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ban, and East German "advisors"
1 '
have turned the People's Democratic
Republic of Yemen- formerly the
British protectorate of Aden (lo–
cated at the tip of the Arabian pen–
insula)-into the world's leading
training base for world terrorists.
Afghanistan in the Fold?
Further to the east, Moscow scored
a major success in late April when a
pro-Soviet faction overt hrew the
government in Afghanistan. Details
are still sketchy, but nearly all of the
new leaders are Communist Party
members-and aU of them are
aligned with Moscow rather than
Peking.
The importance of the Afghan
!
coup is geographical. Afghanistan,
tucked under the Soviet Union 's
southern border for 1,000 miles,
projects like a wedge between pro–
Western Iran on the west and Paki-
1'
stan to the east and south. Afghanis–
tan has long had a smoldering
border dispute with Pakistan over
that nation's Baluchistan region.
Pakistan is weak, literally only half
of its original self with the loss,
seven years ago, of East Pakistan,
now Bangladesh. If Pakistan itself
were to topple, the Soviets could re–
alize a dream dating back to the
days of the czars- a warm-water
port on the Indian Ocean.
Afghanistan is also strategic for
another reason. Reports columnist
Ernest Cuneo: "Its acquisition gives
striking power to the Russian gen–
eral staff in three directions. With
Afghanistan as a base, the Russian
air force is within easy striking dis–
tance of Karachi and New Delhi ,
and even more importantly"; of Ira–
nian, Saudi Arabian and Persian
Gulfoil fields."
Soviets Eye Mideast Oil
Senator Abraham Ribicoff warned
during the Senate debate over the
controversia! sale of planes to Israel,
Egypt and Saudi Arabia that the
Soviet threat to the Arabian Penín–
sula and the Persian Gulf was of
"serious consequence" to the United
States and the Western world be–
cause half the world's oil reserves
are in this area.
He cited CIA estimates that Rus–
sian oil production will decrease in
1985 while demand will be higher.
6
"What the Soviets need and what
they want" is control of Middie East
oil, he stated.
R ibicotr said the Soviets "know
the value of the region they are sur–
rounding." He asked: " Does anyone
think they give a damn about Af–
ghanistan or Yemen or Eth iopia?
"The point is," he said. " that
whi le everyone is drawing attention
to the confrontation states at the
eastern end of the Mediterranean
Sea, we had better watch out for the
back door and what the Soviets and
Cubans are up to in the Arabian
Península and the Persian Gulf.
"Europeans ... have
relied on United States
power to hold back
Russia.... Now they see
[the U.S. ] faltering,
retreating, backing down
at every turn."
Herbert W. ArmsLrong,
Editor, The Plain Truth
in July 1961 issue, p. 4.
"You can say what you want,
wboever controls that oil will con–
trol the economic lifeblood of the
West. Let the Soviets control that
oil ... and where will the United
States be?
' 'The Saudis are scared, and
J
think they ought to be scared be–
cause they have what the whole
world wants. That is oil, and that is
a mighty powerful package.''
Setting Africa Aflame
lncluding the fighting in !he Horn
region, no less than seven armed
conflicts are raging in Africa- and
the blood-stained hand of the Soviet
Union is immersed in six ofthem.
Homegrown Marxist "Polisa rio"
guerrillas, supplied with Russian
and Czech arms, are fighting for
control of the forme r Spanish Sa–
hara. Morocco and Mauritania have
joint claims to the phosphate-rich
territory and are battling the Poli–
sacio bands. Small numbers of
French troops are assisting their
cause.
In landlocked Chad, a civil war has
raged for weeks. Severa! thousand
French paratroopers have come to
the aid of the Chad government.
(París has a stand ing agreement to
milita rily assist its former African
colonies.) Apparently Communists
are not involved here, a lthough the
rebels are assisted by Libya. the most
radical Arab state which cooperates
with Moscow in supporting world–
wide terrorist movements.
In central Africa. the huge state of
Zaire once again carne under attack
in mid-May. As occurred in "round
one" fourteen months ago, invaders
struck at southernmost copper-rich
Shaba province from their redoubt
in Marxist Angola. The invading
force was composed of e lements of
the old Katangese anny that once
controlled Shaba (then Katanga)
province following Zaire's indepen–
dence in 1960. This revived Marxist
liberation army has been nurtured
by Cuban and East German advi–
sors in Angola.
French and Belgian paratroopers
chased the rebels back to Angolan
bases and rescued hundreds of
white Eu ropeans who worked for
Shaba's rich copper-mining enter–
prise. However, the rescue operation
carne one day too late for up to 200
whites who were massacred in what
one news source called "the blood–
iest slaughter of Europeans in mod–
ern African history."
Most of the 2,500 skilled white
mining operators and their families
who were airlifted lo safety have
vowed not to return.
Experts now believe that !he So–
viet and Cuban strategy was a lim–
ited one- but with far-reaching
consequences. Moreover, ít may
have succeeded despíte the rebel re–
treat.
Zaire depends upon mineral ex–
ports from Shaba-mainly copper
and cobalt (balf of the world's sup–
ply of the latter)-to provide 70 per–
cent of the cou ntry's foreign
exchange earníngs. Zaire is already
in very shaky economic condition.
Without the mines in full opera–
tion-and the skilled European ex–
patriates to run them- Zaire itself
could topple. thus accomplishing a
major Communist objective. A
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1978