NOT THE BEST OF YEARS

FOR THE ARAB STATES OF THE GULF, 1982 began with a sense of unease and uncertainty. The reverberations of the uncovering of a subversive plot in Bahrain, allegedly of Iranian inspiration, caused all the countries of the region to look apprehensively at their individual and collective internal security; a series of bilateral security agreements were quickly concluded between Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Co-operation Council states - with the exception of Kuwait.