The unrest and instability provoked by the disintegration of centuries-old social and religious conceptions in Syria, Egypt, and other Moslem states with a window on the West are spreading like a plague to even the remotest corners of Arabia. There is now social ferment in the Saudi kingdom, in Yemen, Kuwait, and Aden, with the usual repercussions on local big-power interests. Saudi forces and British-controlled native levies have fought two pitched battles recently for the oasis of Buraimi. Other British forces, including regular units of the army and Royal Air Force, have been in action around Aden and in the Hadhramaut. Even unexplored Oman has edged its way onto the international agenda. When, on November 23, 1955, the Arab League secretariat in Cairo received its first official call from a senior Soviet diplomat— the then ambassador Daniel Solod, now head of the Near Eastern section of the Soviet Foreign Ministry—the subjects most keenly discussed were neither the ludicrous Baghdad Pact nor even Arab-Israeli relations, but Britain’s wrangles with the Arabs over Buraimi, the Aden Protectorate, and Oman. (The Arab League secretariat later placed at the disposal of the Soviet embassy in Cairo important extracts from its archives dealing with these problems.) And when Sir Anthony Eden visited President Eisenhower at the end of January, Buraimi and Oman were again overlooked.

© 2009 Commentary Inc.