This past weekend's events in Iran and in Israel are good reminders that the Middle East is a region in transition. The 300 million citizens of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) nations make up only about 6 percent of the world's population. But the Mideast plays a disproportionate role in world affairs as its hydrocarbon resources are central to global economic development, and its fractious regional politics often threaten global peace.
Economically, the region has seen strong growth in the past decade as crude prices stayed strong and most countries opened themselves up to foreign investment. Since 2000, growth has stayed above 5% in the region and the Middle East is now the second richest part of the emerging world, behind Latin America, - with GDP per capita now around $7,000.
Along with other emerging economies, output and shares in the Middle East crashed spectacularly in 2008. Mideast economies have been slower to recover in 2009, however, as low crude prices fed concerns over the ability for Middle Easterners to pay down debt accumulated during the boom. Much of the first quarter was dominated by speculation that Dubai - the high-flying capital of Arab capitalism - might default on its debt. Fears were abated only after its sister cities in the UAE bailed it out. Once the symbol of the Middle East's rising economic power, the architectural extravagance of Dubai risked being remembered primarily as an expensive folly.
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