st him, which would have certainly been the case had he sided with Iraq's Hussein, or even if he had remained neutral in the crisis. The shift, however, was a sign of the weakened Soviet position in the Middle East, for the fact is that the Soviets had for years been a major supplier of Iraq, some considering Iraq to be a client-state of the Soviet Union. Everything shifted radically, however, when the Soviet Union neared collapse and Hussein invaded Kuwait, threatening the precarious balance of power in the Middle East.
The prominent role of the United States in the Persian Gulf War also demonstrated to the world that the United States had become the primary superpower influence in the Middle East. The United States remains the major external influence with respect to the ongoing peace process as well.
Writing before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Taylor notes that the Soviet approach to the Middle East would certainly have been altered significantly by the events transpiring within the Soviet Union. With respect to events of 1990-91, before t
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