We fail to see any element of surprise in the
Soviet Government's proposal to Poland that the two countries Should at once by special agreement rule Out war without waiting for the Peace Pact to be ratified by all the Original signatories, That Soviet Russia would seine her opportunity tO'stir up' the muddy waters of the new " Eastern question " was almost a certainty. For ever since 1922 she hai tried in vain to extract from a resentful arid suspicious Poland, first a promise of disarmament, and subsequently a pact of non-aggression. Such perse- Verance is' remarkable, and might, on the face of it, be takento mean that there was something more than bluff in her-ttoPiiin-proposalS at Geneva. - We feel, however,
[33]
that the main object of the new move was not to increase hei own security-:–Poland has far too many troubles in hand to dieaM of. attacking her Eastern neighbour—but simply to fulfil her self-appointed role of European gadfly.
