- NEWS OF THE WEEK T HE military situation in Spain remains
practically stagnant, though General Franco is understood to be preparing a further mass attack on Bilbao, whose capture would, in his belief, be the turning-point of the war. For the world generally interest centres on the attempt to restore the integrity of the Non-Intervention Committee by removing the obstacles to the return of Germany and Italy. The ' Deutschland ' episode itself is regarded by Germany as settled, and the Spanish Government is hardly likely to press for an enquiry, though evidence on the vital point of whether the vessel's guns opened fire on the Spanish aeroplanes is sharply conflicting. Germany appears disposed to accept the British proposal for safety zones in a number of Spanish ports, and for immediate consultation between the four patrol Powers in the event of any attack on a patrol vessel of any nationality. The right of self-defence in such a case is fully conceded, but Mr. Eden has rightly made it clear that measures of retaliation, on the Almeria model, -cannot be. Instead there must be4 joint demand for reparation, the precise form of which will no doubt have to be discussed in each case. If Germany assents to these proposals her representatives will resume their places on the Non-Intervention Committee in London and her ships their duties in connexion with the Spanish patrol. But the prominence assumed by four Powers out of the 27 which constitute the committee is causing some dissatisfaction among its other members, and there is wisdom in the French proposal that other States should be associated in the patrol duty, even if only repre- sented by one vessel apiece. * * * *
