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)