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West Asia ripe for revolt: US report
A wide arc of countries in West Asia from Yemen to Bahrain were ripe for popular revolt, unless sweeping political changes were made, a report ordered by US President has warned.
A wide arc of countries in West Asia from Yemen to Bahrain were ripe for popular revolt, unless sweeping political changes were made, a report ordered by US President has warned.
Egypt, which witnessed a political turmoil leading to the toppling of 30-year-old regime of strongman Hosni Mubarak was identified as a flash point for the region by the report which wanted US to push for political changes in the region.
The report known as presidential study directive identified the new flash points post-Egypt and asked for proposals on how US could push for political changes in countries with autocratic rulers, who are also valuable allies of America, New York Times reported.
"There's no question Egypt was very much on the mind of the president," said a senior official, who helped draft the report, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss its findings.
The report was ordered in the backdrop of West Asia leaders repressing their people and small protests by people already surfacing.
"Whether it was Yemen or other nations in the region, you saw a set of trends," he said, which included "a big youth population, threadbare education systems, stagnant economies and social network technologies like Facebook and Twitter."
