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Sixth. everywhere man is strug–
gling with exploding city popu–
lation s, a cynical dehumanized
industrial work force and an eco–
nomically underprivileged farm
community. Despite the situation,
mos t nations are una ble, for one
reason or another, to come to grips
with the painful problem of inter–
national land reform.
One could hope that the recent
Rome Conference might have laid
the foundation to halt man's world–
wid e drift away from the land
and to make prosperous family
farms the basic unit of a stable
human society around the whole
earth.
However, these vital issues were
not hammered out at the World
Food Conference, and the greater
danger resulting from this historie
meeting is the fact that delegates
ha ve left Rome convinced that more
techno logy, mechanization and fer–
tilizer is the only answer to the
world food crisis. Only time will tell.
- Ray Kosanke and Colin Sutcliffe
Waldheim Urges Unity
to SolveWorld's Woes
Washington, D.
C.:
IN AN
addre ss at a recent
National Press Club luncheon in
Washington, United Nations' Secre–
tary-General Kurt Waldheim de–
c lared that th e " rhetoric o f
in terdependence" is rhetoric no
longer.
The nations of the world, he
stressed , face a series of global prob–
lems from which none is immune;
the big question is whetber suf–
ficient progress can be made towa rd
solving them before they become
"completely unmanagea ble."
The secretary-general's frank ap–
peal to the newsmen for "support,
interest, and understanding" followed
his meeting with Pres ident Ford and
Secretary of Sta te Henry A. Kiss–
inger, where they discussed Cyprus.
the Middle East, and wo rld eco–
nomic problems on th e previous
da
y.
6
In tbe introduction to his annual
repon delivered a week earlier to
the United Nations, Waldheim
made it clear that global problems
of growing intens ity - a food
shortage, skyrocketing population
growth, rivalry for resources, and
crushing oil prices - place urgent
new demands on the internationa l
forum. "No nation, however rich
and powerful, can remain immune,"
he stressed, " or hope
to
confront
and resolve these problems success–
fully on its own."
Waldheim observed that at the
moment there is a "profound con–
cero" shared by responsible people
everywhere, an almost universal
sense of apprehension about where
the tumultuous developmen ls of our
time may lead us.
He said that we are daily re–
minded "how thin the margin
is
be–
tween order and chaos, between
sufficiency and desperate want, be–
tween peace and annihilation. "
"l
f we wish to overcome the vast
anxieties and uncertainties of our
time," he asserted, ma nkind as a
whole will have to make a " con–
scious and concerted effort to
change course."
Many great civilizations in his–
tory, Waldheim continued, have col–
lapsed at the very height of their
achievement because they were un–
able to analyze their basic problems,
to change direction, a nd to adjust to
the new situa tion which faced them.
' 'Today," concluded the secreta ry–
general , "the civili zation which is
facing such a cballenge is not just
one small part of mankind - it is
mankind as a whole."
- Dexter Fau!kner
lran Expands
lnfluence in Asia
Sydney:
The 17-day visit to Australia and
four other Asían na tions in Septem–
ber by Shah Mohammed Riza Pah–
lavi of lran focused attention on
lran 's spectacular emergence as one
ofthe world's great financia! powers.
Last yea r's four-fo ld increase in
o il prices has significantly benefited
l ran, the world 's second-largest oil
exporter. Figures recently released
by the
1
nternational Mo neta ry
Fund show that between June 1973
and June 1974, lran's international
reserves rose by a staggering 350
percent, from about
$ 1.5
billion to
$5.4
billion. Re venu e f rom th is
yea r's oil exports are expec ted to
add another $ 14 billion to th e na–
tion 's reserves.
With hi s growing wea lth , the
Shah is determined to convert his
still under-developed na tion of 30
mill ion into a maj ar industria l a nd
milita ry power
as
soon as possible.
as Iran's oil reserves are expected to
be depleted within the next thirty
years. The Shah has reportedly pre–
dic ted that within a decade Iran will
become the fourth largest industrial
nation after the United Sta tes, the
Soviet Uni on and Ja pa n.
Aus tral ia 's impo rt a nce to the
Shah in this regard líes first in its
capacity to provide lran with many
strategic natura l resources, in–
cluding iron ore, bauxite a nd ura–
ni um. In addition, Australia can
supply Iran with ma ny foodstuffs.
including meat, sugar a nd whea l.
Australia, with its considera ble ex–
perience
in
irrigation agriculture,
co uld also assist in developing
a
modero agricultura ! indus try in
lran.
A maj o r objective in the Shah's
tour, which took him to Singa po re,
New Zealand, India and Indonesia ,
in addition to Austra li a, was to ex–
tend lra n's infiuence in Asia. The
Sha h intensified ca lls fo r some kind
of common market arrangement
among the countries bordering the
lndi an Ocean, from Africa in the
west to Indonesia in the east. The
Shah sees Australia a nd New Zea–
land as a part of this vast mar–
kel.
The Shah a lso proposed the cre–
a tio n o f a coUective security sys tem
among the nations on the pe riphery
of the Indian Ocean. T he a im of
such an arrangement wou ld be to
persuade the l.J nited States a nd t he
PLAIN TRUTH December 1974