Word: persian
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...Wednesday morning, when Carter returned bleary-eyed to the capital to preside at a hastily summoned meeting of the National Security Council, the truth was appallingly obvious: Washington had to deal with a conflict that seemed bound to hurt what Carter has called the vital American interests in the Persian Gulf, while enhancing the power and prestige of the Soviet Union-yet the U.S. seemed to have little ability to sway the course of events. Once again, as during the fall of the Shah and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. was standing on the sidelines as an anxious...
...economic chaos in the West, and Carter said last week that the U.S. was determined to keep the strait open, implying that it might organize an international fleet to do so. The Soviet news agency TASS thundered that "the U.S.A. is speeding up preparations for armed interference in the Persian Gulf area" and Secretary of State Edmund Muskie warned that the situation "could even escalate to the point where the unthinkable hostilities may take place"-meaning, presumably, a U.S.-Soviet nuclear confrontation...
Carter's statements bring the United States no closer to military intervention in the Persian Gulf. They are not scary, but calm and rational...
Some of his words, however, are not. This latest Middle East war has tested Carter's doctrine of military protection for Persian Gulf oil much sooner than expected. Pressed by reporters to clarify American intentions last week, administration spokesmen said they could not rule out the use of military force to keep open the Strait of Hormuz through which Persian Gulf passes on its way to consumer nations...
...events will not force Carter to make good on that pledge in the near future. That should not lull Americans into ignoring the meaning of this latest application of the "Carter doctrine." It means that, should this week's war or future tumults threaten the oil pipeline from the Persian Gulf, Carter will send in the Navy, the Air Force and--if necessary--the Army. It means that, even though world oil supplies will become inadequate within two or three decades with the best possible supply situation, Carter believes it is worth fighting today to preserve this phantom of national...