NEWS OF THE WEEK T HE admission of Russia to the
League of Nations has overshadowed all other issues at Geneva except the repudiation by Poland of her obligations as a signatory of a Minority Treaty. That treaty had nothing to do with the League, except that the League was charged with the thankless task of supervising its execution, and the Polish Foreign Minister's speech was a defiance not of the Leitgue but of the Powers, primarily Great Britain, France and Italy, with whom, of the one part, the treaty was made. It is, moreover, a flagrant breach of a bargain, for States were required to sign minority treaties in return for the territory conferred on them at the Peace Conference. There is everything to be said for the generalization of the treaties, so that all States in the League are bound by them, and a discussion of the question today might yield better results than it has in the past. But Poland's method of diplomacy is indefensible. Unfortunately it is part and parcel of the ambiguous part she is playing at the moment in international affairs. The elections to the League Council resulted in the re-election of Spain and the substitution of Chile and Turkey for Panama and China. China's failure to secure permission to stand for re-election (she has just completed a three-year term) is on many grounds to be regretted, but there would be no proper rotation of Council seats if the right to re- election were lavishly granted.
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