22 Friday, January 18, 1985 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS ANALYSIS .1.11■01. BAUME & MERCIER GENEVE On the back burner BY VICTOR BIENSTOCK Special to The Jewish News BAUME & MERCEER. FOR THOSE WHO VALUE "THE RIGHT TIME" Quite simply, this kind of elegance is a function of the superior value Baume & • Mercier builds into each, handcrafted timepiece. From the exquisite 14K gold bracelets, to the ultra thin, unerringly precise quartz movement, the total effect is obviously, Baume & Mercier. I 40. 0040/ LAWRENCE M. ALLAN PRESIDENT NORMAN ALLAN Founder/tonsultant Established 1919 AWARDED CERTIFICATE BY GIA FINE JEWELERS 30400 Telegraph Rd. Birmingham, MI 48010 Suite 134 IN GRADING & EVALUATION GEMOI LOGIST/DIAMONTOLOCAT L . art phone: 642-5575 . Daily di 5:30 . Mors. til 8:30, Sat. dl 5 Design and Interiors Printing Office Supplies Furniture Data Processing Supplies Office Machines Equipment Computer Products Rubber Stamps Janitorial Supplies 10600 GALAXIE FERNDALE, MI 48220 399-9830 ma any II I , NIS . INN ' MI mai A 1 mt - =I um ma ma .*-.. . MR " ma um 1. ma ama -'"iiiii — 211.-1". ....'"'"Im—swee ----rm ■ NM NO . MII I/III IN MI 8111 ■ ■ . ► -!- 111111"" 111•11'—' MEI" 11111114'.. 11 Vr10 . MEM M. NM IMMi ' IMIR . Ima ma ma via',4- —. ■ , 4,4:- 4. . 4 ,•;4• • 11 Threatening winds of gale-force intensity are sweeping across the Arab world bringing to the old re- gimes ominous warnings of changes they cannot control and can only hope to survive. The Arab-Israel question, therefore, currently has a much lower prior- ity in the Arab scheme of things than at any time in the past de- cade as the Arab leaders focus on means to survive the dual threats to their existence. These threats are posed by the near-catastrophic decline in oil revenues and an outburst of reli- gious fanaticism, sparked by the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran and carried throughout the Arab world by his fanatical Shiite fol- lowers. In recognition of their common danger, most of the Arab states, with the exception of Syria and Libya, have joined together to support President Saddam Hus- sein of Iraq in the war of conquest he launched four years ago and from which he cannot extricate himself. His misadventure, in addition to the enormous cost in lives and money to his country, has also drained some $35 billion out of the Arab economy — sub- sidies to Baghdad to enable Hus- sein to continue fighting Iran. There isn't much the Arabs can do about the loss of oil revenues and the continuing fall in the price of oil on the world market except to pray that Sheik Yamani, the Saudi oil minister, knows what he is talking about when he assures everyone that demand for oil will rise again and so will the price. With newly pioneered sources in other parts of the world and increased output from other areas, it is highly unlikely, how- ever, that the world will ever again be so dependent on Arab oil as to permit the Arabs to dictate to the West. The drastic economic disloca- tion caused by the collapse of the oil market has been a severe de- stabilizing factor throughout the Arab world, making it that much more • receptive to Khomeini's agitators preaching against Western customs and for a return to the old morality and obser- vance of a strict interpretation of the Koran. The new status has also reduced significantly the clout of the Arab states in the world bourses and markets. It has lessened Arab influence abroad and Arab power and prestige to -command events will diminish further as the world reduces its dependence on Middle East oil. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a case in point. The richest of all the Arab lands, it is currently functioning at a deficit and is eat- ing into its investments at a rate estimated between $1 billion and $1.2 billion a month. It had to sell some $15 billion of its foreign as- sets in 1984 to fund its budget de- ficit. The Kingdom's oil production has fallen from a high of more than 11 million barrels a day to something around four million barrels a day. There is a ripple effect in this since the mother countries will no longer receive the remittances -t.. 1 mil ' .,.. ,.. mil. ,. , ■ • '11111. il .'.'-;" 1985 INFORMATION SYSTEMS SUPPLIES from their nationals employed in Saudi Arabia — an important source of revenue. Now they won't have this revenue and they will have large numbers of unem- ployed workers on their hands for whom their native lands offer few employment prospects: The re- turning workers constitute a potential source of major discon- tent and unrest and a receptive audience for Khomeini's agitators. Saudi Arabia may be the nearest thing we have to an abso- lute monarchy today. The king's word is, literally, the law. But King Fand and his close advisers are aware of unrest in the land; reportedly hundreds of suspected dissidents are being held in Saudi prisons and subjected to torture. The king's security forces are con- cerned over the restiveness being There is hardly any area around the sensitive Persian Gulf in which the presence of the fundamentalists has not been felt. shown as a result of the changing economic situation and fun- damentalist criticism of the royal family. The Shiite population of Saudi Arabia is relatively small and concentrated in one area not far from the oilfelds. It is kept under close surveillance. In what must be considered a move to placate his domestic cri- tics, King Fand has announced that he will soon establish a "con- sultative assembly" which will be "a 'parliament like that in any other country." Jiowever, as he described it to the London Sunday Times, the king will appoint all the members of the assembly. At some later date, a system of indi- rect elections will be set up for half the members of the body, the existence of which, he said, will "insure the participation of the people in government" and will "express opinion and supervise the execution of government pol- icy." The religious fundamentalism which is so seriously endangering many of the Arab regimes is not only the Shiite reform movement originating in Iran but also local fundamentalist movements such as the - Moslem Brotherhood, which has been a reactionary force in Egypt for decades and which inspired the assassination of President Anwar al-Sadat, and numerous smaller movements, most of them centering around the teachings of individual imams who have developed wide follow- ings. One such movement largely composed of students, recently disrupted Cairo's famed Al-Azhar University. .The Shiites constitute about 30 percent of the Kuwaiti population and they elect five of the 50 mem- bers of the Kuwait parliament. They exercise considerable power .