The Middle East In Soviet Policy

A comprehensive study of Soviet policies in the Middle East.

The Limits to Power (1979) analyses the spectrum of Soviet interests and policies in the Middle East following the Yom Kippur War of October 1973: how the Soviets handled the oil question, military and economic aid, policy toward Egypt, Syria, Iraq, the Palestinian organisations – and toward Israel itself. The Soviet position in the Middle East in 1970 was as the dominant foreign power in the region, and this book examines the events and actions that resulted, under a decade later, in such a sharp reversal in Soviet fortunes. The ebb-and-flow of Soviet diplomacy, as it emerges from the wealth of official statements and press material, is examined in detail.

First Published in 1959, The Soviet Union and the Middle East attempts to shed light on the evolution of Soviet attitudes toward the Middle East, its problems, challenges, and opportunities since 1917. Divided into two parts, the first part "The Soviet Image of the Middle East" presents an investigation into the sources of Soviet policy in that area, while the second part "The Great Breakthrough" explores the political, social, and economic conditions in the Middle East. The volume discusses themes like storm over Asia, the arms deal, the year of Suez, the Syrian Crisis of 1957, Soviet trade and economic aid (1954-1958), Soviet cultural policy and the intellectual climate in the Arab world, communism in the Middle East (1955-1958) and communism and Arab nationalism, to ask larger questions like did the Soviet Communists expect the revolutionary events in Asia? Were they instrumental in bringing them about or did they occur quite independently? This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of political history, international relations, West Asian Studies, Russian Studies, and history of communism.

Professor Freedman provides an exhaustive account of Soviet policy in the Middle East from the invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 to withdrawal from the country ten years later.

This study examines the extent to which new political thinking has been applied to Soviet policy in the Middle East and aims to speculate about the possible impact of any changes on patterns of international relations in the region.