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THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 7, 1940.
MIRROR OF WORLD
OPINION
IT'S THE DICTATORS WHO
WERE SURPRISED
This is a story of three dictators, of aggressions-none of the dictators has three wars, and the bluff that failed., really been prepared to whip the It is not a conventional tale. For the world. Their calculations have been customary interpretation of the con- clearly based on the belief that their flicts with which this civilized world bluffs would not be called. Or if they entered the decade of 1940 is this: had to fight-they thought they could' Wars show that the dictators mean.do so within convenient and oppor-
tune limits. business.
That is precisely what the strong men would have us believe. Because they fight, they pretend that they have succeeded in their boasts.
But with all their bluster, the dicta- tors have really hoped to achieve their ends by means "short of extended war." As their successes by bluff in- creased, they become bolder. But the method is clearly disclosed if one goes back as far as 1936, when, Germany reoccupied the Rhineland. The order German battalions moved went out. into the area forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles, France talked of a "pre- ventive war," but hesitated.
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But in Finland, on the Western Front, and in China, the wars have been the result of miscalculation.
Neither Comrade Stalin, nor Reichs-fuehrer Hitler, nor the ruling clique in Japan, expected to become so deeply embroiled.
They believed that their objectives could be obtained by threat, plus a bomb
if
be. two,
need Or None
Far from accepting Bismarck as their ot them would have minded
short campaign. model, the National Socialists believe That would have been only a military they have improved his system. It was the clearly explained by Dr. Otto Diet- phase of the bluffing. But in West, in the North, and in the Far rich, the Nazi press chief, in a little East, the dictators over-reached them- pamphlet which he wrote in 1934, selves. The difficult conflicts which when Hitler had been in power for they encountered were not on the about a year. Berlin-Moscow-Tokyo calendars. They bluffed, but once too often.
a
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10
It is interesting to examine the Deanna Durbin parallel in the three cases.
t
the
"Bismarck's mistake," wrote Reichsfuehrer's press emissary, "lay in his definition of politics as the 'art of the possible.' In the new Germany... politics is the art of making possible the impossible."
While in Germany, as one historian has expressed it, shock tactics have been the favourite method of diplo- macy, the method in Russia has been It has pro- ceeded, as the military expert would superficially different. say, along "internal lines" as contrast- ed to the external character of the
·Teutonic approach..
Bombs fell on Warsaw because the Andrews Sisters Nazi Government was relatively sure that the western powers would not The Not over Poland. Dick Powell go to war.
demand to "stand and deliver" had stria, in the Sudetenland, in Prague, in Frances Langford worked too well in the Saar, in Au- Young's Orch. Memel, in Danzig. But now Germany has a war on its hands for which it
·had prepared neither the overwhelm-
Propaganda, boring from within, and Young's Orch:
ing military, air, nor naval preponder- ance needed for the much-advertised "preparation" of the objective have Rudy Vallee Blitzkrieg. It is engaged in a war of a magnitude which well may mean the Shirley Ross eventual end of the Nazl regime, win, lose, or draw. The bluff in Berlin did not succeed.
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Bombs fell on Helsingfors for a similar reason. The western powers were engaged: elsewhere. But instead of a Sovietised version of the lightning war, the Finns fought for 105 heroic days. The magnificent example of Finland gave an unforgettable lesson to a world which' quaked before the threats of the dictators. And it dis- closed the hollowness of the Russian claims of the might of their Red Army. And though Finland has yielded, the historic end of the chapter máy not yet have been written.
•
Bombs are still falling on Chung- king, provisional capital of China. The ease and rapidity with which Japan overrán Manchuria, had lighted the dictatorial signal fires of a grim de cade. North China had followed with Uttle more difficulty. And Nippon ex- pected the plan to work as well, south of the Great Wall. Certainly, Chinese resistance which is well into its third year was not anticipated. Neither were the billion-yen budgets and the reserves of men which have been re- quired by the "incident" in China, Bluff in Tokyo? Call it what you will, but at least Japan didn't plan it the way It's happened.
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been the classic Communist method. Perhaps one of the most lucid ex- positions was made by Joseph Stalin on Oct. 10, 1920. Discussing, in Pravda, the question of unifying Russia, he wrote:
If, for instance, the direct method of appropriating superfluous dwell- ing space in Azerbaidjan tends to alienate from us the Azerbaidjanian masses, who regard, the home, the domestic hearth, as holy and in-' violable, it is obvious that the direct method. .. must be replaced by an indirect method of achieving the same end..
Or further, for instance, if the Daghestanian masses. are pro- foundly imbued with religious pre- judices it is obvious that the direct method of combatting religi- ous prejudices in this country must be replaced by indirect and more cautious, methods.
:
This method of indirection seems sometimes to be the antithesis of Nazi- dom's accomplished: facts." But the two really have much in common. Most important, perhaps, is that they both seek to achieve their ends with- out actually engaging in a "total war.' And both look upon the possession of threatening force as the fundamental element in their diplomacy.
In all of this a pattern can be per- ceived. Here were, three dictatorships, thundering to the world: "Give us our "And in none of way, or élse: these nations was a supposedly power- ful totalitarian state really prepared apace in the Japanese occupied areas. for the actual consequences of-its ag-. gression.
