THE SAIGON OFFENSIVE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE

"Any idea that North Vietnam intends to be conciliatory at the Paris peace talks vanished last week in the rubble, the pain and the misery of Saigon". Carry Barker in the Brisbane Sunday Mail, May 12.

It is obvious from the reports coming through on the present fighting in Saigon streets that the Communists have no real ability to gain control of the city. Their purpose in making war on helpless and unarmed civilians, is to exploit the world press headlines to gain a psychological advantage at the Paris "peace" talks. The more President Johnson's decision of March 31st is considered, the more obvious it becomes that he has been forced to deliver the fruits of the policy on which he was elected in 1964 in opposition to Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater had promised to win the war in Vietnam without compromise or promises of conciliation towards the Communists. Johnson on the other hand talked of "peace with honour" and his willingness to go to the conference table wherever the Communists were ready.

After four years of warfare fought within the policy rules of the Communist conspiracy operating in the West so that anti- western propaganda could be maintained, we are now to suffer the final humility in the capital city of De Gaulle's France. A fitting venue from the Communists viewpoint. Having defeated French resistance in North Vietnam by political victory in Paris, the Communists now see the consummation of that victory against the rest of the western world-taking place at the conference table in the same city.

LEFTIST CLERIC CRITISES BILLY GRAHAM

"Just before he left America, Dr. Billy Graham made a reference to the existence of the war in Vietnam. "It is a pity that since he has been in Australia he has been so busy getting people to make decisions for Christ' he hasn't found time to make a decision himself about the Vietnam War", The Rev. John Beer, Chairman of the Vietnam Mobilisation Committee, at last Saturday's meeting in Sydney Town Hall. Reported in The Communist Tribune May 1.
The Tribune does not report what Dr. Graham said before he left U.S.A. for Australia.
Obviously, from the chagrin displayed by Rev. Beer it was nor to the liking of the pink clergy.

Dr. Graham has shown his views by such acts as appearing on Bob Hope's Christmas show for the Vietnam troops. Nor does he confuse Christian living with the support of a victory for godless materialism in Vietnam. He has also pointed out that opposition in the Universities represent a "very, very, small minority". We are interested in the alignment of the Rev. John Beer with the pro-Communist forces as such an allegiance runs parallel to other activities of his.

Shortly after the Rev. David Pope attacked the League of Rights at the September 1965, Melbourne Anglican Synod, alleging falsely that the League was "infiltrating Australian Churches to spread anti-semitism" a similar attack was launched by the Rev. Beer in the North Queensland Synod against the League.
Every facility was offered by the League to the North Queensland Synod at the time, to investigate the allegations but after some correspondence the matter was dropped. The Rev. Pope whose anti-religious views have been given Australian wide publicity is like the Rev. Beer a leading spokesman for Communist causes in Vietnam. The Rev. Pope is also closely associated with Dr. Jim Cairns who sets the pattern for anti-Vietnam policies in Australian politics. The similar interests of the Rev. Pope and the Rev. Beer indicate, along with the simultaneous attack on the League, that the charge of infiltration could well be reversed.

THE BANKERS AND THE U.S. CONGRESS

"The battle for the stability of the dollar, which could be more important for the world than the battle for the independence of South Vietnam, is a small step nearer as a result of Representative Wilbur Mills' withdrawal of his long opposition to an increase in taxes". - - Randal Heymanson in The Sunday Mail, Brisbane, May 12.

For close on twelve months bankers and economic advisers to the U.S. Government have been applying pressure on the Congress for increased taxation. At times the campaign has reached hysterical proportions and it is obvious that very serious issues are at stake. "Heading For Slump, says Banker", and "Crisis Worst for 37 Years", are typical headlines. The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was evidently not impressed, but is now reported to have succumbed when shown that American balance of trade is in danger of going into the red for the first time in history.

With the way cleared for the bankers to obtain their wishes and impose an additional 10% direct tax on the American people, it can be safely predicted that increasing economic chaos lies ahead at a time when more than ever political policy is dependent upon financial policy.
Similar policies completely unrelated to physical resources, or capacity to do work, have been used to destroy the British.

It is amazing how balance of payment problems only exist in the West, and never in the Communist countries. If "saving the dollar" is more important than the independence of South Vietnam then the fate of the world rests not on the issue of whether Communism is evil and must be fought, but on the sanctity of a phony accounting system. On this basis the British withdrawal has taken place, it is only a matter of time, unless new financial accounting policies are adopted to suit physical realities, before the Americans are forced into a similar position.

REVOLUTIONARY PRESSURES MOUNT IN U.S.A.

Mr. Eric Butler, National Director of the Australian League of Rights is making a comprehensive first hand survey of the American scene. He has met a wide cross section of the American people and the following is his latest report: Under the heading "Violence is as American as mom's apple pie", a slightly cynical press columnist states that America was born in violence, has had a history of violence ("There are more homicides in New York City in one month than in all of Great Britain in an entire year") and that America will resolve its present problems by violence.
I can well believe one claim that there are now more guns privately owned in the U.S.A. than in the rest of the world put together.
The revolutionaries are attempting to produce a situation in which those guns will be used in a civil war, which they can exploit.

As I write there is a type of uneasy lull following the widespread rioting, which occurred after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. There is growing apprehension about the approach of summer and the possibility of the "Poor People's March" on Washington, led by King's successor, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, sparking more nation-wide rioting. In the meantime there are growing disturbances in American Universities, while even some high school students have started to riot. It is clear that there is a general attack on proper authority at all levels of American society, and that this is going to be a vital issue in the American Presidential contest.

