Guest Commentary
Geopolitics and
our grimy future
By Ken Tyson
Few would doubt that the
world is moving into a very
crucial stage in terms of global
politics. With the lifeline of
western civilization running
through the Persian Gulf, Wes
tern Europe, the U S S R, and
the United States as well as
many third world nations face
serious questions of national
interests.
Furthermore, the stability of
the international community is
at stake. Recent events show us
that the interactions of the
balance of power have shifted to
the strategically important
grounds of the Middle East, i.e.
Iran, Pakistan, and Afghani
stan.
Here the flexing of military
muscles by the superpowers as
well as the defiant opposition by
the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (in con
junction with the Muslim com
munity) has made the Middle
East a battleground of influ
ence. We are no doubt head
ing into an age of ominous
political tension.
One extremely important as
pect of the politics of the Middle
East lies in the theological
conflict between Western civi
lization and the Muslim world.
The stability of any government
in the Middle East depends on
its ability to develop a modern
economy while simultaneously
adhering to the social customs
of the Koran.
Club foots
The Guilford College Track
Club returned home last Wed
nesday night without fanfare for
their efforts on the track and in
the field at the first invitational
meet of the season at Averett
College.
The team was not dispirited,
however, because the rag-tag
team of five men and three
women had finally been given a
chance to prove themselves and
collected a total of four first
place finishes, one second, and
one third, not a bad start for a
club formed only this January.
In the women's division, Su
zette Hoi brook celebrated her
twentieth birthday by running
the first, and finest, race of her
college career, capturing sec
ond in the 400 m event. In the
cool evening breeze, Kris Bee
ler turned in an excellent time
of 6:42 for the 1600 m run,
beating out her challenger by a
full thirty seconds. Trying a
tough double, Beeler narrowly
missed a third place finish in
the 100 m dash, racing only
fifteen minutes after her victory
in the mile-plus event.
Jean Ceiger, coming off her
solid performance a week ago in
the 10 kilometer Natural Light
Classic, brought back two first
place finishes: one in the 5000 m
run and one in the discus,
tossing the men's 2-kilo discus
over sixty feet. The women took
second place to Winston-Salem
State overall, however, because
According to Fortune maga
zine, the government of Saudi
Arabia seems to have mastered
this problem through develop
ment of a strong economy while
enforcing the domestic customs
of Islam with state law. How
ever, even in Saudi Arabia the
healing of the two conflicting
forces is not complete Con
trary to many propaganda
claims, the capture of the Grand
Mosque was a completely inter
nal affair undertaken by Islamic
zealots who fear and hate the
modernization trends of the
Royal Family.
The Iranian revolution and
the subsequent rule"'by the
Ayatollah Khomeini is but ano
ther blatant manifestation of
this motif. However, in Iran the
importance of oil is less domi
nant than in other countries of
the area simply because Iran
supplies a significant yet smal
ler amount of crude. Here
power politics is dominated not
only by the thirst for oil, but
also by Iran's recent flagrant
defiance of international law
through the capture of the fifty
U.S. hostages.
The most severe implications
of this move are twofold. First,
the entire security of global
diplomatic immunity has proven
to be vulnerable. Second, it has
further propagated instability in
a part of the world where
stability is essential.
Both of these implications
have led to tricky military
of a lack of depth. As Coach
Freyberg later stated, "Had we
had the depth to enter runners
in the 200m and 800 m events, I
think the women would have
won the meet."
The men fared a little less
well, bringing back a total of
four points and a fourth place
finish overall. The 4 x 100 relay
team, consisting of Mark Caver,
Rob Penney, Phil Wertz, and
Jim Ramicone, turned in a
disappointing performance,
largely due to a poor start from
the blocks.
The lead-off runner, Mark
Caver, was unable to get into
position before the starter fired
the gun from a point on the
track at which he almost cer
tainly could not have seen the
Guilford lane. Frustrated in the
relay, Caver later sprang to a
third place finish in the high
jump, despite having to break
his concentration repeatedly to
help run the event.
Mark Little brought back the
only first place finish for the
men. Tossing the javelin into
the twilight, after a two and
one-half hour delay, Little out
distanced his nearest competi
tor by four feet with a throw of
one hundred forty-two feet.
The Track Club looks forward
now to the Smith Relays on
April 12 and to helping run off
and run in the 10 kilometer
relay for Serendipity Weekend
before exams disrupt the train
ing schedule.
problems for the United States.
