ABSTRACT
As if Nixon and Kissinger were not sufficiently preoccupied with the problems of Vietnam, China, the Soviet Union, and Latin America, they were also confronted with ticking time bombs in the Middle East. The Middle East had remained relatively quiet for a few years after Eisenhower left office in 1960. The pan-Arab nationalism that had seemed so threatening to Western interests under Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser degenerated into a squabbling rivalry between Arab nations. The Soviets, caught between the quarreling Arab nationalist states, were unable to bring Arab radicalism firmly under their wing. Oil continued to flow to the West on beneficial terms. The Arab-Israeli conflict remained a simmering stalemate rather than an all-out war even after Israel diverted much of the water of the Jordan River to a great irrigation project in 1964.
