Epstein Secrets

udi Arabia 22.8 13,330 0.769 71.9 77.1 58 Average Gulf countries 5.4 16.751 0.804 73.4 79.8 67 Arab Mediterranean Upper middle income Lebanon 3.5 4,170 0.752 73.3 86.5 76 Libya 5.3 7,570 0.773 70.5 80.0 92 Lower middle income Tunisia 9.6 6 390 0.740 72.5 72.1 76 Algeri

2.3 3.8 Arab State 0.3 03 3.9 2.4 4.1 3.8 Developing countries 2.3 2.9 5.3 3.9 5.7 4.0 Source: a UNDP (2003) and IMF (2002). GCC — Gulf Cooperation Council. 4.2.5. Technology Infrastructures and Technology Achievement Index Figure 6 indicates that countries both the Arab regions are lagging behind the

become so heavily armed that it sustained hostilities with Israel for several EFTA00707183 days in 2006, is now politically exposed back home in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world for fighting and killing fellow Muslims in a neighboring Arab country on behalf of a secular dictatorship. Its opera

g. But his sweet words need to be translated into action. Would Saudi Arabia consider becoming a nuclear power? I suggested two years ago that the [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries should consider seriously all options, including acquiring nuclear weapons if Iran acquires nuclear weapons. You left out Turkey. Turk

East. The conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom is at odds with Iran's revolutionary Shi'ite leaders in struggles across the Arab world, including in Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen. Most of all, Riyadh sees Iran's open support for Syrian President Bashar al- Assad in fighting a rebellion backed by Gulf

its own coalition of Arab allies to join forces in a military campaign. The kingdom and its five closest regional friends, the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, have been unable to agree on a shared missile defense shield after years of discussions, they note. THE SAUDI BOMB Prince Mohammed's warnings on

DF, Israel's defense minister, and a close adviser to Netanyahu—has long favored such a deal. The IDF theory was that if Syria made peace, so would Lebanon, and then Israel would be at EFTA_R1_02029152 EFTA02689611 4 peace with all four neighboring Arab states. And it can be argued now that Assad m

dent's many years as a strong U.S. ally). To facilitate this handover, Riyadh is leading a diplomatic effort under the auspices of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council. In Iraq, the Saudi government will continue to pursue a hard-line stance against the Maliki government, which it regards as little more than an Ir

and Salafist acculturation. At least seven Middle Eastern states are now beset by bitter, and increasingly violent, power struggles; states such as Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen are dismantling. Western states no longer trouble to conceal their aim of regime change in Syria, following Libya

t edge of hysteria and aggression: a recent EFTA_R1_02203688 EFTA02720376 editorial in the Saudi-owned al-Hayat stated: "The climate in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] indicates that matters are heading towards a GCC-Iranian-Russian confrontation on Syrian soil, similar to what took place in Afghanistan during th

was torn by the debate about the wisdom of fighting the Egyptians EFTA00713704 along the Suez Canal and after 1982 it was divided over the war in Lebanon. Contrary to what many think, Netanyahu and Barak never bluffed -- they did not threaten war simply to extort an American commitment to take care

protect it, such an assault would be suicidal. Certainly none of the region's Sunni Arab countries -- Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the smaller Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states -- will come to Iran's aid. None of these countries uttered a word when in 2007 Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor of Sunni-Arab Syr