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THE 12 8/LLION WINNER: Amerlcon·made F·
16
fíghtar on díspflly at recent París Aír Show. Jet,
· buílt by General Oynamícs, won the "arms deel of the century" when NATO partners Belgíum. tha
Netherlands. Norway and Denmark pícked the F·
16
over latest version of the French Mírage for theír
aír (orces. Despite continuad heavy dependenca upon the Uníted $tates, European members o/
NATO
Wllnl
to more
c/osely
CO·ordinste
thttir own defense n«eds
ACOMMON DEFENSE
FOR THE COMMON MARKET
BRUSSELS: For the tirst
úme in Common Market his–
tory, defense is being
discussed
as belonging in a European
framework. This new devel–
opmeot has come out in lhe
European Commonity's "Com·
missioo Report on European
Union," jusi released.
Wbile the sludy ackoowl·
edges that tite "Atlantie Al·
Uance is and wiU continue to
play a decisive role in the secu–
rity of Westem Europe" the
security of the unioo "cannot be
truly guaranteed
if
defense mat·
ters are purely and simply lef\
on one side (the Uniled States)
wben the uoion is being estab-
GRAIN ROBBERY
(Contlnued Jrom page
J)
chases should pul a crimp in
any effort to bu1ld up shrunkeo
graio reserves, wbicb many
weather experts, in particular,
bave
beco
urging U.S. agricul·
turalleaden to undertake.
lnleresti.ngly, tbe rumored
purcbases also coincide with Al·
exander SoWlenitsyn's current
Ameri ca n visit. In recen t
spee&es, the exiled Russian
writer has recalled Lenin's dic..
tum aboul ttading wilh lhe
Communists : "Lel the
bourgeois seU us bis rope. We
will
then seU il back to
him
10
bang
himself."
A.t the same úme thal lhe So·
viet Union once again demon·
strates its depeodence on the
eapita~st
world for food, lhe
outspoken Soltbenitsyn
is
caU·
ing for an eod to Weslem trade
and assistance. The current crop
ofSoviet leaders, be points out,
4
tished." This is a significanl new
development since the Commu–
nity has for years shunned any
meouoo or defense matters in
its struggle to esubtish a
fuU
eoonomic union. But oow tbe
conlext is changjog. The last
tbree European summit confer·
coces have se l tbe major
objective of transforming "be·
fore the end of the present
decade ... the whole complex
of tbe relatioos of member
states into a European union."
This would include a common
foreign policy and therefore the
instrument of that poUcy - a
commoo defeose system.
What is being proposed in
would then have 10 concentrate
lheir anention on feeding thcir
own people and would bave less
úme and resources to devote to
building up the military.
Solzbeniuyn also beueves
thal "dtteole" is a sbam, and
lhat "the cold war
is
still going
on the other side. Tbey (the
Kremlin leaders) sigo treaties
witb you and still they curse
you. The cold war has never
stopped for a second."
Many obscrvers, Solzhcnitsyn
included, cannot understand
why the United States does qot,
at the very least, attempl to ex·
tract tirm
po~úcal
coneessions
from the Soviets in exchange
for the needed foodstutrs.
Combi.ne the famous writer's
latesl statemeots with the latest
grain deal and one can draw an
interesúng parallel to tbe state·
ment found in
Lev~ticus
26: 16
in the Bible: "... and ye shall
sow your seed in vain, for your
enemles shall eat it."
o
the commcsscon report is a
single decision-making ceotcr
tha1 would malee up a real
European governmeot. Jode·
penden
e
of the national govem–
ments and absorbing aU lhe
executJve fuoctions of the coun·
cil as weU as the executive func–
tions ofthe present commiss1on.
lt
would be responsible 10 the
parliament of the union. Wbat
would remaio for the member
states? They would be respon·
sible 1\:>r areas not covered by
Community powers, much as
"sovere1gn" stales within the
u.s.
AU of the preseot dtscussion
IS
background material for Bel·
gium's Prime Minister, Leo Tm·
dema ns. The nine goveroments
bave gcven him the responsi·
bitity of producing a ftrst draf\
on what shape the European
union might take.
His draft - 10 incorporare
material from the Commission
Repon as weU as other tindings
proposed by the Europeao Par·
liament and lhe European
Court of Jusúce - is to be fin·
ished in time for the European
S~mmit
of the oine this Oecem·
ber in Rome. Two big questions
remain: (1) Are the govem·
ments prepared to accept
greater integration and to ac..
cept a certain relinquisbing of
national
soveretgnty?
