simirigau atI, Eighty years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Asian oil: Entrepreneurs dig in 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich News Phone: 764--552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Doily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1971 NIGHT EDITOR: HESTER PULLING Ducking the research issue WHEN SENATE Assembly voted to bury the classified research issue in com- mittees for another two or three months, it came as an expected but nonetheless bitter disappointment for the several hundred members of the University com- munity who have spent the last several weeks rallying and fasting and sitting through iflterminable meetings to express disapproval of the University's poli.cy. Upon c 1 o s e inspection, however, the anti-climactic result of the faculty body's involvement in this semester's classified research issue is, if anything, worse than the most pessimistic expectations. When the Assembly met, it was faced with several possible courses of action. The .strongest possibility was to pass a Student Government Council proposal banning all classified and military re-, search, a proposal which was not even discussed. The weakest option, one would assume, was to do nothing. However, the Assembly found an even more objectionable response than "noth- ing.'.' By sending the issue back to com- mittee, any possible protest that the fac- ulty did not act is neatly sidestepped, and people opposed to the faculty stance have been forced into the position of fuming impotently, or fighting the windmill of "further investigation." SEVERAL ASPECTS of Assembly's action served to stifle opposition. One of these is the timing of the reports. Assembly's decision to have its com- mittees report in May and June severely lessened the possibilit'y of a strong stu- dent presence in the deliberations. Stu- dents who go home during the summer will come back to a faculty policy that they had no chance to comment on, and the few students who stay here will find it hard to organize support in the quieter, more relaxed summer atmosphere. No matter how Assembly acts on the issue this ,summer, its choice of timing is objectionable-it indicates a lack of con- cern for student input into decision- making. Another major problem with the facul- ty's timing was pointed out during the meeting by Michael Knox, a member of the Classified Research Committee and one of the chief s t u d e n t spokesmen against the present policy. Knox claimed that Assembly's postponement of con- sideration of the issue left open the pos- sibility that the committee could, in the interim, accept 30 more contract pro- posals with a possible value of as much as $5 million. BUT THE choice of timing is only one of the many disturbing factors in the resolution passed by Assembly. In the resolution, Assembly instructed its committees to find ways to bar classi- fied and military researdh that has the "clearly forseeable purpose" of killing or maiming human beings. This is a quite inconsequential change from the present policy, which only bars research with the "specific purpose" of killing or maiming human beings. Business Staff JAMES M. STOREY, Business Manager RICHARD RADCLIFFE SUZANNE BOSCHAN Advertising Manager Sales Manager JANET ENGL .. ....... ... Personnel Director JOHN SOMMERS ............Finance Manager ANDY GOLDING ,. . Circulation Manager DEPARTMENT MANAGERS: Doug Buchanan, Beth Greeley, Fran Hymen, Caryn Miller, Skip Woodward. Assembly then pats itself on the back by claiming to show "our desire to extend the criterion well beyond the 'specific purpose' wording adopted in 1968." But saying that the new wording goes "far beyond" the old fools no one-both wordings are abhorrently vague, and the new just compounds the problems of the old. For example, if a proposal states its intent as developing remote sensing de- vices to seek and destroy Communist forces in Vietnam, it would presumably have shown a "clearly forseeable pur- pose" of killing or maiming human be- ings. However, if the proposal stated the purpose, like many do, as being "to im- prove military reconnaissance capabili- ties," would the purpose still be "clearly forseeable?" There is no way to draw the line. The "clearly forseeable purpose" clause of the Assembly resolution essentially in- structs the two committees to suggest virtually nothing besides a bit of semantic juggling of the present policy. ANOTHER UNPLEASANT aspect of the resolution is the faculty's decision to send the issue to committees which will probably attempt to preserve the status quo. The faculty was given a chance to send the issue to a proposed ad hoc committee but it voted this proposal down. Thus, the investigation is left with the com- mittees least likely to have interest in changing the policy. Both the Classified Research Committee and the Research Policy Committee include people who are involved in classified research. Both are faculty committees w h o s e membership includes a, few token students. And the Classified Research Committee has the specific criteria that Its members cannot be philosophically opposed to classified research. With these committees charged with investigating and making recommenda- tions, there seems little chance of a dra- matic change of heart on the part of the committee members. It seems apparent that the suggestions they make will not be substantially different from present policy. It seems pointless to discuss the wrongs involved in conducting classified and military research on this campus. That has been discussed in great detail over the past several weeks, but Assembly ob- viously has not yet gotten the point. IF ASSEMBLY will not act, perhaps stu- dents will. The