the mid east now days called western asia as well, has evidently removed a large portion of empire that had been 'owning' it; 

 

At least a part of the U.S. foreign policy borg has come to the conclusion that the U.S. has lost its primary role in the Middle East. There seems to be  little appetite to regain the position.

The purpose of this post is to collect these voices.

Marc Lynch writes in Foreign Affairs:

The End of the American Middle East – Iran and the Last Gasp of a Failed Order (archived) – Foreign Affairs, Sep/Oct 2026

The American Middle East is finished. The regional order that has prevailed since 1991 has been one of the many casualties of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The American and Israeli failure to dislodge the regime in Tehran has proved the bankruptcy of decades of sanctions and violence. The inability of the United States to protect its Gulf allies from Iranian attacks or to keep the Strait of Hormuz open has fatally undermined the core security bargain that justified its network of military bases in the region. And Israel’s increasingly threatening posture and abandonment of any pretense of interest in reaching an accommodation with the Palestinians have ended Washington’s decades-long mission of bringing its Arab allies and Israel together into an enduring security partnership.........more............