Admirable as the motive behind the Eiscnhower Doctrine is, the implementation of the program will take a lot of doing. The idea behind the doctrine is that as British and French influence in the Middle East is being rapidly crowded out by Arab nationalism and Russian intrigue, someone needs to move in to the area to fill the power vacuum before it is seized by the Soviet imperialists. The move is important not only for the preservation of the sizable oil interest that the American nationals are holding in the Middle East but also for the very existence of all the countries in Western Europe. For if the Russian imperialists should move into the area in strength, they could be depended upon to use the oil and the Suez Canal as economic weapons to bring about the downfall of all the trading and industrial nations of Western Europe.
As leader of the free world against Communism, the American government should take full responsibility to protect the area against Communist intrusion. While the contemplated American action is not entirely selfless idealism, it is a well-known fact that the American government has no political and territorial ambitions in the area. If it seeks peace and stability in the Middle East it does so mainly for the good of all—for the Turks, Greeks, Arabs, Israelis and other nationals who live there as well as for the Western Europeans and American investors.
Unfortunately for the Americans in their self-imposed task, they will have to overcome the legacy of hate handed down from the colonial powers of the past. It is almost axiomatic that no imperialistic nation is popular with the subject people it exploits. This applies not only to the Russian imperialists in Hungary and other satellite countries but also to the Britishers whose influence in the Middle East was paramount before the rise of Nasser. It is a comparatively easy job to wrest the Arab nationalists from the tentacles of the Soviets, but it is an immensely more difficult task to keep America's important allies from reinstalling themselves in their former privileged positions to exploit the people in the region, after the Communists are gone.
A case in point is that after eight long years of sacrifices and bloodshed in her war against Japan, China was denied the fruits of victory on V-J Day by the British. On the eve of victory Churchill threatened that Hong Kong could only be taken away from the British over his dead body. As vital as the Middle East is to the British, there is no telling how many future prime ministers would offer themselves at the altar in order to restore the Middle East to the status quo ante.
Hence America's first and foremost task is to map out a course midway between Arab nationalism and British imperialism. First, she will have to allay the suspicions and fears of the Arabs and their hatred against the British. Secondly, she will have to do this without looking as if she were betraying the interests of her important ally. Anyone who knows Middle East knows this is no easy task. However, without the active support of the Arab people, the battle for the Middle East is lost before it is started.
When it comes to the military aspect of the question, the issue is fairly simple. For if the Eisenhower Doctrine should be adopted by Congress, as it looks that it would at the present writing, neither the Soviets nor the Chinese Communists will knowingly start hostilities in the Middle East, unless they are prepared to challenge the American might. However, if they are bent on trouble, it would be much better for the defense to attack the homeland of the invaders than to campaign in countries at the opposite end of the world. For if the Soviet Union or the Chinese mainland is attacked, the invading troops will be welcomed as liberators, whereas an army coming to the assistance of the Middle Eastern countries would at best be regarded with indifference.
There are at present two types of countries in the Middle East; those that are friendly to the West and those that show strong sympathies for the Soviets. In the former, a good deal can be done with the Eisenhower Doctrine. In the latter any attempt to apply the doctrine will meet with stubborn refusal. Prominent among this latter group are Egypt and Syria. With the hospitality extended to them by the Egyptian and Syrian governments, the Soviets have already obtained a firm foothold in the two countries. They can operate fairly freely in the open. Hordes of nationals hailing from the Soviet bloc are present under various guises. Some of them go there merely as travelers or members of goodwill missions; others as players in theatrical troupes; still others as military advisors. But whatever pretense they use, the majority of them are sent there as secret agents. The military advisors that were sent there to show the natives how to handle the Russian arms and war equipment are located in all the strategic points of the two countries. They operate the airfields. They control the aircraft supplied by the Soviets. Natives loyal to them infiltrate all the vital government organs. Communist sympathizers are introduced into all the sensitive government organs. All those who oppose the Communists will be denounced as running dogs of the hated imperialists. Slowly but surely the two countries will go Communist. A time will come when the Communists, either operating independently or in collaboration with splinter groups, will win at the national election and take over the government without bloodshed.
Under the circumstances, with all the good will in the world the American government representatives present in either of the two countries can do nothing to help the few politicians that want to save their country from disaster. Happenings such as described here were witnessed in nearly everyone of Russia's European satellites before it was shut behind the Iron Curtain. The Eisenhower Doctrine will be only half effective, unless its planners can devise ways and means of combating Communist subversive tactics, including subversion, in filtration, propaganda, smearing campaign, etc.
The tiger was hunting for food and got a fox, who said to him: "Don't you dare eat me. The Emperor of Heaven has appointed me to be the chief of all the animals. If you eat me, you will incur the wrath of Heaven. If you don't believe what I say, I'll go ahead and you may follow to see if there is an animal bold enough not to run away from me."
The tiger believed in him and went with him. Lo and behold! All the animals which saw them ran away. The tiger did not know they were afraid of him. Instead, he thought they were afraid of the fox. —Annals of the Warring States
Translated by Edward Y. K. Kwong
Who Pays for Peiping's Donation?
