Word: trucial
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...years ago that kind of tribal fighting-presuming that the watchful British Political Resident in the gulf would have allowed it to take place-would scarcely have been noticed. Today, though, the lands bordering the Persian Gulf have a strategic importance to both East and West. Collectively, the Trucial States* and their neighbors on the gulf have a petroleum reserve of at least 345 billion bbls.-56% of the world's proven oil supply. Moreover, the power vacuum created in December when Britain pulled out the last of its political officers and military forces from the Trucial States...
Britain's decision to withdraw from the gulf was an unsettling blow to the Trucial States. One robed sheik explained why to TIME Correspondent Gavin Scott as they sat sipping Evian water in an Abu Dhabi hotel lobby. "We have a saying here that my next-door neighbor is my enemy, but the man from afar is my friend." So anxious was oil-rich Abu Dhabi to maintain a referee and peacekeeper in the area that it. quietly proposed to help cover British costs with a $60 million subsidy. When London demurred, the neighboring sheiks-who are all absolute...
...perfect. Qatar (pop. 85,000) refused to join because its proposed political clout would not be consonant with its huge economic wealth (roughly $240 million annually in oil royalties, or $2,824 per capita). The island sheikdom of Bahrain also declined; as the most populous (250,000) of the Trucial States it wanted more power than the other sheiks were willing to give. Both countries declared independence and have joined the United Nations, as has the Union. Qatar is now the U.N.'s smallest member...
...departure of the British troops coincided with the Union's first international crisis. Iran has historic claims to three tiny islands in the gulf that were controlled by the Trucial States. Shah Reza Pahlevi took advantage of the political changes in the area to negotiate an agreement with Sharjah in which Iran received oil-exploration rights on Abu Mesa. The other two islands, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, were seized by helicopter-borne Iranian troops after similar negotiations with Ras al Khaima collapsed. The Union was hard put to resist such encroachment; its principal military strength consists...
...country itself was allowed few visitors, and journalists have been banned for years. On a recent trip along the Trucial Coast, TIME Correspondent Lee Griggs attempted to cross Oman's ill-defined northwest border. "I would like to let you pass," said the tall, robed Omani guard, "so you could see the country. It is little changed from the days of the Prophet. Perhaps someone will do something about it soon...