Egyptian intellectuals and merchants nostalgically preferred Western over Soviet ties

Evidence

Egyptians in conversation tend to make frequent comparisons between the Rus­ sians and the Americans, the two great super-powers. They compare the way they behave, their attitudes to Israel and to the Arabs, their cultural, commercial and political methods, their colleges and universities, their ways of dealing with their “clients.” The comparisons are by no means always in favour of the Russians, and frequently quite to the contrary. There is a growing tendency, particularly among intellectuals on the one hand and among business people on the other, to recall sadly “the days when Egypt had free and open contact,” and exchanges both of goods and ideas, with the West. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1299

Categorization

• QUESTION: Does this preference contradict the anti-Western, anti-colonial sentiment assumed to sweep Nasser-era Egypt — or reveal a class split between Anglophone elites and the street?