Under Article 7, in the event of a dispute between Signatories they agree, pending its settlement, not to increase their armaments, take mobilization measures, etc., and the Council is given the right, upon complaint being made, to make enquiries and investigations as to the maintenance of these agreements, and to decide upon measures in regard thereto, so as to end a threatening situation. Similar powers are given to the Council under Article 8 concerning threats of aggression or preparations for war, and in all these cases, the Council may act by a two-thirds majority. The preventive measures which the Council may take as to such preliminary matters are not precisely defined. It is to be pointed out, however, that a State violating the engagements of Article 7 or Article 8 would not be an aggressor against which the main sanctions of the Protocol could be directed, assuming that hostilities had not broken out. Accordingly, the measures which could be "decided upon" by the Council would perhaps be limited to those of warning, of advice and of publicity; certainly they could not be measures of force; and in my opinion, they could not go as far as sanctions of any kind, economic or otherwise; the General Report[1] speaks of "the evacuation of territories" as a possibly appropriate measure; this indicates that the "measures" are to be "taken" by the State guilty of violation of the agreements mentioned; _certainly_ there would be no obligation on the part of any Signatory to take any steps against a violation of these agreements of Articles 7 and 8; but the {73} language is very vague and all doubt should be set at rest by changing it particularly as the Council may decide by a two-thirds vote. In considering the main sanctions provided by the Protocol, the first point to be emphasized is that they cannot come into play until a state of war, in the real sense, exists; hostilities must have broken out, so that the world is confronted with fighting actually taking place. It is true that there is a theoretical exception to this in the fact that a violation of the rules of a demilitarized zone is equivalent to a resort to war; but this exception is more apparent than real for the violation of a demilitarized zone would be only a brief prelude to hostilities. The second condition precedent to the application of the sanctions is the determination of the aggressor.[2] And in any case the determination by the Council as to which State is the aggressor must have taken place before the sanctions are to be applied.