Word: nuclearization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...that the King and other Arab leaders who had criticized the Hizballah raid on Israel that sparked the conflict were "half-men." Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador to Syria in 2008, and last year King Abdullah boycotted the Arab League Summit in Damascus. (See pictures of Syria's suspected nuclear reactor...
...winning support for further sanctions would become even harder. And that's a game the Iranians may be ready to play, by refusing to give up uranium enrichment but at the same time showing new openness to measures aimed at strengthening international confidence in the peaceful intent of its nuclear program. Tehran is far more likely to tailor its positions to what will be acceptable to Russia, China and some of the Europeans than it is to heed the demands put forward by the U.S. and its key allies. (Neither Moscow nor Beijing believes Iran is building nuclear weapons, even...
...West would prefer that Iran did not have the civilian nuclear infrastructure that would give it the option of building weapons, but the more likely outcome of a diplomatic process is one that strengthens safeguards against weaponization rather than reversing Tehran's existing enrichment capacity. And the question of whether that's acceptable to the West will ultimately be answered by a cost-benefit analysis of the available alternatives...
...dominated Islamic Republic is both a religious and racial challenge to Arab and Sunni Saudi Arabia's dominance of the region, and Iran has deftly exploited the divisions in the Arab world by allying itself with radical anti-Israeli movements, in concert with Syria. With Iran's ongoing nuclear-development program - which many Arab countries suspect is a cover for producing weapons - raising those concerns to a fever pitch, Saudi Arabia has decided it can no longer afford open confrontation with Syria...
Still, in the short term, Abdullah's visit is at least a sign that the leaders of the Arab Middle East have backed away from a regional confrontation. However, with Israel threatening to shut down Iran's nuclear program the old-fashioned way - by military strikes - if an alliance of Western nations can't do so through negotiations, it's unlikely that peace will hold for long...