Great Power Competition

By sharing very specific concerns directly with the United Arab Emirates, the White House and Congress were rewarded with tangible action on a key company’s ties to Beijing—though more such engagement is needed to keep regional partners aware of U.S. risk tolerance.

New regional and international factors are creating conditions conducive to ending their decades-long conflict, with potentially important consequences for Iran, the Ukraine war, and Turkey.

The United States, in recognizing the limits of its traditional “bloc-building” approach, faces the imperative to adapt to a multipolar reality. Embracing multipolarity as a fundamental principle of its foreign policy could pave the way for more flexible and effective international engagements.

The real threat to U.S. interests in the region isn’t rising Chinese influence, but the erosion of Washington's influence.

If Kyiv does not receive military assistance soon, it may find itself in something worse than a stalemate—the scales would tip decisively in Russia’s favor.

Beijing’s sharply anti-Israel response to the Gaza conflict, prompted by its increased focus on challenging Washington, exposes the limits of its diplomatic reach in the Middle East and the broader tensions in its foreign policy strategy.

The Biden administration needs to tread carefully in engaging Algeria, since preserving UN negotiations on Western Sahara and protecting Morocco’s crucial relations with Washington and Israel are paramount to U.S. regional interests

The antiaircraft system poses a manageable risk to Israeli operations along its northern border, but Washington must show Moscow and its associates that any benefits to such escalation are not worth the costs.

Although the Persian Gulf region is far from being fully self-sufficient, countries are gradually diversifying their partnerships—and doing so on their own terms.