Inside the Kremlin During the Yom Kippur War [Hardcover]

Victor Israelyan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1995

This work, written by a senior ambassador in the Soviet Foreign Ministry when the armies of Egypt and Syria invaded Israeli-occupied territory in 1973, provides a firsthand account of the diplomatic manoeuverings between the Soviet Union and the United States that ended the Yom Kippur War.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Not since Leon Trotsky's writings in the 1930s has a witness to the foreign policy-making decision process of the Communist Party's top leadership provided us with so substantive a work. --Alvin Z. Rubinstein, Forward

For more than 20 years, scholars and pundits have been writing about the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war with one enormous handicap: the missing piece of the puzzle was what was going on in Moscow during a crisis that brought the world to the brink of confrontation and set the stage for the unraveling of detente. Now a Kremlin insider has written the book that shines light on precisely this hitherto mysterious topic-and what a story it is! Almost all the assumptions about Soviet policy made by leading diplomats and scholars-American, Israeli, and Arab-seem to have been wrong. . . . One wishes other Soviet diplomats of Israelyan's caliber would write honest memoirs of this sort on the other great crises of the Cold War. But for now, his stands alone as a model to be emulated. --Foreign Affairs

. . . [A]n extraordinary and unprecedented memoir from a Soviet observer, Ambassador Victor Israelyan . . . . Writing from his notes, recollections, and interviews with other diplomats and policy makers, Israelyan has provided the first authoritative account of policy deliberations among Politburo members on any issue and, until Kremlin archives are opened, the most complete description of Politburo politics during a crisis. --Middle East Journal --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

"Memoirs are worthless if their authors attempt to present themselves as angels. I resolutely oppose those of my countrymen who shift responsibility for Soviet evils exclusively to the leaders. It is important that each Soviet citizen realize and admit his or her share of the responsibility." -from On the Battlefields of the Cold War

For more than forty years Victor Israelyan served in the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rising through the ranks to become one of the Soviet Union's leading diplomats specializing in disarmament negotiations. He was forced to retire in 1987, a casualty of a system that was about to collapse under the weight of its contradictions. On the Battlefields of the Cold War offers unique insight into the volatile inner workings of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, where the battle lines of the Cold War were often first drawn.

Israelyan has no patience for those of his compatriots who argue that Soviet foreign policy was ultimately just, save for a few "aberrations" such as the invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan. These acts were intrinsic to the system, and without them the mighty Soviet Union would not have existed as long as it did. The very foundation of Soviet foreign policy, therefore, was untenable, and the entire structure it supported was destined to implode.

Israelyan brings to this memoir a wealth of experience, having worked with all the postwar Soviet foreign ministers-from Molotov and Vyshinsky to Gromyko and Shevardnadze-and established diplomatic ties to the West, particularly to the United States. As part of the middle tier of the diplomatic hierarchy, he was privy both to meetings of the Collegium of the Foreign Ministry as well as to the many informal, private discussions among rank-and-file diplomats. Israelyan explains how he and his colleagues, as faithful defenders of Soviet ideology, viewed the United States, the Soviet Union's main adversary and partner. He tells of distinct factions within the Soviet foreign policy apparatus-factions that Soviet leaders sought to hide, fearing that any internal divisions might be interpreted by outsiders as discord. This aging Cold Warrior-one who accepts that he belonged to the party that lost the war-relates a deeply human story whose legacy continues today. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 027101489X
• ISBN-13: 978-0271014890
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,590,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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