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COMMON MARKET'S
POLinCAL R()LE
GROWING
BRUSSELS: In all the emo–
tional charges and counter–
charges over Spain's execution
of five terrorists in late Septem·
ber, for which 8 of thc 9 EEC
countries withdrcw thcir am–
bassadors from Spain (lreland
was the only exception), one
fact of importance comes
lO
the
surfaee: the increasing political
leverage exened by the Euro–
pean Económic Community.
lo the past
as
its title
in·
dicates, the EEC has played a
purely eoooomic role. However,
at the meeting of the EEC
f«eign
mioiuers
in
l.wtembourg
tn
early O<:tober, the EEC Com·
mission, in
a
purely poliucal
act. urged lhe Community's
Council of
M~nisters
10 halt
trade oegotiations wtth Spain.
AOer a heated debate during
wbich French Foreign Minister
ARAB
SPORESMAN
DEFENDS OIL
PRICE
.
POSITIONS
WASHINGTON: Kuwait's
minister of linance, Abdul· Rah·
man S. AI-Atecqi, spoke here
recently on a subject dear 10
everyone's hean - and pocl<et–
book: oil prices.
"The 1raditional order of oil
prices,'' he declared in a speech
to 1he National Press Club,
"was an order imposed on us."
"Our largest Qational re·
souree," he continued, "was in
the bands of foteign concessions
who had liule tnterest in inter·
action witb the local socicty,
li1tle rcs-rd for the welfare of
peoples
of
that couotry."
He lold of tbe (ixed pnce
throughout the 19SO's of S2.20
per barre! ofoil, whtcb was then
lowered in 1960 by the oll com–
panies, without consulting the
producing nations, to $1.59 per
barrel (The price was recently
raised 10\\ by the OPEC cartel,
from SIO.SO a bartelto S1
U
1.)
"Because of this," he ob–
served, '*we now fccl wc can set
the priee without consulting the
companies.'•
Mr. AI· Ateeqi mentioned
that beeause the priee was kept
artil\ciaUy low ror so long, it was
unfair to compare tbe pro-1973
price with that of today (four
times as high), since the price is
Sauvagnargues criticized the
Commission for the pi:>Utical
initíative
it
had taken, the
coun~
cil decided "not to resume" n<>
gotiatioos at tbis time witb
Spain.
EEC Commission Presiden!
Fran~is
Onoli (also Frencb)
strongly supported the Commis–
sion·s initiat.ive statiog that
it
was indeed a political body aod
therefore
has
tbe rigbt to adopt
a positioo aod make decisions.
lf tbis right were denied, Ortoli
stated, he would prefer to re–
sigo.
EEC
Aicl
to
Pnrt~~gal
Events on the troubled
Jbe.
nan Península dominated the
EEC meeting in Luxembourg.
In a related issue. a
$17S.SOO,OOO line of credit was
extended to Porlugal from the
only now wbat it sbould be. He
elaimed that the oeonomic dis·
location whicb foUowed OPEC's
decision would not bavo
oc–
curred if the priee bad been
allowcd to rise with other priccs
from 19SO on.
lt
' 'made the rise
seem more radical when
it
came,» be statéd.
He
al~o
claimed that the ef–
fect of tlte crudo-oil priee is only
one factor in the industrial situ·
atioo and that its role is exag-
gerated.
·
The finanee minister then
pointed out that it was uofair to
compare thc priee of oi.l witb
tbé oost of production (!Se to
20e
per barrel). According to
hlm, even Westem eoonomists
havo agreed tbattbe priee of oil
should also includo the factor of
world demand for a scarce sup–
ply and the fact that the oil re–
mainiog in tho grouod is a finite
amount. constantly dimioishiog.
AI-Ateeqi, one of OPEC's
founders, brougbt up devel·
opment
aid
and investmcnt
in
industrial couotries to further
justify the OPEC position. "Tbe
'uomaoageable rccyeling prob–
lem' is another
fan~,"
he do–
clared, reporting that OPEC
invests S11 billion in the United
States and a further $6 biUion
in
Britain.
