The biggest development of the past week has undoubtedly been the negotiations, in which Sweden appears to be playing the part of the broker, which are being carried on with an idea of bringing the Finnish-Soviet struggle to an end. In connection with this development there is a number of interesting points to be borne in mind, The first is that Germany was not invited by Russia to mediate; the second is that Great Britain was asked and refused, and the third is that Sweden undertook the task. There may be many reasons why Germany was not asked to mediate, but two seem to be all that matter. An appeal by the Kremlin to Berlin for assistance in bringing an end to a most unprofitable campaign would have amounted to a confession of failure such as would have amounted to an open admission of the surrender of the predominant role which the Soviet has hitherto held in Russo-German relations. In addition had
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.