first step is to pass a Student Government Council referendum which calls for an end to military and classified research. A strong vote on this measure will indicate the depths of stu- dent concern on the issue. And clearly the burden now falls on the s t u d e n t s. For Assembly had the authority to recommend a major change in policy to the Regents, but they failed to use this authority properly. As history Prof. Sam Warner said "when an organi- zation like that is called to protect its historic values and it votes instead to protect is courtesy to its members, and protect its patrons and its private in- terests, then it is a corrupt legislative organization." A f t e r Monday's bureaucracy - ridden farce, perhaps he's right. -TAMMY JACOBS By MICHAEL MORROW Dispatch News Service Second of two parts SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL oil companies develop- ing offshore oil reserves appear at first glance to demand relatively little in the way of political guarantees. With their wells, rigs and even many of the refineries offshore (all Singapore's refineries, for ex- ample, are on satellite islands) they are comparatively more immune from domestic problems than most investors. For example, one American oilman, when asked if the war would hinder development of Vietnam's offshore oil, said; "Why should it? The supply can be done from Singapore if necessary." Once in production, offshore wells can feed tanker ships directly. The oil can be carried, off without ever touching base with the mainland. Kenneth Wells, Singapore representative of Ray Geophysical Company, which did recent seismic exploration off the coast of Vietnam. said "The North Vietnamese don't have much naval power. It is a calculated risk but not much worse than some in the Middle East these days."' The determining political factor for in- ternational oil companies plunging on be- yond the "risk capital"-they have so far invested in Southeast Asia's oil-appears to be confidence that friendly governments will stay friendly and stay in power, even if only muddling through revolution and war onshore. (There is an increasing fear among Americans opposed to the Vietnam war that the oil industry will pressure the Nixon Administration to make an even stronger commitment to the Thieu-Ky government. A pamphlet making this argument was done in February by the "Another Mother for Peace" group. This has prompted 10,000 letters to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to Chairman J. W.. Fulbright (D-Ark.). State Department of- ficials, in response to Senator Fulbright's query' have disclaimed knowledge of oil fields offshore Vietnam.) IT IS LIKELY that Japan in addition to the U.S. will make the political, economic and military commitments necessary to guarantee the survival of the current South- east Asian governments. The most recent symbol of Japan's growing political and economic concern with the area is the dis- patch in February of a 34-member "Asian investment and finance research mission" led by the Director of Tokyo's stock ex- change under governmental sponsorship. Japan's trade with Southeast Asia is now over $6 billion yearly. Two-thirds of her in- vestment in developing countries in 1969 went to East and Southeast Asia. Involvement in the oil industry in partic- ular is growing. Most recent of a spate of aid-investment programs is a private $40 million loan to Indonesia's Petramina for building oil tanks and pipelines in Western Java. The late-February loan, made by the Japanese companies Mitsui and Marubeni- Iida, is to be repaid in oil exports to Japan. Japanese firms now hold outright over 60,000 square miles of on-and-offshore .con- cessions in Indonesia. In the last year, moreover, Japanese firms have bought into concessions of at least four other foreign oil companies in Indonesia and Malaysia, andh hveshown interest in getting involved in offshore exploration in the Philippines, Burma, and Thailand. Japanese firms are reportedly negotiating with the Burmese, al- though Burma has long been ideologically opposed to foreign private investment. According to Pertamina's General Suto- wo, Japan now consumes one-half of Indo- nesia's oil, some 70 per cent of Indonesian oil exports. In late February, the Japanese entertained Sutowo in Tokyo, agreeing to a; 30 per cent rise in price for Indonesian oil sold directly to Japan, in an apparent attempt to reduce dependency on foreign oil companies. ON THE MILITARY side, the February 1 statement by Yashuhiro Nakasone, director General of Japan's Self-Defense Agency, that Japan may give priority to expanding its Navy from 138,000 tons to about 240.000 tons with some nuclear-powered ships has increased speculation that Japan will soon be a military power in the.China Sea Basin. Handing over its assumed responsibility for Southeast Asia to Japan may be on Wash- ington's agenda, but it is highly unlikely this will be anything more than a gradual readjustment designed not to endanger the counter-revolutionary status quo in South- east Asia. Growing American investments in Southeast Asian oil bear this out. In this vein, Assistant Secretary for Eco- nomic Affairs, Philip H. Tresize said last October that, "as a practical matter, we cannot merely shrug= off these other peo- ple's problems. Any real worsening of the oil situation in Europe and Japan, where we have mutual defense commitments on top of otherwise close and important relation- ships, would have to affect us . . . we recog- nize the mutuality of our interests in seek- ing to assuresagainst an energy crisis that could harm us all." The potential of international conflict over Southeast Asia's offshore oil is very great, particularly since long-term