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Show Three-Nation Agreement C' Essential to World Peace , i t -W i Evidence Points to Existence of Conciliatory i ; Atmosphere Between U. S., Russia, Eng- !f land; Common Sense Pact Necessary. I -"4 By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Through the past days, Washington Washing-ton has been anxiously watching a very trying, very delicate and difficult dif-ficult operation the attempt to break in a stubborn three-horse , team which has never pulled together togeth-er before. The difficult journey toward an understanding un-derstanding to be reached by personal per-sonal conversations across the table between Britain the' United ' States and Russia has begun. Following perhaps secret tripartite conferences between representatives of the three nations is the planned meeting of the heads of the three foreign offices. of-fices. Questions frankly discussed with unsolved problems left open (if plans don't go amiss) will then be taken up between Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill personally. It is a tremendous undertaking. This three.horse team has never run in harness together before. America has never been harnessed at all; Soviet Russia has had only one short and violent experience that with Germany which ended in disaster; and as for Britain, she is accustomed accus-tomed to being lead-horse; therefore, there-fore, a lot of patience will be needed to hitch all three abreast. There is a whole library of documentation docu-mentation to prove that an all-for-one, one-for-all agreement among these three nations is impossible. But it must be remembered that there were 13 powerful reasons once why a United States of America was impossible too. The present goal is not the formation forma-tion of a triple alliance. The present problem is simply to get a common sense agreement between three nations na-tions without which a post-war situation situa-tion is bound to arise which Prime Minister Churchill described as "confusion:" And when he used that word, he made a new high for English Eng-lish understatement. Few doubt that he meant war. Arguments Against As I said, there are plenty of reasons rea-sons which can be cited why the United States and Britain and Russia Rus-sia cannot possibly agree but there are other reasons why they can. There are two things which stand out in most people's minds as evidences evi-dences that Stalin is not playing ball now and doesn't want to. One is the recunent complaint in the official ' Russinn press and earlier statements by Stalin himself to the effect that Russia is decidedly displeased with the Allies for not having built a second front by invading Europe from the British Isles. The other is the Moscow sponsorship of a Free Germany committee which appears to hold out better terms to Germany than unconditional surrender which the Allies demand. Recently, I talked with a military man who suggested that perhaps the call for a second- front after the invasion in-vasion of Italy was. part of an -agree-. 1 'ment with the Allies to confuse Ger-- Ger-- many. Churchill has said that he . -. was-as'sured by,Stalin when the Rus- fcia'n.'drive began' this summer,' that tKe Russians-were ' confident that they could withstand German, attack. at-tack. As things have turned out, the Germans have .not been able to counterattack. They have ordered a general retreat. It was admitted by military experts at first that this is a planned, and orderly retreat. After the invaisioTl-fItaly, the Germans Ger-mans admHUd.that it"was a general retreat. NowflCjrts like a rout. In other wordsT-creation of the "third front" in tliMediterranean has forced the GermarVj to give up the idea of attempting 'l counter-offensive. counter-offensive. But since the slender hope of Hitler lies in dissension among the United Nations, why should Russia let him know that sha was satisfied with any Allied action? Free Germany Committee As to the Free Germany committee, commit-tee, Russia itself has not made any direct official sUitrment concerning it, has not officially backed up its program. It is composed of German prisoners in Russia who demand of their fellow-countrymen that Germany Ger-many get rid of her present rulers and surrender. That in itself is something everyone wants to see. How much short of unconditional surrender that is, certainly is open to friendly discussion. We know that it worked in regard to the Italian surrender terms. Now, what are the main propositions proposi-tions which Britain, America and Russia do not see eye to eye? In the first place, there is the question ques-tion of "spheres of influence" the Balkans, the Middle East, the Mediterranean. Medi-terranean. I have been told by persons presuming pre-suming to speak with authority, that Russia suggested the creation of the Mediterranean commission, a body made up of representatives from Moscow, London and Washington, meeting on equal terms. That commission, com-mission, whoever thought it up, was agreed upon. Historically, Britain has always refused Russia any hand in Mediterranean affairs. That would seem to be a step forward and even before the commission could start functioning, Russia was allowed to have her say concerning the terms of the Italian surrender. Agreement was reached as to the terms. That would seem to indicate that a conciliatory atmosphere has been created in advance. Unless Russia is absolutely unwilling to make compromises, com-promises, we can expect reciprocation reciproca-tion when the questions of the Balkans Bal-kans and the Middle East arise, where there have always been similar simi-lar conflict of interests. The Baltic States Another very sensitive question is the difference of opinion as to the treatment of the small nations which lie on Russia's western frontiers, notably the Baltic states. It is said that Russia feels that as soon as the German armies are driven back into the Reich, these border states, especially Lithuania and Estonia, a part of Poland and perhaps a part of Rumania (we leave the others aside for the moment, including Finland) Fin-land) are an integral part of Russia. The United States, on the other hand, has always stood for the rights of small nations, for self-determination. Of course, Russia argues that plebiscites which indicate a desire to join the Soviet Republics have already al-ready been taken in part of the territory and if they were taken again, they would show the same results. That they express the will of the Nationals is denied by representatives rep-resentatives of these countries in Washington. Great Britain leans toward an acceptance ac-ceptance of Russia's views however. how-ever. The point has yet to be settled with the United States. An additional point, which is really real-ly the one which has always caused suspicion on the part of Britain and America, is the question of communist commu-nist propaganda spread by Russia for the purpose of overthrowing all capitalist governments. This is balanced bal-anced by the fear on the part of Russia that capitalist governments are bent on destroying her as a communist com-munist state. This is a tough one admittedly but not beyond the solution by honest men. Nor do honest men despair of its settlement. Post-War Russia From a purely cynical and material materi-al standpoint, it can be argued .that post-war Russians will not attempt any move agaisst Britain or America, Amer-ica, either from within by propaganda propagan-da and intrigue or from without by military attack because they will be an exhausted nation when the war is over. Competent observers believe it will take several generations for Russia to recover. Therefore, Russia's Rus-sia's chief advantage will be gained by co-operation with other nations rather than by threats of aggression. To some degree, that also applies to Britain. Unquestionably, the United States will emerge from the war the greatest military power in the world. Only a combination of powers could defeat her. There rests, then, the moral responsibility on America of wise and generous use of her power noblesse oblige. This, I admit, is the bright side of the medal. But until the attempts toward tripartite discussion and agreement have utterly failed, there is no reason why the medal should not be presented, shiny side up. When I hear you and others say that men of 30 and 40 years are poor fighting material I wonder if the white race is not going into decay de-cay or that civilization docs not do more harm to men than good. New York. |