“We used our oil wealth to build an economic powerhouse. They used their wealth for nuclear programs that are nefarious, for missiles, drones, proxies, etc.,” she told host Jonathan Karl. “So whereas we tried to become and have become an international, global, responsible player, they are a pariah state. And they wanted to break that model, but they underestimated our resolve.”
The UAE has faced a barrage of attacks from Iran since the U.S. and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran in late February. While the Gulf state — like many of its neighbors — initially opposed the war, it has since shifted its tone as it considers how to avoid the breakout of a larger regional war.
They bought into the colonial system from their very existence. Most of the GCC started out as British backed insurgents against the Ottman empire.
Once they kicked the Ottomans out, they all established hard monarchies to solidify political power, and outsourced their security to the British, who took immediate advantage of the massive oil reserves discovered in the region.
Post WWII, after the British empire collapsed, they transitioned to the US under the same deal.
They make trillions of dollars through oil sold only in USD, which they reinvest into the US economy. The US gets to dictate their foreign policy and use them however they please in exchange.
The benefactors are exclusively the royal families and their friends, which is why KSA and UAE are notorious for human trafficking and exploited foreign labor because they spend none of that money on actually developing their nation’s societies.
They had multiple opportunities not to enter such an exploitable system, but they chose not to, with the grand exception being Iran, which was the only successful overthrow of a US/UK imposed government.