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Europe since Munich and the serious threat of the Reich's 
      future Continental domination from the Rhine to the Dnieper.
 
      
 
 
2. The rise of a totalitarian Japan which has largely vitiated 
      Great Britain's influence in the Far East and appears to be driving 
      the Empire's point of resistance back to Singapore. The threat 
      to Australasia is apparent.
 
      
 
 
3. The development of air power which renders Great Britain, 
      with its highly concentrated industrial areas, vulnerable to 
      attack.
 
      
 
 
4. A situation whereby Great Britain, for the first time, 
      can be threatened simultaneously on three major fronts, i.e., 
      in the North Sea, in the Mediterranean and in the Far East.
 
      
 
 
This threatening situation gives rise to the question of what 
      would be the effect on the United States and on the democratic 
      way of life, of a defeat of the United Kingdom and of the resulting 
      disintegration of the British Empire. Before attempting to answer 
      this question, it is necessary to assume the following probable 
      hypotheses:
 
      
 
 
1. That the British Empire is defeated in a war