Mideast Ups and Downs:
Laqueur, Walter
Mideast Ups and Downs Challenge in the Middle East. By Harry B. Ellis. Ronald. 238 pp. $4.00. Reviewed by Walter Z. Laqueur Editor, "Soviet Survey"; author, "Communism and Nationalism in the...
...author, "Communism and Nationalism in the Middle East" Published in 1956, this book by the Christian Science Monitor's Middle East correspondent might have caused a stir...
...Essentially this book is a plea for a new American orientation in the Middle East...
...The underlying causes are not difficult to divine...
...Fortunately for the peoples of the Middle East and the world at large, the present eclipse of the area in world affairs has helped to reduce somewhat the seriousness of these problems even if they have not been solved...
...He traces the ups and downs of American relations with the United Arab Republic, surveys American interests in other parts of the area and presents short descriptions of the workings of such agencies as the Mutual Security Program and the Development Loan Fund...
...intrinsically this is not one of the world's key areas...
...According to his thesis, support for Nasser is the best way to stop the Communists since "decline of President Nasser at this time would greatly advance Communist interests in the Middle East...
...Ellis believes that Arab leaders, notably Gamal Abdel Nasser, are far more deeply concerned about the dangers of Communist influence than is realized by many in the West...
...This could not perhaps be foreseen by Ellis, but even if we disregard the ups and downs in Soviet-Egyptian relations, the case Ellis makes for greater American support for Nasser is not quite convincing...
...Harry Ellis has covered Middle Eastern affairs for his newspaper from Cairo and Jerusalem, New York and Boston, for almost a decade...
...such an appraisal was undoubtedly correct three or four years ago, but at present it is a highly debatable contention...
...It is very doubtful whether in the present situation great new initiatives are needed, and it is regrettable that Ellis has concentrated so much on his recommendations for a new policy rather than on presenting some more vivid descriptions of life in the Middle East such as are found in his previous books, and, too infrequently, also in the present volume...
...Its strategic bases are gradually losing importance with the improvement of rocket techniques, and cynics could argue that the Middle East has even lost its near-monopoly of political instability...
...Regardless of American friendship or hostility, Nasser will follow a neutralist line, with all that implies —at least until the Communists challenge him next...
...Ellis' analysis of "Communist influence" is restricted to Soviet policies in the area and therefore at best gives an incomplete picture, ignoring the activities of the local Communist parties and the front organizations...
...If so, open American support, far from strengthening Nasser's position (as Ellis wants), would actually weaken him...
...An unsuspecting newspaper reader in 1956 must have reached the conclusion that Egypt was one of the world's major powers, whereas it now seems painfully obvious that it is a poor and rather weak country, too slender a basis for any great power ambitions—even the scope for its mischief-making has been limited...
...since then there has been a reconciliation between Moscow and Cairo and Egyptian activities in Africa (through the "Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee" and other such organizations) have been of great help to the Soviet Union in its policy in the dark continent...
...His definition of King Hussein and King Saud as "political anachronisms hanging on against the winds of change" is undoubtedly correct, painful as it may appear to some Americans...
...For there is not the slightest doubt that Nasser's prestige has slipped since 1957—not only among the Middle-Eastern governments, but also among the Arab peoples, including the population of the northern section of the UAR...
...He has talked to most of the leading Middle-Eastern statesmen and many American diplomats concerned with the area, and his observations on American activities and interests in the Middle East are of interest...
...There is much reason to assume that the Middle East's eclipse in world politics is more than just seasonal...
...The population of the whole Middle East is not much more than that of Indonesia or Pakistan, It has no important raw material but oil, and there happens to be too much oil on the world market anyway...
...the Congo, Cuba and half a dozen other countries can now press much more formidable claims in that direction...
...in winter 1960-61, one suspects, it will hardly cause a ripple...
...In these circumstances Western inactivity in the Middle East during the last year or two has probably been the most sensible policy to follow...
...Nasser needs anti-Westernism to keep him going...
...At the time the book was written Nasser was indeed involved in a bitter struggle with the Communists who challenged his leadership of the pan-Arab movement...
...If the main aim of the West should be to strengthen Nasser, Britain and France, paradoxically enough, have done more towards that end than the American well-wishers of Nasser...
...He stresses, quite correctly, that Nasser is under considerable internal pressure "to take anti-American positions and make anti-American statements...
...Jordan may erupt again and coups d'etat in other parts of the region are quite possible, but it seems somewhat doubtful that the Middle East will, in the foreseeable future, regain the pre-eminence it had for so many years after World War II...
...Ellis regards Nasser as the most influential and popular figure in the Arab world...
...Ellis is not unmindful of the fact that closer American cooperation with Nasser would perhaps endanger the Lebanese Christians, Israel and others in the Middle East, but such "risks must be measured against the overriding American need to stop the Communist advance in the Middle East...
...All these assumptions seem highly doubtful but it may not be necessary to discuss them in detail, for Ellis's case breaks down on his own premises...
...Through no fault of the author: This happens to be another book on the Middle East, an area that temporarily at least has ceased to be one of the world's chief trouble zones...
...his prestige among his fellow Arabs was never higher than during the Suez crisis...
Vol. 44 • February 1961 • No. 9