Japan was not ready for a two-and- a-half-year siege. Germany was not ready for the second world war. Russla had nothing to justify its boasts of the "most powerful, army in the world.” Of course, it may be asked if Italy does not destroy this pattern. Bombs fell an Ethiopi
fed and
No,
the
It is something of the Red and the Brown method that is being combined in Japan. For the Far East is no stran- ger to devices of this kind. The parade of the puppet governments discloses the basis of the Japanese system.
The puppet show has proceeded of China. Big puppets have followed the little ones. They pay a subtle tri- bute to the Middle Kingdom, since the puppeteers pose as the "genuine" Gov-
the
But the fun- Why the Japanese ing up of straw it seems, easier Kquer a coun- * dumbült than
Han
P
P
THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 7, 1940.
American Interests Demand Victory Of
The Allies
CHICAGO, TO-DAY.
THE IMPORTANT MID-WESTERN NEWSPAPER
GERMAN
PROPAGANDA
CHICAGO DAILY NEWS" DECLARES IN A ABSURDITY
FRONT PAGE EDITORIAL THAT UNITED { · STATES NATIONAL INTERESTS DEMAND AN ALLIED VICTORY.
LONDON, TO-DAY: IN SPITE OF THE OFFICIAL DENIAL OF THE LOSS OF A
The newspaper says: "We see the greatest military BATTLESHIP OFF NAMSOS THE
power in Europe on the verge of securing com- mand of the sea in European waters.
EXTENSIVE POWERS FOR WINSTON?
(SPECIAL TO "CHINA MAIL")
London,, To-day.
Mr. Winston Churchill will receive more extensive powers in the Government in order to co-ordinate and carry out decisions regarding the con-
"We unerringly sense what this means for us. It ought to make us realise that the more we aid the Allies by supplies, credit and acquiescence in the blockade measures the less will be| the danger of our having to become a belligerent."
The paper adds a German victory would necessitate American seizure of British and French islands in the Caribbean to protect the Panama Canal.
GERMAN PROPAGANDÄ MACHINE CONTINUES TO MAKE THIS CLAIM AND EVEN GOES SO FAR AS TO SERT THAT THE "SINKING” OF A SHIP OF THIS TYPE BY AN AERIAL BOMB MUST BE CONSIDERED AS AN "EPOCH-MAKING EVENT IN MILITARY HISTORY,”
One broadcast from Berlin said re- garding the alleged incident: "On Fri- day of last week there perished the be-. lief in the invincibility of battleships to bombs."
It is pointed out in authoritative cir- cles that there has been no expression It would also force the United States of belief in the "invincibility" of any to aid Canada and the Latin-American warships against bombs. There has not Republics to maintain their indepen-yet been sufficient experience for com- dence against German aggression.petent critics to express a confident opinion. All that can be said at pre- Reuter..
sent is that the heavy bomb which hit H.M.S. Rodney caused eleven casual- ties but resulted in such slight damage to the ship that she was able to keep her station.
duct of the war, the "Daily FRENCH LOSE
Telegraph" announced.
The paper states that Mr. Churchill will head a committee which will include high officers of the General Staff.
When decisions have been approved will by Government, Mr. Churchill act himself on behalf of the. War Cabinet.
DESTROYER
PARIS, TO-DAY,
THE ADMIRALTY ANNOUNCES DESTROYER THAT THE FRENCH BISON WAS SUNK DURING AN ATTACK BY GERMAN PLANES ON AN ALLIED TROOP CONVOY LAST A LARGE NUMBER OF THE CREW WAS SAVED.
It is added that Mr. Churchill will | FRIDAY. be granted greater powers as a re- | sult of the strong criticism levelled
The communique states that
on
It can be confidently beclared that other than this no British battleship has been hit by a bomb, no British battleship has been damaged by a bomb and no British battleship has
been sunk by a bomb in any of the seven seas in each of which the British Navy is still supreme.
against the Cabinet for useless delay Friday the troops convoy was attack- and the only addition since then is the
of
between the drafting of a plan action and its execution.
Parliament will be informed of the in the decision during the debate House of Commons.-Havas.
GERMAN
PLANES
OVER SWEDEN
ed in the North Sea by enemy air- craft.
None of the Allied convoy was hit but the destroyer Bison (2,436 tons), which formed part of the escort, was sunk.--Reuter.
BOMB HAVOC IN NORWAY
London, To-day, Photographs of the havoc caused by German air raids on Norwegian towns appeared in the British Press yester- day.
once
Stockholm, To-day. A German seaplane yester- The pictures graphically show the day flew over southern Swed-wreckage of the town that was
Steinkjer-where only one building is ish territory and alighted on left whole, and that was by accident. the sea at the entrance of the channel separating Sweden and Denmark,
a Swedish plane A ship called by picked up the Nazi plane and crew.
Another German plane made a forced landing on Swedish territory on Saturday near the frontier above Nar- vik.
Some foreign planes flew over this territory on Sunday. Reuter.
ROOSEVELT GETS CASE OF NERVES
Hyde Park (N.Y.), To-day. President Roosevelt, before his sudden return to Washington yester- day, told reporters he was returning earlier than expected because of "a case of nerves."
He added he wondered what was "breaking" on the European front after being away from Washington for a few days.-Reuter.
KIDNAPPING AFFAIR IN SHANGHAI
Shanghai, To-day... · Kidnapping continues here, another incident having occurred yesterday afternoon.
The victims were the proprietress of &. Girl Escort, Bureau in Kwangsi Boad and one of the employees. Our Own Correspondent.
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