Arab celebration of Soviet arms was anti-Western spite, not pro-Soviet sentiment

Evidence

This reaction was due, not to any special love for the Soviet bloc, nor to any desire to see its influence extended in the Arab world, but to a lively appreciation of the quality of Colonel Nasser’s act as a slap in the face for the West. The Colonel’s slap, and the red-faced, agitated, and ineffectual Western response to it, gave dramatic expression to a mood and a wish that unite many people in the Middle East—the mood of revulsion from the West, and the wish to spite and humiliate it. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1185

Categorization

• QUESTION: To what degree did actual Soviet-bloc influence later grow out of this symbolic solidarity? Worth chasing the post-1955 trajectory.
• XREF: Echoes the reader’s notes on prestige and face in diplomacy, and the symbolic-defiance dynamics seen in pre-state trade and trust literature about signaling.