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-=======-==========================================Piain
~Nth
by
Gene
H. Hogberg
'~s
in the Days of Noah"
It
was as.improbable a sight as one could possibly imagine. A
Dutch inter-city train stopped dead in its tracks in the middle of
nowhere in central Netherlands. Aboard were a gang of terrorists,
holding both crew and passengers hostage.
Periodically, as the grirn drama unfolded oyer international
television- aod as maoy ofyou yourselves undoubtedJy saw- the
train hijackers would open a door in the lead car. Out would
tumble another lifeless form,
a
human carcass, a gruesome sacrifice
lo the terrorists' demands for safe passage out of the country. Al
this point, the issue is still unresolved.
The perpetrators are part of a group of frustrated "freedom
fighters" demanding independence for a homeland they have never
even seen' Basically, the ironic story goes something like this: The
Netherlands granted independence t.o its 3.000-island Dutch East
lndies archipelago '26 years ago. But 12,000 South Moluccan loyal–
jsts who had fought with the Dutch against the Indonesian inde–
pendence movement lled to Holland to escape expected reprisaL
The terrorists who commandeered the Dutch train - as well as
fellow compatriots who !ay siege to the lndonesian consulate in
Amsterdam- wereboro in Holland to those original refugees.
With the preceden! aiready set by nationalist terrorist groups
in other parts of the world - a bad example spreads instanta–
neously with television these days - the murderous Moluccans
~b_yiously
felt it was their time to set history.straight
.~'!d
grab ,a few .
heª-dlines in order to publicize their own "just cause."
What a world we have entered int.o. lt is an age when literally
no ooe is safe anywhere, except in a perhaps totally "uncivilized"
society. In London, for example, no one knows when the ne)U IRA
bomb will go off. In Harrod's again? King's Cross Station? The
Houses of Parliament? What a sight it is to see London-secretaries
on their knees at curbside searching the underbody of their auto–
mobiles for bombs befare they drive off to work.
These are
JlOI
"normal" times we're passing through. The
world has been brutally ushered into a new era of indiscrirninate
violence - oation against nation, faction against faction. as well as
a mushrooming crime epidemic witbin major nations.
1
well recall the first sensational murder that made an impres–
sion on me as a boy growing up in Chicago. One night in 1946,
1
believe it was, a mentally distraught young rnan by the name. of
Willia.rh Herrins kidnapped a. little girl, Susan Degnan, from the
bedroom of her home. He proceeded to kili the child and dis–
member her body, stuffing the severed parts down a sewer drain.
The shOcking crime stunned the city for days. Chicago was
accustomed to gangland violence - hood against hood - but
nothing like this had ever happe'ned before. In fact, murder of any
sort, outside ofthe criminal sub-society, was rare.
But look at the situation in our big cities today. Every moro–
ing, while listening to the loca.! news,.one hears the "police blotter"
of all the gruesome killings of the nighi before. Last year alone,
20,000 bomicides were recorded in the United States.
Police everywhere are·confronti'ng a new wave of yquth gang
violence. During the 1960s the gangs protected their own "turr•
from other gangs. "They were shooting at one another," said one
gang expert. "Now they're shooting al other people." Another
expert on juvenile ·violence adds: "Many youths have become
inhuman and amoral people."
In the l,lible the statement is made that, in the days preceding
the great worldwide flood of Noah's time, "the earth was corrupt in
Ood's sight, and the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11,
RSV).
Significantly, Jesus Christ predicted that "as it was in the days
ofNoah, so will it be in the days ofthe Son ofman" just before the –
coming ofthe kingdom ofOod (see Luke 17:20, 26).
You're living through this prophesied time period right
now.
O
·
4
Challenge
(Conrinued from page 3)
out,built the U.S. by three ships
to one, whiJe the U.S. was, al
the same time, mothballing
many of its older vessels.
This naval expansion has not
come without considerable cost,
however. The Soviet . Union
spends- more than double the
amount of money - as a per–
centage of gross national pr9<1-
uct
on its military
establishment than does the
United States, and the cost has
taketi its toll in lower living
standards for the Russian con–
sumer.
With its curient economic
troubies, the Soviet Uoion
m
ay
find the relative cost of its mili–
tary prograrns becoming even
greater.
A~
of the present
The Soviet navy may be the
eh/el factor in eventual/y
cutting off the Unlted States
lrom Western Europe.
though, there appears to be no
let-up in its military surge.
