World Events in a Month

Fate willed that Beirut should be, this month, the center of Arab and international gravity. The Arab Games, which convened there on October 12 in the presence of His Majesty King Saud, monarch of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and His Excellency President Chamoun, were a momentous Arab event, inscribing in Lebanon's modern history an immortal page among the many immortal pages belonging to Their Majesty and Excellency, King Saud and President Chamoun. Were it not for Egypt's absence from the Arab Games, one could have said that the whole Arab family had gathered in the Lebanese capital, with young men whose watchword was the drawing together of views and the unifying of ranks in the cause of Arab causes and interests. Egypt may well have its excuse for this absence. And we may well be right in saying that the convening of the Games in Beirut was among the most prominent and most effective means of dealing with the international situation that had arisen in the Middle East. For after Syria submitted its complaint against Turkey to the United Nations, accusing it of massing its armies on the border with aggressive intent, Soviet notes of warning rained down upon America, Turkey, and its allies, declaring that Moscow would aid the state attacked, and would strike Ankara and Washington with iron and fire, with rockets and satellites, to chastise them. The situation in the Middle East, and especially on the Turkish-Syrian border, took on a grave and extremely tense character. People began to reckon most carefully with a war they thought bound to break out in this corner of the world. Then the General Assembly convened, and it was, as usual, a theater for speeches: the plaintiff assailing the adversary by every means, and the defendant taking the blow with a show of patience and endurance, warding off what he could from himself and his rights. Then the case is postponed, as is also customary, for three or four days. And so indeed it went with the Syrian complaint.

The important thing is that Beirut, to which the center of international and Arab gravity shifted this month, did more than the United Nations to solve the crisis and ease the tension that had gripped the entire Middle East.

Their Majesty and Excellency, King Saud and President Chamoun, studied the present situation in the light of the single Arab interest. His Majesty made contacts with both the Turkish and the Syrian sides, while His Excellency made similar contacts with the ambassadors of the great powers and the Arab states, which led — thank God — to the dispersal of the cloud of war and of pessimism about the outcome toward which the situation between Turkey and Syria was tending. Then the Lebanese-Saudi communiqué was issued, on the eve of King Saud's departure for Riyadh; it confirmed these efforts and showed to what extent Lebanon and Saudi Arabia — indeed, all the Arab states — stand beside any Arab state in similar circumstances.

There was, however, something worthy of drawing observers' attention: while this uproar was in progress, and the Soviet Union was adding to its force and vehemence, the Turkish commanders of the naval, air, and land forces were submitting their resignations in order to enter the battle of the general elections to be held on the 27th of this month, and President Bayar and Premier Menderes were opposing the rival party with fiery speeches, in pursuit of victory in these elections. Thus the military observer and the diplomatic observer were of one opinion: that Turkey — its officials, military and civilian, and its people unanimously — are more concerned with the internal situation than with what Khrushchev says about Turkey and its intentions toward its neighbor Syria, or with the threats and accusations he has hurled.

Whatever may be the truth of these threats and accusations, the West was thoroughly occupied with them. American officials issued similar threats and stronger accusations against the Soviet Union, and voices rose in the Western capitals demanding the unification of the Western word and closer scientific

and political cooperation among them to confront the growing Soviet Communist danger in East and West. The result of all this was Mr. Macmillan's journey to Washington and his meeting with President Eisenhower and Mr. Dulles, and their examination, with the foreign secretaries of Washington and London, of the most effective means of recovering the scientific and political initiative from the Russians. And it is no mere conjecture to say that the new Washington talks are nothing but a continuation of the Bermuda talks between the two leaders, Eisenhower and Macmillan, at the end of last year... The situation in the Middle East, and the Russians' launching of their artificial satellite, may well be two grave reasons for hastening the date of coming conferences and talks, whether in Washington, London, or Paris.