The Six Days War.

Hi, I'll represent the Soviet Union in a MUN, the committee is the Arab League.
It's historic, obviously and our topic is how to avoid or reduce the Israeli military threat.

I do not have a specific date for the PoD so let's place it at May 20th, 1967.
I was wondering, is there something the Soviet Union could have done to avoid the war or make Egypt the winner? (Without destroying the world in a bigger conflict, of course)

I'd appreciate help with this, thanks!

Edit::: I got the specific date now, 19-21 April, 1967.

I was told the objective is to avoid the war by using economic or diplomatic measures, someone has an idea?
 
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Hi, I'll represent the Soviet Union in a MUN, the committee is the Arab League.
It's historic, obviously and our topic is how to avoid or reduce the Israeli military threat.

I do not have a specific date for the PoD so let's place it at May 20th, 1967.
I was wondering, is there something the Soviet Union could have done to avoid the war or make Egypt the winner? (Without destroying the world in a bigger conflict, of course)

I'd appreciate help withthis, thanks!

Maybe by taking direct control of the entire arab forces and coordinating the entire situation but i doubt that it's possible; frankly Nasser was too undecided if he wanted a war or not and the arab coalition riddled by deeply division and too disorganizated
 
Edit::: I got the specific date now, 19-21 April, 1967.

I was told the objective is to avoid the war by using economic or diplomatic measures, someone has an idea?

Around this time the USSR, fearing Israel might attack Syria or topple its leadership, urged Nasser to deploy his army in Sinai to draw Israel away from Syria. What the Soviets should've done is to insist that Nasser not go beyond the point of no return by throwing the UNEF out or (particularly) closing the straits of Tiran.
 
Maybe by taking direct control of the entire arab forces and coordinating the entire situation but i doubt that it's possible;

Agreed on both counts. It would've helped a lot if arab forces had better strategic leadership. If better commanders than arab leaders and their political hacks had been running the show, arab forces would've fared better. But you can't expect Nasser and his colleagues to hand over power like that.
 
I was wondering, is there something the Soviet Union could have done to avoid the war or make Egypt the winner?

I had a suggestion about the former; the latter would've been much tougher. I once blogged about how Egyptian military performance might've been greatly improved in '67. ("Best Egyptian Strategy 1967"). But it would've involved changes to the OTL, going back several years before '67. The seeds of Egyptian defeat were sown long before it occurred. See e.g. the memoirs of Fawzi.
 
Around this time the USSR, fearing Israel might attack Syria or topple its leadership, urged Nasser to deploy his army in Sinai to draw Israel away from Syria. What the Soviets should've done is to insist that Nasser not go beyond the point of no return by throwing the UNEF out or (particularly) closing the straits of Tiran.

Yeah! I was considering that too, keeping UNEF troops there will probably avoid the war. Would it be enough? I was considering about proposing a Soviet/Warsaw Pact deployment of troops but I think it's too much, isn't it?


Agreed on both counts. It would've helped a lot if arab forces had better strategic leadership. If better commanders than arab leaders and their political hacks had been running the show, arab forces would've fared better. But you can't expect Nasser and his colleagues to hand over power like that.

I saw that the Arab League has an institution focused on military matters, perhaps more cooperation and the earlier establishment of OAPEC would be useful tools too? Would it be possible to form some kind of "United Arab Defence Army"? Something similar to Eurocorps but obviously, the Joint Council would control them, instead of only Egypt to avoid disagreements over their use or formation.

I had a suggestion about the former; the latter would've been much tougher. I once blogged about how Egyptian military performance might've been greatly improved in '67. ("Best Egyptian Strategy 1967"). But it would've involved changes to the OTL, going back several years before '67. The seeds of Egyptian defeat were sown long before it occurred. See e.g. the memoirs of Fawzi.

Oh I se, well, then we could work with avoiding the war.
Which other measures do you think the USSR could have taken to get closer links with arab nations while avoiding the war?
I was thinking about COMECON but after reading a bit, it seems it was an efficient body so I doubt about it.

Thanks for everyone!
 
Yeah! I was considering that too, keeping UNEF troops there will probably avoid the war. Would it be enough?

Of course the Egyptians better not close the strait of Tiran--a casus belli.

I was considering about proposing a Soviet/Warsaw Pact deployment of troops but I think it's too much, isn't it?

For reasons of pride the arabs wouldn't like it, except in extremis like later, early in 1970. Also, they were technically nonaligned.


Would it be possible to form some kind of "United Arab Defence Army"?

Technically, the arabs already had such a thing. Even Nasser's arab rivals participated. After he decided to join Nasser's bandwagon, during the May crisis, Hussein put his army under the command of an Egyptian general.
 
Of course the Egyptians better not close the strait of Tiran--a casus belli.

Yeah, I read about that one too. Pretty dumb for Nasser to do that, but without the soviets feeding wrong intel to them it can be avoided, right?

For reasons of pride the arabs wouldn't like it, except in extremis like later, early in 1970. Also, they were technically nonaligned.

Oh I see, yeah, I thought it would be hard. What about providing more equipment? Would it help them to be prepared if Israel atacks? I read about an anti air system that wasn't quite effective in comparison to some misiles the soviets sold to Egypt.


Technically, the arabs already had such a thing. Even Nasser's arab rivals participated. After he decided to join Nasser's bandwagon, during the May crisis, Hussein put his army under the command of an Egyptian general.

Oh really? Were could I find more info on this? Sounds quite interesting, but I was considering about having a beter organized army, so Egypt isn't the one controlling it. That way, the other arab states would be more willing to cooperate, no?
Also, I have a question, would it be feasible to form the OAPEC earlier? IOTL it was formed thanks to the uneffective boycott in 1967, what do you think?
 
The Soviets wanted Nasser to challenge Israel, to get the latter off Syria's back, so they had to manufacture a crisis, like putative Israeli massing of troops against Syria. They should've just requested he not expel the UNEF or close the strait of Tiran.
More and better equipment would've helped but wouldn't have addressed the key leadership issues bedevilling arab forces.
It was logical that Egypt be in charge of any joint arab command since it had the bulk of the (arab) military power, and Nasser was the one who precipitated the crisis i.e. directly challenged Israel. The others rallied to his standard.
 
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