, "America, and I trust Soviet Russia. . . must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe."
Churchill's condescension reflected an odd view: Britain could still be an independent power, retaining the role bestowed by an empire. He saw Britain as the intersection of three overlapping circles: the Anglo- American world, the Commonwealth, and Europe. That idea was barely plausible after World War II. Itmade no sense at all after the 1956 Suez Crisis, which showed that neither the Commonwealth...