ABSTRACT
The Middle East— one of the world’s most politically turbulent regions— is the setting for a deadly nuclear arms race. Two countries, Israel and Pakistan, have mastered the technology for making nuclear bombs. Israel has the more advanced programme, including a stockpile of weapons, while Pakistan has only just achieved its breakthrough. No Middle Eastern government has formally admitted that the purpose of its investment in nuclear research is to develop weapons. The central dilemma for architects of the non-proliferation regime has been somehow to preserve a distinction between the peaceful and non-peaceful applications of nuclear research. The crisis of nuclear weapons proliferation has been especially acute for the United States, historically the most important exporter of nuclear know-how. The criteria used were two-fold: the level of investments in building up nuclear infrastructures, and publicly expressed interest in all aspects of nuclear research and development. Nuclear rivalries in the Middle East are only partly a function of Arab-Israeli enmities.