big power al- liances in the regions are still up in the air. For the moment, Japanese-American to- Workers soak up incoming oil getherness seems assured because of inter- locking military and economic interests. From the Japanese point of view partic- ularly the alliance is important. Not only do the Japanese rely on an American de- fense umbrella, but, more importantly per- haps, they are dependent on Esso, Caltex, and other American firms, along with the Dutch-British Shell combine for most tof their crude oil. THE JAPANESE-AMERICAN iliance is not necessarily long-term, however, as is indicated by warming relations between the Soviet Union and Japan, as evidenced in the joint Siberian development agreement, and also by recent Japanese attempts to nor- malize relations with China. There is no doubt the Japanese are in- creasingly unhappy with their dependency on American oil interests. Following the price hike from 23.2 to 28.5 cents per bar- rel on February 18 by the five major West- ern oil suppliers to Japan, Japan's Minister of International Trade and Industry urged the Japanese petroleum refining industry to put up all-out resistance to the price rise. At the same time, the Finance Minister stated Japan had to make epochal changes in her policy of securing natural resources for her industries. The Soviet Union's ambitions on South- east Asian oil are unclear, though it is obvious the Soviets are trying to develop more rapport with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. In Singapore, the most. recent indication of this came in early February when the outgoing Soviet Ambassador to Singapore, Mr. Ilya Ivanovitch Safranov, told the local press that there is "much similarity in the parliamentary systems" of Singapore and the Soviet Union. On February 23, with re- gard to American development of offshore oil in the region, Pravda carried an article blaming American aggression in Indochina on aspirations of the U.S. oil interests to get offshore oil along the coast of Indochina. China's position on the status-quo in Southeast Asia is well-known. However, her position on offshore oil in Southeast Asia is a question-mark. The Chinese are now reported to be self- sufficient in oil from onshore wells in north- ern China. However, production is reported to be less than 100,000 barrels per day, an amount which will have to be expanded as China further industrializes, On February 24 China launched its largest oil tanker to date, a 22,000 ton vessel giving indications they plan to expand their role in the 0l trade. The Chinese have involved them- selves in the dispute over control of the Sen- kaku Islands north of Taiwan. Whether or not they are interested in developing their offshore oil reserves at this point is not clear, however. IN ANY CASE, the chance of an interna- tional confrontation involving oil between the Chinese and another nation is real. For example, there are many islands in the center of the South China Sea over which sovereignty is in dispute between China and other governments. Some of these is- lands are thought by geologists to be in the vicinity of rich oil reserves. One such island is Spratley Island, a 500- by-300 yard, uninhabited bit of land 280 miles Southeast of Sam Ranh Bay and 775 miles Northeast of Singapore. It is claimed at least by China, South Vietnam and the Philippines. The Philippines has already let oil concessions near it. What would happen if either China or Vietnam let concessions involving it is anybody's guess. The State Department avowedly takes no position when there is a sovereignty dispute over the islands. However, an official in the Asian-Communist Affairs Office stated that if any islands "were administered through the Philippines, we probably would recognize the Philippines as having sov- ereignty." This is only one of several kinds of boun- dary problems that could arise over oil. As drilling is about to begin in Cambodia, for example, continental shelf boundary dis- putes exist with Thailand and Vietnam. Further south, the continental shelf boun- dary between Thailand and Malaysia is not officially settled. And, between the Philip- pines and Malaysia there is a long-standing feud over who should own Sarawak and the Palapan Island. Only Malaysia and Indo- nesia have settled all their continental shelf boundary problems. In Vietnam there is the very real prob- lem of how. oil development will influence the war and just how many lives will be lost keeping the country at least safe enough for offshore concession. The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the NLF an- nounced February .23 it would not rec'og- nize oil agreements made by Saigon. THE SEARCH for offshore oil is indeed one of the biggest things happening to South- east Asia today. But it augers problems for the future as great or greater than any in the history of the region. @ Dispatch News Service International p. it 4 Letters: New voices for the moderate life-view To The Daily: ON FEB. 14, a small group of students voted to use extreme, dis- ruptive political strategy, by adopt- ing "an overall strategy of mili- tant disruptive action against the University and other appr Jpriate institutions." We would like to propose an al- ternative movement for changing society, by changing p e o p: e, through the greatest of all revolu- tionary instruments, love. The movement might be called the Third Societal Force. 'The "third societal force" i modera- tion, the two extremes being radi- calism and reactionism. We pro- pose this alternative because we feel that by avoiding one extreme, you cancel out the other. Our tentative statement of pur- pose follows: 1. There are always at least two sides to every question. Ulcirnately, as in a geometric figure, the "sides" are linked to form a whole, from which you cannot remove of ignore any side without losing that whole. 