Hegemonic designs in the Middle East clash

Alexandria, Virginia

WESTERN media have been preoccupied by limited airstrikes from the United States, Britain and France in the Damascus area over the weekend, in response to a chemical attack, as well as Russia's "hybrid warfare" strategy against the West.

Amid many distractions, Russian president Vladimir Putin's own fixation with his country's emergence as a major player in the Middle East and its implications for regional stability do not receive ample attention. Russia is striving to increase its strategic visibility and sphere of influence in the Middle East, and US President Donald Trump, by pursuing his transactional foreign policy, is unwittingly presiding over the demise of traditional US strategic dominance in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.