Word: oiled
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...send representatives. Jordan's Hussein was there, and so was Syria's head of state, Noureddine Atassi. Iraq sent only a Deputy Premier because of its quarrel with Syria over the true interpretation of Baathist socialism, but Sudan sent its new ruler, Major General Jaafar Nimeiry. The oil-soaked Kuwaitis, Saudis and Libyans, who already donate $378 million a year to war-damaged Egypt and Jordan, stayed away, lest they be touched for even bigger donations. Sure enough, the leaders at the mini-summit made a blunt demand for more money, declaring that "present economic aid is considered...
Libya had long been ripe for a coup. Flanked by socialist regimes in Algeria and Egypt, the kingdom was rolling in oil wealth, but much of it was being pocketed by corrupt officials. The country was ruled by a frail and feeble old man, King Idris, 79, who had offered to abdicate five years ago but was persuaded to stay on by the Cabinet. Crown Prince Hassan Rida, 40, obviously lacked the capacity for leadership. Even so, neither foreigners nor Libyans had expected the upheaval to come before the death of Idris, who is both the father of his country...
There were other puzzling aspects. While Radio Tripoli proclaimed "a revolutionary Libya, a socialist Libya," representatives of the 40-odd foreign oil companies (38 of them American) were assured on two separate occasions that their investments were safe. U.S., British and French diplomats heard promises of friendship and good faith. At the British airbase at El Adem, near Tobruk, and at the huge, $100 million Wheelus airbase, manned by some 3,000 Americans, the commanders tactfully suspended training flights, and the new regime requested that the flights remain suspended "temporarily." In every case, the spokesmen for the new regime were...
...Libya from the mid-16th century until 1912, when Italy gained the upper hand. The British administered the country from the end of World War II until independence in 1951. Once one of the poorest of Arab lands, Libya has become one of the wealthiest since vast reserves of oil were discovered a decade ago. In 1960, Libya's exports consisted of such commodities as esparto grass, olive oil, sponges and camels, and amounted to a paltry $8,500,000. Last year the figure rose to more than $1 billion, 99% of it from oil. Libya now pumps more...
...country's sudden wealth has disrupted social patterns, and relatively little has trickled down to its 1,800,000 people. The vast oil industry employs only 8,000 workers and technicians, many of them foreigners. Only 2% of the land is under cultivation, and even workable farm land has been ignored as inflation, and the illusory promise of jobs spurred an exodus from the countryside. Even the nomad Bedouins have left the desert to live in the filth-ridden shantytowns that now encircle Tripoli and Benghazi. What little industry or trade exists, besides the oil business, is mainly controlled...