It is your friend Bob who needs to take a history book to get his facts straight and in chronological order about the financing of Egypt's High Dam.
First, the US didn't refuse to assist in building the High Dam because of the nationalization by Nasser of the Suez Canal. Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal precisely because the US withdrew its offer to assist in building the High Dam, not the other way around;
Second, to say that the US refusal is due to the fact that it is Britains's ally doesn't make any sense since the US gave an ultimatum to Britain and France (and Israel, too) to withdraw from Egypt after the British and the French occupied Port Said in 1956;
Third, the reason why the US withdrew its offer of assistance is because Nasser turned to Communist Czechoslovakia to buy weapons after he failed in his attempt to buy the weapons he needed from the West to defend Egypt against continuous Israeli raids across the border. You can draw your own conclusion as to why the US didn't want to sell any weapons to Nasser.
This is how, as your friend Bob put it without explanation, the "honeymoon between the Communists and the Middle East" began.

As far as Israel is concerned, Bob said, "The reason why the U.S. supports Israel is because Israel can hold the whole Arab world at bay since it is a Spartan government." Why in the first place must the Arab world be held at bay? There would have been no need to hold the Arab world at bay if it were not for the presence of Israel which is poisoning the relationship between the Arabs and the US. Israel and the Jewish lobby in the US have succeeded in having domestic politics determine US foreign policy in the Middle East, not morality, not justice. Take a look at Clinton's court: Madeleine Albright - Secretary Of State; William Cohen - Secretary of Defense; Samuel Berger - Head of National Security Council; Stuart Eisenstat - Under Secretary of State; Peter Tarnoff - Deputy Secretary of State; Rahm Emanuel - Presidential Policy Advisor; Martin Indyk - Assistant Secretary of State; Dennis Ross - Special Middle East Representative; Aaron Miller - Assistant to Dennis Ross. I rest my case.

A Question for Bob
Bob said: "The reason why the U.S. supports Israel is because Israel can hold the whole Arab world at bay since it is a Spartan government." Can you please ask Bob: What is the United States fearing to ask Israel to hold the Arab world at Bay? In other words, the Arab world needs to be held at bay, for fear of what exactly?

I will be interested to read his answer.

Medhat

August 23, 1998