The U.S. faces a pressured binary choice between dominating or abandoning the Middle East.

Evidence

In the theater of Middle Eastern politics, the United States is cast in several roles—sometimes as arbiter and enforcer, i.e., as suzerain; more often, and more popularly, as villain and scapegoat—and is variously denounced, sometimes by the same people, for claiming and shirking an imperial mission. The range of American policy options in the region is being reduced to two alternatives, both disagreeable: Get tough or get out. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1682

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the paradox of imperial powers being simultaneously accused of meddling and of neglect — similar to critiques of American foreign policy in Said’s Orientalism and Chomsky’s work.