Page
THE CHINA MAIL, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1961.
The Arabs are dazzled
by a new El Dorado
Paris
FRANCE is once again
in struggle
in North Africa. Once again the colony has turned, with unexpected viclousness, on the land which it had from guined so much.
With two prongs Tunisia once French colony → attacks France.
Tunisia lays siege to Bizerth, the great French base on the shores of North Africa. This is but enough.
But Tusk also lays elnim to the desert lands in the south.
French techniciens and scien- lists have discovered in the Sabare great reserves of oil; Jakes of natural gust and menu- tains of iron,
Envy
The Arabs never knew about this till now. But now they see the pipelines, the settlements uf sefentists, the sign of electri- city in the waste, jealous.
And they are
By GEORGE GALE
Allantje Ocean
• GISPALTAR~~~
PARIS FRANCE
WEST,
SPAIN
ALGIERS
BIZERTA
ALGERIA
Sahara Desert
TUNISIA
Madi
ranean Seal
4/
BIZERTA-THE TROUBLE SPØYT
The despised desert has be- Thi crisis, when you get come prized: the people on the dawa to 13, is not much different other crisis affecting roast of the Mediterranean no from any longer look with longing at the France or anywhere else, come riches of Europe.
to termi.
Instead, with envy, they look towards the El Dorado in the burning sands of the south, which it now they turned their bucks on.
It has to do with money, and with natural resources,
Every time Western ingenuity discovers something of value the jealous leaders of the "under
privileged" demand, as of their just right, access to these riches as if somehow they had earned such wealth,
Thus the Tunisians, who have never seriously bothered
ludicrously their
ill about dained southern frontiers, bay ing now found that there is oil in them there sands, claim tracts of desert as their birth- right.
arc
Pathetic
Paris unbothered. Crises endemic in France. Do Gaulle will sort things out In Tunisia lust as he will sort things out in Aigeria; that is the famiar refrain.
The trust the French put in de Gaulle would be touching. were it not pathetic.
Till now Habib Bourguiba has been thought to be an Arab of moderation, an African with political nous.
Parla
It is true that Franes has no specifte treaty. claim upon Bizerta, but Bourguiba has repeatedly promised France, Britain, and America that he will not rock the bout over this great base (which France has repeatedly offered to Nate with- out sucreze).
Now he is not only rocking the boat. He is trying to sink 4.
HA
Bourguiba: his first bad slip?
ABIB Bourguiba of Tunisia now faces the He has been feted in
His soldiers are able-I know,
toughest crisis of his career. For a decade and London. His dimpled charm alneo I am indebted to them. sweeps people overboard When They saved me trom being killed he has been a by-word in the Arab world for first by Lumumba's thugs in the his use of peaceful, gradualist methods le
for the they meet him time; und, above all, he is not a Communiat.
A spanner
WHY
Сольв They are trained. They handle gunsk
know
French-
how to bourguibisme as it is called. This makes the crisis worse. By skilful diplomacy he France ludny
French offered to forced the negotiate ceasefire. The
evacuate his country without
*
has
to
POCKET CARTOON by OSBERT LANCASTER
then, hus this Arab eorpass increase in the mid- firing a shot in anger. Three
summer sub,
A sea
and now
то
30
paragon chucked a span- nor in the Western works?
Why has this would-be mediator and orbiter between France und Algiers suddenly cast
his Jung-standing And France has no lime to verboard dreams of winning the Nobel discus fis own pet theory-
And becoIBE yet thn the Suhara,
much Peace Prize another Arab demagogue?
despised
much is a disappointed desired, is like an Inland sea; Bourguiba man. He can no longer pose as that each country bordering an to claim its statesinan to it should be able on indispensable For r serious country, the
and the own territorial waters of sand French approach to their inter de Gaulle of France
rebel Government of Algeria. und, for the rest, the sea of rand national responsibilities
So he mu posture the should be exploited by whoever nothing short of frivolous.
and Arab statesman is most able. Which means the The Tunisian crisis, the dead African
his country's just French. littering the alreets of Bizerta, demanding
with We should be firmly affect the security of us all rights. With
them on this. dead Frenchman, cach with ench dead Tunisian, We
For the Arabs, Tunisian er become less secure.
otherwire.
bothered whether the Sahara was worth having until the French showed
is
The crisis of Bizerta high lights yet again the dependence of the West on the whims of whimsical men.
nks
never
I gather in Paris that Britain not much and America have patience with the present de- mands of Bourguiba. They are with France in its present crisis, which must be something of them that it was. pleasant change for the French.
