NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE negotiations with Russia are being conducted behind a veil, and both Soviet perversity and British infirmity of purpose have been charged with the unfortunate delay in reaching decisions which can only have their maximum value if taken quickly. On another page Mr. Walter Duranty, cabling from Moscow, gives a rather disturbing explanation of M. Litvinov's resignation. Fortunately the latest develop- ments are more reassuring. The new Foreign Commissar, M. Molotoff, has made it clear that there is no change in the main lines of Russian policy, and a curious misunderstanding of the British proposals should have been completely dis- pelled by the explicit declaration by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on Wednesday that the British Government had never contemplated a situation in which Russia might be involved in war in support of one of the border States and find herself unsupported by Britain and France ; the Government was perfectly willing to make Russia's participation in such a war conditional on its own. It is not, if appears, asking Russia to pledge itself to support Britain or France if they themselves were attacked, though that obligation would necessarily arise if the full triple alliance which Russia desires, and which may still materialise, were concluded. Given goodwill on both sides—and there is no reason to doubt its existence—the negotiations should bear early and satisfactory fruit.
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