Russia's Game in a Key Area of the Mideast

A  Right. It's like your Export-Import Bank, in the United States. You can use that money only for purchases in America. The money you get from the International Bank and American Development Loan Fund you can use anywhere.

Q  Would you prefer to get your foreign aid from private sources rather than through government loans?

A  That depends. Of course, the advantage of investment by private companies is that they bring their technicians with them, and also their know-how.

Q  Do you feel that the bilateral treaty with the U.S. is a substitute for a U.S. alliance with you in the Baghdad Pact?

A  As long as you don't join the pact, it gives us the same effect that we would normally expect within the framework of the pact, which is in accordance with the United Nations Charter.

Q  Would you comment on any of the problems you have had during the negotiations for the bilateral treaty?

A  I would not like to go into the details of the agreement, because it also concerns Turkey and Pakistan. However, the question has come up as to whether the United States would automatically come to the assistance of any one of these Moslem countries in the event of aggression. We have been trying to make United States assistance automatic.

Q  As in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?

A  They tell us that it is not automatic in NATO. There is also the question of defining "indirect aggression." What, after all, is indirect aggression?

Suppose we were the object of indirect aggression on the part of a country controlled by international Communism?

Incidentally, it is sometimes said that we want the bilateral agreement in order to protect ourselves, to protect my regime from internal threats. I have read this in various newspapers. This is nonsense. There is no question of my regime being in danger from an internal source.

What I want this bilateral agreement for is to help save my country from any kind of direct or indirect aggression that might take place from the outside.

Q  Your Majesty, do you intend to visit the United States in the near future?

A  I don't think so. I have been there three times, the last time being last June.

Q  There have been a number of changes in the Middle East since then—

A  And, furthermore, you people know exactly what I mean and what I stand for. I have had occasions to explain this to them thousands of times.