Page 2912 - 1970S

Basic HTML Version

-
Garner Ted Armstrong
SPIAKS OUT!
Britain "Brewing
Up'~
Trouble for EEC
[
NOON:
The Common Matl<et natlons
are becomlng increasingly irked by
the Britlsh altitud
e
thése days. Britaln,
popularly labeled
the
"Sicl<
Man ol
Europa... has been. officlalty at least, a
member ol the European Economlc Com–
munity lor three years
now.
But in
a
vari–
ety ol issues facing the Common Market
In the last lew months, Britain has taken
what has
been
considerad a petty or an
unrealistic stand vis-á-vis the other mem–
bers ol the West European bloc.
RecenUy. lor example,
the
Britlsh re–
jactad community-wide water polluUon
control measures on the grounds that
continental standalds were too stringent.
The British are also opposad to varlous
Common Market
regula~ons
invoMng
iaxation and,tanns and are é!ragging thelr –
leet on the lssue ol dlrect electlons to the
European parliament. Her EEC partners
sea the partiament dec•slon e vital step
towarda democratl<: European union.
And to top all this, in December Britain
demandad a seat ol its own at the North–
South intemational economic conlerence
in París. The Common Matl<et was aupo–
posad to be representad by a single dele–
gatlon atthat conlerence. The lnsistence
on
a
separata seat at the North·South
dialogue stirrad German Chancellor Hel–
mut Schmldt to
write
a stlnging rebuke to
Prime MinisterHarold Wllson.
)(
problema ol tha Chrysler aubsidlary. The
Brltish govemmenl has had to guaranteé
to ball out the Chrysler corporatlon In
Britain simply becauoe ol the total lnabil–
lty, it seems, ól Chrysler to produce at
a
profit In Britein. One strlka alter another,
with endless demands tor more pay lor
less work, ls absolutely kllllng the produc–
tlvity ol thls natlon - at leas! that ol ite
once proud automotlve industry.
For example, as BBC televlslon re–
ported the other nlght, the Chrysler
corporatlón had dee:ided to begln pro·
duction ol
a
highly competitiva llght–
weight new model it hopes
is
going to gel
the company back on its reet financlally.
But inatead of produclng the new model
here in Brltaln, unlortunatety, Chrysler
decíded to use its plant In Frañce. Why?
Because company cost control experta
had calculated they could produce
twíce
as many cara In thelr French lactory lor
the same cost and with the sama size
work force! The Plant near Parts has not
sufterad lrom
a
strike In 23 yearsl Imag–
Ine! The exact number of wotl<men wlll be
able to produce double the number ol
aulomobiles
11)
Paris lor the same cost
Somethlng
ls
drastl<:ally wrong
when
Brltish labor and management allow a slt·
uatlon such as thls to peralst and when.
lnstead ol soMng the problem, they r•
sort to govemment subsidies to bail out
corporations
Which
simply cannot get
their own aftalrs in order
end
produce at
aprofit.
In all ol the many, many
yearo
1
have
been travellng to Brltaln - 19 years now
since 1 first vlsiled this country - 1 have
come to know
a
bit about Brltish work
habita. f have seen the problem grow In·
creasingly worse.
We used to comment back in the earl)l.
1960s
how the Brltish workmen seemed
to come to tea and, once In
a
whlle, look
a "wotl< break. " That waa due lo the Brlt·
lsh custom ol "brewlng up."
(11
was quite
an experience lor other
anied
soldlers in
Wor1d War
11,
in the North Afrlcan cam·
palgn, and even In the bettle for Europa
to- Brltish tank commanders who were
ratlllng along on an attack suddenly pull
over and "brew up" their tea)
When one
sees
Brltish workmen taking
thelr tea break from ten o'clock in the
mornlng untll nearty eleven, then agaln at
two o'clock, and pamaps agaln at lour,
he begins to wonder: When in the world
is
the work ever done?
These observatlons are made. by the
way, completely lrrespecUve ol natlon–
aJisti<: or politic:al altitudes. No one has
spoken out more forcefully, continuously.
or perhaps biUngly concernlng American
worl< habita,
inlarlor
productlon, or na–
tional sickness than have l. lt would be a
shame
11
Brltish cltlzens were Inclinad to
dlsmlss very real problema by aummarily
asalgning meto the " ugly American" role
or calling me "that colonial" who seems
to delight In taking pot shots at the British
people.
1
happen to belleve that, by the
grace ol God, "there wlll
always
be an
Eng1and" - but 1
a1so
believe it will be
through a great dea.l o1 tribulatlon and
natlonal S<lHertng brought upon a proud
people by problems. create<l by.,tllem–
selves.
How Real la the Common
Marital
Commitment?
Ws no wonder that other Europeans
are beginnlng lo questlon whether lhe
Brillsh aren't actlng stubbornty lndepen·
dent simply to take thelr mincls
off
thelr
own terrible domesli<: problema.
