January 30, 2012
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak suggested recently that Israel's moment of decision on Iran would come not when it obtained nuclear weapons but, instead, how close Iran is to entering what he called "a zone of immunity." Barak's concern was that beyond this threshold it would no longer be possible to halt Iran's nuclear program.
The explosion of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that began in late 2000 is a tragic number of the potential for armed conflict in the Middle East. Although many developments in the 1990s appeared to have reduced the likelihood of war in the region, stability between Israel and its Arab neighbors remains tenuous. Security in the Persian Gulf also remains uncertain, as Iran and Iraq have continued their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Understanding the dynamics of security in the Middle East requires detailed information on the military capabilities of the region's countries.
The Middle East remains one of the world's most volatile regions. Stretching from Morocco to Iran, the area has seen numerous international and internal conflicts over the past decades. Understanding the dynamics of these conflicts requires detailed information on the military capabilities of the region's countries.