Kristine Beckerle

The full article: "America and its regional allies never shared a lofty agenda. There was no liberal-democratic project to bind them together, as in Europe after the second world war. Nor did America foster the sort of economic growth it pursued in Asia. It wanted simply to keep the oil flowing, protect Israel and maintain its bases (later it would add smashing jihadists to the list). None of these goals required Arab states to be capable or prosperous; in fact, some were easier if they were not. That was fine for its allies, which cared mostly about the preservation of their regimes. It achieved all of those—for a time. But today its bases have been battered, its oil tankers are under attack and its closest ally, Israel, has been at war for three years. Even if Mr Trump had not rashly broken it, what America built over the past 35 years was not durable at all: too many of the region’s states were weak, divided or failed ones." economist.com/middle-east-an…