In spite of initial hopefulness, the Europeans will eventually face a reckoning with the facts: Washington’s financial leverage over Brussels has, arguably, never been greater since the establishment of the euro in 1999. The power of the U.S. Dollar and weaponization of the U.S. financial system cannot be challenged successfully by Europe at this moment.

The hope is that the greater economic cooperation incubating between the Gulf States and Israel will create a culture of entrepreneurship within Gulf economies. In that way, the Gulf States will begin to each adopt a “startup nation” mentality that has been championed in Israel over the past successful several decades.

Belfer Center Visiting Fellow Michael Greenwald, senior advisor to Atlantic Council President and Chief Executive Officer Fred Kempe, was interviewed by Rachel Brandenburg, director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, about the implications of the ongoing feud for the Gulf states and US interests. Greenwald is a former US Treasury attaché to Qatar and Kuwait.