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Michel Aflak |
Foreign Policy
We know that the Arabs see no reason to antagonize a great nation like Soviet
Russia which has been expressing has expressed, since the emergence of her new
system, sympathy with the peoples struggling for their freedom and independence.
Moreover, the Arabs hope that the intentions of the Soviet state will have a
good and practical impact on international politics. Their friendship with her
will be strengthened to the extent that they feel the sincerity of these
intentions and their harmony with their national interest.
(Arab nationalism and its attitude towards communism, 4
-1944)
The policy which weighs heavily on the affairs of the Arabs is the policy of the
two Anglo-Saxon states, Britain and the United States. Nothing can equal this
policy in impact and force and counter-balance its danger except the policy of a
great country which has always been on guard against the designs of British and
American imperialism: the Soviet Union. One of the simplest political rules and
the first national duty of the governments that are conscious of the interest of
theft countries, governments which are free to take their stands
internationally, is to fight their enemies with the help of the enemies of their
enemies, or at least to use them as a threat and concentrate their attention
fighting the enemy which occupies a good deal of their soil, the enemy which
attacks their very nationality.
(The reason for the weakness of our foreign policy, 9 -
July 10, 1946)
It has become dear today that the interests of the Arab nation and the Soviet
Union meet, and have met for a long time on more then one vital point. The Arab
nation struggles for political and economic liberation from Western imperialism,
while the Soviet Union sees the continuation of the Western military and
economic occupation, of the Arab land as a direct danger to its existence.
Therefore when it supports the Arabs and provides them with arms and economic
aid, it does not aspire to more than closing the Arab countries to Western
imperialism and preventing it from using them as a theatre for its war
operations and an economic source for augmenting its influence and hegemony. If
it is the duty of the Arabs to be realistic and know what interests have changed
the Soviet Union’s policy towards them and brought it closer to their path and
their friendship, it is also realistic to recognize the fundamental difference
which separate the socialist countries and capitalist countries. It is in the
interests of the socialist countries to be loyal to the principles of their
societies based on liberty, justice and peace and opposed to imperialism and
exploitation.
(On the visit of Shepilov, 5 - A1-Baath - June 29,
1956)