“ sen? the incident in which Brown was criticised for It is impossible to under Ea E oh Pe tne United Netiens, unless one puts peing "pro-Arab", because of ao aiken which feces British imperialism in the the affair in the contex’ ea i + Labour leaders were forced, because
t One the one hand the presen ; : man again eneedal- Middle East. f supporting American imperialism
adopted a general strategy of supp . Arab powers. they have adop bps essive stance towards the P
the world, to support Israel in its ager ; ae 48a an om ; the Israeli Government: had as one This was all the more the case because ; ime in Syria. This Government i ims the toppling of the left-nationalist regime yria. hth ee ele ee in which there are powerful Britis had given the Traqui aaa ee a saertga fei ptiag on tagiae oil ments, a great deal of trouble eariite : ne ths other band
i kedebts on the royalties. nm ’ royalties and the paying of bac. : serena +o antagenine British imperialism cannot, for a variety of reasons, BOr the Arab ate and their governments. Already we see that the Poe eee said British imperialism has been made even worse in Aden because of the eae? ofl crisis But of particular importance is the effect that the Arab countr
=a j ition. embarg. is having on the balance of payments posi The Times Business News, of July 3, estimates "?alance of payments stands to lose anything up to £150m. or even more in the first 12 months". The reasons are varied; "BP for example, looks like having to increase its tanker capacity by almost 50 ‘ per cent so long as the Canal is closed. Its existing 6m. tons capacity was almos fully stretched handling current oil flows from the Middle East to Europe through the Canal. The Capre route will add 20 days to the 40-day round trip using the canal. Short-term charter rates have rocketed to about £7 per ton voyage. And at present the oil companies are reluctant to save on the bnger-term rates when the canal may be opened at any time. If this position continued for 12 ; months, it could cost BP £100m. in foreign currency of which only about two-thirds would be quickly recoverable from consumers on the continent." Wilson has a harder problem than other western countries because "In 1966 the United Kingdom imported almost 50m. tons from the boycotting countries (Kuwait 15,700,000. Iraq 10,400,000. Libya 10m. Saudi Arabia 6,500,000, Qatar and Atv Dhabi 4,400,000 and Algeria 1,600,000). This was 69 per cent of total crude and partly refined oil imports, most cf the rest coming from Nigeria (9.9 per cent) Venezuela (9 per cent) and Iran (6.1 per cent). Demand would normally be about 10 per cent higher during the next 12 months. Iran, which produced 105m. tons in 1966 and will face stiffer competition on the continent from the Arab states which are boycotting the United Kingdom might be able to supply an extra 25m. tons a year to Britain. The only major extra cost would be higher freight charges allowed for above." Moreover: "Nigeria, which produced 21m. tons in 1966, cannot be relied upon for much extra supplies so long as acute political uncertainty threatens the country's stability. Thirty million tons from Venezuela at about an extra 35s. a ton would cost about £50m. although part of this would accrue to British oil companies operating in Venezuela." The left should seek to take advantage of the difficult situation facing Wilson by pressing all the harder for the evacuation of all British troops from the Middle East and for the ending of support for Israel, In this way we will be helping the Arab Revolution in the most practical way.
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