Word: algerianness
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Early this year, possibly to relax from the Algerian crisis and other serious matters, Charles de Gaulle gave Monaco six months to reform its tax laws or lose its special status (though Monaco is theoretically sovereign, it exists as a privileged protectorate of France, free of customs duties). When the ultimatum expired fortnight ago, Paris sent customs agents to set up barriers at the border that Novelist Colette once described as the frontier of flowers. Mostly, the revenuers darted about in mobile vans and on motorcycles, making nuisances of themselves, which was the idea. "Berlin has its wall of shame...
...outdo the traditional 21-gun salute that Ben Bella got on the White House lawn, Castro had an old Communist satellite gimmick to impress his guest-a 21-tank salute. As the long rifles of the Russian-built tanks barked their welcome, the bearded Cuban gave the slim Algerian rebel a mighty abrazo and then led him to the microphones. Said Castro: "To make this visit at a time when the powerful Yankee empire has redoubled its hostility against our country ... is, on your part, Señor Premier, an act of courage and a gesture we shall never forget...
From then on, it was one gesture after another. Ben Bella gushed praise for the "extraordinary advances and progress of this revolution despite the maneuvers of enemy forces." Every Algerian, he said, "knows, follows and admires" the Cuban revolution; Algerians celebrate "as a national event, the victory of Playa Girón."* As a new nation, he said, Algeria has struck only one medal of honor, and this will be given to Castro...
...Guantánamo Naval Base. So was Che Guevara, the Argentine Communist in charge of Cuba's economy. "Sooner or later," he told Ben Bella, "you, too, will have to face the issue of the French naval base of Mers-el-Kebir." According to a later Algerian account of the session, Ben Bella urged Castro to ease tension with the U.S. "And just how?" asked Castro. A little less rattling of Russian rockets would help, Ben Bella reportedly said. The final joint communiqué reflected no such exchange. Ben Bella approved a statement demanding an end to "imperialist oppression...
Washington, which hopes to get along with Ben Bella, reacted with a pained official silence, and a private explanation that Ben Bella has a large body of leftist support to keep happy. Flying back to New York the Algerian Premier would say no more about Cuba. But Algerians at the U.N. reported some interesting observations by Ben Bella and his aides about their Cuban hosts. They got the feeling that Che Guevara and Armed Forces Commander Raúl Castro were the real "strongmen" of the regime. President Osvaldo Dorticós, long considered a mere Castro puppet...