{"id":2517,"date":"2017-11-08T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/news\/does-anyone-want-to-replace-the-u-s-as-the-great-power-in-the-middle-east"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:33:08","slug":"does-anyone-want-to-replace-the-u-s-as-the-great-power-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/news\/does-anyone-want-to-replace-the-u-s-as-the-great-power-in-the-middle-east","title":{"rendered":"Does Anyone Want to Replace the U.S. as the Great Power in the Middle East?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldpoliticsreview.com\/authors\/1641\/ellen-laipson\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Ellen Laipson<\/span><\/a>*<\/h1>\n<p>originally published in World Politics Review <a href=\"http:\/\/worldpoliticsreview.com\/\"><span>http:\/\/worldpoliticsreview.com\/<\/span><\/a> <br \/>Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The United States has been the pre-eminent external actor in the Middle East since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat expelled his Soviet advisers and benefactors and turned to Washington in the 1970s. But America's role is contracting, by design and by default. Russia and China insist they do not want to replace the U.S. in the Middle East, but they are still intent on expanding their regional influence<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Ellen Laipson in Worl Politics Review\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DoesAnyoneWanttoReplacetheUS_EllenLaipson.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Read more.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"608\" height=\"268\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Laipson_portrait_2.jpg\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail_480x240 lazyload\" alt=\"Ellen Laipson\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Laipson_portrait_2.jpg 608w, https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Laipson_portrait_2.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Laipson_portrait_2.jpg 587w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 608px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 608\/268;\" data-original-sizes=\"(max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":2518,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"news-kategrie":[48],"class_list":["post-2517","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-kategrie-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Does Anyone Want to Replace the U.S. as the Great Power in the Middle East?\u00a0 - Kreisky Forum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/news\/does-anyone-want-to-replace-the-u-s-as-the-great-power-in-the-middle-east\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does Anyone Want to Replace the U.S. as the Great Power in the Middle East?\u00a0 - Kreisky Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Ellen Laipson* published originally in World Politics Review http:\/\/worldpoliticsreview.com\/ Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017 The United States has been the pre-eminent external actor in the Middle East since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat expelled his Soviet advisers and benefactors and turned to Washington in the 1970s. But America&rsquo;s role is contracting, by design and by default. 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