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Russia, long the most hated nation in the world, became by virtue of the treaty the most sought-after power in the world. U. S. Ambassador Laurence Steinhardt, who had vacationed in the U. S. while the treaty was being cooked up, paid a hurried call on Foreign Commissar Viacheslav Molotov. British Ambassador Sir Stafford Cripps got busy. Japanese Ambassador Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, who hates Communists but loves the "simple, pure-minded Russians," conferred with German Ambassador Count Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg about the non-aggression treaty Japan hopes to negotiate with the U. S. S. R. to safeguard her northern frontier while she conquers Greater East Asia. Comrades Stalin & Molotov said nothing. Well they know that, while Russia's interests lie with a victory of the London-Washington Axis, the Berlin-Tokyo Axis has the U. S. S. R. also encircled.
As Foreign Minister Molotov prepared to confer with Germany's Ribbentrop, Berlin let it be known that in the new world Germany hopes to create, Russia would have her sphere of influence. This sphere would lie between German Europe and Japanese East Asia, but its exact boundaries were not marked. Russia does and must always fear German expansion eastward more than anything else, and it was doubtful last week if anything Joachim von Ribbentrop could say or sign would reassure Comrade Stalin on that point. Best bet was that Russia would continue to play ball with the Axis against Great Britain for self-protection, but would stand ready to change sides if ever Britain and the U. S. appeared about to win the game.
What of China? If Russia and Japan can reach an agreement on spheres of influence in China, China may find herself Poland. But if Russia continues to send supplies to the Chinese, China may gain by the pact. Last week the U. S. gave China a $25,000,000 credit, and Britain will doubtless reopen the Burma Road. Both Britain and the U. S. now desperately need China's aid in keeping Japan too busy to spread out into the East Indies.
"The turning point of history" was what Japan's Prince Konoye called the treaty. Reactions throughout the world showed that this might be true. To China a U. S.-Japanese war appeared inevitable. To Spain the U. S. seemed faced with a dilemma: intervene immediately or abandon Britain. Spanish newspapers said nothing of Spain's dilemma— to fight or to eat— as Don Ramón Serrano Suñer left Berlin for Rome.
To Latin America it seemed that the war must become worldwide, with South America as the prize. South America's outspoken hostility to the three Axis powers made the U. S. thank God it had made friends with its neighbors in the south. Both German and Italian newspapers warned that the initial Axis attack, if it came, would be directed at South America.
London saw the English-speaking nations welded into one unit. Said the News Chronicle: "If the English-speaking world has taken on all the aggressors at once, it will survive and win." In Canada an immediate U. S. -British alliance was urged by the Toronto Globe & Mail.