But in Britain, critics say the British government is hypocritical for arming those same governments it criticizes.

Britain has this week revoked licenses for arms sales to Libya and Bahrain after fears surfaced that British tear gas or riot equipment may have been used against political demonstrators.

It has also emerged that security forces from Libya and Bahrain have been trained in the United Kingdom.

Keith Hartley is from the Centre for Defense Economics at Britain's University of York.

He says the Gulf Arab states need international arms to defend themselves.

"They live in an uncertain world," said Hartley. "They are surrounded quite often by some neighboring states that they regard as potential enemies and rivals. You simply have to mention Iran for example, others feel a threat from Israel. So it's not surprising that they are reasonably heavily armed."

He says the United Nations would need to play a stronger role if those countries were not to be armed.

"It would be a far better world if we had an effective United Nations that could in actual fact introduce, police and enforce peace in the Middle East and elsewhere and enforce it by having the equivalent of a world military force - but that doesn't exist, and I think we're a long way from it," added Hartley.

Britain has licensed hundreds of cartridges of tear gas and other riot equipment for sale to Bahrain within the past nine months.