Bouvard on Trump's Middle East Regional Realignment

My guess is that, stalled in the dislodging of the regime and prioritizing immediate economic and political imperatives, Trump shifted from organizing the Middle East in terms of an Israel-Saudi-UAE-potential post-IR Iran configuration to one organized around Qatar-Turkey-

Paksistan as local hegemons--the IR regime has a place here. It's hard to imagine that Qatar money, which Trump himself speaks about so much, didn't weigh heavy in the scales. The gamble would have to be that this will stabilize the region, allowing for that fabled "pivot."

This would mean supporting the radicalizing wing of Islam over the moderating one, and probably a further welcoming of Muslim influence in the US. 19 trillion $ (OK, obviously a made up #) buys you a lot of access. A hypothesis, at any rate.

There's not really any "criticism" of Trump here. If this is the way the field looks to him, that's the way he'll play it. Everyone will adjust, exploit and counter the new conditions as they can.