By DEREK KARTUN N recent weeks the daily press in Canada, Britain and other countries has made a tactical change in its pro- paganda line. It no longer refers to U.S. forces in Korea but to UN forces, a change calculated to place a better complexion on what is essen- tially a U.S. war of interven- tion. . But what are these UN forces and what assurances do they offer in their own domestic affairs that “democracy and freedom” are their special concern? The first to offer their assist- ance were Chiang Kai-shek, Ni- caragua, Siam, and Turkey, in that order, The most recent have been Greek fascists who collabor- ated with the Nazis, and West- Germans who served in Hitler’s armies. Strange allies indeed, in the cause of “democracy and free- dom.” ‘ Within days of the American invasion of Korea, Chiang Kai- shek offered what he described as 33,000 seasoned troops to fight against the Koreans, At the outset, it must be said that Chiang is not a United Na- tion. He is a big-time despot- butcher with a murky past, no future, and very few friends out- side Washington, D.C. Chiang’s Washington friends are known to want help—any sort of help—very badly. ; And they have a preference for Asiatic troops because this is a white man’s imperial war against the people of Asia, and they want to make it look otherwise. Yet Chiang, so far, has been refused. Why? Well, the Americans have said that the 33,000 “seasoned troops” will be needed to defend Formosa against the Chinese People’s Ar- my. But is not the reason, perhaps, that the seasoning of this soldiery lies entirely in the practice of run- ning rapidly away from the foe, having first abandoned what Am- erican equipment they have been carrying? . It is what they did in China. The Americans are too fond of their bazookas to want it to hap- Pen again in Korea. ® Undeterred by the graceless re- buff administered to Chiang, Ni- caragua was next to offer troops. How the GI’s must have cheer- ed when they heard about it! For Nicaragua is one of the Banana Republics of Latin-Ameri- ca, run from Wall Street through the agency of a somewhat blood- stained and thoroughly anti-demo- Cratic local junta. It is a place of misery and squalor for the million souls who live there. Now, these million know 4 thing or two about adventures such as the American war in Korea, For on several occasions in the recent past their own country has been subjected to the tender mer- cies of the U.S. Marines. ‘ In 1907 the U.S. sent a treaty to Nicaragua with instructions that the Nicaraguans sign it forth- with. ’ . It sent a warship at the same time as a warning and a caution. The warship was followed by the Marines, é Again in 1916, another treaty was concluded at the point of the bayonet, enabling the U.S. to build an ocean-to-ocean canal across Nicaragua if it wanted to. In 1921, the Marines went in Strange allies for ‘freedom’ again and put the country to the sword. What they could not con- trol by intimidation they smashed and blasted with dynamite. In 1933 they were withdrawn— leaving behind them a thoroughly Obedient, bought and brutallised ruling clique. which now decides to send troops to Korea. ' How. many of the 3,500-strong Nicaraguan army will go, I do not know. But I doubt if it matters. It is this clique Next to join this happy band of democratic brothers were the Siamese. The man in Bangkok, who de- cided to take part in the Korean adventure Pibul Songgram. This is the mis- erable little Fascist turncoat who, in 1942, declared war on Britain and was rewarded by the Japan- ese with a major-generalship in the Emperor’s army. : is dictator Marshal He did his damndest — which wasn’t much — to see the Allies defeated and the Japanese vic- torious. When the war was over, he was thrown out and was replaced by the leaders of the Siamese Resis- tance movement. But in 1947 his supporters en- gineered the murder of the young king, and used the murder to dis- credit the government. Pibul re- turned to power and the methods of police terror and authoritarian rule continued unimpeded. Last but not leaSt in this un- savory group we have the Turks. The Turks are sending troops to Korea. Two-thirds of the coun- try’s budget is devoted to war pur- poses, so one may presume that they have some troops and equip- ment available. Indeed, the presence of a US. military mission in Ankara (back- ed by big U.S. arms deliveries) has ensured in the past few years that even if the Turkish peasants starve, the jails never empty, the drains remain terrible and the so- cial services a miserable joke, the Turkish armed forces have all the guns and jeeps they need. Post-war publication of the Nazis’ Foreign Office documents reveals that all along the Turks were only waiting for the moment to join Hitler against us. If they never did, it was because they saw in time which side would win. I do not know what they will fight for in Korea, but it won’t be democracy and the right to be free. For they are neither free nor democratic themselves. These, then, are our present al- lies. : ; That they should gather round — a trouble spot like flies round a dustbin is scarcely surprising if you consider who they are and what they have done in the past. By BERT WHYTE OE LOUIS, ex-champ, steps into the ring with Ezzard Charles on September 27 at Yan- kee Stadium in order to pick up a bundle of bank notes and inci- dentally try and confound the boxing literati who are harping the age-old theme, “They never come back.” If Louis lowers the boom on Charles, he’ll go down in ring history as the first heavyweight champion to ever regain his crown after retiring undefeated (as Louis and Jeffries did) or losing it in battle. The mere fact that Louis will crawl between the ropes a bet- ting favorite, is