The growing riots in American Universities follow the pattern of what has happened at the University of California at Berkeley. At this University the revolutionaries have successfully penetrated the teaching faculty and the administrative offices. It is claimed that this group now dominates ten important departments of the University and has allied itself with student radicals to foment revolutionary political action against law and order in the general community. There is evidence that both sex and drugs are being used to recruit increasing numbers of radicals amongst the students.
There is no doubt that there is a long-term strategy for undermining and completely changing the traditional norms of University life.

Dr. Jaime Benitez, (President of the University of Puerto Rico), has made some striking comments on what is happening in American Universities: "The deteriorating impact of political agitation is well known to my Latin American friends who have suffered in their countries the educational disadvantage of highly politicalised institutions. But it is a new, perplexing and even fascinating experience in the United States, where some spokesmen for progressive education seem entranced by the new vistas of 'total freedom'.
Clever arguments allow the New Left to disguise their attack upon the task of preserving and spreading the noble, creative and civilised life that is identified with the highest achievements of the university".

American University Presidents are being subjected to increasing pressure, some becoming afraid to insist that higher education is only possible in an atmosphere of good manners and self-restraint. The American taxpayers are clearly becoming increasingly incensed about what is happening in every section of their society.
They will have the opportunity to express their strong feelings at the Presidential Election.

Latest public opinion polls show Mr. George Wallace improving his electoral standing by 5 per cent. This is significant as Wallace has not yet been able to campaign intensively because of the illness of his late wife. I am satisfied that there is a widespread quiet vote for Wallace, the one candidate who is making internal law and order his major policy. The Wallace campaign could well decide whether the American people are going to meet the growing internal attacks on law and order through constitutional procedures or be forced into the position where they believe they must take the law into their own hands.

GETTING INDONESIA OUT OF THE RED

"Indonesia a bankrupt country presently being run by a talented group of pragmatists bent on finding practical solutions to enormously difficult problems" - Peter Hastings, in The Australian, May 1.

Hastings goes on in his report to show conclusively that Indonesia will have to be bailed out of her bankruptcy by the gifts of other nations, principally those of the West, but also Japan. No doubt such arguments were used to justify the recently announced donation of Australian taxpayers funds to Indonesia.
While it is not a national trait of the Australian people to hold a grudge against a nation, which not so many months previously had been killing our soldiers, and causing us to run up costly defence bills in the war in Borneo, it would be the height of folly, if we failed to learn a lesson from the experience.

Indonesia is in fact a political infant. It is one thing to say the megalomaniac Sukarno was responsible for their present plight, but the adoption of such an attitude is to ignore certain realities. Indonesia has vast natural resources which were being developed by the Dutch, but which slipped back into inept mismanagement during Sukarno's period of power. This despite the millions of dollars and pounds injected into Indonesia's economy in the way of "aid".
Have we any assurance that despite the disposal of Sukarno, there is any likelihood of the underlying structure changing to correct past mistakes? Defence expenditure is our first consideration. What guarantee have we that funds given without strings attached will do anything at all to help in this regard?

SOVIET CONSULATES TO BE ESTABLISHED IN U.S.A.

The Soviet Union announced yesterday it had ratified a consular agreement with the United States, the first bilateral treaty between the world's two major powers", - The Age, Melbourne, May 6.

This may be thee first bi-lateral treaty between the Soviet and the U.S., but it is by no means the first time "the world's two major powers have co-operated. Initiative to establish the United Nations the most formidable platform for Communist propaganda. The establishment of the State of Israel, thus ensuring the alienation of the Arab states as friends of the West. The joint stand against Britain at Suez. Joint policies on Katanga in Africa. Joint agreement at Yalta on Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and the betrayal of Poland whom we went to war "to save". Establishment of Soviet claims in Manchuria and the Kurril Islands.
These are just a few which come to mind.

Therefore that the administration in the U.S. should embark on such willfully stupid policies as giving permission for the establishment of Soviet Consulates in each State of the U.S.A. is not surprising.
Each Consulate will act as an additional Communist cell in the subversive network in the American community. Each will supply propaganda trade missions, will gather information, preach "peace" while the subversion goes on apace. Finally to fulfill the dictum of Lenin "to drop like a ripe plum into our hand".
Australians should watch for a similar movie here.

SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION

THE PRINCIPLE OF RESPONSIBILITY

Responsibility is primarily a moral principle. The Christian recognises it as a gift from God through the ability to choose whichever course of action will further the growth of the individual in his relationship with God. We can say with surety that the individual who refuses any responsibility for his actions cuts himself off from God. But also those indulging in activity, which destroys the freedom of their fellow individuals in society, should be forced to accept the responsibility for their actions.
In the more simple forms of understanding criminal acts, this function is pursued by the police force and the judiciary.

Our problem is to understand how the persons destroying political and financial independence through the advocacy of false policies can be made responsible for their actions. In this regard we quote from the words of Hewlett Edwards,
"Decisive exercise of judgment in that policy formation which is the function proper to an individual, as an elector. This is the basic factor in any system which approaches the reality of democracy; and it can only be operative in the choice between practical, well defined alternatives, it is the antithesis of what exists for the key note of elections is confusion, not clarity; they are contests between catchwords, slogans, vast generalisations and diffuse abstractions…"

One of the prime responsibilities of those educated in correct political principles is to take such confusion out of elections.