[…] the bowels of the beast are commonlie cast awaie because of their ranknesse […]

Being on the losing team is disappointing.

he had run over to Laura, his liberatress, to thank her for his recovered freedom

Given this background, it is highly inaccurate to portray the Soviet presence in the Middle East as having replaced former Western suzerainties. The two phenomena are very different: the Western suzerainties had the fixed political meaning of subjection; the Soviet presence does not. Whereas the British and the French had a wide measure of control over the entire political life of the dependent countries, the Soviets have only a limited influence on external policy which is liable to wane abruptly (and then perhaps swiftly increase again).