event-T ahird Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Vherc Opinions Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MICR., PHONE NO 2-3241
Truth W 11 PrevirI"jr a
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
FUTILE ATTEMPT AT VICTORY?
Nasser Faces a Dilemma in
Yemen
JRSDAY, JUNE 17, 1965
NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN MEREDITH
Computers-The Coning Way
To Relate Mounting Knowledge
[HE PROBLEM of dispersing knowl-
edge is one with which universities
ave had to contend for some time. Num-
rous techniques such as teaching by ma-
hines have been introduced with the
:ea of acquainting students with infor-
nation more quickly, efficiently, and ef-
ectively.
Organizations have also arisen with the
xpress purpose of finding a more effec-
Lve way to disperse information than
ven the latest scientific journals. Con-
ress has been literally deluged with re-
uests for grants to help carry out these
ursuits.
Basically the problem of this explo-
ion of knowledge can be considered on
wto levels: that of the student who is ac-
uiring an education and that of the
raduate who is finding himself less and
ess acquainted with the expanding mass
f material on different subjects.
'HE MASS OF INFORMATION which
has been accumulated has had numer-
us effects on universities.
In the first place there in the past has
een overspecialization in many depart-
ients of the universities. Courses con-
ucted on the introductory level cannot
ope to give a comprehensive cross-sec-
on of work being done in one specific
eld because of the quantity of material
vailable for coverage.
All they can do is hope to teach the
asic principles in the field. However,
ven this is not possible if a single disci-
line spans a large number of sub-areas
hich have in turn been created by the
iereased amount of knowledge.
'HE ABUNDANCE of knowledge affects,
to a large extent, the research inter-
sts and specializations of the faculty.
And these in turn determine what
>urses are offered.
This is basically because the amount of
laterial and knowledge in specific areas
study is so great that specialists have
I they can do to keep up with the cur-
nt literature in their fields.
1r t t por
JDITH WARREN ......... ...... .... Co-Editor
DBERT RIPPLER ..,... . ...... ....Co-Editor
SWARD HERSTEIN ......... ... .. Sports Editor
DITH FIELDS................Business Manager
FFREY LEEDS........... Supplement Manager
[GHT EDITORS: Michael Badamo, John Meredith,
Robert Moore, Barbara Seyfried, Bruce Wasserstein..
rhe Daily is a member of the Associated Press and
Ileiate Press Service.
rhe Associated Press 'is exclusively entitled to the
e of all news dispatches credited to it or otherwise
edited to the newspaper. All, rights of re-publication
all other matters here are also reserved.
Subscription rates: $4 for IA and B ($4.50 by mail);
for IIlA or B ($250 by mail).
second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich.
Published daily Tuesday thru ugh Satufrday morning.
ON THE PROFESSIONAL level the prob-
lem of the knowledge explosion is bas-
ically the inability of professional people
to assimilate all the material in their
specialties or general area of interest.
Another problem is the time lag be-
tween the publication of an article and
the time when it can be assimilated.
In the area of medicine, for example,
where the turnover of knowledge is
greatest, the dissemination of informa-
tion is difficult. Under existing condi-
tions, it is extremely difficult for a doc-
tor to be acquainted with all the latest
scientific advances in the field of medi-
cine.
THE COMPUTER is part of the answer
to coping with the knowledge explo-
sion. A communication network of com-
puters which stores not only sources of
information but also the information it-
self would be invaluable.
Basically this is the plan of the Inter-
university Communication Council. Inter-
com, as it is called, intends to set up a
network of computers capable of relay-
ing information from one computer to
another.
THIS WOULD HELP solve one big prob-
lem in industry and other professions:
that of not having current material to
work with. However, there would still
be a need for education-imparting of
ability to understand and utilize material.
The computer can aid in the educating
process by providing current publications
of work being done at other universities.
It can give teachers current information
to give to their students, it can give grad-
uate students and scientists information
to help design experiments.
As a partial solution to over specializa-
tion, the computer can provide an op-
portunity for a student to learn more ma-
terial of a more varied nature.
COUPLING TEACHERS and computers
together would be useful. Once the
professor provided the stimulus, it would
be possible for students to follow up lec-
tures or recitations by readings in the
most current works. It would also be pos-
sible for teachers to study these since he
would. have access to them also.