The U.S. has already drastically
increased its presence in the
area by sending the Mideast
Task Force, the Midway Battle
Croup, and the Kitty Hawk
Battle Croup into the Persian
Gulf. Yet this show of force does
not necessarily carry with it a
true threat. The few feasible
bombing targets have been and
are effectively protected by the
lives of the hostages held in
Tehran.
Moreover, the Pentagon's
plans to create a quick strike
force for use in the Middle East
suffers from the same social and
political ailments as the other
military options. It is highly
uncertain that such a force
would be effective in securing
the political sovereignty of the
area.
In light of these strategic
complexities, we must still con
sider the presence of a Soviet
threat to the freedom of crude
flow from the region. As
brought out in an editorial in the
March issue of Oil and Gas
Journal, the Soviet bloc can no
longer claim immunity from the
woes of Middle Eastern oil. In
fact, there are those who see the
soviet move into Afghanistan,
defended as a purely political
move under the Brezhnev doc
trine, as a blatant grab for
Middle Eastern oil guarantees.
In light of the severe military
implications involved with Mid
dle Eastern oil as well as the
general instability of the area,
many nations have developed
r f~\ ) offered for anyone knowing the whereabouts of the missing Hobie \
j / V y Sailboat Print that was taken out of Boren Lounge on the afternoon :
: I 1 °' April Ist. The print contains 3 panes of glass, separating 2 layers i
• / j m, S^ The glass is framed in white pine. The print is extremely |
s •'' yy fragile and heavy, [approx. 20 lbs.] It took a semester to design, |
| ■ pr ' nt ' an d fabricate the Hobie Sailboat Print. The elderly couple i
| . bought the print would greatly appreciate the return of the I
; i print. All Calls Can Be Anonymous. Contact: Guilford College :
I Security; 292-5511, ext. 127 OR Steve Hardy; 852-0227, 852-5064. |
>mnf
CANCER CAN BE BEAT'
i m
American Cancer Society x _ 1
V* Answers to 31 & 32
31. A backwards glance;
I THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED BY THE PUBLISHER AS A PUBLIC SERVICE 32 Spaceship
GUILFORDIAN, APRIL 8, 1980, PAGE SEVEN
drastic domestic energy pro
grams. Canada, for example,
has already developed strong
programs for the exploitation
of its vast reserves of natural
gas in the province of Alberta.
However, political conflict be
tween the liberals and the
conservatives still inhibits the
speedy recovery of these re
serves.
Through changes in Middle
Eastern economics, new fields
in the North Sea are becoming
economic. Norway has deve
loped daring exploration and
development techniques which
will enable it to recover hydro
carbons from the North Sea at
competitive prices.
Behind the Iron Curtain, the
Soviets have developed an ex
tensive drilling and production
program to safeguard the bloc
from the unstable Middle East.
Interesting from an ideological
perspective is the Soviet claim
that they are free from capitalis
tic profiteering propensities.
The Soviet Union makes a
substantially higher average
profit from oil production than
do the U.S. oil companies. Yet.
the Soviet Union keeps a tight
lid on this data.
The United States has under
taken several major trends in
order to ease the tension over
the world oil situation. Many
important energy experts, how
ever, see these moves by the
government as much too weak
in view of the urgency of the
situation. William P. Tavoular
eas, president of Mobile Corpo
ration, strongly supports the
vigorous development of do
mestic crude reserves, nuclear
power, and coal reserves, as
well as unconventional sources
such as solar, energy, geother
mal energy, and synthetic fuels.
Accordingly, this would greatly
decrease the hawkish pressure
in O P E C
Interestingly enough, the
omnipresence of O P E C has
had an important effect on
America's economy and domes
tic lifestyle. President Carter, in
what has been viewed as a
campaign-year economic
scapegoat search, has develo
ped a "blame it all on
O P E C." attitude as an excuse
for the upcoming recession and
rampaging inflation. His my
steriously weak election year
energy program shows very few
signs of having a significant
limiting affect on inflation.
On the other hand, the recent
oil market glug will probably
detain further O.P.E.C. price
increases through the reces
sion. Therefore, although the
economy is not prospering, the
serious economic threat forecas
ted by many will probably not
materialize
An essay in the March 3rd
issue of Time magazine points
out one possible benefit of the
tight economic times; the rise of
U.S. frugality. F:ugality, cou
pled with shifts on our modes of
transportation and ingenious
modifications of our automated
devices, could play a very
important role in our survival in
a resource short world.