POMEPS Middle East Political Science Podcast West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East (S. 15, Ep. 7)
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Mar 10, 2026 Mohammed Soliman, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and author who blends engineering precision with regional expertise. He reframes the region as West Asia, links Mediterranean-to-Indian Ocean networks, and traces historical city-centered power. He argues for order-building via layered partnerships, Gulf centrality, minilateral formats, and functional institutions connecting Europe to the Indo-Pacific.
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Shift From Nation-Building To Order-Building
- Soliman frames his argument as realist grand strategy: the U.S. should shift from nation-building to order-building across West Asia.
- He emphasizes Asia's rise beyond China, urging U.S. positioning as both Atlantic and Asian power.
Tokyo Trip Inspired The Map Redefinition
- Soliman describes visiting Tokyo after his wedding to study Shinzo Abe's Indo-Pacific reframing.
- He used Abe's 'Confluence of the Two Seas' speech as an intellectual model for map-changing strategy.
Security And Trade Fuse Regional Politics
- Operationally, West Asia ties security, trade, and diplomacy across the Mediterranean, Gulf, and South Asia into one theater.
- Examples include Gulf roles in Horn of Africa politics and evolving India-Pakistan-Gulf alignments.
