Opinion: Trump's national security plan declares end to Middle East wars. But is it for real?

US President Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) has stirred heated debate about Washington’s future posture in the world, its strong anti-liberal ideological footprint, and the prospects for transatlantic relations as the Russia-Ukraine war reaches a critical stage.

The new vision is part of a wider rejection of the post-Cold War order. It moves away from the “democracy versus autocracy” framework outlined by the Biden administration just three years ago, and explicitly rejects the goal of “permanent American domination” in favour of “global and regional balances of power”.

Among the regions where this balance assumes a critical importance is the Middle East, where the new doctrine seems relevant not for what it says, but mainly for what it does not.

Read more: Trump's national security plan declares end to Middle East wars. But is it for real? Opinion by Marco Carnelos