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according to Soviet thinking, detente
"means primarily that quarrels and
conflicts between countriesshould not
be decided by war, use offorce or the
threat offorce.
Detente does not in the
slightest way abolish and cannot
abolish or change the laws of class
struggle.
... "
How Afrlca Flts in Soviet Strategy
It
was recently reported that
Mr. Brezhnev outlined the purpose
of detente in a much more direct
manner to Eastern European Com–
munist Party leaders in Prague in
1973. (Henry Kissinger allegedly
"dismissed" the Brezhnev statement
a t the time.)
"Trust us, comrades," Brezhnev
was quoted as saying. "For by 1985,
as a consequence of wha t we are
now achieving with detente, we wi ll
have achieved most of our objec–
tives in Western Europe. We will
have consolidated our position. We
will have improved our economy.
And a decisive shift in the correla–
tion of forces will be sucb that,
come
1985, we wilf be able to exert our wi/1
wherever we need to.
"We are achieving with detente
what our predecessors have been
unable to achieve using the mailed
fist ," Brezhnev reportedly added.
Within the accepted ground rules
of detente- again as perceived in
Moscow- the United States is ex–
pected to abide by far-reaching
Soviet Union is emerging as the
dominan! foreign power. The West,
specifically the United States and
Britain, is in confused retreat. And
there are good reasons why the one
side is winning, the other losing.
Writes Lt. Genera l Daniel O. G ra–
ham in
Soviet Shadow Over Africa:
"The U.S.S.R. is proceeding in the
area on the basis of a com–
prehensively conceived and firmly
held global strategy that has as its
overall purpose eroding the world
power and infiuence of the United
States, and as its cutting edge ex–
acerbating and exploiting U.S. diffi–
culties
in
any region of the world,
such as southern Africa, that prom–
ise to contribute to this purpose.
"The U.S., on the other hand, is
proceeding in southem Africa on
the basis of nei ther an overa ll
stra tegy nor even a clear-cut appre–
ciat ion of the potential impact of
developments in that region on the
general strategic interests of the na–
tion ... Now that events are forcing
the U.S. to take a more definitive
position, it still gives no evidence of
any strategic design that it intends
to further.
lnstead, the U.S. aim ap–
pears to be limited to minimizing the
local and immediate effects ofan an–
ticipated debacle."
Goal: Strangle Western Economles
The African co ntinent contains
enormous treasures of gold, dia-
talum, 72 per cent of its chromites,
60 per cent of titanium, 40 per cent
of copper and manganese, 30 per
cent of bauxites, 27 per cent of ura–
nium, 20 per cent of ... antimony
and 13-15 per cent of lithium, beryl–
lium, tin, graphite and asbestos."
Thus, according to Tarabrin, "Af–
rica is becoming increasingly impor–
tan! in the world capitalist
production of the most vital raw
materials." (Tarabrin's figures in
every case may not coincide exactly
with estimates from Western
sources.)
A recent
Pravda
a rticle laid par–
ticular stress on America 's economic
stake in Africa: "In U.S. imports,
the share of strategic raw materials
imported from Africa amounts to
lOO
per cent of the industrial dia–
monds, 50 per cent of the uranium,
44 per cent of the manganese, which
is used in the steel-smelting indus–
try, 36 per cent of the cobalt, essen–
tial for aircraft engines and high–
strength alloys, 33 per cent of its oi l
and 23 per cent of its chromium,
used in the manufacture of armor,
aircraft engines and gun barreis."
The Institute for the Study of
Conflict in London states that
Moscow's overall goal in Africa,
therefore,
is
to pursue a "strategy of
denial" to the West of the vast re–
gion's wealth and strategic geogra–
phy. The Soviet Union itself needs
little of the area's riches since it pos-
constraint s in its
re lationsbip with the
U.S.S.R. For the U.S.
to try to regain the mo–
mentum in the military
sphere, for example,
would be to " revive the
cold war" or the "noto–
rious posi tion-of-
.
The U.S.S.R. is proceeding on the basis
sesses many of the
same raw materials in
abundance.
of a comprehensively conceived global strategy
that has as its overa/1 purpose eroding the
world power and influence of the Unlted States.,
-Foreword to the book.
Soviet Shadow Over Africa
Moscow's goal in its
African policy, there–
fore, is not " liberation"
or "black majorit y
rule" but fi rst and fore-
strength" posture.
For America, furthermore, to try
to preserve its interest in key areas
of the world is to "export counter–
revolution." The Soviet Union, on
the other hand, professes that it is
duty-bound to support revolution–
ary and "nationalliberation" move–
ments anywhere in the world.
Given the fertile ground for " na–
tional liberation" activities, it is no
surprise that the major contest be–
tween East and West, for the mo–
ment, is in southem Africa. It is in
this vitally importan! region that the
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 1977
monds, uranium, platinum and
scores of other minerals. Western in–
dustry is increasingly dependent on
Africa's storehouses of raw materi–
a ls (see
The Plain Truth,
January
1977, p. 5). It is to Russia's advan–
tage to block off Western access to
this region.
A leading Soviet Africanist, E. A.
Tarabrin, stressed the importance of
Africa's reserves in a 1974 book en–
titled
The New Scramble for Africa:
"Africa currently contains over 80
per cent of the capi talist world's
known reserves of cobalt and tan-
Western
sible.
most the elimination of
intluence wherever pos-
"The United States ... continues
to be Moscow's primary opponent
and the most importan! obstacle to
the global triumph of socialism.
Given this perspective, when the So–
viets call for liberating the Third
World from imperialist aggression
and control they basically mean the
elimination of the U. S. presence
and influence"
(Soviet Shadow Over
Africa,
p.
15).
Two years ago the Soviet Union,
which constantly probes the West
5