The newspapers can’t stop writing about the Franco-Soviet alliance. On its front page, under the banner headline ‘The Conditions of the Franco-Russian Pact’, the Star has published the stunning news that an agreement on the pact was finally reached on 10 December, that the alliance has been drawn up for five years with the option of a further five-year prolongation, and that it is clearly directed against Germany and Japan. According to the Star’s sources, the alliance is of a defensive nature and stipulates cooperation between the staffs of the two countries, full cooperation in the air, the exchange of military missions, the immediate provision of the Soviet army with 400 French tanks, etc. In the event of a Japanese–Soviet war, France undertakes to supply ammunition and other war matériel to the USSR to a value of 4 million francs; and in the event of a Franco-German, war the USSR undertakes to supply grain to France to a similar sum. The pact does not stipulate direct mutual military assistance. This shocking sensation is seasoned with portraits of Laval and M.M. [Litvinov].