Who Helps Greece ?
A week ago it was possible to get the impression that the future of Greece was being settled in Washington. The British are re- ported to have said that they were unable to maintain their forces in Greece without a subvention, and the Americans are said to have begged the British not to withdraw and to have offered large sums of money for the support of British forces. Second thoughts were less melodramatic, but some shreds of the story remained. It is true that the British intention to withdraw the troops is reinforced by financial stringency, and it is also true that the United States cannot view that withdrawal with indifference. In fact if some British troops must stay in Greece until the result -of the Greek Government's spring campaign against the rebels is known, then the British Govern- ment would, of course, prefer that the United States rather than Britain should pay the bill. But it must be made quite clear what interests are at stake. Far more important than any other is the Greek interest in survival, which has now been backed with a direct request to the United States for food, arms and capital. The problems involved have been described, from the American point of view, by Mr. Marshall, as far-reaching and of transcendent importance. Such solemn terms can hardly refer to anything less than the defini- tion of the respective spheres of Russian and American interest, and if that is what they mean then it must be made clear that the darkest suspicions of Russia have been voiced by American, and not by British spokesmen. In the United States it has been repeatedly argued that it is not an American interest to pull British chestnuts out of the fire. Still less is it a British duty to perform such a service for the United States.
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