Description:The United States and the Soviet Union are engaged in a desperate struggle in the Middle East, the ultimate outcome of which will decide the fate of the area as well as the future of the Free World. The importance of this strategic region to the West was unhappily demonstrated when the October 1956 military action against Egypt resulted in the stoppage of traffic through the Suez Canal and Europe starved for oil. By mid-March the Suez Canal crisis had cost U.S. taxpayers $17,410,000 via the United Nations alone.
The three-pronged invasion of Egypt confirmed in the Arab public eye the previous image of Britain as a colonial power encouraging Israel to become the spearhead for aggres¬ sion against the Arab states. And France’s imperialist aspira¬ tions were similarly confirmed. The United States alone of the Western Powers was left with any ability to stop the Arab world from being driven into Moscow’s welcoming arms.
To protect the nations of the Middle East against communism, the United States sought Arab acceptance of the Eisenhower Doctrine, a combination of military aid and economic assistance. The Soviet Union countered with its own scheme calling for the liquidation of all Western bases, the withdrawal of all foreign troops and a joint program of economic development.The chips were all down. The Arab world, for whose favor the United States and the U.S.S.R. were competing, was faced with making a choice or risking the hazards of neutralism.
Events were crowding into this stirring drama so quickly that it was barely possible for even the daily newspaper, let alone a book, to keep fully abreast of developments. The present book threatened to become an unending volume. However, while situations changed and effects altered, the basic causes of Middle East turmoil remained unchanged and unaltered and almost untouched.