Word: libya
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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When word leaked out a year ago that West Germany was supplying Israel with $80 million worth of "secondhand" Patton tanks, the response from the Arab world was torrential in its outrage. All but three of the 13 Arab countries (Morocco, Tunisia and Libya) broke diplomatic ties with Bonn, and Egypt's Nasser threatened the ultimate retaliatory blow: recognition of East Germany. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard hastily suspended the shipments and vowed never to panzer to Israel again. Last week the U.S. confirmed that it had picked up the tank deal with Israel where Bonn had left off. This time...
Just a few years ago, the idea of selling much to the desert kingdom would have been laughable. Libya's export-heavy economy was literally peanuts-and peanuts could not pay for much. Now businessmen from abroad are falling over one another to peddle their goods to Libya. Suddenly Libya has more money than it knows what to do with. Since 1961, when U.S. and other foreign firms began pumping oil from beneath its sands, it has leaped into eighth place among the world's oil producers, is now turning out 1,200,000 barrels...
...Libya's new wealth has brought new problems. With a population optimistically estimated at 1,600,000 in a land 21 times the size of Texas, the country has too few people to put its money to work efficiently. Libya has not enough skilled labor to meet the demands of oil companies and the booming construction industry, not enough competent administrators to channel oil revenues into properly planned projects, not enough trained government officials willing to make decisions. Rents and prices have more than doubled in five years. On the outskirts of Tripoli, Benghazi and Tobruk have grown...
Retiring to Palaces. Despite such problems, Libyans recognize good times when they see them; U.S. Ambassador David Newsom calls Libya "the most stable country in the Arab world today." Reform-minded King Idris, 76, has built more than 100 new schools outside Tripoli, has pledged 70% of the government's $200 million-a-year budget for more housing, hospitals, roads and other welfare and public works projects. To keep Libya steady as well as rich, he has built a well-trained, 7,000-man army, and has quietly warned Egypt's Nasser that in case of aggression...
...prepare the way for an orderly transition after his death, Idris has been grooming his nephew, Crown Prince Hassan Rida, and at the same time altering and liberalizing the character of Libya's kingship. He is retiring more and more to his half a dozen domed and crenelated palaces scattered around the country, leaving day-to-day government to his able and popular Prime Minister, Hussein Mazik, and encouraging talk of a constitutional monarchy and even a republic after he is gone. Whatever Libya becomes, the chances are that its wealth will continue to grow: it has hardly begun...