(2) Would a "greatcr Europe,''
if Ibis coocepl is accepted, move
quickly 10
attain
independence
in mattcrs ofits own defensc?
lf the comrnission's report is
any indication, there will be
major institutional changes in
the E!urope of nine before this
decade is over.
- Ray Kosanke
by Gene H. Hogberg
Needed: A Joseph
"The com is as high as an elephan.t's eye" go the lyrics of a
number in the old Broadway musical, "Oklahoma."
This summer, according to the United States Deparunent of
A.grieulture analysts. the nation's com
crop
is high nght now and
should be plentiful 11 harvest úme. Al an estimlled 6.044 billion
bushels, U.S. corn production would be 7 pereent above the pre–
vious 1973 record and
30
percent more !han the drought-and·frost
plagued crop of last year. The July USDA estímate also predicts a
record wbeat productJon of nearly 2.2 billion bushels, up 22 per–
cent from the previous high in 1974.
Thc growing seoson is not over, of coursc, and as the recent
disastrous lloods in the Upper Midwest bave sbown, almost any·
thing can happen to chop away at the rosy predictJons. However,
from the way lhmgs look now in tbe
grain
belts of both the United
States and
Canada.
the world will be spared from any major
famine
Ibis
year.
Tbe big questioo now seems to be wbal will happen to the big
barvest once it's in? The Soviet Union, it seems,
will
be providing
part of the answer. Beset with drougbt in its wheat belt, the Soviets
are expected to buy heavily into the North AmeriCan grain market.
The purchases may not be as massive as the "Oreat Orain Rob–
bery" of 1972 wben the Soviets, almost before A.mericans knew
what hit them, waltzed otl'wilh nearl¡¡
20
million tons of U.S. grain,
practJcall)' wiping out America's grain reserve cupboard.
Nevertbeless, the unpending purchases are geoerating contrc>–
versy in government circles m Washington, with USOA officials
squared off' againsl poUticians still smarting over tbe 1972
fiasco.
The conlroversy reveals the simple truth tbat the United States has
virtually no national food poticy. The Soviets were able to take
advan1age of 1his .weakness in 1972 wben th¡:y seot thcir govem–
ment ageots scurrying surreptitiously across the U.S. landscape
lining up massive deals with independeÓt grain marlceters. Few in
Washington knew what was happening. New regulations now re·
quire big export sales to be reponed to the USDA within 24 bours.
But something more mus1 be done
if
lhe benetlts of 1he good
batvest of 1975 are not to vanisb away. Wbal both tbe Uni1ed
States and Canada need
IS
a modern-<lay Joseph
10
build up and
prudently manage once again national
grain
reserves - as uopopu·
lar as that may seem in some farm circles, where reserves are
feared for lheir negative impacton priees.
Despite Ibis year's reprieve, the long range agricultura! picture
is not good. The fact
is
(unappreciated
by
most A.mericans, un·
doubtedly) thatthe rich agricultu ra! heartland of the United States
has enjoyed exceptionally good weatber for the past IS to
20
years.
Since the brea.king of lhe last significanl drought in 1957, the
Uniled States Midwesl grainbelt has experienced a virtually unbro–
ken weatber boom, tarnished only by last summer's dry spell
When stacked up agaanst U.S. Weather Servk:e records
ccYV·
ering the last 75 yean, lhe past 1wo decades
ha
ve been abnormally
good. "We've beco spared t.he had years recently," meteorologist
Oonald Gillman told newsmen a1 a conference 1 attended in early
1974. GiUman,
th~
long:range weatber predictor for the U.S. Na·
tional Weather Service, further stressed that "sorne kind of cUmatic
jolt seems almost certain" to res1ore more normal conditions - by
sheer logic
if
notbing elsel
Tbe lesson of Josepb'is that the good years should be used -
or in the case of the Ull.lted Stales,
sJwuld hart! bftn UMd -
to
prepare for lhe bad. Perbaps 1here is still a little bme left
10
act
wisely in the nalional interesl. For as in the
days
of Ioseph, wben
"!he famine was severe over aU the
earth"
(Geoesis 41 :57 RSV) we
have now entered the time when serious famines are occurring, and
will continue to opcur, in various places around the world (Mat ·
thew 24:7).
Wbat we need is a Joseph - not the current leadership in tbe
USDA., where a top official declared recently that be was opposed
to the "excessive
build-~p"
ofcrops in 1975!
WEEK ENDINCi AUCiUST
2,
1975
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