Gulf State Catch-22: Time to drop US as chief security guarantor?

At Davos in January, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney surprised the audience with his open call for “middle powers” to band together and resist pressure from the great powers. His implication that these states need to resist both China and the United States was somewhat shocking to hear in a policy speech, but it nonetheless reflected a growing consensus that, as the world moves toward multipolarity, middle powers will become more important, especially if they can figure out how to free themselves from the whims of the great powers.For some of the most prominent middle powers, however, the