This gives rise. of course, to
tbe opposite fear: thal the oil
exporting eountries wiU seek to
control major Westem corpora–
tions. Al-Ateeqi denied •th.is.
claiming that bis people laek
the experience lo run these
companits suocessfully, so it
would be foUy to do so. Al·
thougb he refused to divulge ·
WEEK ENDINO NOVEMBER
t,
1915
European lovestment Bank
(EIB). A three percent interest
aUowaoce
will
be taken care of
by the EEC. The nine are also
coordioating bilateral aid for
Aogolao refugees and are pre·
pared to grant food aid as well
as credit for purcbase of medi·
cines and other essential com–
modities.
Por Portugal, with close 10
1.0 percent of its active popu–
lation unemployed, such aid is
of considerable relief, espe·
ciaUy sinee it is having to ab–
sorb tbousands of refugees
from Aogola.
The imponance of all this is
that the EEC has concre1ely
shown its desire to rebuild Por–
tugal . With the economic
strength it has and the aid it can
offer. tbe EEC is rapidly booom·
ing a focal point of eoonomie
and politieal stability in Europe.
In
such a climate- esp«iaUy
in
view of events south of the
Py·
renecs - the EEC stands ou1 in
its new role as protCCIOr of the
material prosperity Europeans
have gained in the past two
decades.
-
~yKos~k•
any details of Kuwait's hold–
ings, he repeatedly emphasiud
that the main alm of its wide
variety of investrnents is secu·
rity.
AI-Ateeqi pointod out that
8% to 10\\ of Kuwait's ONP
gocs "to help other nations."
The first priority on this irnpres–
sive proport.ion, though, goes 10
other Arab nations, especiaUy
to nations bordoring Israel. Ku–
wait has been a chief flnancier
of replacemcnl arms aner each
rouod ofwar.
1 asked him to what degree
Kuwait's aid to developing na·
tions offset tbe difficuhies tbese
nations experienee due 10 1he
oil price bik.e. He dueked the
questioo by saying: "1 don't ex·
pec1 Kuwait
lo
solve the world's
problems. Wbat we bave is very
little, insignificanL"
He did point out somo of the
things
that Kuwait
is
doing.
thougb, tbrougb the World
Bank and througb other means,
summiog it up by saying. "We
try, withio our ability;
we
have
suffered poveny; wo lcnow what
misezy
is."
As
other spok:esmen for the
OPEC position who have
spoken in the West, AI·Ateeqi
expressed bis views in a ealm
tone, with ample, reasoned evi·
dence to sbow the justiee -
from OPEC's p<?int of view - in
the oew price
o(
oil.
Embargo Tbreat Still Real
That ealm tone was broken,
however, each time tbe subject
of Israel carne up. He wamed
that if peace docs not come to
Palestino (by which
~e
means
ART BUCHWALD
HowCanl
Separate
Cronkite.from
Kojak?
WASHINGTON:
1
have a
problem and perhaps many
other Amerieans are having it
as well.
1
can'ttellthe TV news
shows any m!lre from the crime
dramas that follow shorúy af–
terwards.
l'm not sure whetbcr or oot
1
saw Pauy Hearst on Walter
Cronkite or on Tbe Streets of
San Francisco. Was Sara Janc
Moore a eharacter in Cannon or
did sbe really uy
1o
sboot tbe
President of tbc United States?
Reality and uoreality bleod
tnto one. There doesn)'t seem
to
be much dilference between the
Lynette Fromme we see on
Eyewitncss News and the siek
hippy we watcb on Hawaii
Five-0.
What do tbe crazy people do
when tbey're not out in tbe
streets aiming guns at people?
Do
they sit home aod watch
television?
