Word: regionals
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...urged to tread lightly in a crucial region...
Throughout the region, there is a virtually unanimous belief that the current semblance of stability would be shattered by U.S. military intervention in Iran, regardless of the provocation. Says a political science professor in Kuwait: "It would lead to a direct explosion." The moral, in the words of a respected Beirut journalist: "If the U.S. ever considers military intervention, it had first better make sure that Arab governments are in control of their countries...
...worst fears of the Saudi leaders and their neighbors is that the Soviet Union will become actively involved on the side of the monarchies' enemies. So far the Soviets have treated the unrest in the region with relative restraint. But to the east, in Afghanistan, the Soviet role has been aggressive and heavyhanded. Within the past three weeks, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, the Soviets may have tripled their military assistance to the Marxist regime of Hafizullah Amin, which is fighting to hold its own against a country-wide rebellion by Muslim tribesmen. The Soviets are now believed...
...passage of SALT II. Why are the Soviets ignoring these warnings? To some extent, they are trying to reinforce a faltering regime. But Western experts believe that the buildup may also be Moscow's deliberate reaction to the increase of American naval and air power in the region around Iran: an oblique Soviet warning of the dangers of superpower confrontation...
...would be an ideal first step toward defusing the Iranian crisis and reducing the pressure on America's traditional allies. Until significant progress is made on that score, they believe, there is likely to be neither much sympathy for the U.S. nor much real stability in the region. As a senior British diplomat observed last week, "A settlement of the Palestinian problem would do more for the West in the Middle East than several divisions of U.S. Marines...