The US National Security Strategy unveiled by the US administration marks a sharp departure from the post-Second World War era. For over seven decades, Washington has cast itself as the guardian of a global order built on alliances, democratic promotion, and military interventions to reshape nations. The new security strategy, however, pivots to an \u201cAmerica First\u201d doctrine. It promises to avoid endless wars, reject nation-building abroad, and redirect focus toward the Western Hemisphere. This approach treats foreign policy as a business deal; alliances endure only if they yield clear gains.<\/p>\n
Yet, this strategy feels less like a detailed road map and more like a mood board scattered collection of slogans and images that inspire but fail to guide. In a world reshaped by rising powers, economic realignments, and eroding trust in US leadership, such vagueness risks leaving America \u2014 and its partners \u2014 adrift.<\/p>\n
For the Arab region, long entangled in Washington\u2019s orbit, the implications are profound. The Middle East is no longer a perpetual crisis zone demanding US troops. Instead, it emerges as a marketplace for investments in energy, technology, and defense. But this optimism overlooks harsh realities: America\u2019s internal fractures, its diminished moral standing after the Gaza conflict, and the rapid rise of multipolar forces led by China. Arab states must now prioritize self-reliance, forging diverse partnerships to navigate this uncertain terrain. Drawing lessons from the Gulf\u2019s pragmatic diversification, the region can build a more secure, prosperous future.<\/p>\n
To understand the American doctrine\u2019s radical turn, consider its historical roots. Since 1945, US strategies have emphasized collective security through institutions such as NATO and the UN. Presidents from Harry Truman to Joe Biden have framed America as the indispensable nation, intervening in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan to counter communism, terrorism, or authoritarianism. These efforts, while costly, sustained US primacy.<\/p>\n
The 2025 national security strategy discards this legacy. It explicitly warns against \u201cdissipating American power in protracted conflicts or misguided expansions.\u201d Interventions are now off-limits unless they directly safeguard US borders or economy. Political reforms abroad \u2014 once a hallmark of American diplomacy \u2014 are dismissed as cultural impositions that ignore local traditions. The strategy\u2019s geographic focus narrows to the Americas, prioritizing immigration control, trade deals with neighbors such as Mexico and Canada, and countering Chinese influence in Latin America.<\/p>\n
This inward tilt mirrors President Donald Trump\u2019s worldview: Every overseas move must answer one question \u2014 does it serve American interests? Allies are not exempt. Favorable deals outweigh loyalty; unfavorable ones invite pressure. Critics argue this transnationalism erodes long-term stability. As one analyst noted in a recent Foreign Affairs piece: \u201cStrategies built on deals alone crumble when crises demand trust, not contracts.\u201d For Arab observers, the echo is familiar: US policy in the region has long swung between idealism and self-interest, from the Oslo Accords\u2019 promise to the Iraq war\u2019s fallout.<\/p>\n
The national security strategy arrives amid seismic global shifts that it barely acknowledges. The world Washington once dominated has fractured into competing blocks. China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative now spans 150 countries, channeling trillions into infrastructure from Africa to Asia. The BRICS alliance \u2014 Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa \u2014 has expanded to include Egypt and the UAE, amplifying calls for de-dollarization. These moves challenge the US dollar\u2019s role as the world’s reserve currency, with trade in local currencies rising 20 percent annually in BRICS deals.<\/p>\n
Washington vows to counter these trends, labeling China the \u201csole competitor.\u201d Yet the national security strategy offers few concrete tools beyond tariffs and tech restrictions. This gap invites exploitation. As America retreats, Beijing fills voids \u2014 building ports in the Arabian Sea, investing in Gulf AI hubs, and mediating Saudi-Iran talks in 2023. The result? A multipolar order where US influence wanes not through defeat, but diffusion.<\/p>\n
For the Arab world, this rebalancing is double-edged. Opportunities abound in diversified trade: Saudi Arabia\u2019s Vision 2030 now eyes Chinese partnerships for renewable energy, while Egypt leverages BRICS for infrastructure loans. But risks loom. US countermeasures \u2014 sanctions on Chinese firms, naval patrols in the South China Sea \u2014 could disrupt global supply chains, spiking oil prices and food costs in import-dependent Arab economies. The security strategy\u2019s failure to address these interconnections leaves allies guessing: Will Washington defend the Strait of Hormuz as vigorously as it once did?<\/p>\n
The strategy\u2019s handling of allies reveals its coercive edge. Gone is the era of \u201cintegrated deterrence,\u201d where US commitments wove seamlessly with partners. In its place are demands for burden-sharing, laced with threats.<\/p>\n
In Asia, the Indo-Pacific pivot targets China. Alliances with Japan and South Korea must now include active roles in Taiwan\u2019s defense, hosting US missiles, joint patrols, even preemptive strikes if Beijing moves. This escalates tensions, as Seoul and Tokyo balance economic ties to China. which buys 25 percent of Japan\u2019s exports, against American security guarantees.<\/p>\n
