If the fall of China meant a Communist Far East (as European statesmen assumed that it ultimately would) then Marshall Plan dollars would not be able to help Europe much.

“You never hear the one that hits you,” the soldiers say. This observation, both comforting and terrifying, applies also to the great nations and civilizations now on history’s casualty lists. When disaster comes they are looking the other way, or else they are certain that the disaster does not matter…