CAN THE ARABS EVER USE THEIR OIL WEAPON POWER AGAIN?
The focus of the industrial West has, for many years, been drawn to the oil-bearing nations of the Middle East because they needed oil. As a repository of developed and yet to be developed fields, reserves of precious crude in the Middle East were an irresistible magnet. The point men were the oil companies who represented industrial and government interests. Nations contested with each other for oil leases and oil contracts as if there were no other oil deposits on the planet. But, something has happened to change that status. There were international interests who wanted Middle East oil prices driven up so they could raise local prices to a similar level in their own countries. And weapons’ manufacturers wanted prices to rise so the Arab countries could use there new wealth to buy their goods. Henry Kissinger, then Sec. of State, was particularly anxious for the Shah of Iran to be able to afford generous purchases of weapons in quantities sufficient for Iran to serve as America’s gua
