonisms which will prevail after this war...
...between Thailand and Burma—all such wars are minor wars—able, however, to provoke great world conflicts...
...Let us take another imsginary example which ii not so unlikely to become real...
...it leads, on the contrary, to new conflicts...
...will Dumbarton Oaka concretize them, * or only offer ua more glittering generalities T la there any essential difference between the proposed new league and the eld one, and the age-old aystem af power-alliances...
...If Germany's and Japan's military might is crushed in this war, for long years to come they will be unable to become again grand aggressors...
Vol. 27 • September 1944 • No. 38
