On Weaning Iraq Away from Moscow,

Abstract

Suddenly, after years of neglect, the subject of Iraq is a matter of lively debate. We seem to have lost Iran for the foreseeable future, so the argument goes, and the Soviets may inherit that country through realignment, subversion, or direct invasion. Iraq, on the other hand, is evolving away from its close relationship with the U.S.S.R., and maybe through the right initiatives we can secure its cooperation with the West. If this could be done, they would have Iran and we would have Iraq as allies, and this might cancel many of the effects of the strategic reversal we have suffered since the fall of the Shah. Certainly the loss of Iraq would be a matter of considerable interest in Moscow, more so yet if it went over to the West. On the economic front, Iraq's oil reserves appear to exceed those of Kuwait and possibly Iran; its current oil exports are exceeded only the Saudi Arabia; and if it were to seize control of the adjacent oil fields of Iran and Kuwait it would soon be the number one exporter and the dominant voice in OPEC.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1980
Accession Number
ADA095089

Entities

People

  • Steven J. Rosen

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Arabia
  • California
  • Communists
  • Cooperation
  • Corporations
  • Domestic
  • Ethiopia
  • Insurgency
  • Middle East
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Procurement
  • Reliability
  • Saudi Arabia
  • United States
  • Ussr

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Educational Psychology
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security