Show Round Merry By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. S ALLEN Editors Editor's Note Note Although Although foreign affairs have been obscured for U. U S. S readers by the election campaigns the situation abroad is in some sonic respects more turbulent than during the Munich crisis Drew Pearson and ami Robert S. S Allen Alien begin today a short series of special articles articles ar ar- ar- ar tides interpreting the important recent developments developments developments devel devel- in Europe and ami Asia A second article will appear next week WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Naturally Naturally the British are not admitting it but the recent Japanese conquest conquest conquest con con- quest of South China is the worst twist given the lions lion's tail in one hundred years In private conversations with American diplomats the British always have emphasized their economic stake in the far east as one reason they could not get embroiled in war in Europe This was one thing Prime Minister Chamberlain Chamberlain Cham Cham- discussed with Ambassador Joe Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy Ken Ken- nedy before Munich He wanted to know what help he could get from the U. U S. S fleet against Japan in case the British fleet tangled with Hitler in the North sea But since the nose-dive nose of British prestige after Munich it looks as if there soon would be beno beno no empire to protect east of Suez The new Japanese policy of Asia for already has done damage in the British British British Brit Brit- ish Malays in Burma and is seeping into the minds of million Hindus already restive I under British rule In other words it looks as if the loss of British prestige at Munich was far worse than if the British had fought it out with Hitler Anti-American Anti Most ironic aspect of the Japanese onrush in Asia is that it was made possible largely because because because be be- cause of the double-cross double handed to the U. U S. S A. A by Sir John Simon with Simon with the approval of the British government When the Japanese pushed their first con- con feeler into Manchuria in 1931 it was Sir John then foreign minister who in instructed instructed instructed in- in his ambassador to inform Tokyo that the Anglo-American Anglo notes of protest meant nothing that the British fully sympathized with the aims of Nippon's army Secretary of State Stimson at that time had the league of nations then a potent body pepped up to go to town against the Japanese But the British figured they could sell more goods to a Manchuria stabilized by Japanese bayonets Shedding British Lion LionA A quick look around the world today indicates indicates indi indi- cates that in certain vital areas the British lion lionis is shedding a lot of hair Gibraltar Its Gibraltar Its time one-time commanding position position position tion over the entrance to the western Mediterranean nean is now nullified by Italian occupation of the Balearic Isles together with Italian German-Italian artillery Suez This Suez This vital entrance to the eastern Mediterranean is now jeopardized by hostile armies in near-by near Arabia plus a growing pro- pro Italian movement among young Egyptians plus Mussolini's fortified islands in iii the Red sea which could easily disrupt British Palestine today is an armed camp with Italian propaganda and weapons keeping it that way British hostilities against the Arabs have turned Moslem populations against the British in other parts of the empire and Mussolini knows this The Anglo Italian Anglo Italian pact is one means of buying buying buying buy buy- ing off iI il duce and is the chief reason Chamberlain Chamberlain Chamberlain Cham Cham- is so hell-bent hell on ratifying the treaty to Berlin Central Europe Here Europe Here British influence has taken the worst beating of all It is important to recall that one of the main British motives in inthe inthe inthe the W World orId war was to block the Bismarck dream of Mittel-Europa Mittel the proposed bloc of German nations extending from Berlin to the Black sea Today that dream is realized Rumania the carcass of Czechoslovakia have no choice but come under the nazi orbit Hitler has carved up Czechoslovakia so as to give through rail routes to th the rich raw material material material mate mate- rial of southeast Europe and the to Berlin-to- Bagdad railway is now an immediate possibility Today there is nothing to block the German advance to the British oil fields of the wealth of the Caucasus the short cut to the Indian ocean The was far more than merely a part of f Czechoslovakia It was a corridor corridor-a a corridor held by one and a half million men plus a duplicate Maginot line plus a tho thousand sand airplanes held not merely on behalf of Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Czecho Czecho- slovakia but on behalf of the British empire That corridor now is open Interesting unrevealed fact about the Munich Munich Munich Mu Mu- nich sell-out sell is that certain British bankers had bet money on the demise of Czechoslovakia by advancing money to German industrialists ts who in turn were working with certain big Czech bankers These Czech bankers put the pressure on Benes the British bankers put the pressure on Chamberlain and I Hitler put the pr pressure on both Copyright 1938 for The Telegram |