THE MIDDLE EAST: To the Edge

Russian T-34 tanks patrolled the road to Damascus last week, and from the high skies over Syria came the whistling roar of Russian MIG-17 jet fighters. But to Syrians the tank patrols and jet nights were becoming routine: Russian arms have been arriving in Syria in quantity for two years. Damascus itself was calm in the summer sunshine, but whether Syria's plain citizens realized it or not (the heavily censored press gave them little to go on), their country was the No. 1 topic in chancelleries and foreign offices around the world....

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