THE ROAD TO ROME

The attitude of France in the current crisis reminds one strongly of the late Nero, who is reported to have played a bacchanalian love ditty on his fiddle while Poppea was seducing his chief minister: Ever since the Huns invaded the sacred area of Montmartre in the seventies, Marianne has suspected the lusty Max of evil intentions. And with the advent of Hitler, those suspicions have changed into horrified terror.

Unless the French diplomats are a flock of drivelling idiots, they must see that German aggression can be thwarted only by prompt action of the league of Nations. Yet despite this, France continues to play drop the handkerchief while Geneva strives to rally the forces of the world against the depredations of Italy. Nothing could be more asinine than the recent statement by Laval, that while France would fulfill her covenant duties, still she would strive to find some way of enticing Benito and Haile to lie down in the jungle together.

Italy has openly thumbed its fascist proboscis at the League of Sations. Unless the League takes definite action to curb Italian aggression in Ethiopia, Geneva might just as well turn the Palace of Peace into a Minsky Burlesque house. And yet at the point of voting for definite sanctions, Marianne claims her female perogative to change her fluffy mind.