Middle East Changes Travis Owens

Tunisia French colonial rule ended in 1956, and Tunisia was led for three decades by Habib Bourguiba, who advanced worldly ideas. These included emancipation for women. Women's rights in Tunisia are among the most advanced in the Arab world though. Through the abolition of polygamy and compulsory free education.

Algeria Algeria is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Its size is almost 926,645 square miles, and it had an estimated population of 35.7 million in The capital of Algeria is Algiers.

Egypt On January 25 th, 2011, widespread protests began against Mubarak's regime. These took the form of an intensive campaign of civil resistance supported by very large numbers of people and mainly consisting of continuous massive demonstrations. By January 29 th it was becoming clear that Mubarak's regime had lost control when a curfew order was ignored, and the army took a somewhat neutral stance on enforcing the curfew law. Some protesters, a very small minority in Cairo, expressed nationalistic views against what they deemed was foreign interference, highlighted by the then held view that the U.S. administration had failed to take sides, as well as linking the regime with Israel.

Libya After popular movements overturned the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt, the countries to the west and east of it, Libya experienced a full-scale revolt beginning in February By February 20 th, the unrest had spread to Tripoli. In the early hours of February 21 st, 2011, Saif al-Islam Muammar Al-Gaddafi, oldest son of Muammar Gaddafi, spoke on Libyan television of his fears that the country would fall apart. He warned that the country's economic wealth and recent prosperity was at risk, admitted that "mistakes had been made" in stopping recent protests and announced that a constitutional convention would begin on February 23 rd. Shortly after this speech, the Libyan Ambassador to India announced on BBC Radio 5 live that he had resigned in protest at the stopping of the protesters.

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is still a neutral country even from its nearby countries’ revolutions. Saudi Arabia is planning on not being involved in any of these nearby issues. This should keep the nation okay and at peace, even while there are so many revolts in neighboring countries. The nearby countries could try to cause problems in Saudi Arabia, and have an influence on them and cause revolts and riots in their own country. Hopefully not, but could possibly become involved with these other countries issues.

Jordan Jordan is a recent entrant to the domestic defense industry with the establishment of King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau in The defense initiative is supposed to jumpstart industrialization across a range of sectors. With the Jordanian defense costs at 8.7% of GDP, the Jordanian authorities created the defense industry to utilize defense budget spending power and to assist in economic growth without placing additional demands on the national budget. Jordan also hosts SOFEX, the world’s fastest growing and region’s only special operations and homeland security exhibition and conference. Jordan is a regional and international provider of advanced military goods and services.

Yemen Yemen is one of several Arab states that have seen large amounts of protests at the start of the January 2011 revolution in Tunisia. Thousands of demonstrators for and against President Ali Abdullah Saleh have taken to the streets in the capital and other regions. The crisis has staged the long-standing regime against Yemeni youth and opposition politicians who are demanding an immediate end to Mr. Saleh's authoritarian rule. Mr. Saleh’s battling government has made several concessions but is far from satisfying the growing opposition. When Mr. Saleh suggested the formation of a national united government, an umbrella group of opposing parties called the Joint Meeting Parties, rejected the invitation, and instead threw its support behind protestors.

Syria Syria was a harsh and stagnant dictatorship, reviled in the West for its support of terrorist groups and generally isolated even from more moderate Arab countries. Mr. Assad's son, Basher al-Assad, who became president after his father's death in 2000, has from time to time made gestures toward a more open and mild regime. But it has remained a dictatorship, with the tiny Allawite minority from which the Assad's come firmly in control of the military and the government.