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Pre-war plans were based on the idea that the standing French colonial forces would hold the lines until the British Empire could swing into action. It was foreseen that it would take at least a year for the demilitarized empire to be able to make use of its immense human and material resources. Some 100,000 French troops were therefore concentrated in Syria and probably twice as many in the colonies west of Libya, plus 1,000 airplanes. The troops in Syria were to defend the Suez Canal against the expected attack, while the Tunisian forces slowly made their way into Libya. Only in the Light of these facts is it possible to understand the problems created by the defection of France. The defense plan collapsed within forty-eight hours, and the British were left to face the whole force of the Italian armies, which numbered more than 200,000 men in Libya alone.

The partition and conquest of Czechoslovakia prove that the spirit of Munich is marching still. For one hundred glorious days, from the beginning of December till the new crisis, Balkan States breathed freely. There were whispers of British and French support; that the great democracies would take a stand on the Danube; that, above all, the heroic words of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had not been in vain. King Carol of Rumania took a determined stand and crushed German agents boring from within; Yugoslavia and Hungary were not slow to follow his lead. The little states around the Great Reich did not embark lightly on the new policy. On the contrary, there was careful analysis; and they certainly did not underestimate the extent of German opposition.

To the economic difficulties of settling millions of Jews in Palestine must be added conflicting political ambitions and racial and religious differences. The most striking political factor is the rise of Arab nationalism in Palestine. From a mass of half-civilized, restless tribes with no common aim or interest, a self-conscious national entity has developed. The World War, contact with Western imperialism, and most of all the presence of the Jews have brought about this change. In the cities and towns among the Arab intelligentsia and particularly among the youth, a deep-rooted hatred of all imperialisms now exists. The recent events in Palestine, repeated in essence in Egypt and in Syria, must be viewed as part of a movement sweeping across the Arab world.

This article presents the author's views on the Arabs hatred for the Jews. The Arab youth movement cannot be trifled with, and the sooner the West learns to respect it, the better. In Palestine nearly every village now boasts a patriotic youth society; the Scout movement, in the vanguard of the new nationalism, was unheard of before 1920, but now it has a membership of about 4,000; so great is the demand for education that some 60 per cent of the applicants have to be turned away every year for lack of accommodation. though the British have been opening about seventy new schools each year.

The author says that he was arrested by the French secret police on the Beirut, Lebanon-Damascus, Syria train before arriving in Damascus, and was shipped back, guarded by four black French-African soldiers under a French superior, to the Palestine frontier. For the last thirty-two days not a shop, not a restaurant, not a cafe, not a theater has been open in Damascus. Not a worker has been at his bench, not a clerk at his desk. A foreigner arriving in Damascus without any Arab friends is likely to starve. Food simply cannot be bought.

Well-informed Italians have no illusions about the economic value of Ethiopia. They realize that had Ethiopia been as rich as sensationalists would have us believe, Great Britain would not have abandoned the country in 1868, nor would the French company, Bayard Brothers of Roubaix, have given it up after sinking millions in exploration. The cost of developing the country and of transporting the raw materials which might be found there would be disproportionate to their value on the world market. As a field for colonization Ethiopia would not be productive either.

The article presents a critical analysis of key events taking place in the Near East that will probably affect the outcome of World War II, specifically Great Britain's strategic position. Cut off from the homeland by the British navy, Italian forces in Libya and East Africa rely on military and food stocks accumulated before the war. Moreover, Axis propaganda among the Arabs is continuing. Adding heat to the conflict is the possibility of German reinforcements, especially in the air.