THE MAN WHO GAVE
UP A MILLION TO BE AT KENNEDY'S ELBOW
THE
Secretary,
McNamara is a Presbyterian, executives to be there when he Perhaps that is the greatest arrived. clue 10 his character. Not He did not leap at the now always, superßetally, a man of
but always one of is absolute integrity.
Jul; it is not his nature to leap warmth.
HE Americans call him "The Whiz Kid." comforts for the job of Defence
And recently with well-slicked hair carefully parted and rimless glasses gleam- ing, he arrived in London for talks that will help to decide the future of Berlin-and perhaps of the world.
His name: Robert Strange McNamara, 44 years of age, United States Secretary of Defence.
Bohind this man with the unlikely name are the 2,500,000-strong U.S. armad which, with thoir nuclear weapons, form by for the most powerful force in the history of war,
troops,
MeNumara arrival London smiling,
It is not a Here back-
amle, that lingers long.
no conventional, sinpping Ambetean politician,
QUIET
Here is a man of quiet and
If weed be, ruthless personal power.
by DONALD
He in
blindly.
Kennedy, after one talk will
MeNomar, said he was "heud and shoulders above any other cundidate for the job.
As president of Ford's he was ealary already wealthy with of some £80,000 a year after tax. As Defence Secretary his McNamara, after one taik sninry is £9,000 a year. He took
the cut cheerfully. suld: "After with Kennedy, sewing what the job's all about, I am convinced I can handle
GOMERY ointment,
adtrust unlmown 10 Europeana, Aluxest unknown too to his fellow-Amerleans.
even
No one cared much for the
No one knew whether McNamara was u real Donocrut.
TEASED
His mind, a friend unce sold. beautiful Instrument, calm and analytical." His mind, an enerny once sald. is "Just computing
Uke
damned a
machine."
this
-(London Express Servier),
He loves climbing mountains "to me high mountains are a feeling," he would say, queting
Byron.
MODEST
charac-
He has always had analytical quality of mind. After the University of California, he worked for a time AS Rn Yo: it was modestly
" member leristic of him that he set his accountant; then as hu
of a 10-man team speeding up home on the lower slopes of the hills outside Detroit, Lar below the supply of munitions.
of the manstons
other car executives,
More than that,
an- nounced that he would sell his 25,000 shares in Ford's and drop options on 30,000 more shares-- an estimated loss of more than
£1,600,000.
INTEGRITY
He brought the same Integrity
He leased his, enemies by to his presidency at Fords. He
At the end of last year he was
Luggesting that at one time he refused all Christmas gifts from a mere car tycoond I say
almost business friends; he would rest ******* Iti contrast his had voted Republican;
10
rather than 气 reluctantly,
seemed, he a car on holiday
one from.. the he had take adeitu d Anolly that
present responsibility,
He was president of the Ford- voted for the Deinderat, pool. Motor Company. He had held Kennedy, In the last election. that job only five weeks when
President-elet Kutimidly asked
company
And he added: "But I con-
And he was a taskmaster. Up at 0 nm he would be at ils desk at 7.30-and expected other
him to ferske Ita comparative sider myself an independent."
"I do not minimise for a
The 10 became known as the #fter Д radia "quiz kids," panet garne und because they were young and always inquir. ing.
At the end of the war the team was taken over, all 10, by the Ford Company.
As
Ford's
years later, again without Firing a shot, ho squeezed them out of all but the Bizerta buto.
