Politika
- The Geneva balance sheet
- The first revolution in Greece
- The Romanian succession question
A Geneva editorial questions the value of an Assembly presidency without a Council seat; a retrospective recalls Greece’s wartime division, and a Bucharest brief reports a possible return by Carol.
Partial reading: the headline and first two paragraphs of the Geneva editorial; the Greek retrospective’s heading, subtitle and first two paragraphs; and the complete Romanian succession brief. The remaining text and cartoon are not translated.
Translation
The Geneva balance sheet
For 3 full weeks now we have been reading reports from Geneva. Naturally, we are chiefly interested in the work of our delegation, although the other events that have taken place in Geneva these past days are not to be underestimated either.
We held the presidency of the Assembly. An honour, unquestionably a great honour. Without any tangible benefits, and with as much moral prestige as those small states whose delegates have received the same honour over these past few years. And that is all the honour brings. It is certain that for decades our representative at the League of Nations will not be able to sit in the president’s chair, but let us hope that at least others will be able to enter the Council. Our present representatives have neglected a seat on the Council. Their successors may not. They will see that even a temporary, 1-year seat on the Council is still more useful to the state than the 1-month presidency of the Assembly, which is usually conferred on powers of secondary importance.
The first revolution in Greece
Ten years ago
— From the great Liberal rally in Athens to the provisional government in Salonika. —
I
On 28 August 1916, the Kingdom of Italy, which had until then been at war only with Austria-Hungary, declared war on Germany as well, while hitherto neutral Romania entered the war on the Entente side by declaring war on Austria-Hungary.
Only Greece continued to waver. For several months a struggle had been under way there between the Liberals, led by Venizelos, who, as friends of the Allies, demanded that Greece abandon neutrality and join the Allies, and the anti-Liberals, who, with their leader Gounaris, defended neutrality solely because they realised that any armed action by Greece in support of the Central Powers, which they personally preferred to the Entente powers, would be futile and fatal both to the Greek people and to themselves.
The Romanian succession question
(Report to Politika)
Bucharest, 25 September
The newspapers report that the former Romanian crown prince Carol will soon return to the country and take a seat in the regency.
Context
What a Council seat offered
The editorial’s comparison of honours and influence turns on the League’s two political bodies. Every member state had a vote in the Assembly, whereas only a limited group sat on the Council, alongside the major powers. The Council handled disputes and security questions repeatedly through the year, giving membership a continuing diplomatic value. Its elected membership expanded from 6 to 9 in 1926. These differences explain why the editorial treats a seat as more useful than temporarily presiding over the Assembly: it wants sustained access to decisions affecting the country’s interests. That judgement is the editorial’s; the Assembly also possessed substantial powers, including admission of members and approval of the budget.
Why Greek neutrality divided the country
The retrospective looks back to the conflict between Venizelos and the royal camp over joining the First World War. The dispute had already brought down Venizelos’s government in 1915 and extended to Greece’s obligations toward Serbia. British and French troops landed at Salonika after his request, making the city a focus of Allied activity. In 1916 the National Defence movement established a rival provisional government there, while the royal government remained in Athens. The article’s movement from an Athens rally to a Salonika government therefore traces the passage from a foreign-policy dispute to divided state authority. Venizelos returned to power in Athens in 1917 after Constantine’s departure.
Why Carol was a former crown prince
Carol had renounced his rights to the Romanian throne at the end of 1925, and Parliament designated his young son Michael as heir in January 1926. A regency was intended to exercise royal authority during a child king’s minority. This makes the brief’s reported prospect of Carol joining it politically significant: a prince who had stepped out of the succession might return inside the institution meant to govern for his son. The dispatch presents that prospect as a report in other newspapers. Carol’s eventual return took a different form: in June 1930 Parliament reversed his exclusion from the succession and proclaimed him king.
Original
Биланс Женеве
Биланс Женеве
Већ пуне три недеље читамо извештаје из Женеве. И, наравно, првенствено нас интересује рад наше делегације, ма да нису за потцењивање и остали догађаји који су се ових дана одиграли у Женеви.
Имали смо претседништво Скупштине. Част, неоспорно велика част. Без икаквих реалних користи, а са онолико моралног престижа колико су га добиле и оне мале државе чијим је делегатима за ово неколико година указивана иста част. И то је све што се од те почасти има. Извесно је да кроз деценије наш претставник при Друштву Народа неће моћи да буде за претседничким столом, али, надајмо се да ће бар други моћи да уђу у Савет. Садањи наши претставници занемарили су место у Савету. Доцнији можда неће. Видеће да је ма и привремено, једногодишње заседање у Савету ипак корисније по државу него једномесечно претседништво Скупштине, које се обично додељује силама споредног карактера.
Прва револуција у Грчкој
Прва револуција у Грчкој
Пре десет година
— Од великог либералног митинга у Атини до провизорне владе у Солуну. —
I
Двадесет и осмог августа 1916 године краљевина Италија, која је дотле била у рату само са Аустро-Угарском, објави рат и Немачкој, а дотле неутрална Румунија, објавивши рат Аустро-Угарској, ступи на страну Споразума.
Само се још Грчка и даље колебала. У њој се већ више месеца водила борба између либерала, које је предводио Венизелос, а који су, као пријатељи савезника, захтевали да Грчка изађе из неутралности и ступи на страну савезника, и антилиберала који су, са својим вођом Гунарисом, бранили политику неутралности једино из тога разлога што су увиђали да би свака оружана акција Грчке у корист Централних Сила, које су они лично претпостављали силама Споразума, била илузорна и фатална колико за грчки народ толико и по њих саме.
Питање румунског наследства
Питање румунског наследства
(Извештај „Политици“)
Букурешт 25 септембра
Листови јављају да ће се бивши румунски престолонаследник Карол ускоро вратити у земљу и заузети место у регенству.