Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

Michael Klare

Michael Klare is director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. He is the author of Rogue States and Nuclear Outlaws: America's Search for a New Foreign Policy.

MER Article

The Rise and Fall of the "Rogue Doctrine"

Since 1990, US military policy has been governed by one overarching premise that US and international security is primarily threatened by the “rogue states” of the Third World. These states -- assumed to include Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Syria -- are said to threaten US interests because of

Michael Klare • 13 min read

MER Article

North-South vs. East-West

The new US-Soviet agreement banning intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe appears to signal a new period of dialogue and cooperation between the two superpowers. It seems that the intense hostilities of the early Reagan era have given way to a more relaxed and constructive relationship b

Michael Klare • 11 min read

MER Article

Conventional Arms Sales

For years, US leaders have attempted to muffle opposition to overseas arms sales by arguing that transfers of conventional, non-nuclear munitions reduce the risk of nuclear war. If we provide our allies with adequate conventional defenses, the argument goes, they will not be motivated to acquire nuc

Michael Klare • 4 min read

MER Article

The Era of Super-Violence

Ever since the end of World War II, the world has been sliding in and out of battles which have killed more than 10 million people. Even in the shadow of this bloody chronicle, 1982 represents something of a watershed: In addition to the two major international conflicts in the Falklands/Malvinas an

Michael Klare • 5 min read

MER Article

War Games for the Eighties

For most of the 1970s, the possibility of US military intervention in the Persian Gulf region inspired military training exercises designed to simulate combat experience in a hot, desert environment. The course of events in Iran, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in 1979 has lent a new urgency to these int

Michael Klare • 6 min read