Word: regionals
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When the Shah of Iran looks at a map of his region he has a nightmare vision. He sees a Communist pincer movement closing in on him from South Yemen in the south and Afghanistan in the east. He once remarked, "Whenever I get up in the morning, I always ask what happened the night before on the Arabian peninsula and in Afghanistan." The Shah is convinced that the crisis facing his nation is the result of a cunningly executed master plan conceived years ago by the Soviet Union...
...they are deeply annoyed by Washington's cautious, wait-and-see attitude toward the regime of President Noor Mohammad Taraki in Kabul. An official of the new Iranian Cabinet argues that it is "naive" of the U.S. not to recognize Afghanistan as the Russian bear's paw in the region...
...Rawalpindi last week, General Zia told TIME: "I have a feeling that the U.S. has given up its claims and interests in this region." As for CENTO, he called it "a treaty on paper with no significance whatsoever?no teeth, no backing." Among other CENTO leaders there is mounting impatience with the vagaries of U.S. public opinion as reflected in such congressional actions as the Turkish arms embargo and aid cuts for countries that try to acquire a nuclear capability. They also regard Carter Administration policies as quixotic and punitive. Pakistan, for example, is furious over Washington's jawboning nuclear...
...Pakistanis and Turks also resent, and reject, what they have privately dubbed "the Brzezinski Doctrine." That describes the Carter Administration's policy of relying on "regional influentials" ?Zbigniew Brzezinski's term?to shoulder much of the burden of maintaining security in their area. The "influentials" in this case are Iran and India?and the concept annoys Turkey and terrifies Pakistan. Says Zia angrily: "If the U.S. is thinking of aligning with pillars of strength in this region, then I'm not having any part of it. Instead of turning to Tehran and New Delhi, why can't Pakistan turn...
...that matter, Washington also has long been disillusioned with CENTO. Henry Kissinger used to regard his yearly visits to CENTO ministerial meetings as little more than nuisances of protocol, redeemed only by the opportunity to discuss Cyprus with the Turks. An American diplomat stationed in the region dismisses the alliance as "little more than a symbol, and not a very shining one at that." His colleagues joke grimly that the telecommunication system linking Ankara, Tehran and Rawalpindi, installed by the U.S. in 1964, is so often out of order that phone calls are frequently routed from Tehran to Pakistan...