Sharp charges and counter-charges being exchanged recently between the United Arab Republic and the Soviet Union seem more intense than-similar disputes in the past, but do not necessarily denote a serious rupture of Moscow-Cairo relations, according to political observers here.
There are even speculations here to the effect that UAR President Gamal Abdel Nasser is permitting his controlled press to publicize those exchanges, in the hope that he would make the United States believe there is a chance of wooing Egypt from the Soviet orbit by giving the UAR greater political and economic support.
Observers here point out that the question of UAR treatment of native Communists has always been a matter of dispute between Cairo and Moscow. The Soviet Union gave asylum to Galed Bakhdash, who escaped from Syria after it was Joined to Egypt, and has permitted Bakhdash to publish anti-Nasser articles in Soviet magazines. However, it is noted here, the Soviet Union has always been ready to forget about maltreatment of Communists in foreign countries, as long as the Governments of those lands suited the Moscow Communists.
After each flare-up of apparent disagreement between Moscow and Cairo, it is pointed out here, the rapprochement and cooperation between the two countries seem to grow closer. Egyptian army leaders, it is presumed, remind Nasser that, after all, his army is dependent on arms from the Soviet Union. It is remarked here as noteworthy that, despite the current spate of Moscow-Cairo charges, Soviet arms shipments to the UAR have not been interrupted.
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