Show ECONOMIC MIC highlights it would be difficult to exaggerate the grave importance of rus SMS sias attack on finland it camo came as a fearful shock to the european neutrals which have been attempting to move heaven and earth to keep the war from spreading the repercussions were strongly in the united states slates paul mallon speaking of the reaction of our own officials said of the finnish invasion that there is not a mind on high which does not privately believe this is Saraj evo in other words that the fuse has been lit which may blast a localized war into a general european war one thing is apparent in the view of most reporters and that is that dussias Rus sias action was an example of totalitarian power politics at their worst and most brutal dussias Rus sias argument that the finns started the trouble and threatened her territory is discounted exactly per cent in most quarters it reasonable for a nation of people to threaten one of tha logical explanation say the observers is that russia saw an opportunity port unity to gain at minimum cost a long desired territory it is virtually impossible for england englan d and france to give aid to the finns germany whether she likes it or not claims to be solidly behind the soviet desire to dominate the scandinavian nations and the other scandinavian countries are in no position to give military aid to their neighbor prime fear now is that the invasion of finland was simply the first f step in a grim plan which chic h stalin has long had in mind and which has been held in abeyance until other major powers were so engrossed with other matters that they effectively oppose his ambitions experts foresee the possibility of russia slowly and I 1 steadily moving forward until all the small balkan and baltic nations are either cither absorbed or made puppets of the kremlin a technique which the nazis pursued with great success in central europe when they placed the swastika over czechoslovakia austria end much of poland and then they envision a combination of russia and germany whose ideologies are obviously coming nearer to jibing all the tinne time to dominate the entire hemisphere so I 1 much for prophecy when it comes to facts it does seem that rus as latest adventure has h as served to clarify the european situation germany and russia apparently parent ly really are allies and are working close together in questions of policy even though their I 1 troops have not fought sw side by side the small nations are definitely lined up now on the side of the democracies and italy has just about severed the rome berun berlin axis the italian press denounced 11 dussias Rus sias finnish invasion and uniformed fascists held public meetings which were not disturbed by the police in protest best guess is that mussolini hates stalin more than he loves hitler and that if he is at last unsuccessful in his desperate attempt to keep out of the war he will throw in is lot with the democracies interesting phases of RU russian ss I 1 an german cooperation is what has happened to the communist party in the U S to put it mildly it lias has been split wide open well mown sympathizers have resign d from its councils co unable to stomach what they regard as cynical discardi discordance discar dance ice of lenins enins L i principles and the public seems to view russia rufth th almost the same profound distaste with which it regards nazi germany gone is tile day hen the world at large looked toward the soviet as a potential ally of the democratic powers |