Dr. John SfakianakisFor half a century, the US-Middle East relationship rested on a straightforward bargain: America guaranteed security and the Gulf exported oil. Its foothold in different parts of the world and the Middle East is backed by arms sales and intelligence ties. Moscow brings a pragmatic, transactional approach valued in the Gulf and the wider Middle East in addition to its OPEC+ role. The question, then, is not whether America needs the Middle East but whether the Middle East needs America in its old guise. And as Israel asserts itself with increasing impunity, the old architecture of American security primacy looks more like a façade.