<P> The combined effects of two great European wars had weakened the political and economic domination of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East by European powers . This led to a series of waves of African and Asian decolonization following the Second World War; a world that had been dominated for over a century by Western imperialist colonial powers was transformed into a world of emerging African, Middle Eastern, and Asian nations . The sheer number of nation states increased drastically . </P> <P> The Cold War started placing immense pressure on developing nations to align with one of the superpower factions . Both promised substantial financial, military, and diplomatic aid in exchange for an alliance, in which issues like corruption and human rights abuses were overlooked or ignored . When an allied government was threatened, the superpowers were often prepared and willing to intervene . </P> <P> In such an international setting, the Soviet Union propagated a role as the leader of the "anti-imperialist" camp, currying favor in the Third World as being a more staunch opponent of colonialism than many independent nations in Africa and Asia . Khrushchev broadened Moscow's policy by establishing new relations with India and other key non-aligned, non-communist states throughout the Third World . Many countries in the emerging Non-Aligned Movement developed a close relation with Moscow . </P> <P> In an exercise of the new "rollback" polices, acting on the doctrines of Dulles, Eisenhower thwarted Soviet intervention, using the CIA to overthrow unfriendly governments . In the Arab world, the focus was pan-Arab nationalism . U.S. companies had already invested heavily in the region, which contained the world's largest oil reserves . The U.S. was concerned about the stability and friendliness of governments in the region, upon which the health of the U.S. economy increasingly grew to depend . </P>

Where did the hot war take place during the cold war