And the United Nations’ embargo on Iraq, has, for now at least, deleted that country from the list of importers of major weapons systems.Īccording to ACDA, the Middle East’s share of the world arms market had risen from 35.9 percent in 1981 to 41.4 percent in 1991. Arms export markets have declined overall, including in the Middle East, with the end of the Cold War and the impact of global economic recession. Īs before the 1990-1991 Gulf war, arms imports are a significant piece of military expenditures in the region, and serve as a window on the role of outside powers in modulating the pace and extent of militarization in the Middle East. Middle East force ratios - the number of persons under arms per thousand population - stand at 13.5, compared with 7.4 for the industrialized countries and 4.1 for the rest of the South. According to a March 1994 US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) report, the first to cover world military spending patterns since Desert Storm, the Middle East still ranks highest in military expenditures as a percentage of gross national product (20.1 percent) and of total government expenditures (54.8 percent). Whatever credence this forecast may get from recent agreements between Israel, the PLO and Jordan, it is hard to reconcile with the mind-boggling pace of militarization that continues, especially in the Persian Gulf. In the course of a March 1991 “victory tour” of the Middle East after the US-led defeat of Iraq, James Baker, then secretary of state, piously proclaimed the hope that Desert Storm might be “the last great battle” in the region.

Gulf war tank battle aftermath