a new record in itself. Louis, who lifted the title from James J. Braddock on June 22, 1937, established an amazing re- cord as champion. He took on all comers, whipped 25 conten- ders during the next 11 years, and then hung up his gloves “for good’. Why risk a comeback? There’s a school of writer-weepers who keep saying, “Don’t do it, Joe. Don’t take a chance on marring your unblemished career.” But the plain fact is, boxing is a hard-boiled business racket, with little room for maudlin sen- timent, |; Louis, not many years this side of 40 and deve- loping a bald spot on top, is re- turning to the ring because he needs money — and boxing is the business he knows best, Win or lose against Charles, he’ll make more bucks in an hour pitching leather than he has in the past three years with his various pro- motional schemes, most of which failed to jell. And, win or lose, nothing can mar the Brown Bomber’s record as champion — @ record that established him as the greatest heavyweight titleholder in his- tory. * Look them over from John L. Sullivan down: Corbett, Fitzsim- mons, Jeffries, Burns, Johnson, Willard, Dempsey, Tunney, Sharkey, Carnera, Baer, Brad- dock and Charles. None of them ‘stacks up against Joe. Jim Corbett, the one-time bank L. Sullivan in 21 1891, but after Charlie Mit- soaked John rounds back in knocking out tricky k his title again until he tack- ms Bob Fitzsimmons on St. Pat- rick‘s Day, 1897. as chell two years later, failed to . Ruby Bob, the gangling, freck- ‘led blacksmith from Cornwall via Australia, bided his time with dancing Jim, then savagely sunk a left to the solar plexus in the fourteenth which had Corbett _ floundering around like a fish as “ten” sounded over him. Boilermaker Jim Jeffries, the greatest heavyweight of all the old-timers, lifted the crown from Fitz in 1899, remained undefeat- ed until his retirement in 1904. Big Jeff gave both Corbett and Fitzsimmons chances to regain the championship. Once Cor- bett thought he had it. For 23 rounds he had outboxed and out- foxed Jeffries — who, in spite of his 220 pounds, was one of the fastest fighters in the ring— but with only two more rounds to go, Jeff found the range, clip- ped Gentleman Jim with his le- thal left, and it was all over. Corbett sailed clear across the ring like a bird, bounced off the ropes and hit the canvas cold as a mackerel. After Jeffries retired, Tommy Burns (French-Canadian whose real name was Noah Brusso) claimed the title. Tommy did all right against a few second- yaters. Then Jack Johnson, who. had been chasing Tommy all over the world, caught up with him in Melbourne, Australia, on Christmas day in 1909, and there was no question of who was the better man. Gambler ‘Tex Rickard, chauvi- nist promoter, coaxed Jeffries out of retirement in order to win back the title for “the white race”, Johnson kayoed Jeff in 15 rounds at Reno on July 4, 1910, but the scandalous ‘white hope” search went on. Finally a 245-pound giant named Jess Willard met the aging Johnson in Havana, Cuba, in 1915, and > won a peculiar knockout victory after 26 slow rounds fought un- der a blazing sun. Many peo- ple in the ring racket say Lil’. Artha was paid to take a dive; others maintain that he was just too tired to go on. : Along came Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler, carrying his miner’s union card, lean, tough and vicious. On July 4, 1919, he massacred Big Jess in four tor- _rid rounds at Toledo; went on clerk, wore down paunchy, rum- — to kayo Carpentier in 1921, out- point clever Tommy Gibbons in 1923, and slaughter Luis Firpo, the Wild Bull of the Pampas, the same year. : Outside of Tunney, who took * Joe Louis tries a comeback Eagan. the crown from Dempsey by de- cision in 1926, a number of nonenities cluttered up the scene > until Joltin’ Joe Louis came along. Louis was the fightingest fighter the ring had seen in years, Son of a cotton picker, born in wretched poverty in an Alabama shack, young Joe be- came a belt-tine worker at Ford’s in Detroit, started fling- ing leather in amateur ranks, then turned pro and began his quick climb to fistic fame. On his way up to the title, the only man to lick Joe was the arrogant and boastful Nazi, Max Schmeling. | German (who later became a Hitler paratrooper in World War Two) dropped Joe for the count in 12 rounds on June 19, 193s. Joe had no excuses. The next year the Brown Bomber won the title from longshoreman Jim Braddock, and in June, 1938, he ducked under the ropes to face Schmel- ing a second time. The Nazi press had made much of “the inevitable victory of the su- perior Aryan over the primitive Joe Louis and sori Charles (left) are pictured at signing ceremony for their title bout September 27 at Yankee ‘| Stadium. Looking on is New York boxing commissioner i Ss . contract Negro” and it was a grim- faced Joe who waited for the opening bell. : oe Never has a fighter faced such a devastating attack as the unhappy Max met that night. It was all over in 2.04 of the first round. Schmeling | didn’t land a punch. Joe de-— livered an avalanche of crush- | ing blows which sent the Nazi. to the canvas screaming in agony, his face a bloody pulp, his body ‘a mass of bruises. No other fighter had ever ab- sorbed so much punishment in so short a time. ag Joe Louis earned several mil- lion dollars with his fists, but taxes, managers’ cuts, and the help he generously gave to hun- dreds of friends and relatives — didn’t leave him too much to retire on. A couple of bad business ventures decided the © question of a comeback, which — he had been mulling over for some months. ‘ Win or lose against Charles on September 27, Louis will still retain his unchallenged — place of honor in boxing’s Hall of Fame. Good luck, Joe! *