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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 18, 1984
was on
TV
at that time. I wouldn't miss his program for the
world. That's how important it is!
F.P. (Philadelphia, PA)
I would say have a Happy Easter but I found out today it's a pagan
holiday, so have a good day.
D.W. (Chicago, IL)
We listen to your program each Sunday morning while we are in the
barn milking cows.
Mrs. P.M. (Geneva, IN)
For the voice crying in the wilderness, you are doing a good job,
Mr. Armstrong. Not even the football games can keep me away from
your TV program.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
F.P. (Honolulu, HI)
--Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center
GULF WAR ENTERS "NERVOUS" STAGE; COLD WAR ENTERS A DEEP FREEZE; AN
OLYMPICS BACKFIRE FOR MOSCOW?; THE TRUE GENDER GAP IN U.S. POLITICS
On May 16, a Saudi tanker became the fifth tanker attacked since April 25 as
an offshoot of the Iran-Iraq war. Iranian warplanes were blamed for the
attack. Two days later came unconfirmed reports of two large vessels set
ablaze by Iraqi aircraft close to Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal. The air
raids are jeopardizing Persian Gulf oil shipments, boosting the price of
spot oil and forcing an escalation in shipping insurance premiums. Only
the continuing oil glut in the world is moderating the industrial world's
reaction so far to the spreading war. The worsening gulf climate and its
impact on the world economy was examined in the May 17 WALL STREET JOURNAL:
The Iran-Iraq war is moving dangerously close to Saudi Arabia's
oil fields--raising the risk of a wider war in the Persian Gulf
that could trigger U.S. military involvement••.• For U.S.
officials, this week's Iranian raids are starting to look like�
nightmare come true. One senior administration official says he
believes the Iranians have adopted a "tit-for-tat strategy" in
response to Iraqi raids on Iranian oil traffic••.•
President Reagan has pledged that the U.S. won't allow Iran to
close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the entrance
to the gulf. Administration officials say privately that the
U.S. is also prepared to use its military power to maintain free
dom of navigation in the gulf itself, but� it will do so only
in coordination with European and gulf allies.
The Iranians don't show any sign of backing down. The speaker of
Iran's Parliament, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, warned yesterday
that Iran's attacks on gulf shipping will continue until Iraq
stops attacking Iranian oil traffic. "Either the Persian Gulf
will be safe for all or for no one," Mr. Rafsanjani said in a
statement released by the officlal Iranian news agency.
On May 17 the Mobil Corporation announced it would stop sending tankers in
to the northern gulf region, beyond the major Saudi terminal of Ras