According to global network reports, the new president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, recently called Turkish President Erdogan to welcome the Russian-Ukrainian grain export agreement reached under his good offices. It is worth noting that Mohammed bin Zayed, who had visited Paris for the first time after succeeding to the new president, was greeted by Macron with a grand welcome ceremony, which attracted widespread attention from the world media.
Since the end of World War II, the Middle East has emerged many well-known figures in the modern history of the world, such as Saddam Hussein, Arafat, Sharon, the elder Assad, Nasser, Sadet, Saleh, Gaddafi, Khomeini, etc., all of whom have left their footprints in the history of the Middle East. In the 21st century, especially after 2011, with the withdrawal of politicians such as Qaddafi, Mubarak, Saleh, Ben Ali and other politicians who have been in power for decades, some new faces have begun to appear on the political stage.
Since the Arab Spring of 2011, the most famous politician in the Middle East is the current Saudi Crown Prince Salman Jr. (known as MBS). He himself has done many things that shocked the world, such as the launch of the "decisive storm" military operation against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, the seizure of the crown prince's position with an iron fist, the creation of the "Khashoggi" incident and the "Qatar diplomatic crisis", etc., which made the world "impressed" the new crown prince who had just entered the political arena.
However, when the little Salman was famous in the Middle East, another powerful figure in the Middle East was ignored by the world media because he was too low-key, that is, the former Abu Dhabi crown prince and the current new president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed. On June 2, 2019, the New York Times published an article titled "The Most Powerful Arab Rulers Are Not MBS, But MBZs."
So who is the low-key, little-known new UAE president?
When he went out to study at a young age, his father developed a unique training model for him
Mohammed bin Zayed was born on March 11, 1961 in al-Ain, Trussil. He is the third son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi.
His mother, Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ketby, was the third and most favored wife of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and because of the maternal tradition of the Arab world, Mohammed bin Zayed was greatly pampered by his father from an early age. This is very similar to the founding king of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud, who favored Princess Sudri, from the birth of the most powerful "Sudri Seven Brothers" in the Saudi royal family.
Mohammed bin Zayed has many brothers, the most famous of which are Khalifa and Mansour, who is famous for the naming of the burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, and Mansour is famous for his acquisition of the world-renowned British Club Manchester City.
Although Mohammed bin Zayed was favored by his father from an early age, it is worth noting that this pampering was not coddling. When he was ten years old, his father sent him to the Royal Academy in Rabat, morocco, where he met the current King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, and the two were classmates.
While studying in Morocco, his father gave him a passport with a different surname on it so that he would not be treated as a member of the royal family. Muhammad spent several months working as a waiter at a local restaurant. He cooks his own meals, does his own laundry, and is often lonely. Muhammad later recalled his life at that time, saying: "There will be a bowl of tabouleh in the refrigerator and I will eat it day after day until a fungus forms on top".
In 1979, Mohammed joined the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, graduating in April 1979. During his time at Sandhurst, he completed basic armor courses, basic flight courses, skydiver courses, and training in tactical aircraft and helicopters, including gazelle squadrons. While studying at Sandhurst, he met and became good friends with Abdullah in Pahang, Malaysia, who later became King of Malaysia. They were all officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.
Beginning in the 1980s, Mohammed began to really enter the politics of the UAE, and he himself first served in the military. He has held many positions in the UAE Army, from officers in the Emir Guard (now known as the Presidential Guard) to pilots in the UAE Air Force.
Since 2014, as Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, he has become the de facto ruler of the UAE
In 2003, Mohammed was confirmed by his father as deputy crown prince, and after his father's death in 2004, he became crown prince of the UNITED Arab Emirates. In 2014, his brother Khalifa suffered a stroke and was forced to recuperate and withdrew from political processing. Muhammad began to take real power in the UAE as crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
The UAE is a very interesting country, it is formed by the union of 7 emirates of the Gulf region. At present, the most impressive area in the UAE is Dubai, which is a city full of local tycoons. In fact, the real political and economic center of the UAE is in Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in the UAE, and according to the constitution, the chief of Abu Dhabi is the president of the UAE. The UAE is a federally-like state, which, according to the Constitution, except for defence, foreign affairs and some monetary powers, which belong to the central government of Abu Dhabi, the rest of the powers are reserved for their respective emirates, the UAE government. So to some extent, the federal system achieved by the UAE seems to be different from the federalism system in the United States, and the power of the central government seems to be weaker relatively speaking. So The UAE-style federalism should be a special form between the Confederation of Europe and the Federalism of the United States.
So from 2014 onwards, Muhammad actually managed the entire UAE as Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and from that moment on, he himself became the de facto ruler of the UAE. If you look closely, you will find that after 2014, the leaders of the countries who visited the UAE received the crown prince.
Since 2014, there has been a certain shift in the UAE's government. Mohammed had a deep relationship with Salman Jr., then Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and current Crown Prince, and the two did many great things in the Middle East.
