SOVIET POLICY TOWARD INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM (FROM INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM - NATIONAL, REGIONAL, AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES, 1976 BY YONAH ALEXANDER - SEE NCJ-31881)

• NCJ Number: 31886
• Author(s): R O FREEDMAN
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 23 pages
• Corporate Author: Praeger Publishers
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THE SOVIET UNION HAS ATTEMPTED TO BALANCE THE DISPARATE GOALS OF OPPOSITION TO TERRORIST ACTIVITIES TO WHICH IT IS ITSELF VULNERABLE AND SUPPORT OF A LEADING ANTI-WESTERN TERRORIST FORCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

Abstract

ANY ANALYSIS OF SOVIET POLICY TOWARD INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM, AND PARTICULARLY MIDDLE EASTERN TERRORISM, MUST DEAL WITH TWO BASIC ISSUES. ON THE ONE HAND, THE SOVIET UNION IS A GLOBAL POWER WITH ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, MILITARY, AND DIPLOMATIC INTERESTS ALL OVER THE WORLD. CONSEQUENTLY, IT IS VULNERABLE TO VARIOUS FORMS OF TERRORISM, SUCH AS THE HIJACKING OF SOVIET AIRCRAFT, THE KIDNAPPING AND ASSASSINATION OF SOVIET OFFICIALS, AND THE BOMBING OF SOVIET EMBASSIES AND TRADE MISSIONS, WHICH ARE PRECISELY THE TYPES OF ACTIVITY CARRIED OUT BY ELEMENTS OF THE PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (PLO), A LOOSE CONFEDERATION OF PALESTINIAN GUERRILLA ORGANIZATIONS UNITED ONLY IN THEIR DETERMINATION TO ULTIMATELY DESTROY THE STATE OF ISRAEL. ON THE OTHER HAND THE SOVIET LEADERSHIP HAS LONG HAD THE GOAL OF WEAKENING AND, IF POSSIBLE, ELIMINATING WESTERN INFLUENCE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST, AND IT HAS NOT HESITATED TO EXPLOIT THE ACTIONS OF THE PLO, ONE OF THE MOST ANTI-WESTERN FORCES IN THE REGION, TO FURTHER THE SOVIET UNION'S MIDDLE EASTERN GOALS. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)