Secretary of State Dulles told a press conference today that no vast new program of economic assistance to the Middle East is contemplated to bolster that area against Communism.
Mr. Dulles recalled that he told the United Nations that if a solution were found to regional political problems in line with principles he had enunciated in August, 1955, considerable aid might be extended. But, at the moment, he said, there was no concrete new program that was great in scope.
(The Wall Street Journal, in a dispatch from Damascus, said today that the Soviet-Syrian aid agreement signed in Damascus yesterday “was a clear indication the Soviets have a Mid-East doctrine of their own,” it added that “the ‘Khrushchev Doctrine,’ now rapidly evolving, is even patterned after Eisenhower’s–it offers economic help and military support for Arab lands interested in defending themselves against aggression. The enemy the Russians are pointing to, of course, is ‘imperialist aggressors’ not the least of which, the Russians would have the Syrians believe is Turkey. But the list also includes Israel, Britain, France and the United States.”)
Mr. Dulles said the Soviet desire to move into the Middle East was nothing new. However, the influence the Soviets today exert in Syria was new, he said. According to Mr. Dulles, the Soviet Union has been recently talking much more toughly and their charges in the United Nations have been characterized by language that was indeed tough.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
