—Voices from the Sensible Center—

Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans—
Interpreting North America for the Middle East

Current Affairs

2 Making Invasion Pay—Humphrey dropped in the other day, and as usual he seemed—well, uh, inadequately informed—about some of the things going on in the Middle East. He was particularly confused about what the Israelis and Lebanese actually agreed to when they signed a troop withdrawal agreement with the United States. We tried to straighten him out, as gently as we could.

4 Coping in the Gulf—We thought it was about time to give you an update on how those lower oil revenues are affecting the economies of the major producers along the Gulf. Things are obviously not humming along as smoothly as they used to, but our correspondent who recently visited the area says they are a lot better than many people expected. He also tells why.

5 Lobby Activities—Members of the National Association of Arab Washington recently for their 11th annual convention—complete with a color guard of marines and featuring a speech by the Crown Prince of Jordan—which NAAA officials say was their best ever, Down in Richmond, the executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee had a story to tell about a secret internal memorandum which is causing argument among U.S. Middle East policymakers.

Regular Features

6 Facts For Your Files—A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations

7 Book Review—In Arab Resources: The Transformation of a Society, editor Ibrahim Ibrahim of Georgetown University brings together 17 essays which were originally read at a symposium sponsored by the University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. A prevailing theme is the need for "complementarity" of human, financial and other resources—apparently much easier said than done.

8 Personality—People who work in chambers of commerce in such places as South Succotash or New York City do important work for their communities. But only for officials of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in Washington, D.C., is buttonholing U.S. Senators or helping negotiate international treaties all in the day's work. John G. Sarpa, head of its Middle East division, is one of them.