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– We are increasing our bandwidth, says Mohamed Baharoon, who heads the only think tank in the UAE. The agreement with Israel increases our bandwidth: logistics and infrastructure with ports, airlines and the economy. We will have access to the Mediterranean, through the railway that will connect the Persian Gulf with the Mediterranean, says Mohamed Baharoon.
But most of all, the deal will elevate the UAE’s position on the regional power map, where the brash little Arab Emirates, eminent in oil, hope to further weaken hostile powers Turkey and Iran.
The United Arab Emirates is The ninth largest oil exporter in the world and under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed, also known as MBZ, the emirate has achieved an undisputed regional position. Leader in the financial sector – and as a tourist destination – beyond the oil economy. We have everything the emirates say: whoever moves here will not miss a thing.
On the ski slope of one of the shopping centers in Dubai, a visitor takes a video of a selfie where he tells us that it is 43 degrees hot in the desert outdoors, but inside we are going to snowboard, can it be more surreal ?
In Dubai anything is possible. Snow, artificial islands, the tallest skyscrapers in the world in a kind of lego for adults for architects, beaches, high-tech and your own Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi. All the world’s products can be bought here, from New Zealand oysters to saffron ice cream, French cheeses, Italian wines and now also a kosher restaurant.
But the United Arab Emirates it also plays an increasingly important role politically as a regional superpower. Crown Prince MBZ is something of a mentor to MBS, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman. And together they have helped crush political Islam and opposition in the region.
It was the UAE who paid when Egypt’s Sisi toppled the Muslim Brotherhood and when Libyan General Haftar tried to seize power in Tripoli.
Mohamed Baharoon of the think tank calls this the contribution of the UAE to the devaluation of the political currency that consists of hatred.
– Hatred in the Middle East began with the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, he says, but then led to a reflection in the Arab world of hating Jews and this hatred has become political currency.
– The political currency of hate it has been exploited by all Arab leaders, by states like Iran, even by Saddam Hussein; when he invaded Kuwait, he claimed it was to liberate Jerusalem, says Mohamed Baharoon in Dubai. Hatred is hard currency for Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey. The UAE, on the other hand, has invested in tolerance, he says.
– Here 200 nationalities coexist without friction, because we are a country where less than 15% of the population belongs to indigenous peoples, we have developed a culture of tolerance with severe punishments against hate propaganda and slander.
What it does not mention is that more than 80% of the population are foreigners without citizenship and therefore they would never dare to say no because then they risk being deported, or that they can get a prison sentence for critical comments. on Facebook and that the UAE is known for its omniscient intelligence service. and its all-seeing surveillance cameras.
But the UAE markets tolerance in contrast to the hatred cultivated in Iran and Turkey. And here the Gulf states and Israel have common enemies, in addition to the threat from Iran, the conflict with Turkey has escalated to become one of the most serious in the Middle East today, according to observers.
It’s about Turkey support for political Islam in which the United Arab Emirates accuses Erdogan in Turkey of wanting to reestablish the Ottoman Empire with its colonial illusions. Erdogan is trying to position himself as the leader of the Sunni Muslim world, with his aggressive and perverted vision of Islam, supporting terrorist groups in Syria, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, it is said.
Political science professor Abdelkhaleq Abdullah, whom I meet by the water fountain in one of Dubai’s many luxury hotels, hopes that the peace deal with Israel will weaken Turkey and that the UAE will have a long list of complaints against Turkey’s destructive policies in the region.
– we will never arrive Forgive Erdogan for siding with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt against Sisi, for siding with Qatar in the conflict with Saudi Arabia, says Abdelkhaleq Abdullah. Finally, it surprisingly also mentions the murder of the Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi, whose body was dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, probably with a good memory of Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.
But Abdelkhaleq Abdullah is not directing his anger at Saudi Arabia for the murder, but at Erdogan, who used the murder to put Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman and Saudi Arabia there. It was unforgivable, he says, however tragic the murder was.