This technique-which could go a long
way toward eliminating overspecialization
--would leave the teacher with two jobs.
He would have to provide the basics for
understanding the material in a partic-
ular discipline and also discuss the cur-
rent works with the student.
Teaching in this sense could take on a
more positive aspect for the teacher as
well as the student-and could begin to
cope with the knowledge explosion.
--BARBARA SEYFRIED
By LEONARD PRATT
EGYPT'S PRESIDENT Gamal
Abdel Nasser has gotten him-
self into a very delicate situation
in the south Abrabian nation of
Yemen. His position is interesting-
ly similar to the classic liberal
version of the United States' po-
sition in Viet Nam.
In fact, the only differences
that distinguish the two stem from
the fact that Nasser's position
embodies all of the worst aspects
of America's in Viet Nam, while
incorporating none of the better
ones.
In September, 1962, republican
revolutionaries overthrew the rul-
ing Hamiduddin family and es-
tablished the bases of a Western-
ized parliamentary government in
Yemen. The Hamiduddin princes
promptly went into the wilderness
in the country's north and began
a civil war with the aid of the
sheiks there.
OBTAINING, SOME small
amounts of aid from the British
in Aden, the princes began a
moderately successful offensive
against the republicians.
Nasser, reportedly seeing the
offensive as a British neo-
colonial threat, began a program
of military aid to the republicans,
a program which has now soaked
up some 50,000 troops and $125
million.
Saudi Arabia's King Faisal, see-
ing in turn an Egyptian threat to
his penninsula, promptly began
supplying the Royalist forces with
arms, food and money.
AS NOTED, Nasser's position is
strikingly similar to America's in
Viet Nam. He has intervened on
the side of an urbanized elite
which is determined to rescue its
countrymen from evils from which
they evidently do not care to be
rescued.
Intervention on behalf of a
republican revolution seems at
first a commendable action. But
when it becomes apparent, as it
has in recent weeks, that that
revolution has little popular sup-
port and that the opponents of
that revolution have both popu-
lar support and important foreign
support, then the aid becomes
political dead weight that must be
either abandoned by withdrawal
or justified by military victory.
As in America's case, Nasser has
chosen to try for a military vic-
tory.
THE FIRST development that
justifies the Yemen- Viet Nam
parallel is the fact that the re-
publican government is almost en-
tirely dependent for its existence
on Egyptian aid. As Machiavelli
put it in 1537, "(powerful foreign)
forces may be good in themselves,
but they are always dangerous.. .
for if they lose you are defeated
and if they conquer you remain
their prisoner." And the republican
government has in many ways
become Nasser's prisoner.
Egypt is currently subsidizing
the pro-republican tribes at the
rate of $1.5 million monthly; if
the republicans did not have this
money, they would probably also
lack the tribes.
In addition, government cur-
rency is printed in Cairo, and the
credits that back it are held in
Egyptian banks.
O F P R I M A R Y importance,
though, is Egyptian military aid
in the form of both 50,000 troops
and equipment to supply the
fledgling republican regular army.
Were it not for this aid, indica-
tions are that the Royalists could
easily return to power.
As it currently stands, the situ-
ation seems to be militarily hope-
less for the republicans and their
Egyptian allies.
For the last two months, Egyp-
tian holdings in the central and
eastern portions of the country
have been steadily shrinking;
mechanized warfare is turning out
to be no match for tribal raiders
in the desert.
ANOTHER important parallel
in the comparison is that, as the
situation gets increasingly worse
for the Egyptians, it is getting
increasingly better for the Royal-
ists. Faisal has recently increased
his aid shipments allowing the
princes to equip their irregular
President Nasser Addresses -Pro-Yemen Demonstration in Cairo
troops much better than in the
past.
Just as important as this is the
remarkable cohesive effect the
presence of the Egyptians is re-
portedly having on the Royalist
tribes. The tremendous amount of
aid-which makes the republicans
wonder who is in fact fighting the
war-is influencing the sheiks of
both sides to become increasingly
wary of the Egyptians:
Egyptian control of the war and
of the republican government is
reportedly making a key sheik and
Minister of the Interior have sec-
ond thoughts about whose side he
wishes to be on. If he should
switch sides, most of the republi-
can tribesmen would go with him,
turning the civil war into a 'war
of Egyptians and Egyptian pup-
pets against princes independent
of Cairo.
