期刊名称：International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies
印刷版ISSN：2349-6711
电子版ISSN：2349-6959
出版年度：2016
卷号：2
期号：5
页码：56-76
语种：
出版社：Scholar Publications
摘要：The question now of the strategic balance and stability in the Middle East, and specially the era of the second Gulf war, 1990s, is to assess the impact of non-conventional weapons on the region. (Non-conventional weapons, or weapons of mass destruction, refer primarily to nuclear, biological and chemical arms, and ballistic missile systems.) The current strategic balance in the Middle East is in transition as the region seeks a new equilibrium, an equilibrium which has been in constant flux over the past three decades. The Arab-Israeli conventional arms race began in earnest in the mid-1950s. It was not long before Israel launched its nuclear and missile development programs, making Arenas’ observation seem a bit tardy. Egypt plunged into chemical and missile programs a few years later. The strategic dimension that resulted has become part and parcel of disequilibrium ever since. In the Middle East, two tiers of states are emerging: one with advanced, non-conventional capability, and one without. Israel sits squarely in the former category and is likely to be joined, in the wider regional context, by Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Iran. Some Arab states possess limited chemical weapons and ballistic missile programs, but these remain modest in size and potential, suggesting that the Arab states are set to occupy the tier of states without non-conventional weapons capability. With the Missile Technology Control Regime in force and the Chemical Weapons Convention close to being signed, this conclusion is practically inescapable
