GULF CRISIS
New anxieties for Zionist leaders
AFTER the invasion of Kuwait, when the United States had just begun its preparations for the naval blockade and the imposition of sanctions, an atmosphere of war was created in Israel, accompanled by euphoria. it was clear to the Israeli leadership that now, as in every Middle Eastern war supported by the United States, Israel would be the main player. However, in contrast to these hopes, a novel situation was created: the response to the American plea for help was decisive — the European community, the Soviet Union, Japan and especlally the coalition of Arab states. The strength of the American position and Its effectiveness brought about an immediate drop in the strategic value of Israeli intervention...(now) any action which might be interpreted as the entrance of Israel Into the network of American allies would bring about its immediate dissolution and the exit of the Arab coalition.
This new situation is a slap in the face for Israel. Its leaders have always had the feeling, which was nourished by the US, that Israel was the key strategic ally of America in the Middle East....In fact the very victory of American policies, and the significant changes that have taken place in the Soviet Union and Its satellites, have decreased the Importance of larael to the status of an "ordinary" Middle Eastern state. In this connection it was reported in Ha'Aretz August 15 that the IsraeIl ambassador in Washington, Moshe Arad, sent telegrams to Jerusalem following his two meetings with the Secretary of State James
Baker, In which he warned that "the officlal statements of Israel concerning the violent character of the Middle Eastern states and the value of Israel as a faithful ally of the United States are Ilable to act against her in the long run, since the Arab states who are cooperating with the United States are apt to claim as compensation for their aid the withdrawal of Israel from the territories.
From the August 15 Issue of The Other Front, published by the Alternative Information Centre in Jerusalem.
Oil rhetoric masks reality
SADDAM Hussein's invasion of
Kuwait was a godsend for western bourgeois politicians seeking a scapegoat on whom to pin responsibility for the growing prospect of capitalist recession. However, there is little in reality to support the picture of a world economy at the mercy of greedy oil producers. The increase in the price of the oil which has so far occurred is the result, not of the invasion of Kuwait by
Iraq, but rather the blockade which prevents Iraq and Kuwait from selling their production. Moreover, the price of crude oil remains at an absurdly low level.
According to the US economist Joseph
Story, the real price of oil is today at a historic low, if inflation is taken into account (Le Monde, July 29, 1990).
The price of a barrel of oil has been fixed since 1986 at $18 a barrel.
Against the opposition of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, an OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries) meeting on July 27 of this year decided to fix $21 a barrel as a target price. This decision, taken under the pressure of Iran and Iraq, was judged eminently reasonable by most experts, especially given the decline in value of the US dollar.
The price per barrel surpassed $30 The price per barrel sumassed after the imposition of the blockade against Iraq and Kuwait, then fell back to $26. On August 29, a new OPEC meeting, boycotted by Iraq and Libya, decided to increase production so as to push the price back to $21 a barrel -Saudi Arabia and Venezuela had said that they would increase production whatever the decision. Following the increase in the price of oil in 1973 and the growing power of OPEC at that time, the western countries judged it profitable to concentrate their efforts in more politically secure zones such as Alaska and the North Sea. The share of OPEC in the production of oil has sharply decreased, from 54% in 1973 to around 30% in 1987. But the extraction costs of Gulf oil are still 12 times less than that of the United States, and it is of superior quality. As a result of the fall in the price of Gulf oil from 1985 onwards, the United States was, by 1989, importing 50% more oil than in 1985. Thus, its dependence on imported oil is much stronger than in 1973. Moreover, the identified reserves of oil in the United States constitute hardly more than 3% of global reserves, as against 60% in the Gulf. Whatever their other motivations in this conflict, the US and the other imperialist powers have a strong material interest in asserting their inalienable right to continue to plunder the oil wealth of the Arab East.
Cartagena at the time of the departure of two warships for the Gulf. This action was in response to an appeal by the Anti-NATO Movement, anti-militarist organizations and the far left, notably the Communist Movement (MC) and the Spanish State section of the Fourth International (LCR).
An emergency committee has been set up in Madrid and Cadiz, on the initiative of the anti-NATO Movement, the MC, the LCR, ecologists' groups and well-known individuals. A thousandstrong demonstration has taken place in front of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Madrid.
On September 19 there' are to be demonstrations in a number of towns. In Euskadi (the Basque country) a 2,000 strong demonstration took place in Bilbao. The United Left (U) coalition, which is dominated by the Communist Party, has been steering clear of the campaign. On the other hand the Basque nationalist Herri Batasuna organization has called on Basques and Spaniards to disobey orders. As in France, the Spanish Communist Party has been criticizing the government, aligning its position on that of the USSR and recognizing the right of the 12 United Nations to interfere. * , IN THE Netherlands, a demonstration is planned for September 22 against Westem intervention - the Dutch government has sent 3 ships to join the armada. The organizers of the demonstration include peace committees, Turkish, Kurdish and Palestinian groups as well as the far left. The Green Left, however, is not supporting the action. * A DEMONSTRATION of about 150 people took place August 31 in front of the American Embassy in Denmark's capital Copenhagen. Among the speakers were the chairperson of the Danish CP, representatives of the Left Socialists, the International Socialists and the Kurdistan Committee, sympathetic to the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). • Talib spoke on behalf of the Danish section of the Fourth International (SAP) as well as as an Iraqi opponent of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Meanwhile the bourgeois parties and the Social Democrats have supported the imperialist intervention. The Socialist People's Party (SF, wants the war effort conducted more clearly under UN auspices. The right-wing Progress Party also voted against the motion to send a Danish contingent to the Gulf, because the Danish ship has orders only to fire in selfactence. defence. *
International Viewpoint #190 • September 17, 1990
LATIN AMERICA