Geographically, at some point it doesn't matter. Everything else being equal, Canada is equivalent to the US, to Brazil, to India, to China, to Russia, etc. The difference boils down to population and economy. The USSR was slightly ahead in population and significantly behind in economy.
The "Communist block" was the USSR plus subjugated/unwilling allies. The US allies were much, much better, since:
1. They actually wanted to be part of their block.
2. Their resources, populations and economies were definitely far ahead of the "Communist block" ones. After all, the UK and France were still colonial empires in 1955. While Poland and Romania... yeah... You could count China, but China basically only got involved in wars near its borders: Korea, Vietnam. It was never going to join the USSR in an all-out, nuclear war against the West unless directly attacked for some reason. It was part of the reason the split happened between the USSR and China (China wouldn't fall in line like Hungary or Czechoslovakia).
The US could still be ahead, but it's alienating all its allies right now.
France and the UK were, depending on how you count them, still the #3 and #4 economies in the world at that time. Ravaged by war, but still backed (though not as solidly) by colonial empires or at least neo-colonial institutions (Commonwealth, Francophonie).
Who did the Soviets have, that was worthy of being mentioned as an ally? China? That was about it.
And fear of Communism was much higher than fear of the US. Therefore making a lot of countries natural American allies.
“China? That’s about it.” China is freaking massive. Both in terms of geography and population. Russia + China is enough to vastly outnumber and “outgun” the US.
I don’t think we’re really disagreeing on much. My original comment was pretty nitpicky.
The "Communist block" was the USSR plus subjugated/unwilling allies. The US allies were much, much better, since:
1. They actually wanted to be part of their block.
2. Their resources, populations and economies were definitely far ahead of the "Communist block" ones. After all, the UK and France were still colonial empires in 1955. While Poland and Romania... yeah... You could count China, but China basically only got involved in wars near its borders: Korea, Vietnam. It was never going to join the USSR in an all-out, nuclear war against the West unless directly attacked for some reason. It was part of the reason the split happened between the USSR and China (China wouldn't fall in line like Hungary or Czechoslovakia).
The US could still be ahead, but it's alienating all its allies right now.