THE F.B.I. SMASHES A TERRORISTIC PLOT. We like to think we’re far away from the madness of Europe’s dictators, but right here at home a Nazi-style group has been planning to bomb a number of locations in New York City. According to F.B.I. chief J. Edgar Hoover, the G-Men have arrested eighteen members of an anti-Semitic outfit known as the “Christian Front,” who were found with eighteen cans of explosive cordite, plus twelve Springfield .30-06 rifles and 2,500 rounds of ammunition. The Associated Press reports the F.B.I. also discovered “the makings for explosives in various stages of completion.”
Some of the Christian Front’s weaponry was stolen from the New York National Guard, where several of the plotters served -- one holding the rank of captain. Their fantastic scheme called for bombing various Jewish and leftist targets in New York City, while recruiting a larger force to blast bridges and seize the United States Customs House, the General Postoffice and the Federal Reserve Bank -- and eventually to overthrow the entire U.S. government, replacing it with a Hitlerite regime. Their aim "was to spread a reign of terrorism so that the authorities would become thoroughly demoralized,” says Mr. Hoover.
COULD EUROPE’S TWO WARS BECOME ONE? An informative article in the new issue of Time magazine sums up what seems to be happening in Europe as of last week. “Two wars -- Allies v. Germany, Finland v. Russia -- seemed dangerously close to merging and swallowing all of Scandinavia.” Time explains that Russia’s troubles in Finland have emboldened nations sympathetic to the Finns, most notably Sweden, which is now rushing volunteers and armaments to help her neighbor. A motley collection of Finnish friends, including Britain, France, Italy, Uruguay, and the U.S., are giving or are set to give aid of some kind to Finland. “The British were said to be at Goteborg, Sweden, to examine the chances of landing British troops in Sweden via the Skaggerak,” Time reports.
But Time also points out that Germany, Russia’s “quasi ally,” isn’t standing by quietly. She “can hardly afford to let the world, particularly the Allies, join in beating up Russia,” and has warned the Scandinavians that their entire region will become a bloody battlefield if they don’t immediately cease aiding the Finns. But it might be a tall order for the Nazis to back up this particular threat, Time points out --
“[Germany’s] only means of preventing help to the Finns is herself to invade the Scandinavian countries, which not only are Finland’s first-line supporters but lie across all the routes through which aid can reach the Finns. To invade Scandinavia is something that Germany cannot well look forward to...Germany’s lifeblood of Swedish iron ore, most of which has been going out by Narvik (now subject to the British blockade)...might all be lost if the Allies go to the aid of an invaded Sweden....Germany could easily march through flat Denmark...but when the force reached Sweden’s lakes and mountains, the drive would be halted and a new front formed by Sweden’s well-disciplined, well-armed force, backed by Norway, Britain, France. To the new front the Allies could send reinforcements through ports on the deeply indented, ice-free Norwegian coast.”
RUSSIA THREATENS FINLAND’S NEIGHBORS. The Germans aren’t the only ones giving brusque warnings to the Swedes and Norwegians. According to an Associated Press dispatch published Monday, the Soviets have issued a strong protest to Sweden, saying the “impermissible campaign” in the Swedish press to aid Finland was only understandable “if Sweden were in a state of war with the U.S.S.R. or preparing for war.” The Russians aren’t just talking -- Soviet warplanes flew over Swedish and Norwegian airspace Sunday. The planes dropped bombs on the Swedish island of Kallaks, sixty miles from the Finnish border. Noway’s anti-aircraft batteries fired on Russian planes that violated Norwegian airspace near Finland’s Arctic port of Petsamo.
AN IDEOLOGICAL WAR? It seems more likely than ever that the European war is evolving into a grand showdown between the democracies and the dictatorships. In the war’s early days, the Chamberlain government denied this was an “ideological war” against tyranny, but instead a fight against military aggression. And it looked for awhile as if the British opposition to aggression was limited to the German variety. At the opening of the Russo-Finnish war at the end of November, the British seemed determined not to excessively offend Stalin’s regime and protested Russia’s attack with extreme mildness. Now, by contrast, both Britain and France seem willing to throw down the gauntlet to the Soviets. Britain has recalled its ambassador from Moscow and is said to be preparing a White Paper on the failed alliance negotiations between the two countries last summer -- a report so scathing of the Russians that its publication might lead to a rupture of British-Russian diplomatic relations, Time magazine reports.
Germany and Russia are sliding into a “Brown-Red” alliance. Of course it is built on need, not regard. Hitler must have war materials from Stalin to continue his fight against the Allies, while Stalin, now almost completely friendless, requires German support for his territorial demands, especially in the wake of the Finnish debacle. These two tyrannies comprise on paper a frightening coalition -- Russia’s gigantic stores of manpower married to Germany’s technological prowess and superb military tradition. If, in the end, they fight together against Britain, France, and Europe’s other remaining democracies, can those democracies endure? And most importantly, can America in good conscience stay out of such a war? I think that if Europe’s wars do merge, the U.S. would inevitably choose to fight alongside the democracies. And we should. We must.
A GERMAN OFFENSIVE ON JANUARY 20? If there aren’t enough alarms in Europe this week, the papers from Sunday and Monday report that Belgium has mobilized some 600,000 troops and begun evacuation of border areas, after receiving reports of new concentrations of German attack troops. In similar fashion, the Netherlands has cancelled army leaves and plans to bring its army up to 400,000 within two days, citing “less favorable symptoms in the international situation.” The British, taking their cues from all this, have cancelled army furloughs. And the New York Times reported yesterday that “in Paris...there was talk of a German offensive through the low countries fixed for January 20, but there was no indication of an authority for such statements.”
There’s very little indication as to why this is all happening right now, except for an intriguing tidbit mentioned in Monday’s New York Times story by James MacDonald --
“It had been expected all along that Belgium and the Netherlands would jump to arms from time to time when reports of danger reached them. The most recent of such reports originated several days ago when a German plane made a forced landing at Mechelen on the Meuse River. Unconfirmed rumors said the plane carried secret papers giving plans for a German invasion and that the German pilot tried unsuccessfully to destroy them before the authorities arrived. But London official quarters doubt such plans would be sent anywhere by airplane.”
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