Oct.
The report that Hitler has ordered Rumania to avoid a breach of relations with Great Britain, in an endeavour to avert British bombing of the Rumanian oilfields is interest~ ing, if (rue. It might very well be correct for the last thing Hitler would want would be that the British atr fore should be used against the only really important source of oil available to Germany. Whether Rumania will be able to carry out those instructions is open to very considerable doubt, for Ger~ man action would appear to make the breach inevitable. The report that the British Minister to Rumania Is preparing to leave the country is also probably correct, for it is quite clear that he cannot hope to function successfully with a Government which is: entirely under German domination, and in 'a country which is occupied by his nation's: enemies. The realities of the situation mand that Rumania's position should be fully recognized, that it is no longer a free and independent nation, but as completely a German possession as any ether land which Ger= many has annexed by the use of force.
If a breach does come, and it seems in= evitable in present circumstances, Hitler will not have succeeded in preventing the bombing of the Rumanian oilfields, for they, com= ing under the domination of the enemy, are purely military objectives against which Britain is entitled to strike. And strike she should. When Rumania failed to resist the German invasion she departed from her: neutrality, and Great Britain, being entitled to strike at her enemy wherever he may be found, will commit no breach of internation al law by taking whatever action she may deem necessity to deprive Germany of the benefits which are expected to accrue from this latest development, It is imperative: that Germany's oil resources in Rumania,— for they ave now German by reason of occupation of the flelds—should be destroyed, ud for that reason a breach will be comed as a preliminary to whatever action may be neces There is little in the argument that this would result in making Rumania another enemy, for Hitler has already done that, a fact which must now be veqarded in its proper light, Apart from the interest Britain must have n these developments in the Balkans, much importance must attach to the Russian attitude, Up to the present M. Stalin has preserved a sphinslike silence but the advent of the German menace on the shores of the Black Sea, the proposal to construct a naval base in Lake Tasaul and to construct submarines at Galatz, emphasizes the fact that ho matter what present relationships between the USSR. and Germany may be, the lat-for is getting into a position from which Russian dominance of the Black Sea sooner oF later be threatened. In this connection the opinion expressed by the Turkish newspaper "Yeni Sabah," to the effect that Germany by her latest' actions has pushed herself like a dagger into the flank of the Soviet Union, ix very much to the point What is really happening is that under the making further dispositions for new activities against Great Britain, Hitler at the same time creating Soviet. the excuse for the establishment of point from which Russian interests can sooner 0
Inter be menaced, and it should always be remembered that while there is some sem= lance of friendship between the two countries, Germany and Russia, their interests are so completely opposed that reconcile tion of them can only be made more difficult by the action Germany is now taking.
There ave suggestions that Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey may combine to resist further encroachment by the Axis Powers. It is doubtful whether the first-named could vender amy very valuable contribution to the common cause, situated as she is between German and Italian forces. Greece und Turkey with the sympathetic understanding of Russia, and whatever assistance is possible from Britain, might on the other hand be able successfully to hinder further Axis pro-ures towards the southeast. It is known Turkey with 2,000,000 bayonets is pre~ pared to defend her own interests, and there is every probability that should the Axis Powers embark upon the grandiose scheme for which they are preparing, the European war may_yet be decided around the shores of the Mediterranean. Hitler is in search of some stiecess of which to tell his people, who have not been regaled with cheering news for some months past, but he is going to stich lengths that he may yet be deprived of the opportunity of which he is in search.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.