Europe faces sterner rebukes. The strategy portrays the continent as enfeebled by migration, overregulation, and cultural drift. It urges NATO members to hike defense spending to 3-5 percent of gross domestic product within five years \u2014 or forfeit US protection. \u201cEurope must defend itself,\u201d the document states bluntly. This echoes President Trump\u2019s first-term complaints but ignores Europe\u2019s post-Ukraine strains: Russia\u2019s invasion has already boosted spending to 2 percent averages, yet energy crises and refugee flows persist.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0“Arab states must now prioritize self-reliance, forging diverse partnerships to navigate the uncertain terrain.”<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Dr. Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed<\/em><\/p>\n The Middle East receives surprisingly benign treatment. Once a quagmire of interventions \u2014 from Desert Storm to the Abraham Accords \u2014 the region is reframed as a \u201cpartnership zone.\u201d Iran\u2019s nuclear program and proxy militias are downplayed as diminished threats, thanks to sanctions and Israeli strikes. US energy independence\u00a0 producing 13 million barrels daily \u2014 frees Washington from Gulf oil dependence. Military footprints shrink, bases like Al-Udeid in Qatar remain, but troop levels drop.<\/p>\n Instead, opportunities beckon. The strategy envisions Arab states as co-investors in emerging sectors: nuclear reactors in the UAE, AI data centers in Saudi Arabia, drone tech in Jordan. Vital sea lanes, like the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, stay under US vigilance to block \u201chostile powers.\u201d No more \u201cforever wars,\u201d the strategy pledges \u2014 relief after two decades in Afghanistan and Iraq.<\/p>\n This pivot suits Gulf leaders pursuing economic diversification. Yet it glosses over perils. The Abraham Accords, while normalizing Israel-UAE ties, stalled Palestinian progress. The Oslo framework\u2019s collapse, coupled with US retreat from mediation, has fueled despair, producing cycles of violence.<\/p>\n No factor has accelerated America\u2019s moral decline more than its role in Gaza. From October 2023 to late 2025, Israel\u2019s campaign, enabled by $20 billion in US arms and vetoes at the UN, claimed over 40,000 lives, per UN estimates. Washington\u2019s \u201cironclad\u201d support, amid global outcry over civilian casualties, branded it complicit in hypocrisy. Polls show US favorability in the Arab world plummeting to 15 percent, rivaling Iran\u2019s lows.<\/p>\n This erosion shatters Washington\u2019s broker status. The Oslo \u201cfiction\u201d \u2014 a two-state mirage \u2014 crumbled long ago, but Gaza\u2019s devastation buries it. Regional crises metastasize: Yemen\u2019s Houthis disrupt shipping, Lebanon simmers with Hezbollah clashes, Syria\u2019s fragments defy stabilization. Without US leverage, resolutions recede.<\/p>\n Compounding this: America\u2019s domestic rifts. A polarized Congress \u2014 split on aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan \u2014 undermines coherent policy. The security strategy\u2019s episodic fixes \u2014 tariffs here, summits there \u2014 cannot bridge these divides. As historian Niall Ferguson warns: \u201cEmpires fall not from external blows, but internal rot.\u201d<\/p>\n Faced with a fickle superpower, Arab states must craft autonomous paths. Self-reliance demands three pillars: diversified alliances, economic resilience, and human capital investment.<\/p>\n The Gulf Cooperation Council exemplifies this. Since 2017, leaders such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed have woven a web of ties \u2014 China for BRI ports, Russia for oil swaps, India for tech talent, even Turkey for mediation. Arms deals span US F-35s to French Rafales, hedging against any single supplier.<\/p>\n De-escalation defines the approach: The 2023 Saudi-Iran detente, brokered by Beijing, ended proxy shadows in Yemen and Iraq. Domestically, reforms abound \u2014 women’s workforce entry in Saudi Arabia doubled to 35 percent, youth unemployment fell via Neom-like megaprojects. Laws eased for foreign investors; revenues diversified beyond oil, with non-hydrocarbons at 50 percent of GDP in the UAE.<\/p>\n Food and water security, long vulnerabilities, now prioritize innovation. Vertical farms in Qatar yield 10 times traditional crops; desalination plants in Oman process 80 percent of needs. Regional pacts, like the Arab Food Security Initiative, pool investments in African farmlands, shielding against disruptions.<\/p>\n This Gulf blueprint merits Arab-wide adoption. A pan-Arab economic union \u2014 building on the Arab League \u2014 could harmonize trade, standardize tech standards, and cofund desert agriculture. Imagine joint ventures: Egyptian solar powering Jordanian greenhouses, Moroccan phosphates fertilizing Iraqi fields. Such integration fosters sustainability, turning shared challenges into collective strengths.<\/p>\n The American doctrine, for all its bravado, navigates a world it no longer commands. Its \u201cAmerica First\u201d mood board may rally domestic bases, but it invites chaos abroad. For the Arab region, the message is clear: Rely less on Washington, invest more in each other.<\/p>\n By emulating the Gulf’s pragmatism \u2014 blending US ties with Eastern outreach, innovation with integration \u2014 Arab states can defy volatility. Prosperity awaits not in isolation, but unity: a shared horizon of security, growth, and dignity. In this fractured era, the Arab world need not follow America\u2019s map. It can draw its own.<\/p>\n