He has been content to move ane step at a time, never asking for more than he was sure he could get. "If you're offered a conversion," he once told me,
take it. You
can always ask for another next work,”
But now hit polloy appears to be breaking down. For moniha bis Neo Deslour party,
through Jargely
it youth movement, has been whipping hyuterla over Bierla. Bourguiba plainly intended to to use this agitation purely put moral pressure on General de Gaulle,
קע
But there was always a rink that things would get out of hand. Now the first shots have bech fred.
HIS CRITICS
Morcover, Bourguiba, skilful politician though he is, wit and It dimicult to retreat. The critics of his gradualist methods are growing more vocal in Tunis,
In Cairo the extremist wing of his old followers, led by the exited Salah Ben Yusací, ure elamouring for his overthrow.
the These
He also has, within his borders, the forces of Algerian rebel army. express a nationalism far more violent thon his own. They out number the Tunisian troops and are beiter armed. For all these reasons Bourguiba may find. It physically impossible to buck down.
The tragedy is that De Gaulle alto has his back to the wall. He Is re-opening talks with the Algerian rebels at Evinn. What-
30
ever happens, they are bound to
surrender end in a large French sovereignty.
If they are now accom- panied by an abandonment Bizerta. French public opinion will be asked to accept two "sell-oute" akamui- faneously.
of Here his house was "English cosling mere (by Tudor," American standards) £15,000. and not unlite homes in Eng- land's own modern-Tudor belt of Ewell, Esher, and Epsom.
He has a wife, Margaret, two daughters, and a son.
NEW REVOLT?
And McNamaro became the
And it is a strange quirk, you
who may think of this man
Moreover, by letting Bizerta "whiz kid." scorching his way to the top of the Ford hierarchy, superficially may appear cold go, De Gaulle would set o
rarely and ruthless, chief, be
that when he is dangerous precedent for the far attended the tail-fellow parties about to make a major decision more important base of Alers-oi- American automen love. Nor, the thought in his mind is: "Kebir in Algeria: now, does he lite political get wonder what Margaret would
Their togethers, with
think about it?" generous back-slappings,
over
-London Express Service),
De Gaulle also has to contend with opinion in his army,
BELWYN LLOYD.
London Her SASTION
"The general is right!. Berlin not enough-- honour demands that la belle France has an inter- national crlile all of her own !!"
It is widely believed in Paris that A new army revolt is imminent, Bizerta could touch it off. For, now that shots have been fired, a French sur render would mean that the army--which is quite capable of crushing the slender Tunisian forces-would be withdrawing under fire, in the face of a vastly inferior enemy," I doubt if the French officers would stomach such a humiliation.
This, then, is the dilemunu en both sides. I have lile doubt that both De Golle and Bourgulba would infinitely pre- fer a peaceful solution. But, for once all the odds seem to be stacked agilrst them.
Paul Johnson
-London Express Žervice).
GYM-SLIP
BADGE
HIDES
SECRET
THE secret of the
little yellow golli- wogs which some girls at an English school wear on their gym alips came out the other day.
It is not a badge indicating prowess of hockey, swim- ming, or locrosso,
It means, said a doctor, that the girls are no long-. or virgina.
Dr Ronald Gibson, 50-year-old family physician fron Win- chester, told the British Medical Arsociation conferenco Shemold
"I think a wave of naurda must go round this meeting da^*** one thinks of the implications.
"There is a 10s of moral |- discipline sweeping the country.
'Common sense'
"I have the greatest poselbjo respect for psychiatrists, but I think, up to a point they have had their day.
What we need s a little psychialty and a devil of a lot of comanies tense, We Want a return to the rod, pole and birch adequately administered."
Dr Gibson, a grandfather," ka medical offeer to Winchester College. He would not FIRINO tha tehool concerned.
Dr Doris Odlum, Bourne- mouth psychiatrist, denounced Dr Gibson "regralfully" as 4 "equaro."
to
It wat idiotic. shé:nuggested, Ignare natural mitutional
| urges," "Bilter Lux @ducation
was needed.
*London Express Hersien),
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7