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Norway - slated to enter the EEC, the picture has
changed. The remaining EFTA countries (Austria, Portu–
gal, Sweden, Switzerland, and associates Iceland and Fin–
Jand), which were not prepared to fuJiy join the EEC,
are negotiating with the EEC for free trade agreements
which would link them to the community. After a five–
year transitional period, there will be free exchange of
industrial products without customs tariffs between the
EEC and these former EFTA partners of Britain. Such a
preference bloc is permissible under terms of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Also, the EEC has completed or is in the process of
completing preference agreements with all the countries
around the Mediterranean except Libya. Twenty-one Afri–
can nations (18 former colonies of European nations and
3 nations with no previous colonial connections) are as–
sociate members of the EEC.
With British entry, all her Commonwealth countries
in Africa, the Jndian Ocean, the Pacific, and the Caribbean
will be offered the same privileges as have been offered to
former colonies of Europe.
A mood of protectionism and retalíation is growing
in the U. S. in reaction to this expanding preferential
system. There is even talk of the creation of an opposing
"dollar trading bloc" of remaining countries which would
operate within its own trade preferential arrangement in
opposition to the Common Market.
Will the United States uJtimately Jind itself totally
on the outside of a world economic system controlled from
and by Western Europe?
If
the U. S. is unable to face
squarely its responsibility in economic affairs in the immedi–
ate future, a parting of the ways on both sides of the
Atlantic is bound to come. The inflation-burdened dollar
- now unredeemable in gold - hardly inspires confi–
dence in the linancial capitals of prosperous, expanding
Europe.
Is
it
a mere coincidence that the world crisis at the
close of today's civilization was pictured nineteen cen–
turies ago as rooted in
economic
causes?
lt's
there,
strangely, in that most misunderstood of books - the
Bible (Revelation 18).
•
Soviet Arms Buildup lntensifies
The Soviet Union has attained overall equalíty with
the United States in the field of nuclear arms and is on
the verge of gaining a clear advantage!
"There can be no question that the strategic nuclear
balance ... is turning against us," declared Admiral
Thomas H. Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, on February 16. "Short of an effective agreement on
strategic arms limitations, the present momentum of the
Soviet buildup is likely to carry ít well beyond the leve!
currently planned for our forces in the míd or late 1970s,"
Moorer predicted.
Admira! Moorer told Congress that in the three
PlAIN TRUTH Moy 1972
primary areas of
strategic balance,
theSoviet Union is
far superior to the
United States in
one (total mega–
tonnage),
will
catch up this year
in another ( num–
ber of vehicles for
delivering nuclear
weapons), and
could close the
gap in the third
(total number of
warheads).
It has been esti–
mated that in
sheer megaton–
nage, the Soviet
Union has about
Secretary of Defense, Melvin
Laird
an 8 to
1
edge
over the United States.
A number of factors have brought about this parity:
the drain on defense money by the Vietnam war, U. S. de–
fense budget cutbacks, and Congressional pressure for more
domntic
spending - combined with Russía's heavy spend–
ing and intensified efforts to achieve superiority.
According to Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird, the
Soviets enjoy a superiority in land-based intercontinental
ballistic missiles (ICBM's) - 1,550 compared to our
1,054. It is expected that by the end of 1973 the Soviets
will pull ahead of the U. S. io submarine-launched missiles
as well.
Admira! Charles Duncan, Supreme Allied Commander
in the Atlantic, is of the firm opinion that the Soviets con–
sider the submarine their chief strategic arm and are ac–
cordingly building three nuclear submarines for every one
built in the West.
The United States is lagging behind in number of
nuclear-powered subs (95 to Russia's 100), but is ahead
in number of missile-carrying nuclear subs ( 41 to Russía's
25). The Soviet Uníon, however, is forging ahead, wíth
17 presently under construction.
The Navy's foremost nuclear expert, Vice Admiral
Hyman G. Rickover, estimates that by 1975 the Soviets
"can bring 95 percent of the American popuJatíon and
industrial centers within range of their submaríne-based
missiles."
Admira! U. S. Grant Sharp, former chief of Pacific
Command warns: "The Soviet Union is achieving a first
strike capability which could be used to blackmail the
United States. Even if we take drastic action now, we
still have a period of very perilous times ahead."
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