WEST ASIA- Soviet Union on the Sidelines

Soviet Union on the Sidelines ACTORS in international relations prefer to deal with optimal conditions: low risks, minimum costs and high potential benefits. The problem is that these conditions seldom obtain. International relations in general have become increasingly complex, and in specific adversary relation there are risks of crises and, ultimately, risks of war. As a superpower, the Soviet Union's position on regional conflicts is inevitably linked, less with its relationships with the parties directly involved or its intentions vis-a-vis the region in question, than with considerations of global strategy. The broader Soviet foreign policy perspective indeed provides this explanation for the two major components of the Soviet stand on the Arab- Israeli conflict: on the one hand, the constant desire to have a say in every agreement or settlement that may be reached; and on the other, the influence of extraneous factors and trends that forces Moscow to adopt a defensive position or more over to the offensive. It is these outside influences which explain the frequent contradictions in the implementation of Soviet policies.