ABSTRACT
The commercial and military value of Near Eastern oil reserves, the deterioration of Britain's strength, the emergent interest of the Soviet Union in the Near East, emphasize the importance to the US of a politically stable and economically prosperous Lebanon. On Palestine, Charles Malik was adamant and eloquent, a man who confronted political realities on the ground at the same time that he cautioned his listeners not to submit to the arrogance of power in remaining indifferent to what was unfolding. If the political dynamics within the Lebanese ruling class were shifting, the results were tangible in Washington, where Malik assumed an even more assertive stance with respect to Lebanese-U.S. relations. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, organized in 1949 in opposition to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), was designed to weaken the WFTU with its social democratic orientation, its Communist membership, and Soviet participation.
