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JAPANESE GOVERNMENT FEARFUL OVER. VIETNAM ._
One of the consequences of the war launched by the United States government against North Vietnam has been a swift rise in anti-American sentiment in Japan.
On April 26 some 15,000 demonstrators milled around the American embassy in Tokyo trying to get through police lines in order to make sure that the diplomats inside got their message about stopping the aggression and pulling American troops out of Vietnam. Three policemen were injured and six students were arrested.
The Paris daily Le Monde observed in a front-page editorial April 28 that it is quite probable the.Americans will have to face “a big organized movement of demonstrations against the United States, perhaps even acts of sabotage against their logistic supply lines ~- strikes and boycotts in the ports, incidents in the bases and on the railways, etc."
Disquieted by the developments in Japan, Washington decided to send three special envoys to argue in favor of Johnson's policy, Cabot Lodge, former ambassador to Saigon, Marshall Green, subsecretary for the Far East in the State Department, and Walter W. Rostow, the well-known economist.
Rostow was asked by three big universities to cancel the conferences which had been scheduled for him.
Cabot Lodge decided it would be diplomatic to not appear in public and to avoid meeting the press. In his talks with Premier Sato, he was able to observe, according to Le Monde that while "the Japanese government remains a faithful partner of the United States" it is “embarrassed, if not even irritated, by the development of the situation in Vietnam." Le Monde said that "Mr. Sato went as far as possible in expressing the official disagreement of Japan by asking the United States to make a new effort to reach a peaceful settlement. A halt to the bombings, negotiations, admission of the Vietcong as one of the partners in negotiations -~ this is, in fact, the Japanese position, closer to the French thesis than to the American position,"
"The Japanese, moreover, know what they are talking about," continued Le Monde. "The semi-official Japan Times recalled the other day that in 1937 Japan, entangled in what was then called the 'China incident,' likewise proclaimed a policy of 'nonextension of the conflict,' but svon found itself in an escalation and in a war, The influential magazine Bungei Shunju recalled in its April number that the next to the last step in the escalation was: the landing in -Indochina, and that this led Japan to the final step == world war."
THE POWER PLAY BETWEEN BONN, CAIRO AND TEL-AVIV
Jerusalem
Western Germany's effort to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and the concomitant worsening of its relations with the Arab states, occur against a background of deep-going social transformations among the Arab states and the complete isolation of Israel, both economically and politically, from its Arab environment.
To survive, Israel has had to lean heavily on the United States for financial and political support. But the regime is not satisfied with this, It is seeking connections in Europe, particularly with France and Western Germany, to secure armaments and political and diplomatic backing.
As long as the Algerian war lasted, Israel and France maintained close relations. They assisted each other in a common struggle against the Arab liberation movement. Israel's army, espscially the air force, was supplied with matériel by France (with American dollars, of course). Israel has two atomic reactors, one at Nachal-Rubin, the other at Dimona. The Nachal-Rubin reactor, the smaller of the two, was built. under American licensing and was designed mainly for scientific work. The Dimona reactor, built with French help, has been used at least partially (if not mainly) ina project to manufacture nuclear arms.
The Israeli government has” never publicly admitted this. The most that has been said was Ben-Gurion's guarded statement, when he was still head of government, that the Dimona staff was also working for "defense," Newspapers abroad, especially in the U.S., have published sensational articles about efforts to "make atom bombs" at Dimona. Well-informed Israeli intellectuals, especially university professors, became quite worried. A committee was set up to oppose making nuclear weapons, and a special. book was written on the subject to prove how insane such a project was.
But when the Algerian war. came to an end, France suddenly Lost interest in the romance with Israel, Delivery of arms stopped: and the French withdrew from participation in the Dimona project. Perhaps, with production of their own bomb under way, it was no longer useful, France began mending relations with the Arab states, and de Gaulle stated that France would no longer provide arms for the Israeli forces.
Israel turned to another West European NATO power -« Western Germany. The Israeli army now began getting arms from there, scientists came to fill out the staff of the famous Weizman Research Institute at Rehovot, and there were indications that the Germans replaced the French in staffing the Dimona reactor. It is no longer a secret that the bill for West German arms deliveries to Israel was
footed by the USA.
In 1964 a clamor was made over German scientists and technicians working in Egyptian rocket research and production. Threats were made. against them and Israeli agents éven organized some raids. - .; Ag a result, the following: occurred: (1) Washington called a halt to Israei's attempt to produce nuclear weapons. (2) The West German government, however, continued to participate in the Dimona center as part of its preparation to produce weapons forbidden under the Bonn and Paris treaties. Its activities in Egypt have the same objective, (3) A sharp conflict broke out between the Ben-Gurion+ Peres group, which favored continuing the attempt to produce. nuclear~ weapons with West German support:against the desires of Washington, and the Eshkol-Meier group, which preferred not to resist Washinge ton, although it wished to maintain friendly relations with West Germany. .
