In this episode of Counterbalance, Mike Doran talks with 91 Institute’s Rob Greenway, who offers a regional diagnosis of the Middle East. Greenway highlights how American leadership plays an indispensable role in the region through building partnerships and managing a mixed bag of local interests. Regardless of U.S. efforts to withdraw from the Middle East, the embattled region will remain a centerpiece of American interests and resources. Even in the midst of a global shift in focus to East Asia, emboldened malign actors can (and will) continue to disrupt the Middle East, a region still at the center of international energy and communication markets. Finally, Mike and Rob address how the U.S. can and should influence the region in a global context.
About Counterbalance:
Counterbalance is a foreign policy podcast that embodies 91’s tradition of challenging conventional wisdom. The Trump era attacked the elite consensus regarding several key issues, including the rise of China, American policy toward the Middle East, and the compartmentalization of domestic and foreign policy. Many observers in the media and in establishment foreign policy circles are presenting the advent of a Biden presidency as a total repudiation of President Trump’s policies and a return to “normalcy.” But, regardless of how one feels about the Trump era or any of his specific policies, there is no turning back the clock. The elite foreign policy consensus will never be the same. Counterbalance will reckon with what’s next.