Suchergebnisse

NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV, WHO ACTED AS HIS OWN INTELLIGENCE ANALYST, GAVE SOVIET INTELLIGENCE LITTLE OPPORTUNITY TO INFORM POLICY, TASKING IT NEITHER TO ESTIMATE THE PROSPECTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL COVERT DEPLOYMENT OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO CUBA, NOR TO ESTIMATE THE LIKELY AMERICAN REACTION. BY ALL INDICATION, KHRUSHCHEV DID NOT EVEN INFORM HIS INTELLIGENCE SERVICES OF HIS SCHEME. DURING THE CRISIS, SOVIET INTELLIGENCE WAS LARGELY UNABLE TO PROVIDE THE KREMLIN WITH USEFUL INFORMATION. THE POOR PERFORMANCE OF SOVIET INTELLIGENCE IN THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS MAY BE ATTRIBUTED IN PART TO A PAUCITY OF INFORMED AND RELIABLE SOURCES CLOSE TO THE WHITE HOUSE; IN PART TO TECHNICAL INCAPACITY; BUT, PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANTLY, TO BUREAUCRATIC CONSTRAINTS AND A LIMITING INSTITUTIONAL ETHOS.

A review of Helicobacter pylori in the Middle East is presented. Prevalence studies have been performed in asymptomatic population groups from Algeria, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. These showed that the prevalence of H. pylori is similar to that of the developing countries of the world with a high level of infection in childhood (40 to 70 percent), which increases with age to 85 to 90 percent. Israel, however, has a low prevalence in children (10 percent), but there is a rapid rise in the second decade of life to 39 percent, reaching 79 percent in those over 60 years old. The prevalence rates were higher in those living in communal settlements (72 percent) than in urban dwellers (65 percent). The infection rates were higher in persons of Mediterranean and Asian origin (89 percent) compared to those of Western European/North American origin (57 percent). The prevalence rate of H. pylori infection in patients undergoing endoscopy for upper gastrointestinal symptoms has now been reported from many Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, Iran, Israel, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. These studies showed that patients with gastritis and peptic ulcer disease had similar rates of infection as reported from Europe, United States and Africa (71 to 92 percent). However, patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia had higher rates of infection (61 to 89 percent). The H. pylori scenario from the prevalence rates, treatment protocols and responses to treatment does not differ very much from other developing areas of the world.