When he still held the posts of prime minister and minister of defense, Ben-Gurion forced the head of the Israeli Security Service to resign. He did this, he said, because of "fundaméntal dif- . ferences in political conceptions." What was really involved was the publicity released by the Security Service about actions against German scientists and technicians in Egypt. Ben-Gurion and his ally, assistant defense minister Peres, stated several times that in their opinion German activities in Egypt. constituted no danger for Israel and that relations with West Germany were excellent and valuable, Although it seems to be in. contradiction with Ben-Gurion's hatred .of Nasser, the declaration was quite understandable. Wanting to co# operate with West Germany, he could not, of course, stir up trouble for the Germans elsewhere,
It is worth noting in passing that although the Israeli Security Service is directly under the Ministry of Defense, it is no secret that it co-operates. clasely with U.S. “intelligence” services. By releasing the information about the activities of its agents against German scientists and technicians in Egypt, the head of the Israeli Security Service helped the Americans put pressure on the Israeli government to end German co-operation in Dimona. By ‘forcing the resignation of this high official, Ben-Gurion wanted to demonstrate that he was not ready to bow to Washington's orders.. He did not score a great success in this.
To stress their political orientation, Ben-Gurion and Peres invited the former West German minister of defense, Franz-Joseph Strauss, to visit Israel. Strauss was no longer minister, but he had been instrumental in organizing German-Israeli co-operation in the military and nuclear field. He was received with high honors by the Israeli government and military chiefs and, of course, he wasshown around the nuclear reactor at Dimona. One of the spearheads of West German neomilitarism, under a cloud of scandal concerning corruption in office, this man was treated by the Israeli authori-~-
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ties as an exceptional guest of honor! This is understandable, since Israel's whole orientation in foreign policy continues to be tah alae toward a close alliance with Western imperialism,
But Washington didn't give in. Kennedy sent a letter to Ben-= Gurion asking for American control over the Dimona reactor. A spy plane was sent over Israel to photograph the project. Israeli military aircraft forced the plane to land and it was released only after many hours of discussion and consultation, ©
While Israel could continue flirting with Franz-Josef Strauss, it eould not hold out long against Washington. This tiny country, completely isolated from the surrounding world, and in a state of permanent war varying from cold to hot, is wholly dependent on economic and political protection from Uncle Sam. The U.S. was even paying for the weapons furnished by West Germany! Ben-Gurion had. to resign and Eshkol replaced him as head of government.
It seems that German-Israeli co-operation at Dimona did actually come to an end; but West Germany continued to supply armaments. The "secret" leaked into the world press. This was too much for Egypt. Nasser countered the arms deals of Western imperialism ‘in the Middle East by inviting Ulbricht to Egypt.
The truth is that good -pelations have existed between: the United Arab Republic: and the.German Democratic Republic for some . time. Nevertheless this public move confronted. Bonn with something new. According to its own “Hallstein Doctrine," Bonn had no choice but to break off all. relations with Cairo if the UAR recognized East Germany. As retaliation, it decided to grant diplomatic relations to Israel,
The establishment of diplomatic relations with Tel-Aviv is of no great importance in itself. Unofficial, multiple relations have already existed for.a long time. Moreover,-Israel has diplomatic relations with most countries of the West and East.. But the timing was significant. It-had the effect of brandishing a whip against Egypt which is undergoing an economic, social and political upheaval,. The enthusiastic response of the Israeli government should be noted. It is. reminiscent of its attitude during the Suez crisis of 1956 when Israel acted as an open agent of Western imperjalism in the Franco=British aggression against a people seeking freedom from colonialism,
When Birrenbach, the delegate of the West German government, came to Tel-Aviv to negotiate establishment of diplomatic relations, representatives. of the Arab governments met in Cairo to decide how to answer. They did not succeed in reaching agreement on a joint reply. But the reactions of the various governments were quite significant,
Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, the politically most advanced, governments of the Arab world, said that they would:.cut' off relations with West Germany and recognize the German Democratic | Republic if Bonn carried through its plan to recognize Israel.
Tunisia, Morocco and Libya, which are still in the grip of. neocolonialism and which still maintain good relations with the European Common Market powers, voted against severing relations with Bonn and against recognizing the GDR.
Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan, which are ruled by reactionary proeimperialist regimes, but which don't depend on the European Common Market countries, were ready to break with Bonn but against establishing relations with the "Communist" regime of the GDR.
At the moment, the outcome is still uncertain. Birrenbach is still negotiating in Tel-Aviv, and Bonn has sent emissaries to try to convince the Arab world not to break off relations.
However it turns out, one thing is clear. West Germany's recognition or nonrecognition of Israel is not decisive. What is decisive is whether Israel intends to continue to play the role of an imperialist cat's paw in the Middle East or whether it will look for ways and means to become an integral part of those forces in the Arab East which have inscribed the slogans of anti~imperialism and social revolution on their banners. April 12, 1965
GONVERSATIONS WITH SOVIET STUDENTS
[The following report was sent to us by a Scottish student who recently returned from a visit to- the Soviet Union. ]
We visited Leningrad, Moscow, Smolensk and Minsk. This was my first visit to the Soviet Union and I was especially interested in meeting Soviet students and exchanging views with them...
Most of the