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in
the wake of today's WORLD EVENTS
•
New Elements in
Middle East Crisis
In a historie move Egypt has concluded a 15-year
"friendsJ1ip and Co-operation Treaty" with the Soviet Union.
The pact carne somewhat surprisingly, in the wake of a purge
of pro-Soviet politicians in Cairo.
The document seems to extend the "Brezhnev doctrine,"
allowing the Soviet Union to intervene militarily whenever a
socialist state is threatened. The doctrine was applied in
Czecboslovakia in 1969.
Now the Kremlin has a more sure hand in Middle East
affairs. The Russians pledged to continue their military and
economic aid to President Anwar Sadat's regime, and also to
pursue the recovery of "all Arab territories occupied by
Israel."
The new pact carne close on the heels of a disclosure by
former U. S. President Johnson of how deeply the U. S. and
Soviet Union were involved when war between Israel and
neighboring Arab states broke out in June 1967.
Mr.
Johnson said tbat Soviet Premier Kosygin called
him on the Moscow-Washington "hot line" teletype and told
him tbe Soviet Union would take necessary actions, "includ–
ing military," unless Israel balted operations within tl1e next
few hours.
Mr. Johnson responded by ordering the 6th Fleet closer
to the Syrian coast to demonstrate that "the United States of
America and its government were prepared."
These two events have not been lost on the nations of
Western Europe. Since 1967 West Europeans have been reas–
sessing their junior role in the Mediterranean and Middle
East. A recent issue of the Common Market's official monthly
journal,
Europeatz Community,
highlighted this growing
concern.
''The European Community (Common Market] has a
vital interest in the maintenance of peace io the Medi–
terranean," an article reported. In fact, the Community and
the other Mediterranean countries, it emphasized, should have
"primary responsibility" for peace-keeping in that part of the
world.
There are two immediate threats to Free Europe's
position in the Mediterranean region: the continuing Middle
East conflict and the growing presence of the Soviet navy,
including the installation of bases for the Soviet
Beet
in
certain Mediterranean countries.
"lf
the Community had been
a política! power early enough," this official journal reported,
"it might have been able to prevent the establishment of
enemy positions by the two superpowers in the Mediterranean
with its attendant danger of provoking a world conflict."
One European "peace plan," called the Schuroann Plan,
advocates prcsence of UN troops on both sides of Arab–
Israeli bordees and international control of Jerusalem's old
city. An ltalian suggestion for drawing up a common
Mediterranean policy deals with the increasing presence of
Soviet power in the area.
The Common Market countries are expected to draw up
newer, more concrete policies toward the Middle East. It was
less than a ycar ago that foreign ministers of "The Six"
started regular meetings on developing common foreign
policy.
Former Common Market president Jean Rey recently
noted with satisfaction that Common Market members now
are making efforts to harmonize their foreign policies. But he
said he is "ashamed" that Western Europe has not spoken out
with
a single voice
on the crisis in the Middle East, which so
deeply directs European interests.
•
Americals Battle for
Economic Survival
"The simple fact is that in many areas others are out–
producing us, out-thinking us, outworking us and outtrading
us," said an alarmed U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, John
Connally.
The foreign challenge is causing an abrupt change of
thinking by many high Administration officials behind the
scenes.
U. S. labor costs are a major source of the problem -
two to three or more times greater than foreign labor. The
situation is worsened by the inflationary spiraJ and disruptive
labor strikes.
Look at onc remarkable example of the labor cost gap.
Lockheed Electronics Corporation is planning to assemble
memory coces for
U. S. missiJes
at a subsidiary plant in Hong
Kong where the wage rate is
$2
a day instead of $40 a day at
a California plant.
Jncreasingly the foreign inflood of products is fed fuel
not only because of price popularity but quality. Foreigners
are widening the "technology gap" by outthinking Americans
in almost every important field and coming up with superior
products at Jess cost. As a result, more and more U. S.