Word: cento
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...help, the U.S. and its true friends. Bill felt that "we have an excellent chance in Iran-unless, of course, we send some aircraft carriers storming over there." In Bill's mind, any attempt by the U.S. to form an old-fashioned mutual defense alliance-"Baghdad Pact II, CENTO n, something like that"-would also work against the U.S. Such a step, warned Bill, "would certainly force the Iranians into the hands of the Soviets...
...challenge. After weeks of indecision and disbelief, the Carter Administration finally realized last month that the Shah's days as an absolute monarch were ending. From the very beginning of the cold war, the Shah's country had been a cornerstone of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO)* and a bulwark of Western influence. It was largely the U.S. that restored the ruler to his Peacock Throne after the overthrow of Premier Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953. Yet U.S. intelligence failed dismally at assessing the depth and range of opposition to the Shah. Jimmy Carter ordered a U.S. carrier task...
...much of the Third World, nationalism has already been shown to be the best antidote to Soviet expansionism. It is possible that CENTO has outlived its usefulness. A State Department official argues that CENTO is cited in Washington these days as "exactly the sort of thing the U.S. should not do in the Middle East today." In the 1950s a ranking U.S. ambassador in the Middle East, Raymond Hare, summed up the U.S.'s minimum interests in the region as "right of transit, access to petroleum, and absence of Soviet military bases." That probably remains the bottom line today...
...conference last week, Bakhtiar promised to end martial law, gradually restore human rights and release all political prisoners. As for foreign policy, he said: "Iran will no longer be the gendarme of the Persian Gulf, and it is my intention to take Iran out of the military wing of CENTO." Iran's military role will necessarily be reduced, because the country will no longer have the economic means to make huge arms purchases. Bakhtiar also promised to review who may buy Iran's oil. This was interpreted to mean that the National Iranian Oil Corp. would cancel deliveries...
Please don't give up on CENTO, the Central Treaty Organization [Sept. 18], just because the dictionary definition of "cento" is "a patchwork of incongruous parts." Actually, the word has another meaning in Japanese: "a public bath," where people share the feeling of togetherness in a very natural way. Isn't that one of the most desirable connotations for such an alliance...