NEWS OF THE WEEK
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definitely whether the war with Germany, apart fro resistance, can be finished this year or not. Co-ordina operations east, west and south is of the first importance ever has not already been achieved in that respect can at Moscow now. For news of the operations impend dependent (as is, of course, right) on German sources. From these it may be learned that the British Second Army is massing for attack and that in the east the assault on East Prussia from north and .south has already begun ; the threat to Germany from the Russian advance through Hungary is patent to the world. But hardly less important than all this is the necessity of reaching agreement regarding the future of Poland. It is clear that that was among the first subjects of discussion. at Moscow, or the invitation to M. Mikolajczyk, the Polish Prime Minister, to join in the talks thde would not have been issued. His presence in Moscow is most desirable, as Mr. Churchill pointed out in his recent speech in the House of Commons. M. Stalin personally has not shown himself unreasonable regarding Poland and it is still possible for a reasonable agreement to be reached between him and M. Mikolajczyk with the sympathetic and disinterested assistance of Mr. Churchill and Mr. Eden.- If it is, the journey of the British Ministers will have been worth while for that alone. But there are many other subjects of discussion, and the by no means formal or conventional speeches delieverd at Kremlin or Embassy dinners have been in every sense encouraging —most notably Marshal Stalin's emphatic insistence on the need for an international organisation to ensure that resistance to aggression shall always be mere effective than the aggression itself.
