On the Sidelines

Avowed purpose of the feverish membership drive which the Axis put on last week was to bring "peace" to Europe. The best way to do this, according to the polite little speeches with which the signers blotted their signatures last week, is to banish the last vestige of British influence from the continent of Europe. By week's end this aim had been very nearly accomplished. But there were still four Balkan countries whose attitudes, though not necessarily influenced by Britain, were in varying degrees unsatisfactory to the Axis. These were Yugoslavia, Russia, Turkey and brave Greece.

The policy of Yugoslavia was last week still opposition to Italy, to whom the Adriatic lands would fall in the New Order in Europe. It was also possible that the German program might involve a march through Yugoslavia into northern Greece--the sort of march about which Yugoslavia would not be consulted. There was no way of reconciling these things with Yugoslav membership in the Axis.

Accordingly Yugoslavia talked as tough as she could. Yugoslavia pointedly remained outside last week's signing bee and the Skoplje newsorgan Glas Juge (Voice of the South) addressed a stern warning to Bulgaria, whose Parliament began talking of revisionist claims against Yugoslavia. ''The question of Macedonia was settled on the battlefields. Nevermore will the Valley of Vardar be detached from Yugoslavia." That strategic valley is a link in the most convenient route from central Europe to strategic Salonika.

Russia was still a mystery, at least to Britain. What was discussed when Foreign Commissar Viacheslav Molotov visited Berlin was still secret, but all the world knew the classic cornerstone of Russian diplomacy: that no nation but Russia should control the Black Sea straits. Joseph Stalin's choice was now a grim one. If he acquiesced in the Axis Drang nach Osten, he ran the risk of being bottled in both the Baltic and Black Seas by Germany. If he did not, he ran the risk of being attacked by 2,000,000 real soldiers through what used to be Poland.

Joseph Stalin last week gave two specific clues to his choice. Alexander Shkhvartzev, who was named Ambassador to Berlin at the time of the German-Russian Pact, was replaced by V. G. Dekanozov. Dekanozov was formerly Vice Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and accompanied Mr. Molotov to Berlin. When United Press quoted Hamburger Fremdenblatt to the effect that Hungary's adhesion to the Axis was reached "with the cooperation and full authority of Russia," official Tass announced sharply: "This report does not correspond with the facts in any extent."

Stubborn Turks. As Russia goes, so goes Turkey. Turkey would scarcely dare to stand alone. The surprising firmness of Turkey last week may have been an indirect clue to Russia's mood. Just after German Ambassador Franz von Papen returned to Ankara with German "offers," the Turkish Government clamped martial law upon the land, ordered blackouts, revised train schedules, declared restrictions on automobile travel. The Istanbul newspaper Yeni Sabah challenged: "We do not recognize the German right to hand us an ultimatum. Germany can speak to us only as equals."

Greece, writing its own little chapter on virility, was finally made the object of German vituperation. This angry criticism was perhaps prelude to the armed assistance which Italians pretty frankly wanted by this week. Diplomatisch Politische Korrespondenz, which broadcasts Wilhelmstrasse opinion, called Greece's Premier John Metaxas a megalomaniac and his country a tool of Britain. The final paragraph of the Korrespondenz attack was pregnant, big with the Axis conception of peace in our time:

"Europe today stands against England. Whoever wishes, however, to act in solidarity with England through thick and thin to the last ditch and is prepared to sacrifice the higher interests of the nations of his own sphere for the benefit of foreign aims must not be surprised if the law of history marches on over ruins for which he himself must bear the blame." In short, Germany--previously prepared to be benevolently neutral while Italy was beating Greece--did not mean to stay neutral if Greece was beating Italy.

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