‘US heading to disengagement with Arab world’

Growing anger among American voters at their country’s interference in other nations could lead the United States down a road of disengagement with the Arab world, a top political scientist said.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, a New York-based consulting company, said yesterday the US’s rising oil production levels also mean it can be energy independent, limiting its need to engage with Gulf countries.

“I’d argue that if we want to understand long-term US policy in this region, you need to look at what the drivers are. The drivers are a majority of Americans increasingly feeling that a significant amount of American engagement in the rest of the world has not benefited them,” Bremmer said in Dubai.

Speaking at the Arab Strategy Forum, he said that despite a drop in unemployment rates in the US, it was the wealthier states that are benefiting from growth in the country’s labour market.