Word: suez
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...Salisbury Plain, Britain moved more troops toward embarkation ports and the eastern Mediterranean. In Paris the Defense Ministry announced appointment of three-star General André Beaufre, an expert on airborne operations, to command a new "Mediterranean force." French newspapers, kicking up a new martial stir over the Suez, reported that air units were grouping at fields near Paris, armor and paratroop forces massing near Algerian ports...
Behind the somewhat sham façade of force, a deadly serious game of consequences was being played. The Egyptians are in serious trouble over keeping Suez Canal pilots on the job. Right after Nasser took over, the old French company shrewdly offered all foreign pilots a three-year salary guarantee (average: about $11,000 a year) in return for a declaration of loyalty to the company. All but 40 of the 205 skilled navigators are foreigners-including 61 French. 54 British, two Americans. At least two-thirds signed the pledge...
...nationalized Egyptian authority has tried to keep things going by signing up 50 more Egyptian pilots-but experience (including a two-year trial period) matters very much. Cross winds, currents, fogs and narrow channels make Suez piloting tricky work, and a single accident can jam the canal for a week or more. At week's end the hard-pressed Egyptians were reportedly trying to lure Kiel Canal pilots to the Suez by offering them up to three times their $400-a-month German salaries...
...British and French, their biggest worry is their Middle East oil supplies. After a hasty look around, emergency committees have satisfied themselves that ways could be found to decrease dependency on oil through the canal (20 million tons, more than half of Britain's oil imports came through Suez last year). But these alternatives would be, expensive...
...London conference on the Suez Canal, which began in angry futility, ended with a far greater sense of agreement than anyone expected, and with so reasonable a case that Egypt's Dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser found it hard to denounce out of hand. The agreement and the moderation were personal triumphs for the U.S.'s John Foster Dulles. As he winged home to Washington, his performance was acclaimed by European diplomats who hitherto have been able to contain their admiration for the Secretary. He had set an unfailingly conciliatory tone, in contrast to the original hot anger...