Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎304v] (608/749)

4
support of fascism and the bloody war which ensued. Europe was steeped in
blood, artificial frontiers collapsed, puppet Governments fled and Britain was
compelled to drag Russia and America into the political crisis of Europe and the
world. Realising the impossibility of re-establishing the past balance in Europe,
Britain now focussed her attention on the Middle East and tried to consolidate
that area, with which her economic and political interests were connected, against
th^ evolution of world policy. The aim of this policy was the exclusion of other
rivals from the Middle East. Russia and France had vital interests in the Middle ■
East. Britain tried to come to terms with America with a view to expelling
Russia and France from the Middle East. The oil conference and other
economic negotiations in Cairo and elsewhere with America were aimed at luring
in America, while the organising of the Arab federation, the far-fetched plans
for the arming of the tribes and their union, interference in Greece and the
formation of a special regime in that country, repeated meetings between British
and Turkish statesmen, &c., were aimed at excluding Russia and France from the
Middle East. Believing that she dominated the Middle East, Britain interfered
in Syria and created a crisis in her relations with France, the repercussions of
which were felt in the West. In the same way that the uselessness of the idea of
a ‘ ‘ separate peace or “ regional wars ’ ’ was proved, a world balance could not
be partial or local. The great evolutions and progressive movements created in
Europe could not be confined to that continent, and while the collapse of German
fascism had brought about a new balance of Europe, the effects of this change
were manifest in the Middle East, where the situation was bound to follow the
general trend of the world. The principles of this new balance would be : (1) the
destruction of the domination of any Great Power and of a one-sided policy so that
all interested countries might enjoy an equal status in sharing in the solution of
general affairs; (2) dictatorial and Fascist regimes, and the influence of
imperialism which prevailed in most Middle East countries, would be
exterminated.