With a quip and a toast from Nikita Khrushchev, the great Middle East war scare collapsed. For the embarrassed Syrians, there was no concealing the loud whistle of escaping air.
Only the day before, the Syrians had been working hard on their contrived crisis. The Damascus press reported six Turkish violations of Syrian territory in 48 hours. The Foreign Ministry sent notes to the NATO powers warning that NATO maneuvers scheduled for late in the week might be used as an excuse for Turkey to attack. The government announced that the next week would be "Fortification Week," devoted to building...
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