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MASS PROTESTS
against the monarchy have become a daily teature in cities throughout lran. Crowds carrying placards
declaring "Oown With the Shah" demonstrate their strong opposition to the 54-year-old Pahlavi dynasty.
elose alliance with the U.S. , and
hedging its bets with the Soviet
Union." This undoubtedly explains
why the Saudis did not stand in the
way of the recent sizable hike in
OPEC oil prices.
U.S.-British Decline Responsible
All in all, the deteriorating political
climate in the are of crisis is made to
order for radical disruptions , aggra–
vated by Soviet mischief-making,
jeopardizing the economic st ructure
of the entire world.
None of this would have happened
had not Great Britain and the United
States fallen so precipitously from
pinnacles of political and military
power. But this was prophesied in
your Bible. (Write for Herbert W.
Armstrong's booklet
The United
States and British Commonwealth in
Prophecy.
See mai ling addresses on
inside fron t cover.)
Postwar British governments suc–
ceeded-if that is the word-in
shrinking the once globe-girdling
British navy virtua lly back to the
Thames estuary itself.
British naval bases throughout the
Mediterranean and Persian Gulf
were abandoned, leaving a gaping
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1979
power vacuum. The once-powerful
British bastion at Aden is now en–
compassed within a Communist "re–
public."
lt
is al so a base used by East
Germans and Cubans for training
terrorists and subversives world–
wide.
Britain no longer protects the oil–
rich sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf.
nor ensures that the Strait of Hor–
muz sea gate (see Genesis 22: 17) re–
mains open. Now even lran will no
longer play that role.
The Soviet navy looms ominously
throughout the Mediterranean, once
a British "lake." Under the prow of
Red naval vessels passes 25 billion
barreis of oi l in the Mediterranean at
any given time on 300-plus tankers.
At the southern tip of Africa the
British abandoned the strategic Si–
monstown naval base, guardian spot
for 24,000 ships-many of them oil
tankers-which round the Cape of
Good Hope every year.
After Britain's fall from power,
America's high-prestige role contin–
ued to ensure the preeminence of the
West in the tide against Communist
encroachment.
Until Vietnam.
[n Southeast Asia the pride of
America's power (Lev. 26: 19) was
shattered beyond repair. Since that
time, the Soviets, uti lizing their Cu–
ban legionnaires, have won virtually
uncontested victories in Angola and
Ethiopia. Thousands of Cubans are
positioned in the radical states of
Africa and elsewhere.
Now the timorousness of U. S. for–
eign policy is causing key nations
throughout the Persian Gulf- Indian
Ocean region to seriously question
America's resolve.
Time is indeed short before the
"close of the age" (Matt. 24:14).
Complete economic collapse of the
Western world may be just over the
horizon- unless the deteriorating
events in the are of crisis are some–
how arrested.
l f they aren't, note what Matthew
24:21-22 says: "For then there will
be great tribulation , such as has not
been from the beginning of the world
until now, no, and never will be. And
if those days had not been shortened,
no human being would be saved; but
for the sake of the elect [those whom
God is calling and working with now,
so they may rule in the next age, the
world tomorrow] those days will be
shortened." o
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