“In sum, the ME is a terrible place to succeed in.”
The United States has, since WWII, guaranteed equal and free access to the seas by all powers. Even North Korea can sail its ships unescorted to any port that will accept them. China and the developing world have benefitted from this security.
The US, which maintains a fleet larger than all the navies of the world combined, is backing away from this profitless role. This means that the far east must quickly develop navies and security arrangements. They will need to go to the ME, select sides in a century’s old blood feud, and escort their oil home. At the same time, those same countries, or, at least China, is challenging the freedom of the seas for other countries.
If the ME oil is interrupted for more than a few weeks, then the developing world will begin to fall into chaos and starvation. This is probably the only reason Trump hasn’t told them all to p*ss off and walked away. There are no good guys in the ME; only varying flavors of evil-doers.
It wasn’t always a profitless role.
Though it is now and has been for 20 or so years. Everyone, including us, used to profit from our Navy.
Funny, people want a multi-polar world but none wants to step up and support it.
China wants to sell goods to the ME- it’s a terrible thing to send money to people who don’t buy your goods in return- but keeps trying to cheat and bully everyone it needs to help do that.
Using force instead of negotiation. Just like it does in the S China Sea area.
I put it down to having a barbaric feudal system that can’t adapt.