One way of looking at nations involved in the North-South confrontation is to group them as aid-givers (the industrialized rich nations) and aid-receivers (the poor Third World). Of course it is more complicated than this. Some countries of the Third World group, the Middle East oil states, are extremely rich. These played a special role in heating up the confrontation. Even among the others, not all are equally poor, but the distinction between aid-givers and aidreceivers is generally true. In fact, a great deal of the dialogue between the two groups is about how the North can more effectively assist the South in its desperate struggle to escape poverty.