Word: arabism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Using Leverage. Faced by the vacuum that resulted when the Arabs turned on the West during the Arab-Israeli war in June, the Russians seized the opportunity. From Morocco on the Atlantic to South Yemen on the Arabian Sea, they are supplying weapons, training troops, running aid programs and generally making themselves useful in areas that until recently were Western preserves. To match their new stake in the area, they have increased their Mediterranean fleet to some 50 ships, which thus equals in number, if not in firepower, the U.S. Sixth Fleet. Such ports as Algeria's Mers...
...Soviets have used the disastrous postwar state of the Arab armies and air forces as leverage to increase Arab dependence on Russia. They have since replaced about 80% of all the equipment lost by the Arabs in the war, including 80 new MIG-21 fighters and SU-9 fighter-bombers and 200 tanks for Egypt, 40 planes and 100 tanks for Syria and 20 planes for Iraq. In addition, the Russians have given Egypt, Syria and Algeria some 40 Komar patrol boats, which carry the Styx missile of the type that sank the Israeli destroyer Elath off Port Said last...
...Iraq, a machine-tool plant in Iran, and a fish-meal factory in Yemen. Russian culture follows the Red flag. In Alexandria, young girls are quitting belly-dance classes and attending the recently opened Russian ballet school instead. Soviet folk-dance groups and circus troupes tour the major Arab cities. Russian films play at the cinemas and on state-owned television, and Soviet books and periodicals that are skillfully prepared in Arabic now cram Arab bookstores. Arab universities now stress Russian language courses...
...Russians are frustrated by their inability to exchange some of the benefits they bestow for real political power. Recognizing the Islamic aversion to Communism, they are forced to ignore the local Communist parties, which are outlawed in most Arab countries, and deal with governments that often prove recalcitrant. The Russians have been unable to influence the Syrians toward moderation, and Nasser refuses their advice as often as he takes it. The deeper their penetration becomes, the more they are bound to be caught up in the bitter quarrels and mutual hatreds that rack the Middle East. Moreover, they know full...
None of the Arab leaders shows any desire to become a Russian satellite. In fact, Nasser and some other leaders would like to find a saving formula by which they could re-establish relations with the U.S. and thus resume their balancing act between Russians and Americans. Washington has so far seen fit not to respond to such hints, but the time must come when, if it does not want the Russians to tighten their hold on Arabia irretrievably, the U.S. must try to restore American influence in the area...