Do
they fantasize
that S.W.A.T . has their bouse
surrounded or tbat 1he FBl's
Efrem Zimbalist is hunting
them in a helicopter7
Do
thcy identify wilh tilo
people who are uying to kili
McCioud or the ones wbo are
trying 10 rape Aogic Diclcinson
in Poliee Woman?
Whcn did John Chaneellor go
off the air and Mod Squad go
on? There must have been a
commereial break somcwhere.
Israelí withdrawal from all terri·
tory oocupied
iñ
1967. eaUed for
by U.N. Resolution 242), war
will come again aod again.
uAnd when
you
are in a wart
he added, "you use everything
in your hand, evcn ifit is oil."
No matter how reasonable
the. oal
price
IS
from the Arab
point of vtew, tbe clear in·
tention is to again use the oil
lt~/f
as a bostage. The
aim:
to
bend other nations - includiog
tbe United States, which Al·
Ateeqi labeUed the only nation
wbieh stands apinst Resolution
242 - to the Arab viewpoint
in
a totally uorelated area: the
q uestion ofwbether Israel exists
and in what form it exists.
This emolional tixation (and
Kuwait's high proportion of
Palestinian population does not
lessen the emotiooal pressure
any) shows how difficult it will
be
to llnd a solution to thc prob–
lem. The Middle East remains a
grave lhreatto world peace.
- Henry Sturcke
Did 1see a bank robbery on the
six
o'cloek news or was it on
Barbary Coast? Was it the lady
in The Roolries wbo bad a .4S
in
ber baod or did
1
watch her on
H
arry
Reasoner?
Who writes the news shows;
wbo writes tbe erime dramas?
Are they tbe same people7
Has President Ford scen too
many John Wayne movies on
TV?
.
1
lcnow
1
beard that a woman
had hor
.44
taken away from
her and in 12 hours sbe was
able
lo
purehase a .38. Bu1 what
sbow did
1
see it on? Was it the
Today prograrn or could it have
been on Bareua?
Where are
a1l
the future
Os–
walds and the Arthur Bremmers
now?
Do
they bave color TV or
are they watching in blllek and
white?
W
as
it
Petroeelli. lronside,
Perry Mason or Patty Hearst's
lawyer 1 saw last nigbt saying
bis client bad been brain·
wasbed?
They sbowed a gun on televi·
sion that could shoot poison
daru
aod
kili
sómeone
in
1S
seoonds. 1
think
Dan Schorr
talked about it - but then again
it could bave been on Mission :
lmpossible.
Oid someone really try 10 k.iU
Jaek Anderson or was it a man
on Conrack? 1 wish 1 ó:>uld re·
call.
There
was
a kidnapping on
TV. 1 think it was a boy namod
Bronfman. Tbey caugbt the lrid·
nappers. Who did? The · real
FBI or was it Harry O? What
shows do lcidnappers watch af·
ter tbey're caugbt? The news
programs or the crime dramas?
Are would-be lcillers jealous
of Charles Mansoo7 Do they
envy Miss Fromme's TV ex–
posure?
Do
they dream they
will be the next on·es grin.ning in
tbe kleig ligbts that press
againsttheir police escorts'?
Or do they pretend they're
sbootiog it out With Charles
Bronson on the ABC Friday
Nigbt Movie.
•
If 1 can't
te1l
tbe real events
from tbe fictional ones, how can
they? Maybe there is no sueh
tbing as a real event any more.
Maybe there's no fiction. Then
wbat is it we're watching aod
wbat
is
it doing to us7
And if it's doing it
lo
us, wbat
is
it
doing to thcm - !hose
loncly frustrated f5eople sitting
in their diogy rooms fondling
the .22s, .38s and .4Ss and what–
ever else they bought in the
store last week?
The National Rifle Assn.
spokesman said on Mike Wal–
laee's show tbat guns don't lrill
people - people. lrill people. Or
did
1 see that on K
ojale?
For the life of me, 1 can't re–
member.