27 JANUARY 1939, Page 2

Herr von Ribbentrop in Warsaw Germany prosecutes with increasing energy

the task of re- organising Eastern and Central Europe. The final form of her policy is not yet clear. At the present moment her energies appear to be directed to neutralising neighbour States, which in the event of war would be both a source of supply and a protection to her eastern frontier ; and her undisguised hopes of creating an independent Greater Ukraine make her neighbours the more willing to accept this role if it will divert her expansion westwards. The results of Herr von Ribbentrop's visit to Warsaw are not yet known ; it appears, however, that his object will be to per- suade Colonel Beck that by co-operation with Germany he can avoid the danger of the threat to the Ukraine, which, if realised, must either drive Poland into the arms of the Soviet Union or force her to acquiesce in her own dismemberment. Colonel Beck has stated this week that the object of his policy is still to maintain Poland's precarious equilibrium between Germany and the Soviet Union. This object can be achieved only if Germany is willing for the moment to surrender her dreams of expansion eastwards. The reports of the opening stages of the conversations at Warsaw suggest that that policy is being adopted—which means that Herr Hitler's Reichstag speech on Monday is likely to concern chiefly Britain and France.