Odds are that the Soviet con–
sum.er will have to simply
tighten his belt even further.
r ile
Be~;
That
Roa;;;¡•
In contrast with the American
navy, which must
ke~p
the sea
lanes open, the Soviet navy hás
the comparatively easier objec–
tive of being able to cut them.
It
looks now as if that ability wiH
become extremely menacing to
the West in years to ·come.
Nothing less than the West's
supply of oil is at stake. Only
jusi this year, as part of their
global naval maneuvers, lhe So–
viets staged aerial reconnais–
sance llights over the !odian
Oeean where oil tankers are the
only signilicant shipping. Spe-
cial attention was paid to the
sea lanes of the Persian Gulf.
Other llights covered the
south Atlantic, along the route
tankers must take if the Suez
Canal is ever closed. Tbe Penta–
gon feels these moves signa! a
strong Soviet design against
Westero oil shippi.ng.
eentrated in northern waters.
Since the discovery of oil in
Norwegian waters, the Kremlin
has brought immense d iplo–
matic pressure to bear upon
Norway in an attempt to have it
surrender sorne of its sover–
eigoty over the strategic island
of Spitzbergen.
In four crucial regions - all
significan! to Westero oil ship- Higb Nooo for the West
ping - the Soviets have estab-
Because of the unmistakably
lisbed growing fleets of' attack offensive nature of the Russian
ships.
naval forces, the forrner chiefof
• in the Mediterranean, the naval operations for the United
Russians outnumber the Ameri- States, Elmo Zumwalt, has re–
can Sixth Fleet at times by al- ! peatedly warned that sooner or
most 50% and can count on later, a series of showdowns
support from Syria and possibly must come at times and places
Egypt.
selected by the Soviets.
• In the westem Pacific, the
The titanic scale of the land
Soviets have surpassed the · battles in Europe during World
American Seventh Fleet in ton-. War
IJ
have obscured the fact
nage, numbers and submarines. that the allies could never have
The Japanese have aiready ex- won tbe •war if they hadn'f
pressed sorne coneero that their maintained control of the
oil supply might be in danger.
world's sea lanes.
• In the !odian Ocean,-where
lt is ironic that a great land
75% of Westero Europe's and power, Soviet Russia, has built
85%
of Japan's oiJ moves, the up its oavy lo the point where it
Soviets operate about twenty could threaten the isolation of
warships whicb constitute a the great Atlantic sea power,
growing presence in the area. Westero Europe. The Soviet
While the U.S. still maintains navy may be the chief. fac;,tor in
superiority in. the region, the eventually cuttiog off the
"'tl-.s.
opening of tbe Suez Cana! has. from
W~tem
Europe.
O
~h,or¡enc;,d..j~J>PIY
lines, aUówing .
the U.S.S.K to increase itS..v'ís-
ible presence in the area by
Angola
about a factor of seven.
.--
• In the North Sea, a grow–
ing Soviet submarine lleet poses
a threat to the British and Nor–
wegian oil fields. The largest
concentration of Sovie.l naval
strengtb is located about 75
miles from the Norwegian bar–
der. Over 160 submarines are
based in the area. Soviet air–
craft and naval vessels have
been paying regular visits to
North Sea oil rigs.
In fact, the overwhelming
bulk of the Soviet fleet is con-
(Conrinued from page 3}
the south, the National Union
for the Total lndependence of
Angola (UNITA) has been un–
able lo make any substantial
progress:
Al one point, it seemed pos–
sible that the anti-communist
allies in Angola wouJd receive
substantial help from a com–
bination of the NATO coun–
tries, Za'ire, Soulh Africa, and
China.
lt
oow appears that the
hope is crumbling. China is
withdrawing its support for the ·
FNLA, the airlifl from Za'ire
may soon be cut off, and public
opinion
in
the United States
prevents Americans from be–
coming too deeply involved.
Even if a dramatic reversa! in
the fortunes of the anti-commu–
nists should occur, there is no
guarantee that mammoth So–
viet aid would not support a
truncated. Angola, ·Centered
around the capital and chief
port of Luanda. In this event,
the Russians would still achieve
a major goal - a naval base in
tne south Allantic.
..... and it complete/y elimlnates the need tor al/ that
undignified bending to Jook for hidden bombs. ·•
With thc growing Soviet na–
val presence throughout the
'world's oeeans, a base in An–
gola would dramatically alter
the world balance of sea power.
From Luanda, the Soviets could
"monitor" - and interdict -
passage in a sea lane the West–
ero nations need to keep open
for their supertankers.
o
JANUARY 1976