Azerbaijan, Baku, April 15 / Trend T.Konyayeva /
U.S Analytic Center Stratfor President George Friedman believes the unrests in the Arab world led to a shift in the balance of forces in the Persian Gulf.
First, one needs to understand what consequences the revolutions in the Arab world will bring to, because not every revolution is democratic and not every democratic revolution is a revolution to liberate, Friedman said at a roundtable on the " Changes in the balance of forces in the Middle East "organized by the Center for Strategic Research under the Azerbaijani President on Friday.
What will follow Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's overthrow and what kind of future other Arab countries wait for, following all these disorders, remains unclear, he added. "However, we can say with certainty: there was a shift in the balance of forces in the Persian Gulf," he said.
Friedman regards the future of the Egypt -Israel relations as a key question. "There are many countries, which would not want the war between Israel and Hamas. Hamas is now using Egypt as a bargaining chip in dealing with Israel," Friedman said.
A number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya, have observed waves of popular discontent since early 2011. These resulted in riots and protests against the existing regimes in these countries. Unrests have led to the downfall of the ruling regimes in Egypt and Tunisia. A fierce struggle continues between the authorities and armed insurgents in Libya.