"After two and a half years it
is clear to the Egyptians that they
cannot subdue the veople mili-
tarily," a member of the govern-
ment recently said. "The Egyp-
tians are spending a lot of lives,
a lot of money, a lot of resources
that they could use to develop
Egypt . .. peace is in the interest
of us all."
YET THIS IS only the opinion
of a republican, and such opinions
have begun to carry less and less
weight compared to those of Egyp-
tians.
Early in May, Nasser was re-
ported to have said he was willing
to double the Egyptian troop
commitment to Yemen's republi-
can government in order to ob-
tain victory there. Yet the ques-
tion must be asked whether or
not even such a doubling would be
enough to provide an Egyptian
victory.
Recent Royalist gains, even in
the face of an Egyptian buildup
to 60,000 men, have been quite
pain. Furthermore, the rainy sea-
son is now under way, hurting the
mechanized Egyptians far more
than the mounted Royalists.
EVEN LAYING this evidence
aside, two questions about such
an Egyptian build-up must be
asked.
In the first place, such an in-
crease would clearly run contrary
to the decrease in Egyptian in-
fluence which the republicans are
willing to risk compromise with
the Royalists to obtain.
And in the second place, even
if Nasser could win with 100,000
men in Yemen, it would involve
quite a'loss of face for him to do
so.
HE WOULD have to, in effect,
take over the republican govern-
ment, thus setting all of Yemen
solidly against him; a victory un-
der such conditions would be the
military occupation of another
Arab country, not likely to set
well with the many Arab nations
weaker than Egypt.
Nasser's best move would be to
accept the present Yemeni govern-
ment as the best compromise solu-
tion to his dilemma. To force the
issue further might give him mili-
tary victory, but the diplomatic
price for such a victory would
simply be too high to pay.
But either way, Nasser seems
destined to lose in Yemen. For
even such a compromise will re-
sult in a military backing down
coupled with the resurgence of the
Hamiduddin bloc within Yemen;
the deeper the current Egyptian
involvement, the stronger this re-
surgence is apt to be.
IT IS DIFFICULT to see how
Nasser's reputation can emerge
unscathed from the Yemeni fiasco.
By the same token, it is difficult
to see how his attempts at Arab
solidarity cannot but be severely
shaken, It remains only for him
to take the path of least resist-
ance of his dilemma and hope for
the best.
4
4
*
Nasser and Faisal Foes in Yemen
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Attitude, Timing of Teach-In Blasted
ON'
NS
To the Editor:
AS THE city of Ann Arbor and
the University rolled out the
red carpet for the space twins Mc-
Divitt and White, the illustrious
end-the-war-in-Viet Nam team at
the University decided to wheel
out the latest version of a teach-
in, a haranguing blockade of the
State St. entrance to the Union
at the precise time the astronauts'
motorcade was to arrive there to
honor the men at the Union.
I found the timing of the dem-
onstration no less than revolting.
It is difficult to believe that
men truly dedicated to conscien-
tious objection to certain govern-
ment policies and intellectually
charged with the responsibility of
representing knowledge, truth and
logic can really discover the mor-
ality of the position they assumed
Tuesday.
CAN THEY JUSTIFY using a
crowd which had gathered to see
and honor these two men as a
ready-made audience for their
protests?
Or are they so naive as to think
we (and some from out of town)
had gathered to see and honor
them?
And further, they blocked the
most logical and appropriate en-
trance to the building (our guests
had to use the back door).
I DO NOT presume to judge the
righteousness of your beliefs,
gentlemen, but I do know that to
guests, citizens, city, university,
state and nation you owe a very
humble apology.
-Gregory Conser
To the Editor:
WISH to congratulate those
persons responsible for the Viet
Nam teach-in on the Union steps.
You have overwhelmingly portray-
ed to the country, to the world,
and to Col. White and Col. Mc-
to science, but also exemplify the
characteristics, courage, and high
ideals that we as students and
Americans should be striving to-
ward.
