MER Article Pakistan and the Central Command Congress this fall will begin reviewing a new six-year US aid package to Pakistan totaling more than $4 billion. Crucial to the outcome is Pakistan’s military role in the Gulf. Pakistan’s military missions in 22 countries in the Middle East and Africa make it the largest exporter of military manpowe Jamal Rashid • 20 min read
MER Article Moscow's Kabul Campaign Six years after they invaded Afghanistan and were condemned by virtually the entire international community, Soviet troops with their Afghan government allies have slowly begun to win the war. Most of the reports received in the West over the last six years have come from journalists travelling wit Jonathan Steele • 17 min read
MER Article Klare, American Arms Supermarket Michael Klare, American Arms Supermarket (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1984). (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Findley, They Dare to Speak Out Paul Findley, They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby (Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill and Company, 1985). Beshara Doumani • 4 min read
MER Article Iran and the Reagan Doctrine Gary Sick, All Fall Down: America’s Tragic Encounter with Iran (New York: Random House, 1985). Warren Christopher et al, American Hostages in Iran: The Conduct of a Crisis (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985). Fred Halliday • 10 min read
MER Article "The First Prime-Time Bombing in History" Noam Chomsky has been active in the movement against US military intervention for many years. His most recent book on the Middle East is The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians (South End, 1986). His latest book, Turning the Tide (South End, 1986), is on US policy toward Joan Mandell, Zachary Lockman • 9 min read
MER Article Mad Dogs and Presidents When Ronald Reagan ordered US warplanes to attack Libya on April 15, terrorism was the occasion rather than the cause. Like the electronic confetti spewed out to muddle Libyan radar screens, the terrorism issue was snow to disarm and deflect critics of American military intervention. Such interventi Joe Stork • 15 min read
MER Article George Bush in Khartoum Khartoum. The hand-painted sign on Nile Avenue here best captured the attitude of urban Sudanese toward the visit of Vice President George Bush to their country in early March, just four weeks before the popular overthrow of President Ja‘far Numairi. “Vice-President and Mrs. Bush,” read the sign, “a Gayle Smith • 7 min read
MER Article Kwitny, Endless Enemies Jonathan Kwitny, Endless Enemies(New York: Congdon and Weed, 1984). This book canvasses the record of US government intervention in every corner of the Third World (Europe, Canada and Australia are omitted), and concludes with an essay entitled “On Capitalism, Communism and Freedom.” That's a good Claudia Wright • 4 min read
Prospects for the Gulf All of the small Arab states of the Persian Gulf are now well into their second decade as independent political entities. Bahrain, Qatar and the seven principalities making up the United Arab Emirates became independent in 1971. Kuwait’s independence goes back another decade. Oman, though never a co Joe Stork • 11 min read
From the Editors (May/June 1985) Ten years ago this April, the United States finally ended its military intervention in Vietnam. This marked a great victory for the Vietnamese national liberation movement and for the broad popular opposition movement in the US and around the world. MERIP’s own beginnings came out of that movement, The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article The Gulf Between the Superpowers Anthony Cordesman, The Gulf and the Search for Strategic Stability: Saudi Arabia, the Military Balance in the Gulf, and Trends in the Arab-Israeli Military Balance (Boulder: Westview Press, 1984). Occasionally, when an important head of state arrives in Washington for consultation without a previou Scott Armstrong • 11 min read
