... significant to the Soviet Union openly demonstrated that communist expansionism was being encouraged and implemented, "the Soviets always seek ways of undermining the authority of non-communist powers so as to expand the communist world" (M. McCauley, 1983:9). In contrast the United States foreign policy is generally described as being initially passive, only later changing as a result of expansionist policies undertaken by the Soviet Union. Arguing that although Eastern Europe itself was not of particular strategic importance to the United States, the fear that the expansion would continue and eventually affect Western Europe was of great concern. Hence the use of communist coercion and support of communist uprisings in both neighboring states and the rest of the world gave rise to the United States and their allies' suspicions of Stalin's foreign policy. Events occurring in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean regions are seen by traditionalist theorists as expansionist ...

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