2. The elements of a mcdrate life-view include : -Compromise -Belief in dialogue and its cor- relate, genuinely trying to under- stand another's point of view -Reconciliation of opposites, allowing seeming-contradictions to live side by side -Consistency -A sense of the historical, learning history's lessons -A sense of time, of its infin- ity, man's finite being, and the significance of their relation- ships. 3. Moderation is not synonymous with neutrality; one must, after weighing the evidence carefully, take some course of action in ac- cordance with the evidence, along the guidelines of 2. 4. Moderation cannot approve: -Heckling (in order to under- stand another's viewpoint, you must hear it) -Repressive measures such as denial or cancellation of scholar- ships, trials by illegally-consti- tuted courts, and expulsion (un- less the person involved is clear- ly shown to be a serious threat to the physical lives of his c(:l- leagues) -Violence, or any form of de- facement of property 'r persons -The concept of immediate so- cial change, because there is time for long-range' action as mentioned earlier. This project began as a proposed auxiliary to the Faculty Reform Coalition, under the guidance of Prof. Terrence Tice of the Resi- dential College. But Tice has talked to the Coalition members, and they would prefer a separate student organization which mi,;At work closely with the Coalition, but would not be related to it. Though we might collab,)rate from time to time on researching one another's projects, and though certainly the Third Societal Force might provide student input for Faculty Reform Coalition pro- posals and vice versa, we would be free to concentrate on areas of broader interest to us than mere faculty - administration relation- ships. But two people cannot make up such an organization; they can only begin it. We need student support. -Charleen Cook Steven Cole Third Societal Force Women's education To the Daily: IN REPLY to the letter (Daily, Feb. 24) concerning the need for the expansion of women's studies at the University - with which we would certainly .agree - may Courses in English, Political Sci- ence, and Psychology will be of- fered during the spring half-term. Offerings in the fall include cours- es in Anthropology, English, Psy- chology, Sociology and Education. Women may register for Evening Program sections during pre- classification. Regular University fees apply. -Jean W. Campbell, Director Center for Continuing Education of Women March 9 Movie tickets To The Daily: SURELY THERE must be a better way. For three years I (and others, I'm sure), have been vic- tims of both poor planning on the part of the cinema boards and in- credible and consistent rudeness on the part of the University com- munity. Tonight I was in line in t h e Architecture building for the 7:00 showing of "Citizen Kane." My place in line normally would have secured a seat for the show. How- ever, people lined up for tickets in a horseshoe formation, so that the last people in line were as close to the ticket table as those who had been waiting far longer. Ticket sales were proceeding nor- mally when the last twenty or so people in line suddenly converged on the table. What had been an aggressive horde. Shortly before I orderly line of people became an reached the table tickets for the 7:00 show ran out, so that I and others were prevented from see- ing a show we had every right to see. This display of rudeness is not restricted to movies shown in the Architecture Auditorium. It oc- curs as frequently at movies shown in Angell Hall. The situation there, however, is better. Tickets are sold beforehand, so the most one can lose by this sort of thing of those people who have made it their business to be early. -Elyse Fox, '72 Feb. 17 Corporate recruiting To The Daily: SOMEONE NAMED George Wil- son wrote in recently, complaining that it would infringe his freedom and cast aspersions on his "ma- turity" if military/corporate re- cruiting were banned. I think he is perhaps a bit oversensitive, and I hope t h i s personal reply will straighten things out. Many students believe that the U.S. government is guilty of de- stroying hundreds of thousands ofi innocent people (as in Southeast Asia) and of maintaining many totalitarian and even genocidal regimes (like South Africa. Indo- nesia or Greece); and that certain corporations, like Dow and GE, provide repressive governments - domestic and foreign - with the military hardware to do so. Op- ponents of this believe that such actions are utterly, morally wrong. In fact, George, policies that deny to millions the right to live de- cent lives - and sometimes just the right to live - are so wrong that it is not inappropriate to hin- der them in small ways, for in- stance, by sending them away. These firms want to fill their slots with our bodies, and it is no part of a University's purpose to facili- tate their doing so. I note in passing, George, that( the University has already deviat- ed from your brand of "neutral- ity" by denying its faculty the right to "enter into any contract support research the specific pur- pose of which is to destroy human life . . ." This is a fake, of course, but in supporting even the pre- tense, Fleming -- whom you claim as a champion - reveals his hy- pocrisy. Libertarian motives are laudable, but it is grotesaue to extend nriv- A M2&CC.. ev-PRIh)6. ttT A UP3 ATI z. IN) 'Th!§PAN)CE l~ CEATh I&-C TIJG74& cov&)T : TR~AT X'OS'JT '7Dcr()- [ UAV(W~ AMCA ~L E A A C«JD OF Lt T "(O IT- r "' '\ / ....,, T[Hr NSW AMER-4 i/ JICPANRi fA 1 11~I \