Word: kuwait
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After years of proud independence, the sudden realization of vulnerability has forced this country of 1.6 million people, about half of whom are foreigners, to turn reluctantly for help to the U.S. Kuwait publicly appealed to the U.S. for a shipment of shoulder-fired Stinger antiaircraft missiles (400 of which were recently supplied to the Saudis) to defend itself against potential Iranian air attacks on its refineries, power stations and desalination plants. Though the Reagan Administration denied the request because of anticipated congressional opposition, the U.S. is offering instead to increase Kuwait's supply of American-made Hawk missiles...
...also trying to push the Saudis and the Kuwaitis closer together. Traditionally wary of its more conservative neighbor, Kuwait is now sharing intelligence with the Saudi air force: a hotline from Saudi ground-control systems immediately transmits information from the patrolling American AWACS radar planes. Kuwait could also be shielded from unfriendly fire by what amounts to a Saudi umbrella. Kuwait has no oil pipeline, and the Saudi shield could be vital in ensuring the safety of tankers and thus protecting the country's oil revenues, which constitute about half of its gross domestic product. To calm the apprehensions...
Ever since Sir Percy Cox of Great Britain drafted Kuwait's boundaries in 1922, Kuwaiti foreign policy has been in a state of delicate balance. The country has resolutely avoided attachments to any of its more powerful neighbors, notably Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, which is separated from Kuwait by a slender, 25-mile finger of Iraq. Notes one Western diplomat: "The only things the Kuwaitis have are diplomacy and money. They either try to talk themselves out of trouble or buy themselves out." During the past six months, the Kuwaitis have been doing a lot of both. Despite...
...Kuwaitis face a major problem in defending their area of the gulf: the Kuwaiti military is as small and eclectic as the country itself. Its scant force of 12,500 untested men is unlikely to be of much help in defending Kuwait's borders if the Iraqi defense crumbles before Iran's long-promised land invasion. In order to bolster their collection of French Mirage jets, British tanks and American antiaircraft missiles, the Kuwaitis recently signed contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars with the French and the British to upgrade their defenses. When the U.S. balked last...
Until now, the Kuwaitis have been more inclined to pour money into social programs than into defense. The government provides a generous national health plan and free, high-quality education; Kuwait is the jewel of the gulf in intellectual life and social progress. Its enterprising press is the only one in the gulf that is not government-controlled, and its democratically elected National Assembly has been known to pass legislation against the wishes of the ruling Al-Sabah family. But there are fears in the nation that a war crisis would split the country into religious and political factions, destroying...