I don’t know how the British government will extricate itself from this difficult situation, but if the genius of British diplomacy has not yet died, then Baldwin, taking his cue from long-distance imperialist policy, should have drawn up and implemented approximately the following plan: on the basis of the acknowledged indivisibility of the communiqué of 3 February, Great Britain agrees to form a united front with France and the USSR. Then the three governments immediately bring it to Mussolini’s notice (while the war in Africa has not yet begun) that if the League of Nations declares Italy an aggressor, they will be forced to impose economic sanctions on her. In particular, Great Britain will close the Suez Canal to Italy. At the same time, Great Britain and France let Mussolini understand that if he renounces aggression against Abyssinia and agrees to allow the entire conflict to be resolved by the League of Nations, the latter will be prepared in a short while to give Italy, on the conditions of a League of Nations mandate, one of the former German colonies in Africa (say, Cameroon or Togo) that are presently the mandates of England and France. If Great Britain and France were to find the strength and resolution to implement a plan like this, not only would the Abyssinian problem be settled for many years to come, and not only would the prestige of the League of Nations be considerably raised, but the united front of Great Britain, France, Italy and the USSR against the German threat would be consolidated, and the paths to relative calm in Europe would be opened. Can Britain and France find the requisite strength and determination? I doubt it. But time will tell.