In recent years, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar have occupied the niche of countries that are opponents of the United States. Joint interests in specific areas force Washington to cooperate with these countries and often ignore that their policies run counter to the country’s fundamental values and interests.
Accordingly, one should expect that in the next five years, it is with these countries that the States will have small wars. However, an escalation of the conflict with Iran should be expected in the next ten years since the seizure of this country with nuclear weapons could lead to the collapse of the liberal order.
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars promoting radical Islam around the world. Qatar is home to the largest American military base in the Middle East – but Qatar also sponsors Al Jazeera, which promotes anti-Americanism with outrageous conspiracy theories.
Egypt these days can also be ranked among the friends-enemies – the current government can hardly be called allies in everything related to the observance of human rights. Still, at the same time, they are fighting Islamic extremists. It is essential to understand that the weakening of the US position in the international arena leads to an increase in the number of states that are both partners or allies – and adversaries.