Tuesday was a day set aside to
show our respect and gratitude to
these men, yet your lack of taste,
consideration, and courtesy hon-
ored them by forcing them to use
the back door of the Union rather
than subject us all to the em-
barrassment of your senseless pro-
test.
I trust you have won many to
your ranks. I personally am revolt-
ed. I am proud to represent the
maize and blue, but today I was
ashamed.
Michael R. Hallman, '67
To the Editor:
LIKE ABOUT one out of three
of the people of this country,
feel that our government should
make greater efforts than it has
so far to try to settle the Viet-
namese war by conciliatory means.
(Personally I would strongly favor
offering to negotiate with the Viet
Cong, although I would be oppos-
ed, at the least, to letting the city
of Saigon come under their con-
trol.)
For this very reason I feel com-
pelled to beg for forgiveness for
those persons who also are quite
disturbed by this war who took
part in what seems to me the
tragically ill-advised activities on
the Michigan Union steps toward
noon of this Tuesday.
I hope most people realize that
not all of us who more or less
oppose the Vietnamese war con-
sidered these activities appropri-
ate to the occasion. I don't want
to offend the people who spoke
on the Union steps, and I don't
doubt their noble motivation.
BUT I WOULD beseech them
to consider whether their impas-
sioned words and tone of voice
didn't sound to most of the crowd
venting a little child from seeing
or re-seeing his beloved astro-
nauts may not in itself have been
an unwarranted act of cruelty-
besides perhaps being inexpedient
for the future of the world thus
to give such an unpleasant first
impression of the "peace move-
ment" to a person who (unless a
nuclear holocaust occurs before
then) will still be living and vot-
ing when we are all in our graves?
IN SHORT, whether we who
dare hope ultimately to soothe the
fury of homicidal expansionist Pe-
king-school Communism through
greater reconciliation and under-
standing and satisfaction of sits
subjects' and leaders' better as-
pirations and emotions shouldn't
try on future occasions to show
better understanding of, and har-
mnony with, our own people's emo-
tions and ideals than some of us
seemed to this Tuesday?
Perhaps those who tend to agree
with me about both Viet Nam and
t h i s Tuesday's demonstration
might like to send a petition of
apology to Cols. McDivitt and
White or Cape Kennedy or NASA
headquarters.
-Ken Morris, Grad
Arabs and Israelis
To the Editor:
THROUGHOUT the whole ar-
ticle "Israel-Namer's Ration-
alization" of June 12, one can eas-
ily sense "sarcasm" and "happi-
ness" by the writer. Mr. Berkowitz
unveiled his biased opinion and his
deep-rooted prejudices. He dis-
played his satisfaction over the
disunity of the Arab States, a situ-
ation which helped Israel enjoy its
prey, the Arab refugees and their
properties.
There is nothing strange, Mr.
Berkowitz, to conclude that the
League of Arab States is weak
and its members-have "diverse and
divergent interests."
The League was inspired, as
you probably know, by Mr. Eden,
during World War II in order to
curb the genuine Arab National
Movement and to divert its ef-
forts to serve British interests
through their puppets among, the
Arab rulers.
SEVERAL ATTEMPTS have
been undertaken to revolutionize
the League. This is evidenced by
the fact that the Arab National
Movement is in continuous strug-
gle.
Regarding "hatred," which Mr.
Berkowitz used frequently, I would
like to raise some questions. Could
it be pointed out when and where
the Jews have ever been hated or
persecuted by Arabs? The Jews
have always found better refuge
under Arabs' rule throughout his-
tory. They held cabinet offices in
more than one Arab country in the
20th century.
AFTER 1948, the date of usurp-
ing Palestine, the Holy Land, who
is to blame if there is any hatred?
The displaced Arabs or the in-
truding aggressive Zionists?
Mr. Berkowitz boasts of "de-
moccracy" in Israel-forgetting
that Israel was founded, supposed-
ly, on race and religion. Jews who
were converted to Christianity
were denied admission to Israel,
not to mention the severe dis-
crimination between Western and
Oriental Jews.
IN CONCLUSION I would like
to hope that the privilege of cri-
ticizing the Arabs, quite often, in
the Daily's editorial, is being done
without malice and rancour.
-Ahmad Joudah
History Department
7 ~2.~
ry