The Persian oil crisis, it seems to us, is the most eloquent testimony possible to the dangers of the doctrine being preached by General MacArthur. [Douglas A. MacArthur] That doctrine, stripped of irrelevant detail, amounts to a demand that the West should concentrate its entire effort against the Chinese Communists and for the time being forget about the rest of the world.

Now it is beyond doubt that the Persian crisis is more serious, in the long term, than anything that is happening in Korea. If Korea fell to the Communists, the West would have suffered a sharp moral defeat and would continue to suffer a minor tactical inconvenience. But if Persian oil fell into Russian hands, the free nations’ whole position in the Middle East would be jeopardized, and probably destroyed.

The MacArthur doctrine, if carried out in the terms which the general has suggested, would have left the West helpless, in terms of its present military resources, to do anything about the threat in Persia. Everything we had would be committed to an all-out war against the Chinese. Whatever happened in Persia, we should have to stand by helpless and watch it happen, being powerless to interfere.

Let us admit that Russian influence in the Persian decision to nationalize the Persian oil industry has not, so far, been proven. Ostensibly, at any rate, this decision is the work of Persian nationalists and extremists who have no open connection with Communism. It has not been proven; but can anybody doubt that the hand of Moscow is at work somewhere in the dark background?

Everything that is happening in Persia is working to Russia’s advantage. The sort of contusion is being created in which Communists flourish, and in any event Russia has been intriguing in Persian politics since long before the October Revolution. If Persian oil passes out of Britain’s hands, Russia will be one step nearer to obtaining that oil for her own use. If Russia is not, in fact, directly involved in the present crisis, that is merely because Russia can see things working to her advantage without her intervention.

If this oil does pass into Russia’s hands, it will be an incalculable disaster for the West. Not only will the Royal Navy lose its principal and most convenient source of fuel; Russia’s critical oil shortage will be relieved to the point where it may make all the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful war in the future.

It is said that Russia cannot make good use of Persian oil because of the difficulty of piping it to Russian territory. This we simply do not believe. At this moment, various concerns in Canada are considering, without undue anxiety, the possibility of piping both oil and gas across the Rocky Mountains. We do not believe that piping oil from Persia to Russia is any more difficult.

Furthermore, as we all know, it is much more important to the Russians to get oil from Persia than it is for British Columbia to get oil from Alberta; and most things are possible in times of urgent necessity. Let us be thankful, at least, that the West has not tied up all its resources in the Far East.