This publication presents regular materials of the scientific workshop "Modern Development Problems", which is held in the Center for Development and Modernization Studies of IMEMO RAN. The discussants analyzed changes that had taken place in the region and certain countries over the February to November 2011 period, as well as the inner dynamics of events. Special focus was on their external factors – the role of the West in whole, of France, Great Britain, NATO, the League of Arab States, Turkey.