On flexible allegiance

Liz, you said that the Spanish Civil War reminds you of the Greek war for independence in its proxy nature, and that makes me think (not to leap into the future or anything) of the Cold War. Someone remarked that in the Cold War we allied with the fascists to defeat the communists, just as we had previously allied (in World War II) with the communists to defeat the fascists.  Likewise, in the Spanish Civil War, all sorts of pinkos from the West rallied to the anti-fascist cause.  But how can Europe countenance such a flexible allegiance?

This is not such a polar swap of ideals for Europeans, though.  Just as the United States was preserving its interests by first allying with the communists and then the fascists, Europe was paralyzed by mutually exclusive national interests.  Italy, always the great hangers-on, had no problem leaning Socialist and then fascist and then allying with Hitler (but the tide turned again in the riots where Mussolini was killed).  Since 1871, the German national interest had been at odds with the rest of Europe, and Great Britain remained the enforcer of the antiquated Congress of Vienna.