Israel is increasing its defense budget amid an increasingly unstable region and decreased US Defense Budgets.
Amnesty International warns the MidEast will continue to be unstable in 2012, with more protests and oppression.
Iran is launching a second enrichment facility
Ahdiminijihadist has embarked on a tour of his Latino Socialist allies
VoA details follow:
In a report released in London Monday, the group described how governments across the region were willing in 2011 to deploy extreme violence in an attempt to resist unprecedented calls for fundamental reform. But it said the protest movements have “shown that they will not be fooled by reforms that make little difference.”
Mass uprisings sparked by the self-immolation of a Tunisian vegetable vendor that swept the Arab world last year led to the downfall of presidents Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. Amnesty called on those countries to make sure the past abuses are not repeated.
The report highlighted the policies of governments elsewhere, notably in Syria, that remained “grimly determined” to cling to power “at any cost in human lives and dignity.”
Amnesty said international and regional bodies such as the African Union, Arab League and EU have been “inconsistent” in their response, and have “failed to grasp the depth of the challenge.”
Despite this, Amnesty said, the refusal of ordinary people “to be deterred from their struggle for dignity and justice is what gives us hope for 2012.”
Israel will increase its defense budget by more than $700 million in the face of deepening regional instability.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that given the recent dramatic changes in the Middle East, including Arab Spring, government changes in Israel's former ally Egypt and growing fears over Iran's nuclear program, “it would be a mistake” to cut the defense budget.
A panel formed last year in response to protests over the cost of living in Israel had recommended that defense spending be cut to finance a series of social programs without increasing the deficit.