neighbors as greatly increasing her power and ambitions and 
      thus rendering more necessary than ever the achievement of knowledge 
     and understanding among the countries of Western Europe
 
                                                            
 
 
Events in liberated Italy, and the serious plight of France, 
      where the Government's orders are not obeyed and the marquis 
      bands are brazenly proclaiming their intention of establishing 
      a French Soviet Republic, for which they reckon on the support 
      of the USSR - all this is an eloquent commentary on these difficult 
                              days.                         
 
                                                            
 
 
History teaches us, on the other hand, what has always been 
      the end of all the talk about eternal peace and disinterested 
      friendships: such fine high-sounding words cannot therefore represent 
      for us anything but wishful thinking, the expression of a remote 
            ideal, unattained and indeed unattainable.      
 
      With a Germany annihilated, and a Russia that has consolidated 
      her ascendancy in Europe and Asia, and the United States of America 
      similarly dominant in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean as the mightiest 
      nation of the world, the European countries surviving in a devastated 
      Continent will be facing the most serious and dangerous crisis 
                        of their history.                   
 
                                                            
 
 
I realize perfectly well that Englishmen in responsible positions 
      are precluded by military expediency from commenting upon this 
      aspect of the present world struggle; but the reality of the 
                    potential menace subsists.              
 
                                                            
 
 
After the terrible ordeal which Europe has endured, three 
      of the nations with large populations and extensive resources 
      stand out from the rest: Great Britain, Germany and Spain. But 
      with Germany destroyed only one-country remains to which Great 
      Britain can turn her gaze: Spain. It is likely that the French 
      and Italian defeats, and the process of internal disintegration 
      in these countries, will make it impossible for many years to 
      build up anything stable upon their foundations. To do so would 
      entail the same tragic surprises that Great Britain and Germany 
 %      respectively