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August 1971
nations, including Great Britain, France,
ltaly, and Spain wbich will build the
pipeline. European money will be
partially responsible for development of
tbe 207-mile pipeline.
Since 1967 West Europeans have been
reassessing their junior role in the Medi–
terranean and Middle East. As reported
in the "Advance News" section of this
.-
·-–
."":<. ,_
Tbe
PLAIN TRUTH
danger of provoking a world conflict."
Our report in this month's "Advance
News" section continued with these
observations :
"The Common Market countries are
expected to draw up newer, more con–
crete policies toward the Middle East.
It
was less than a year ago that foreign
ministers of 'The Six' started regular
T
O$J
lrom
Sorloto
BIG RED MACHINE -
Soviet naval units on maneuvers in Mediterranean
Sea.
issue (see page 17) the Common
Market's official monthly journal,
Eu,-o–
pean Commrmity,
expressed concern
over the Middlc East crisis.
"The European Community [Com–
mon Market] has a vital interest in the
maintenance of peace in the Medi–
terranean ..." thc
European Commrmity
article stated.
"If
the Community had been a políti–
ca! power early enough," this official
magazine continued, "it might have been
able to prevent the establishment of
enemy positions by the two superpowers
in the Mediterranean with its attendant
meetings on developing comrnon for–
cign policy.
"Forrner Common Market president
Jean Rey recently notcd with satisfac–
tion that Common Market rnembers
now are making efforts to harmonize
their foreign policies. But he was
'ashamed' that Europe has not spoken
out with
a single voice
on the crisis in
thc Middlc East, which so deeply affects
European interests."
In accepting the proposals of one
French-sponsored peace treaty, the Euro–
peans dearly bave giveo priority to
keeping and making friends among
29
Arab states - the holders and trans–
mitters of vital oil.
Japan in the Middle East
Japan is also in tbe move, having
committed herself to large exploration
expenditures by successful competitive
bids for onshore and offshore acreage in
the very promising oil-bearing zone of
Abu Dhabi. These concessions were
won by a group of Japanese companies
in the face of international competition
from established oil producers.
There is bound to be increased com–
petition between Russians, Japanese and
Europeans for Middle East oil. At
present, the situation is only mildly
threatening. Overall, there is often
remarkable cooperation.
For example, Japan and Russia -
traditional rivals - bave agreed to
build a pipeline from Siberian oil fields
to the USSR Pacific coast to supply
Japanese oil needs.
But cooperation has gone further
than this. A short-term problem of
transporting Soviet oil to Japan arose
from the closure of the Suez Canal. The
dilemma was solved in a most happy
manner. Iraq and British Petroleum
joined Japan and the USSR in solving
it. Soviet oil to Japan was replaced by
British Petroleum oil from Irac¡. In
turn, British Petroleum took an equiva–
Jent amount of Soviet Crude oil out
of Black
Sea
ports for use in its
Western European markets, whose
normal supply from east of Suez had
been disrupted.
Everybody profited from the cooper–
ation and a problem was solved in the
highest form of international states–
manship and business.
It is hoped that all peoples involved
- Europeans, Soviets, Arabs, Japanese,
oil companies, others - will contin–
ually cooperate
1
00 percent to solve
their disputes and problems.
The record of history is, however, not
reassuring. Nations are bound together
only as their national interests coin–
cide. The fear is that Soviet, Arab,
European and Japanese national inter–
ests will end up in great conllict -
with the real possibility that the struggle
for oil, the political mineral, could
spark a Mideast war dwading the
current Jew-Arab conflict. O