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tional self-interest, while under–
standable from the point of view of
traditional human logic, are actually
creating more problems than they
are solving. In scrambling over one
another's backs to line up oil sup–
plies, nations are bidding up the
price of the already-expensive com–
modity.
Warnings from Top Leaders
In a press conference in early Jan–
uary, U. S. Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger warned of possible world
economic ruin if oil producers and
consumers fai l to cooperate in solv–
ing the unprecedented problems of
the energy crisis. "No single country
or group of countries can solve the
problem alone," he st ressed.
Dr. Kissinger appealed to both oil
consuming and producing nations
to
work together toward a long-term
multinational agreement to solve
the crisis. He warned consumer na–
tions against seeking short-term, na–
tional advantages in self-defeating,
country-by-country deals.
He also "expressed confidence"
that the oi l producers would even–
tually come to see that their long–
term interests do not conflict with
those of oil consumers. "It cannot be
in their interest to bring about a
worldwide de pression," he ob–
served.
In short, the energy situation has
become a test of internatíonal good–
will and cooperation - "a test," as
Dr. Kissinger put it, "of the proposi–
tion that the world has become truly
interdependent and that isolation
and selfish approaches must be de–
structive for all concerned."
To promote such a policy of inter–
nat ional cooperation, President
Nixon proposed a plan in early Jan–
uary to arrive at a long-term mu lti–
nationa l solution to the energy
crisis.
The plan called first for a meeting
of major industrial nations to form a
joint oil policy and stop the head–
long rush for separate oil deals.
That meeting was held in Washing–
ton on February 11. In attendance
PLAIN TRUTH
April
1974
were representatives of Canada,
Britain, France, West Germany,
Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, and
Japan.
Despite Washington's good in–
tentions, predict ions were rampant
prior to the conference that the
meeting was doomed lo failure be–
fore it convened. Sorne oil produc–
ing nations even openly urged
major customers not to attend ,
claiming the meeting was merely a
disguised attempt by the consuming
na tions to "gang up" on the pro–
ducers.
Noted columnist C.
L.
Sulzberger
observed : "The big question raised
by President Nixon's proposed oil
" You can hardly take a casual
look at today's headlines with–
out wondering where the world
is going. Look a t its common
problems and its narrow divi–
sions. Listen to its leaders
-
and s ee what happens when
men, institutions and nations
put their selfish interests ahead
of everything else."
-
Jam es Reston, New York Times
consumers conference is whether it
will manage to close the barn door
before the horses have fled into a
nationalistic jungle."
From the response of sorne na–
tions to the conference, these cau–
tions against over-optimism seem to
have been valid.
Chaos or Cooperat ion?
Subsequent mo nth s will tell
whether nations decide on the road
of cut-throat competition or the
road of cooperation and selfless con–
cern for the good of all nations.
I f the warnings against com–
petition fall on deaf ears, if the
world fails to jump the nationalistic
hurdles,
if
the "every-man-for-him–
self' approach wins out, the world
will find itself speeding toward eco–
nomic and political disaster.
J apanese ambassador to the
United States, Takeshi Yasukawa,
warned late last year that
"future
world srability and peace
depend on
wider and fairer sharing of the
world's available resources and on
freer access to each other's mar–
kets." He cautioned that a world
which spli ts into hos tile economic
blocs will also be "a world of
dan–
gerous politicál hostilities."
Business Week
also observed re–
cently that "such economic warfare
in the 1920s and 1930s intensified
the Great Depressio n and ex–
acerbated the na tional rivalries that
led to World War ll ."
This lesson of the recent past has
apparently already been forgotten.
In an editorial in the
New York
Times.
columnist James Reston hit
upon the crux of the entire situ–
ation: "When are the nations going
to get beyond the energy crisis and
the crisis of nationa l interests and
get down to sorne honest discussions
abou t their common interests and a
ditferent world order?"
In the final analysis, a new world
order - a world of cooperation and
harmony among all nations - will
be the only permanent solution to
the energy crisis and to all the
world's problems.
For over 38 years, the pages of
this magazine have clearly an–
nounced the eventuality - the com–
ing reality - of such a "new world
order." lt is called the Kingdom of
God. (Please request our free book–
let
J ust Whac Do You Mean . . .
Kingdom of God?
for further infor–
mation on the subject.) The nations
haven' t wanted to hear the an–
nouncement from the Almighty. Yet
it is the very heart and core of the
message of the Bible. Under the
guidance of this new divine order -
a world-rulihg government estab–
lished for the good of all mankind -
the nations will at last learn to coop–
erate for their mutual good.
But until that time comes, the na–
tions wi ll have to write painful les–
sons in selfishness and non–
cooperation.
o
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