THE ALLIES: The Old Order Crumbles

In the swirl of events, not the cold war but the decline of empires held the headlines last week. The West's two great empires—Britain and France—put in a damaging week. Bowing to the inevitable, France conceded a resentful Morocco the independence it might have granted, and thereby earned more gratitude, more than two years ago. Fighting the unthinkable, France watched in anguish and anger as its leaders fumbled and Algeria slipped away, and with it France's inexorably dwindling claim to world power.

Britain suffered its worst humiliation in years when Jordan's young King Hussein sacked the famed Lieut. General John...