Middle East Geopolitical Situation in Transition

Abstract: Four years have past since the beginning of the Middle East upheavals; regional patterns of the Middle East have entered a deep-water zone: politically transitioning countries have faced three dilemmas and become disoriented; the old patterns shaped by the beginning of the upheavals are restructuring again, “old” orders recur increasingly in the “new” Middle East; power structures within the region are increasingly fragmented, which draws the whole region into turbulence; the upheavals also promote the strategic contraction of the US in the Middle East.