Gorbachev and the "Arab syndrome": Soviet policy in the Middle East

If the Americans suffer from a 'Vietnam syndrome' that makes them pessimistic about the Third World and their role in it, the Soviets appear appear to suffer from a comparable 'Arab syndrome.' at least as far as the Middle East is concerned. Gorbachev's policies are raising expectations, and this could be a source of difficulty for him. A major crisis in the Middle East, in which the USSR was faced with the options of intervention or retreat, would threaten the dynamic of the Gorbachev period as much as one in Eastern Europe, and more than a crisis in Central America, since a failure to act in the Middle East could be seen as humiliating and dangerous in a region so close to the USSR.