Arab Oil: The Big Fallacy

A seek after the cowardly assault on Israel, the Arab countries displayed an unbent show of unity. They agreed to cut oil production by 5% a month, and to embargo exports to the US and other countries until their foreign policies were more to their liking.

There is no question that the cuts will hurt; much more than is commonly realized. The latter day Sir Neville Chamberlains are therefore calling for "evenhandedness" meaning evenhanded treatment of aggressor and victim alike and trading security and integrity for oil.

The zIrgumellt is not merely immoral and short sighted; it is also totally fallacious. If the US were to sell out Israel totally to the Soviets tomorrow , it would not get an additional quart of oil.

OPEC, the unabashed price fixing cartel of the Mid-East oil producing countries, is continually raising prices; a barrel of oil in the ground is worth more to the sheiks than a barrel sold. They have no reason to squander their only resource as fast as their customers need it. And they suffer from an unusual complaint: too much money. Abu Dhabi, with 40,000 inhabitants, is heading for annual oil revenues of $1 billion, and Saudi Arabia's oil revenues, last year $3.1 billion, are now at $4 billion. Medaeval village states that hardly anybody has heard of now occupy the world's top ranks in per capita income. The sheiks are amassing gold and other exchange at such staggering rates that they simply cannot put them to use. Their obvious remedy is to go more slowly; Israel has nothing to do with it. except to provide a good excuse.

That is the big fallacy in the "put pressure on Israel" argument.

But should a chilly winter through Soviet Arab blackmail make people determined, at last, to make America energetically self sufficient by using advanced technology for harnessing some of the unbounded energy around us, then the hypocritical attempt of blackmail will have proved a blessing.