oil!

Britons and Turks were reported to be preparing for a conference in Constantinople "to thrash out the Mosul question." When the Allied differences with Turkey were patched up at Lausanne (TiME, Aug. 6) one of the problems left over for further discussions was that of Mosul. The technical argument over Mosul is: Does it belong to Iraq or to Turkey? The real trouble is much deeper than that. Mosul has become in diplomatic language a mere pseudonym for oil, because around that city are rich oil fields. Britain has a protectorate over Iraq and supports the Iraquians (Arab inhabitants of Iraq) against Turkish claims to Mosul. The Turks claim Mosul on ethnological grounds, a claim which is patently absurd, because the percentage of Turks there is small. None of the nations concerned utter so much as one syllable about oil--but oil is meant just the same.