Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-09-15

"Western imperialists have
torches Of war along our FROM
tiers" charged Soviet Foreign
Minister Andrei Gromyko. Gag
gressive plots" are being Matched
against Syria by the Vests self
ish interests and kings Of OIL"
he declared. The Eisenhower
Middle East doctrine Is "cruel and
q violation Of the United Nations
Charter" 10y Henderson had
been dispatched TO Turkey to
perfect plans Ito set certain
countries against Syria-for ex-
ample, IraQ, Jordan and Lebanon"
Thus in language reminiscent
of the harshest diatrihes Of Andrea
vishinsky and Vyacheslav Molotov
the dour Soviet Foreign Minister
~aemed to turn the clock back to
the chilliest days Of the cold war
last week. Mr.. Gromyko called
a special Kremlin news conference
to read q lengthy Soviet policy
statement-with its translation,
1t consumed two hours. Almost
all Of 1t was bitter invective
against the West. interspersed
with threats.
On Friday it was disclosed in
Moscow that Premier Bulganin,
in q letter to Turkish Premier
Adnan Menderes. had warned
Turkey against military action
against Syria, charging that Tur-
kish troops were poised on Syria's
border for a United States
planned" attack. Mr.. Bulganin al
luded ominously to Turkeys
geographical conditions" - the
fact that mighty Russia is her
northern neighbor-and declared
that military action against Syria
would lead to q world conflict.
Both Turkey and the United
States denied that plans were
afoot for armed attack against
syria. The Turkish Army, Ankara
explained. is on routine maneuvers
only.
With the Soviet Union APP
parently firmly planted in the
Middle East with its new, closer
ties with ultranationalist Syria,
the harangue of Mr.. Gromyko
and Mr.. Bulganin's note served
to emphasize the basic nature
Of the Middle East crisis. 1t was
plainly becoming the focal point
Of the East-West power rivalry.
with the policies of both sides
tending more and more to revolve
around the tumultuous politics
Of the newly independent Arab
states.
The stakes were not only the
ultimate political and economic
orientation Of the Arab nations
and the fate Of the Jewish state
Of Israel. Much more than that,
they involved the realization Of
the historic Russian dreams Of
expansion into the Middle East
with an opening into the Mediter-
ranean Basin and Africa, as well
as control Of the worlds most
important source Of petroleum
and q strategic area Of critical
Importance.
So unrestrained was the at
tack Of Mr.. Gromyko on the West
that there were almost immediate
signs that he might have over
done things even from the Krem-
Inns point Of view. The State
Department moved quickly to
seize the advantage Of the Soviet
Foreign Minister'S intemperance.
Russia was obviously falling pre-
cipitately back into the worst
excuses Of Stalinism, said the
department. following faithfully
the old Molotov line, which the
Soviets themselves recently con-
demned a. hampering the pro-
motion Of world peace"
Hitting hard in particular at
those aspects Of the Gromyko re-
marks most foreign to Nikita
Khrushchev's soft-spoken new
look" in Communist diplomacy,
the State Department said the
Kremlin's tactics. as revealed BY
the Foreign Minister, seemed to
be deliberately calculated to
break down those bridges of un-
derstanding which still sustain
our hopes for peace"
We had hoped for better
things" the statement went on
but 1t seems that the Soviet
Communists are in all respects
confirmed reactionaries who can
only replay the old wearisome
tunes Of which the world has
grown tired"