The Dichotomy of Security and Threat: Defining US Foreign Policy in the Middle East and Beyond

The United States’ approach to foreign policy, both in the Middle East and globally, can be largely understood through a binary framework: states and actors are categorized as either integral to US global security interests or as threats to those interests. This fundamental dichotomy permeates US political discourse, evident in frequent references to the security of Israel, Europe, and the Gulf States. These concerns are consistently rationalized through the prism of US national security.