Basic HTML Version
adva ce
news
in
the .wake of today's WORLD EVENTS
N
EVER IN
U. S. history has the economic picturc been
so confusing. InAation, rising unemployment, wild
Auctuations in the stock market- all at the same time.
While most Americans are well aware of the interna!
economic conditioos, it
is
primarily the
externa/
picture that
foreigo-trade experts are worried about.
Waroings are now being voiced of a possible global
trade war between the U. S., the Common Market and Japan.
Imports are surging into the United States. The historie
U. S. postwar trade surplus, which reached a record $6,400,-
000,000 of exports over imports in 1964, has dwiodled to
virtually nothing.
U. S. attempts to get Japanese industry to voluntarily
limit exports, especiaJ!y textiles, have met a stone wall of
resistaoce. Japanese trade oegotiators are described as being
tough and totally unyielding in tbeir positions.
And there is a growing pessimism in Washington about
Western Europe's futurc relationship with Amcrica:
Says Senator Jacob
K.
Javits (R-N.Y.), long a liberal
intcrnationalist and champion of dose U. S. cooperation with
Europe: "1 regret that the European Common Market is
mcreasingly taking on the appearance of a narrow, inward–
looking protectionist bloc."
For the full story about the looming internationaL trade
conAict, read the article on world tradc in this issuc of
The
PLAIN TRUTH.
* * * * *
Red China Enters Space Race
Just
2Yz
months after neighboring Japan launchcd its
first satellite, Red China, on April 24, became the fifth
nation in space.
Scieotists around the world were more concerned about
the rockets that put the 381-pound satellite ioto orbit than
the sateUite
itself,
with its continua! recorded messages
extolling the praises of Red party boss Mao Tse-Tung.
The weight of the satellite indicates that the Chinese have
now dcveloped suflicicnt rocket thrust to lirc an ICBM across
thc Pacific to the continental U. S.
While American expcrts feel that Peking is a few years
away from perfecting a nuclear warhead to go with its
present generation of rockets, repercussions were nevertheless
felt around the world.
Thc extraordinarily timed launch has clearly dented thc
already dim hopes of American and Russian negotiators
arriving at any substantial agreement at their current Strategic
Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) in Vienna.
The prospect of the Chinese Communists being armed
with as maoy as 50 ICBM's within the next half-dozen years
has greatly increascd the likelihood that both the Russians
and Americans will now go forward with tbeir plans for anti–
ballistic missile systems.
One of the ironies of Red China's successfuJ space
achievement is thc probability that it was spearbeaded by an
Amcricao-trained rocket expert. Dr. Chien Hsueh-shen
returned to Red China in the 1950's after almost twenty years
of studying and teaching in the U. S. He was serving as
Goddard professor of jet propulsion at the California Insti–
tute of Technology when he was deported to his native land
as an alíen Communist.
China exploded its first atomic device in 1964. Four
years later, its first successful hydrogen bomb blast was deto–
nated. Last year the Chinese conducted their first under–
ground nuclear test. Now with the orbiting of a satellite in
1970, the world can only speculate what Peking will
try
next.
* * * * *
Aswan - Damming Up a Flood of
New Problems?
"We
have nothing but the Ni le," says Salah Galah, Sci–
ence Editor of Cairo's
Al Ahram
newspaper. "Whether Chris–
tian or Moslem, we Egyptians have a kind of worship of our
river.
lt
is our god, because without the Nile, we are doomed.
We rnust use every drop."
In
a major effort that has now spanned 10 years, Egypt
is nearing completion of the Aswan High Dam with dreams
of manifold benefits for its economy. Massive aid and technical
assistance by the Soviet Union has enabled Egypt to build this
structure, which is more tban two miles long, 300 feet high
and nearly 3,000 feet thick at the base. The final two turbines
are now being installed, bringing to 12 the total number
avai Jable for generating electric power.
The dammed-up waters of Lake Nasser will give Egypt
an additional l.2 million acres of cultivable land. During the
dccade of construction, however, the population increase has
already outstripped thc food production that will be gained
by the extra acreage.
In 1960 when the dam was begun, there was approxi–
mately one third of an acre of farmland for each