The American-educated Mr. Akhdar was regarded as a principal theorist for the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries, and he proves a formidable apologist for OPEC's cutting production of oil and raising prices--known in our country as the "Arab oil crisis." The discussion is often technical with regard to elasticity of demand and substitutability of other resources, but the exchanges are spirited. WFB: "How can you call it oppression? In the first place, Americans discovered the oil. You tax them. It costs you 20 cents to take a barrel of oil out of the ground. You sell it for $1.75. I don't call that exploitation." FA: "That's not true; that's not true. Western intellectuals have this tendency--" WFB: "Don't confuse me with Western intellectuals."