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Senator Abraham Ribicoff, D-Conn., warned during the Senate debate
over the controversial sale of planes to Israel, Egypt and Saudi
Arabia that the Soviet threat to the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian
Gulf was of "serious consequence" to the United States and the Western
world because half the world's oil reserves are in this area.
He cited CIA estimates as saying Russian oil production will decrease
in 1985 while demand will be higher, and "what the Soviets need and what
the�· want" is control of Middle East oil.
Ribicoff said Soviets "know the value of the region they are surrounding,"
and asked: "Does anyone think they give a damn about Afghanistan or
Yemen or Ethiopia?
"The point is," he said, "that while everone is drawing attention to
the confrontation states at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea,
we had better watch out for the back door and what the Soviets and
Cubans are up to in the Arabian peninsula and the Persian Gulf.
"You can say what you want, whoever controls that oil will control the
economic
lifeblood of the West. Let the Soviets control that oil ••.
and where wili+the United States be? "The Saudis are scared, and I
think they ought to be scared because they have what the whole world
wants. That is oil, and that is a mighty powerful package."
--Gene Hogberg, News Bureau