The capitalist powers had joined with the Socialist Soviet Union in a Grand Alliance, but the military activities of Britain and the United States indicated that their whole heart was not in the arrangement. The Soviet Union was permitted for three whole years to carry the burden of the fiercest assault known to history; under British pressure, the Anglo-American military power was distributed along the relatively inactive Empire lifeline. Thus, in effect, the allies fought Germany with one hand and with the other built up positions from which to crowd and “contain” the Soviet State. Within the Anglo-American camp there was likewise double dealing. Each party maneuvered with a view to postwar advantage for No. 1 at the expense of his “gallant ally.” Early in the war, Washington could boast that there was no need of a Second Front since there were already a Third, Fourth, and even a Tenth Front. This merely revealed that United States forces were scattered all over the globe with little relation to the needs of the alliance but with obvious effects on future adjustment of Anglo-American differences. As part of the “war effort” for instance, a contract was made to build and operate an American military airfield in Arabia, across the gulf from Persia, for three years _after_ the war. This was but the expression of a series of deals with Arabia, notably for oil, by which the U. S. became dominant there while Britain was forced back into second place. The phenomenon was worldwide. As a result, American imperialism feels superbly assured of its present strength. That assurance is demonstrated by our current atom-bomb diplomacy. All loan and other negotiations stress the determination of our profit-swollen trusts to impose their rule over the world. In the process, the British are often forced to divide former private preserves, such as southern Iran, and virtually to abandon competitive rights in huge areas once under their chief control, such as China. The American methods tend to be oblique: military and technical missions are established in the country in question, “upon request.” No request, no loan. This method replaces the crude “Opium War” pattern in which Britain built and maintained the world’s greatest empire of the past. But the same bloody suppression of “natives” is behind both methods. In recent months the British have slaughtered Greeks and Indonesians; unwilling Marines have made Lidices in North China.