Show year Yea laim of cof decision arrives for un b america alone in struggle to save western ideologies by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator washington cartoonists and others have titled 1948 the year of decision it is a pretty good title the only trouble le is that americas most important decision has already been made and nobody seems to realize it we know that the british empire has broken up but aside from the fact that there is some grumbling about loaning money to the british it seem to concern us very much in the current issue of the united nations world magazine the british historian and author D W brogan has an article entitled the british shed no tears for their lost empire in it he says in the nineteenth century the progress of english was in close as with spread of a gen era eral political and economic of all sensible men the bank of england free trade par hamen amen tary government all increased their ra range of in fluence together and the english looked on what was largely their work and their baukhage profit and bound it good they were satisfied with what they had accomplished it is natural enough today when this world situation has changed to take pretty calmly the decline in the favored historical position of eng land if the spread of english ideas practices and profits has ceased why worry unless you are eng lish unless you are english and yet the people who ought to be doing the worrying are the americans we are taking over where britain left off and the job is a bigger one than england faced but the aver age person in this country will say in horror you talk like a comma america americas s whole trad t ton on is non intervention of course we had a wild period in south america and in our salad days as a nat on we somehow acquired what we called texas although the mexicans at the time thought it was a part of mex ico and then there s hawa i but those days are over see how promptly and pol tely we returned the philippines to themselves and took our marines out of the banana plantations where they didn dian t be long and the other day even aban dolled our bases in panama don t tell me we re go ng to establish a second british empire we aren t the spirit of live and let live is just as strong as it ever was in this country unfortunately however what brogan calls the spread of a general political and economic econom iq religion of all sensible men suddenly encountered a force that threatened to destroy it when the germans marched into poland and the japs bombed pearl harbor it took all america could at ford and more than britain could afford to stop that force and today another and stronger force is gaining power and there is nobody to stop it but the united states when a british official in london said every means short of war would be used by the british and american governments to keep greece within their own strategic and ideological orbit it didn dian t make much of a ripple outside of washington but it was a statement of tremendous import for it means that the truman doctrine was not just a phrase that its implement a tion is now certain it means that the people responsible for the des tiny of the united states know that 1 the year of decision is here the de casion having been made not in washington but in the freml n just as the decision to fight japan was made not in washington but in the office of one squat little man now awaiting a death sentence in tokyo one hideki tojo former premier of japan partisans succeeded in soviet sphere today it is fashionable to make funny cartoons about the third party announced in december by henry wallace yet that third party into a plan to wreck our way of life the plan another part of which was the careful coaching by the kremlin ot of the partisan fighters in world war II 11 the parti sans were formed forr ried first to help beat down one of the soviet soviets s enemies but they also were groomed to de stroy representative government in their respective countries the partisans were most success ful in the countries nearest russia in territory where the red lied army in the guise of allies fighting a common enemy gained a foothold which they kept when peace came and which was used to put their trained stooges into power in italy and france they were un able to capture completely the parti san or resistance movements but they did get a grip on both countries which neither france nor italy dared throw off until the un ted states made a tacit cond tion of aid the expulsion of the communist parties from both governments temporarily at least that much of the carefully planned soviet pro gram tailed failed but new steps are be ing planned A part of the pattern of communization Is communist alii sill ance with the left wing non comma fists the reds cooperate with the non reds help them bring about their objectives then slowly admi domi nate and absorb them one method used by reds to get rid of non corn com eunist left wing resistance is to help a reactionary government into power such a reactionary govern ment suppresses the nonCom non comma mu left wingers and pushes those surviving deeper into communist toils tolls that Is where he the wallace third party fits into the kremlin design the keds reds hope it will win split and weaken the liberals ta in this country increase the friction between them and the con serva tives as much as possible aid the conservatives to get into power then when the reaction sets in the conservatives will be thrown out and the well organ iced communists can take over easily greece is a testing point in the russian american struggle the only way in which the comman st u aggression there could be checked was for britain and the united states to step in and actually d the greek government that was done much as any country dis 1 kes having a stronger one run its affairs the united states as a cho ce of evils is the less dunwel come to the greeks especially when we come bearing g its without which the government knows it cannot re the communist organization when one talks with the exiles the refugees from the red terror one is appalled by their attitude recently I 1 spoke at length with a former foreign minister of one of the countries now firmly in the jaws of the soviets he assured me that today if there were a free election in his country not I 1 per cent of the people would vote to support a red regime he said these satellites are not satellites at all they are as much a part of the soviet union as the ukraine or outer mongolia the secret police paralyzes all in depend ent action there Is a desperation about the attitude of these men who fought the losing battle against the kremlin they say there is absolutely no hope for europe unless the russians are driven back to their old borders and the balkan states poland and finland are freed of russian kussi an domination they say there is only one thing that will have ef feet A threat by the united states to use force when the quotation of the london official which I 1 mentioned stating that the united states and britain were committed to measures short of war came over the wires I 1 was reminded of the conversation with the former foreign minister chehad he had said to me it the united states threatens to use force now the russians will pull out of eastern E europe drope they cannot afford war now they fear the un ted states but in a few years mere threats will not suffice the russians then will be ready to fight and this force moving against the political and economic religion of all sensible men is moving not only in europe all ali along russia s pe ophery the red tide Is rising against its frontiers ia in the middle east in india whose gates russia has threatened for centuries in china korea in the islands adja ent cent to japan |