The Chinese Communists' offer of 200,000,000 roubles as aid to Hungary will defeat its purpose. For instead of feeling obligated, the Hungarian people will resent the hand that proffered it. If it were given as one fellow sufferer from Soviet imperialism to another, the Hungarian people would have been appreciative. But after being summoned to Moscow, Chou En-lai, spokesman for the Chinese Communists, was charged with the mission of pacifying the anti-Soviet sentiments in the satellite countries. In his tour to Poland and Hungary, he did not show so much as a look of sympathy on the sufferings of the people. In the first place, he dared not show it, for then it would offend his Russian masters. Nor is the man capable of sympathy. As partner in the crimes against millions of his own countrymen, what the Soviets did in Hungary is to him but a minor incident. Instead of sympathy for the suffering Hungarians, he had lots to say in favor of his Kremlin masters. Hence the aid he offered to Hungary, was more in condonement of the bloodbath perpetrated by his Kremlin masters than as relief to the sufferings of the people. In the present mood of the unhappy Hungarian people, anything that reminds them of Communism is anathema. To proffer aid the way Chou did was to add insult to injury. If the Hungarian people had any choice, they would throw it back at the face of the donor.
The sentiments of the Hungarian people aside, the problem is where the Chinese Communists are going to get the surplus goods which they so generously offer to give away. Since they came into power in 1949, the Chinese mainland has been visited each year by a variety of natural calamities—flood, drought, insect pest, etc. Last year was especially a bad year. Even in a normal year, the Chinese mainland does not produce enough food for its teeming millions. The calamities would naturally aggravate the food situation. But instead of conserving the scanty food supply for domestic use, the Chinese Communists export each year large amounts of food to the Soviet Union, Ceylon, and the Soviet satellite countries in exchange for armament, raw material and industrial equipment. Therefore, the majority of the people are at short rations. The Chinese Communists certainly do not have any surplus food to give away.
Nor do they have much else to donate. The first five-year plan which ended last year was a dismal failure. The production of consumer goods, which had never been sufficient to meet domestic consumption in recent Chinese history, was on the decrease. The heavy industries to which the Chinese Communists devoted their full attention fell far off the schedule. Their railroads were mainly built for strategic reasons and contributed little to the people's economy. Whatever they can give to other people, would be the things robbed and extorted from the Chinese people through slave labor or in the form of phony land reform, and the "Three anti" and "Five-anti" movements. It is the gift from the butcher whose hands stink of blood.
The total Chinese Communist aid amounts to some US$50,000,000. By Western standards this is an insignificant amount. But to the impoverished Peiping regime, this is no joke. In view of the fact that Peiping and Buda pest are worlds apart, we doubt that the former would be willing to strain itself for the sake of love. Since the announcement of the offer was made at Budapest by an official of the Kadar regime who said the Red Chinese offer was made at a recent talk in Moscow, we have reason to believe that after all it may be the Soviets' money that Peiping is offering to the Hungarians. There are more than one good reason why the Soviets wish to disguise the source of this aid. First, if it be recognized by Moscow that it is necessary to give Hungary a large aid to put her on her feet again, then it would be much better if the aid is made in the name of a third party such as the Peiping regime. For otherwise the Russian people would learn how costly the Hungarian blood-bath is to the butchers themselves. This knowledge may cause discontent among the Russians themselves and bring comfort to the Hungarian revolutionaries. If our reasoning is correct, then Peiping is likely asked to pay only a little portion of the aid or nothing at all.
There is a more cogent reason for the Soviets' wish to hide the source of the aid. For any aid given to Hungarians by their Soviet tormentors at this present juncture would be regarded as money to buy peace, the price for the destruction they have wrought. There is little chance for such aid to be repaid. Any attempt to force repayment will probably cause further discontent and uprising. But a sympathetic offering from the Chinese Communists is a different story. In due course of time, a formula may be found for Hungary to return the favor she has received from Peiping.
A yet more cogent reason is the fact that the damages wreaked by the Soviets on Hungary must have come to a surprisingly large figure. To make reparations in any other way would constitute the most damning self-accusation of the Soviet imperialists. So Peiping was picked out to play the role of the famous Communist agitator. Its contribution of four hundred million roubles may not have to be paid at all; but the other satellites are expected to chip in handsomely. If for ideological reasons, the Chinese Communists at the opposite end of the world are willing to contribute such a large sum for the reconstruction of Hungary, how much more should those other so-called socialist states whose boundaries are situated close to, or border on, Hungary do for her relief? If this line of our reasoning is also correct, it will not surprise us if more aid is announced by other satellites before long. The sum total will represent the Soviets' assessment of the cost of their carnage and depredation in Hungary.
In the country of Chu there was a man who worshiped his ancestors. After the ceremony was over, he gave a flask of wine to his domestics. The servants said to each other: "If we all were to share this, there wouldn't be enough. But it would be plenty for one of us. So let us draw on the ground the picture of a serpent. The one who finishes first will get the drink." One of the men finished first. He took the flask of wine and was going to drink from it; but he transferred the flask to his left hand, and with his right hand drawing he said: "I can give feet to it." Before he finished the feet, another man had finished his drawing of the serpent. Seizing the flask, the second man said: "The serpent doesn't have any feet. Why should you give it feet? —Annals of the Warring States
Translated by Edward Y. K. Kwong