ARMAGEDDON IN THE MAKING MIDEAST ARMS RACE OUT OF CONTROL - Keith W Stump - October 1976

Keith W Stump

The escalating arms buildup in the explosive Middle East bodes ill for that region's future - and poses some knotty problems for Washington policy planners. Massive sales of sophisticated weaponry to the Middle East - scene of four wars since World War II - has transformed that volatile area into "the most militarized region in the world," according to the annual report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). "More than half of the total arms supplied in 1975 went to the Middle East," according to SIPRI's analysis. Middle East arms expenditures are now running at a staggering 16% of the region's combined gross national product - more than triple the percentage average for NATO nations in Europe. In their scramble for new weapons, some Middle Eastern nations have ended up with more advanced arsenals than the countries supplying them! Iran, for example, will soon have, in the words of London's Financial Times. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library