Evening star., 1951-10-17
A Mirage of Neutrolism

The twin decisions OF the egyptian govern
ment to abrogate by unilateral action the 1885
Anglo-Egyptian treaty and to reject the proposal
to join as a founder member new Middle East
Defense Command are regrettable and untimely.
Those who are familiar with the Middle East
and the national aspirations of the people of
that area are aware of the impulses which have
brought Egypt to this extremity. British troops
have been on Egyptian soil since 1882 and the
British Foreign Office too often has dealt with
the Cairo government as If it were colonial
subject. The 1886 treaty itself was not fully
voluntary accord and efforts during the past five
years to negotiate revision OF 1t have been
unfruitful. There have been other manifeSta-
tions of Western political behavior in the Middle
East in these postwar years which have added
to the resentments and suspicious that are now
boiling over in such violent forms.
At the same time there is an unrealistic
quality to the psychology of neutralism which has
developed in the Middle East and which is re-
hected in sharpest outline in the Egyptian, and
Iranian, decisions to throw the British, the prin
cipal villains" of the West, out of these coun-
tries.
1t is true. however unfortunate, that the
world today has been divided by one aggressive
imperialist force-the Communism OF Soviet
Russia No part of the world Is safe from that
aggression and no part is a more tempting target
than the Middle East. Indeed, the Middle East
was target of Russian imperialism long before
Communism became the theology of Russian
aggression. The statesmen and the politicians
of the Middle East, including Egypt, know all
this; they know, too, that if the present cold war
progresses to an outright conflict at arms they
can neither remain out of it nor be neutral in it.
Certainly the responsible elements in these coun-
tries are aware that they do not have the military
power to guarantee their own security, and that
a trading of Western influence in exchange for
domination by Muscovite Communism would
bring disaster far surprising their unhappiness
of either past or present.
The four-power proposal advanced by the
United States, Britain, France and Turkey offers
to Egypt the opportunity to participate on a
basis Of partnership and equality in regional
security program. It likewise offers the explicit
commitment of the British government, If Egypt
should accept the proposal, ito agree to super
session of the 1885 treaty"
Since many of the details of the proposed
partnership are not set forth, in fact are left
to subsequent conversation among the partici-
pants, it is clear that considerable room is left
for resolving such points of contention as have
long irritated Anglo-Egyptian relations. The inn
minence Of proposal of this nature has been
known to the Egyptians for some weeks past,
circumstance which makes their abrogation
action seem most untimely and their rejection
overly hasty.
It is to be hoped that the violence OF emotion
which they have now unleashed will be brought
under control in time to permit more states
manlike and dignified consideration OF the
mutual best interests Of their own country OF
the Middle East nations for whom they represent
leadership and Of the entire free world.