A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1049, 2 October 1959, Page 12

A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

BRITAIN AND THE ARABS, A Study of Fitty Years, 1908 to 1958, by LieutenantGeneral Sir John Glubb; Hoddet and Stoughton, English price 30/-. N some of the cosier corners of Whitehall and the stuffier clubs still trying to disregard the New Zealand House invasion of Pall Mall, there are probably cold voices whispering +hat Glubb Pasha is crazed with the spell of far Arabia which has stolen his wits away. It is certainly a little disconcerting to find a distinguished "soldier quoting St Francis of Assisi on his title-page and then urging the Christian West to seek first the Kingdom of God before trying to woo the Muslim Middle East away from godless Communism. "The v arm hearts of Arabs and of all Asia will not fail to respond," he assures us. "Let us not take a higher standard of living as our motto ... Rather let us take human

brotherhood as our objective; there is wealth in plenty for all if we were not jealous of one another." It is not just a passing thought. He returns to that theme again-as so often in this too diffuse book-when he says: "In the last 50 years both the Arabs and the British have made miany mistakes. Let us frankly admit it, forget the past and offer a new era of friendship ... The West cannot hope to hold its own, much léss to lead, unless it can evolve a soul-satisfying objective for the future of mankind." This book deserves careful consideration in New Zealand and Australia. Much of what he has to say about winning friends and influencing people applies to our Near North and to our Pacific responsibilities. There is the same suspicion of Western pacts, the Same temptation to flirt with Communism, to play one camp off against the other, the same reluctance to be convinced that the United States has a monopoly of virtue. There is the same easily-hurt pride and reaction to insensitive aid. It is ironical, he notes, that the democracies often behave with an Olympian haughtiness, while the totalitarians assume a sympathetic ara democratic readiness to chat with the uncommitted nations. In urging massive propaganda in all its forms, General Glubb does not intend that the under-privileged countries should be over-privileged. One of his complaints is that too much of the too little British effort is impropaganda. .So often the British case has not been put,

or has been broadcast from stations too weak to compete with our enemies, or has been crippled by inhibitions about subscribing newspapers. Propaganda, he emphasises, is the work of experts. There should be a Ministry of Information putting the Western case with truth, dignity and friendliness. This soldier believes that recourse to arms is a failure of policy. Moreover "the presence of British forces was all too easily interpreted by the Arabs as relegating them to a position of inferiority, thus rendering the corridor less rather than more secure." Yet his detailed historical survey shows that the Middle East remains vital as "the traffic-control centre of Europe, Asia and Africa. Whoever dominates it in war will probably be victorious. If neither Nato nor the Communist countries garrison it in peacetime, the latter have the advantage for they are geographically nearer." No wonder that this Briton is troubled about Britain’s "absence of policy, neglect of clear thinking, vacillation and drift." No wonder if the Blimps dismiss the gospel according to Glubb as a voice crying in the wilderness; he is unlikely to be forgiven his

uncommon sense.

J. W.

Goodwin