The United States (US)-Soviet competition was pervasive and overshadowed almost all relationships between the superpowers and the developing countries, and even the relationships among the latter. Polarization was an unavoidable fact of life in the postwar world, and the US had no realistic alternative; global responsibilities were unavoidable. The bipolar structure suffered another, more fundamental blow at the hands of Nikita Khrushchev. In the early postcolonial period, Soviet capabilities and presence in the developing areas were virtually nil, and Stalin's hard-line assumed that any new, non-Communist nation was automatically part of the camp of imperialism. Though changes in relationships between the US and the Soviet Union have been immensely important and have attracted great US attention, changes in the Third World have been hardly less important and have perhaps even greater historical significance. The US-Soviet rivalry gives the illusion of a private quarrel pursued in even the remotest corners of the world, with little regard to bystanders.