Middle East Tries to Divine the Unknowable After Trump’s Shock

Donald Trump’s presidential election victory throws up a wild card that’s dividing opinion on whether it spells more or less trouble in a region beset by war and plunging oil revenue. His threat to bar Muslims from the U.S. reverberated around the Arab world and particularly in traditional allies like Saudi Arabia and Jordan, while he has called the nuclear deal with Iran a “disgrace.”

Trump’s foreign policy is "terra incognita," said Aaron David Miller, vice president for New Initiatives at the Wilson Center and a former State Department adviser. There’s a “volatility factor with Trump, a set of unknowns that is going to make many of our allies very nervous," he said.