Olhers claim that there never was any
chance that Briteln, with its long history
ol jealousfy guardad soverelgnty, would
ever happlly move lnto
a
posture ol coop–
eratlon and harmony
with
its Common
Market associales. Brltaln entered the
Common Market
with
a Conservalive
Party government in power. Then later
tha present Labour government toók
over, demanding a renegotlation of the
The reason l or all ol thls, whlch many
people thOught would threaten
the
con–
ference itself, was that Britaln's North
Sea oil wlll put her In the role ol a pro–
ducer-
a
potentlal exportar - as weU as
a consumar by the end ol tl¡e next
decade or so.
In the
en<l.
a
l~~<:e-saving
compromise
was reachad. The nlne, lncludlng Brltaln,
did speak
"as
one," but Britaln was par–
mltted
the
prtvilege ol also addressing the
conlerence separately
11
she so deslred–
but onty within the parameters ol the
Common Matl<et position.
e
No wonder lt la often said that it ls Brlt–
aln, no longar Franca, that is the leadlng
obstacle to European unity these dayl.
1t
all comes back to Britain's nagglng
domestl<: probMims. l'm absolutely
as–
toundad at what
1
see
when
1
vlslt Britaln.
Ourlng the recent hollday season,
1
saw
masslve traffic jams, Chrlstmas shoppers
thronging the streets, and people spend–
lng
as
11
there were no tomorrow. And
they are doing so In splte ol rleing
unemployment, zooming lnllallon (over
25" ayear),
and
the
conünuous slide in
the value ol the pound (now at the lowest
ebb in ita entire history. hoverlng right in
the neighborhood ol $2.00).
The news here has
atso
been
tull ol the
14
"'
o
"What's he
gol
that
we
haven
't?"
original entry terms and threatenln!t to
quit the organlzation
11
lt dídn't get thern.
That renagotlallon qulckly becama a dip–
lomatic charada aimad at soothlng Wil–
son's anli-Common Market crttl<:a wlthln
his own party.
Leaders In the olher eight countrles,
realizlng Wlloon's Interna! dinlcultles,
went along, gtvlng Wllson much needed
outsida support. In retum, lhe contlnen–
tals llad hoped tora greater show of unity
lrom London alter l ha successlul releren·
dum. Those hopea perslsted despite
wamings lrom Roy Hattersly, Minlster ot
Sta1e lor forelgn and commonwealth af·
talrs, that the prospects ol European
union were very remote and that "lt's not
the pollcy ol the BriUsh govemment lo
promotelt."
So lor these reasons Bñtain's partners
In Europe are 1eeling a bit bruised and
depressed knowing that there arallkely lo
be other obstacles thrown up by-Brllaln in
comlng months and years.
For many, many years Plaln Trulh has
been 5aying lhat evantually a "Unltad
States ol Europe" la golng to emerge.
The other natlons of Europa, and most
speci llcally West Germany, want to bñng
about completa polltlcaJ unlty ol Europe.
Theoe nations are disturbad by the
continulng arms raca between the Uniled
States and the Soviet Union
(desplte
d6-
tente), by the always potentlally explosiva
sltuatlon In the Middle East,
al\d
by the
war righl now devetoplng in Angola. They
are slck and tirad ol playing the role of
mere apectators on the world scene, un.
eble lo greaUy influence conditions
vital
to Europa's own securíty. And
~et.
lhey
have at present no powertul global volee.
Many ol them want to
sea
a European
Common Market grow lnto a United
States ol Europe with tull mllitary -
and
nudear- power. able to act in a
decisive
manner, and perhaps arbitrating between
East and West
As
1
hava said recently,
n
ls not
re–
qulred that a United States ot Europa
grow out of the context of the European
Economl<: Commun1ty.
1t
ls true that sorne
ot the nations 'presently In the Economlc
Community will become a
pan
ol
a
third
power bloc wlth lts own nuclear arms -
both tactical and strateglc, no doubt. lt ls
also
true that there ls emerging more and
more
a
drive toward lull polllical unity In
Europe. But whatever context in which
such
a
thlrd
power
bloc
should emerge,
the polnt is that this power bloc is proph–
esied In the pages ol your Bible, In
the
book ol Daniel
al\d,
lndirectly at least, in
the book of Revelallon - the 13th and
17th chapters.
Also
In
tlhe
book of
Ez•
kiel, In many of the prophecles ol lsaiah
and Jeremlah. and particularly In some of
the prophecies in what are
caJied
the ml–
nor prophets. such
as
Hosea and othérs,
there are passages which clearly show
what ls going lo happen to the Unfted
States and Brilain il we don't changa our
Individual and national ways In theluture
To get tha true
overview
of wortd con·
dltlons and to understand what ls ahead
lor Brltaln, the Unite<l Stales, and tha rest
ol the wortd, you
need
to understand the
overall perspectiva of bibllcal prophecy.
You neecl to vfew what
is
happenl ng in–
side Westem Europe In the light ol what
lhe Blble predlctswlll happen.
Wrile lor our booklet entitled The
Unlted srares
and
British Commonweallh
In
Prophecy, one of the most wldely clr·
culated of all of the booklets we have
ever produced. You can have yours ab·
aolutely free ol charge
by
return mall.
o
FEBRUARY 1976