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With omnipotent J. Stalin sitting quietly by as a plain member of the presidium, Mr. Molotov got his laugh by suggesting that the Anglo-French emissaries asked for promises without themselves having the power to give any. "Frivolity," he called this.
Finally, said he, Stalin's men became convinced that Britain and France were actually encouraging Poland to reject Red Army aid! And they were trying to sick Russia on Germany by pretending that Hitler threatened to annex the Ukraine!?
Concluded Mr. Molotov triumphantly: "Today we [Russia and Germany] are no longer enemies, as yesterday. The art of diplomacy lies in decreasing, not increasing, the number of one's enemies. . . ."
In two shows of hands which took just two minutes to call and count, the Supreme Soviet "unanimously approved" the Hitler-Stalin deal.
Significance. For the moment Stalin's interest is to keep the Red Army sitting on Russia's western marches until Hitler smashes Poland thoroughly. When that happens, if Hitler restores Germany's 1914 borders, Stalin might get some fat slices of pre-War Russia just for sitting still. And best of all, Stalin might achieve the Tsarist dream of owning Constantinople and the Dardanelles.
*Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, White Russian S. S. R., Azerbaijan S. S. R., Georgian S. S. R., Armenian S. S. R., Turkomen S. S. R., Uzbek S. S. R., Tadzhik S. S. R., Kazak S. S. R., Kirghiz S. S. R.
? Said Herr Hitler three years ago in N?g: "If I had the Ural Mountains, if we possessed Siberia, if we had the Ukraine, then Nazi Germany would be swimming in prosperity" (TIME, Sept. 21, 1936).