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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1980)
J dokjt BEiwo- but wmENJ that ALGER \ AM GUV BEh AWBEl) EXPLORATION Costs tor gchvg through fHV W^UlTT^ T COT I t-v/a - t Opinion New oil fee is too much Since OPEC got its monopoly act together back in 1973, oil exporting countries have been thinking up more and more new ways to boost their prices. Algeria came up with an imaginative one recently when it added an “exploration fee’ of $3 to its price per barrel. That makes the price $37.21, highest in OPEC, and it is en couraging to see that some of the Algerians’ biggest custom ers have finally had enough: they are refusing to buy either the “exploration fee’ or the oil to which it is attached. The Algerian oil minister has hastily explained that the payment of the new fee is merely a temporary “token of good will.” We doubt the customers will buy that, either. OPEC ought to be more than satisfied that its victims hand over their wallets. Expecting them to respond with “good will is asking more than even the oil traffic will bear. Dallas Morning News the small society by Brickman AM £>MLY^MiLP- AMP EV&M TH&M/ WA^M'T FA\/P(2lT^ - Washington Star Syndicate. Inc 2-22 The Battalion U S P S 045 360 LETTERS POLICY to the editor should not exceed 300 words and an subject to heinn cut to that length or less if longer Th> editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and doe not guarantee to publish any letter Each letter must signed, show the 'address of the writer and list a telephon> numbt'r for verification Address correspondence to le tters to the Editor. Tht Battalion. Room 216. Reed McDonald Building. Colic Station. Texas 77S43 Represented nationally by National Educational Adv tising Services, Inc.. New York City. Chicago and 1 Angeles. The Battalion is published Monda) through Fridas from September through May except during exam and holiday >eriods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday hrough Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester. $33.25 per school year. $35.00 per hill year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion. Room 216. Reed McDonald Building. College Station. Texas 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station. T.\ 77843. MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Roy Bragg Associate Editor Keith Taylor News Editor Rusty Cawley Asst. News Editor Karen Cornelison Copy Editor Dillard Stone Sports Editor Mike Burrichter Focus Editor Rhonda Watters City Editor Louie Arthur Campus Editor Diane Blake Staff Writers Nancy Andersen, Tricia Brunhart.Angelique Copeland, Laura Cortez, Meril Edwards, Carol Hancock, Kathleen McElroy, Debbie Nelson, Richard Oliver, Tim Sager, Steve Sisney, Becky Swanson, Andy Williams Chief Photographer Lynn Blanco Photographers Lee Roy Leschper, Paul Childress, Ed Cunnius, Steve Clark Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of Regents. 1 he Battalion is a non-profit, self- supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and community newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. Viewpoint loca The Battalion Texas A&M University Friday February 22, 1980 Sh Afghanistan invasion is typicajga Soviet strategy, says book By I By JIM ANDERSON United Press International Afghanistan is the first country outside the Warsaw Pact countries to be invaded directly by Soviet troops since the early post-war days. Is it an indicator of a new and ominous era in Soviet foreign policy? One analysis, by Professor Donald R. Shanor of Columbia University in a forth coming book on the Soviet Union and its relations with China and the West, shows that the Afghan invasion is not so different from past Soviet policies. an improvement. A good example would be a nation in which one military clique has just overthrown another.” Those words, written some six months in advance of the December invasion, fit Afghanistan’s situation perfectly. — Second, is a “great need for national reconstruction, which is to say that the country’s economy must be in as disastrous a state as the political life, so that promises of aid can be coupled with promises and deliveries of Soviet arms.” It fits in very well with the pattern and the qualifications for such Soviet operations and thus can be seen as an extension of recent history, and not an abrupt shift. Shanor lays out four conditions which must be present before the Soviet Union will use its economic and military power openly to take over another country: — First, “The situation must be so de sperate that help from Moscow seems to be Afghanistan fits right in with some other economic basket cases that have seen mas sive recent Soviet intervention or influ ence: South Yemen, Vietnam, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Laos. — Third, the country involved must be isolated, politically, and not be in the sphere of influence of any other nation. Shanor writes, “The Soviet Union makes fun of the Monroe Doctrine, but by and large observes it.” — And fourth, while candidates for a takeover should be politically isolated, they should also be important enough, strategic ally, to make the operation worth the risk and cause some discomfort to the Western world. Thus, Afghanistan again fits the pat tern, as do some of the other recent Soviet attempts in Africa, such as Angola and Mozambique. Although the Carter administration says that the Afghan invasion is a dangerous departure from past Soviet policy, Shanor’s four rules show that the Soviet invasion is consistent with their past operations in places around the Indian Ocean, Asia and Africa. Obviously, the Soviets do not formally recognize the validity of Shanor’s analysis, except that they seem to operate by his rules. Although the means used in Afghanistan by the Soviet Union may have been more dramatic and direct than in earlier opera tions in Ethiopia or Angola, the result is the ’retty as | She won heknov same: another country underiE. trol Hrhe Sha Does this then mean anirrn-,^. gaseme of red, washing over the Tliii n feht with which has dozens of countries^ ( m()S tly woi nor s four conditions? sen t where Apparently not, according to. The song by a Washington think tank,thetHfs pure a Defense Information. j n the audi In a major study on the trcK : fantasy wor influence around the world.;! t he person: comes to several conclusions 0IU . feel lik — Although the Soviets n&ujThe and creased their influence aroundtl^_ whether the late 1940s, in the wake of\W the love so their influence, especially out ! and clappir Europe, lacks staying power i: fast ones. 1 tries have dropped out of the Sejasts until tl than have dropped in. tH^o mattt — “Soviet setbacks in China,li Egypt, India and Iraq dwarftl advances in other countries I Ethiopia or Cambodia, wherethi remain unstable and unreliable [ sa By T It’s not < HEYKVgUTRWN' 10WRECK THIS VESSEL, BOV? Ives a per Ifions, two But the .come to T day. lurray feet 40 mi “Daydreai Tthat res said that a Ppb weeks land unsoli ,moved he self so mu $he adc equivc hrmec t the M|irrary n first Texa years. Am didn’t con Letters Chivalry lives at Texas A&M Editor: Who said chivalry is dead? I think who ever made that statement was mistaken, or at least wrong about it here at A&M. Lately I have noticed more of the men opening doors, etc, for the women, and when riding on a sardine-packed shuttlebus, it is a very rare occurrence for me to see any of the guys sitting while there are women stand ing. I just wanted to write in, and tell you guys out there, that your “gentlemanly” efforts are noticed, and are appreciated; at least by this female Ag! Mimi Renz ’82 Sharing is nice Editor: A recent letter from a Commons area resident, criticizing Corps of Cadets mem bers use of Commons facilities, prompts me to relate an incident which occurred last night. As I was walking back from the library, I came upon an act in progress that both offended and humiliated me. At the north end of the Corps Area Quad, behind a waist-high shrub, next to a female dorm, stood a proud Commons resident answer ing Mother Nature’s call. It seems trite to me for someone to complain about sharing a television or pool table when Li to share my scenic toilet facilities,1 ter is not intended to be a comp this good Ag’s act. Instead, lamvijj opinion as to why I should haves available facilities located inthed where I live. Indeed it is pleastifl perform natural functions in a naW ting, hut I get quite annoyed wk forced to stand in line for my favoii Thotz By Doug Graham SO VCO’LL VUXfcTO SALE /" ™ SHiLnO'P0UTFLT< ^ BUT’ LM REALLY V - Gonmjdou.ug hohicidg!|