Sweden's Choice
The choice the Swedish Government has taken regarding Finland has been no easy one. There is no question about Sweden's sympathy for the Finns, or her understanding of the fact that if Finland falls she is likely to be the next victim of aggression. She had to choose between going at once to the help of Finland, engaging the Russians on Finnish soil, and remaining neutral and helping her with volunteers, munitions and other supplies, with the advantage of open traffic-routes across her territory and the Gulf of Bothnia. Dr. K. G. Bolander points out in a letter to The Times that at the outbreak of war Sweden was not prepared with adequate armaments, and that she is only now strenuously rearming. As long as she is neutral, and her neutrality is respected by Germany, she is able to convey munitions, oil and volunteers across the Gulf of Bothnia to Finland—help essential to the Finns which could easily be cut off if Germany chose to intervene. These are considera- tions which had to be weighed in the interests not only of Sweden but even of Finland, who conceivably might have as much to gain from a neutral as from'a belligerent Sweden —though that view is not held by the Finns themselves. The fear that Germany would attack Sweden if she were at war with Russia should, of course, be modified by the consideration that in such a case the Allies would unhesitat- ingly go to her support. If Germany could spare forces for use in Scandinavia, so could the Allies. But these are matters which Sweden must judge for herself, and the foreign critic ought to recognise that there are real argu- ments against-as well as for her active intervention.
