Is there any region in the world with more apparently insoluble problems than the Middle East? Consider: The Iran-Iraq War … Israel and the PLO … Islamic fundamentalism … Lebanon … the Persian Gulf … Libya's Qaddafi, to list but a few. But unlike those of some other regions, the problems of the Middle East cannot be ignored, for they affect the vital resource of the modern industrial world - oil. Thus, such superpowers as the United States and the Soviet Union as well as Western nations like Great Britain and France, and the Asian economic giant, Japan, are drawn inexorably into the vortex of the Middle East. Their leaders want to know: What is happening from Tripoli to Muscat? What is likely to happen tomorrow, and who will make it happen?
To provide some of the answers, THE WORLD & I asked distinguished experts in the United States and Canada to address the most pressing issues. Joseph Sisco, former under secretary of state for political affairs, suggests how the United States can use its political power to help break the stalemate in Lebanon and in the peace process between Israel and the Arab nations. Rear Adm. Robert J. Hanks, a former commander of the U.S. Middle East Force, analyzes the key role of the PLO, especially in light of the proposed international conference.
Tareq Y. Ismael, professor of political science at the University of Calgary, reports that the credibility of the United States in the Middle East has been seriously damaged by the Iran-Contra affair. He also says that Arab allies of the United States, such as Egypt and Jordan, have been politically embarrassed.
MIT's Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr looks at the rise and
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