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The Arabs Lack a Credible Deterrent Capability

(Gulf News-UAE) Patrick Seale - Today's decimated and divided Arab world is bereft of all nationalist pride, lacking any solidarity or self-confidence, more subject to foreign domination than at any time since the Second World War, and at war with its own angry citizens. The Arabs, for all their numbers, their oil wealth, their inflated military budgets, and their large educated elite, have failed to win protection for themselves by acquiring a credible deterrent capability. North Korea has managed to compel the U.S. to negotiate with it rather than to hit it (perhaps because it has China behind it). Iran seems to have secured a measure of immunity from military attack. Hizballah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and, in its different way, al-Qaeda, have sought to establish a real form of deterrence. Hizballah has so far been the most successful. Israel knows that if it hits Lebanon, Hizballah will respond with rocket attacks against its towns and villages.
2003-10-09 00:00:00
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