Stabilising the Balkans
The signature at Bled of the Balkan alliance between Greece. Yugoslavia and Turkey, although it does not carry with it any- thing more than a consultative commitment on the part of the Yugoslays in the event of the other partners' obligations under NATO being invoked, must nevertheless be regarded as making for greater stability in S.E. Europe. No one could think of undertaking'a purely local war against such a bloc, and (as the Greek Defence Minister pointed out) the three powers have between them something like one and a half million experienced troops under arms. They are also the recipients of considerable American aid. The political effects of the treaty chiefly concern Italo-Yugoslav relations. It is now quite certain that the Italians must abandon their secular ambitions in the Balkans, but a settlement of the Trieste question should take some of the sting out of this. Such a settlement has been held up by details for the last three weeks, but these difficulties are still being slowly chipped away.
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