ABSTRACT
As one of the two most powerful military blocs in the world, the Warsaw Treaty Organization would naturally have a broad strategic interest in the Middle East, particularly given its geographic proximity. The Soviet Union has always tried to ensure that the Warsaw Pact was a pliable organization that would permit it an ever-growing scope for the expression of the Kremlin's political and strategic interests. As in the case of the German Democratic Republic, the training of Polish officers at the higher ranks is very much controlled by the Soviet Union. Since the early 1960s Romania has used every opportunity and all the flexibility inherent in Warsaw Pact policy and in its organizational structure to enlarge its own area of foreign policy autonomy. In the wake of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, all of the Warsaw Pact states, with the exception of Romania broke off diplomatic relations with Israel.