Deeply involved in the war in Yemen, the limelight crushed Saudi Arabia
The first is the involvement in the fighting in Yemen in 2014. Deputy Crown Prince Salman Jr., who was Saudi Arabia's defense minister at the time, tangled with the multinational coalition to launch a military strike against the Houthis in Yemen. According to later media disclosures, the main reason why King Salman launched this military operation was to hope that through the victory of this military operation, the little Salman would be able to establish great military merit, so that he could successfully seize the position of crown prince.
But today, Saudi Arabia's performance in the war in Yemen is astounding, whether it is air strikes or ground attacks, the Saudi army has performed very poorly. But in this war, the UAE's performance has bucked the tide. The performance in this war is far better than that of Saudi Arabia.
After the ground operation began, the UAE, as the main leader of the southern front, began to plan an amphibious landing in Aden. In April 2015, the UAE's army successfully delivered an amphibious landing from the port of Aden by leasing an amphibious landing ship from Australia, under the cover of air power, to deliver Leclerc tanks imported from France to the beach of Aden. This is considered to be "a successful amphibious landing rare in the history of the Gulf states".
As emirati troops pushed the front into central Yemen, the fighting in Yemen reached a stalemate. In the process, the UAE's power in Yemen is getting bigger and bigger, even approaching Saudi Arabia's influence. The UAE supported Yemen's southern independence movement and paid for equipment, fostering many pro-UAE armed groups in the south, and since then basically formed a mode of operation in which the UAE-backed armed forces have become the main force of the main operations on the ground, and the UAE's special forces and air forces have cooperated.
The "invisible black hand" of qatar's severance crisis
In 2017, there was a major event in the Gulf countries, that is, the "Qatar diplomatic relations severance crisis". In the eyes of many media in the world, the leader of this matter seems to be Saudi Arabia's high-profile deputy crown prince Salman Jr. at the time. Trump also posted on social media that he had "played a huge role in this crisis." However, at that time, the French newspaper Le Monde revealed that the main driver behind the "Qatar diplomatic crisis" was the unusually low-key Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed.
According to the French newspaper Le Monde at the time, Mohammed had always been angry about Qatar's withdrawal from negotiations to form a federal state, and Qatar's high profile and support for brotherhood in the world would make Abu Dhabi angry. So Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed is the "real manipulator" behind this crisis.
He forged a personal political friendship with Salman Jr. and propeled him up as Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
Since his emergence on the political scene in 2014 and 2015, Salman Jr. has developed a deep personal friendship with Mohammed. Since Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates have achieved the transformation of the "post-oil era", this is undoubtedly a template for little Salman, who is eager to implement socio-economic changes in Saudi Arabia.
In 2017, after Trump's first visit to Saudi Arabia and the outbreak of the "Qatar diplomatic relations crisis", deputy crown prince Salman Jr. began to be promoted to crown prince, and the former crown prince Nayef was deposed. According to information later disclosed by The New York Times, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi played a huge role in this.
The main role is to match between Little Salman and Trump. This was done through the operation of the then UAE ambassador to the United States, which in turn made Little Salman the second leader from the Middle East to be received by Trump after Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi. Salman Jr. then developed a personal friendship with Trump's son-in-law, Kushner.
In Saudi Arabia, if the original crown prince is not at fault or negligent, it is very difficult to replace him. Due to the defeat in the war in Yemen, it became very difficult for the younger Salman to ascend to the crown prince with "military merit". According to previous disclosures by The New York Times, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi has a bad relationship with the father of the former crown prince Nayef, the elder Prince Naif. The UAE's lobby in the United States and Kushner often lobbied Trump in the hope that he would support little Salman as crown prince. Then, during Trump's first visit to Saudi Arabia, the hundreds of billions of dollars in arms orders were undoubtedly the biggest feedback on Trump's support for Salman Jr.
After the outbreak of the Qatar diplomatic relations crisis, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates signed a bilateral agreement, and the two countries will carry out a high degree of coordination in political, economic, military and diplomatic aspects. For a series of actions of these two crown princes, the Washington Post once commented: Under the operation of Crown Prince Mohammed, the political ecology of the Gulf region is changing, and the political model of the "two kings of the Gulf" is gradually forming.
Tough on Iran and become an important member of the "B Squad"
During the Trump administration, the biggest diplomatic impact was his withdrawal from the "Iranian nuclear agreement" signed in the Obama era.
In this process, several people have the greatest influence on him, after former Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif has said that there has always been a "B squad" around Trump that is hostile to Iran, including Israeli President Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Salman Jr., President National Security Adviser Bolton, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed, etc., because they all have "B" in their English names (Netania's nickname is "BB").
On the same day that Trump announced his withdrawal from the "Iranian nuclear agreement" in 2018, almost the whole world expressed opposition, and only three countries expressed public support, Saudi Crown Prince Salman Jr., Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Uae Crown Prince Mohammed Abu Dhabi.
The UAE has always regarded Iran as an important regional rival due to the island dispute between the UAE and Iran, and the UAE's wariness of Iran's previous pursuit of the promotion of theocratic Islamic model. If analyzed according to the words of Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif, there is no doubt that this "B squad" is exerting an influence on Trump's policy toward Iraq, of which Mohammed is one.
Now that Mohammed has officially become the new president of the UAE, it is still worth observing where the situation in the Middle East will develop in the future.