Letter from the Continent

Of the five inland seas: the Caspian, the Red, the Baltic, the Black and the Mediterranean, all are largely controlled by the Soviet Union or about to become so.

In the Mediterranean Communist control is still far from complete, but it is progressing. The presence of an ever-increasing Soviet fleet is probably not even the gravest menace: Many military experts consider the accumulation of a large number of ships in a relatively small area a rather unwise form of aggressive demonstration. From a strategic point of view the maritime age may be a thing of the past—in an air age ships are vulnerable.