Emirati prince reshaping region named oil giant’s ruler

this United Arab EmiratesThe Federal Council elected Sheikh Mohammed, commonly known as MBZAs the country’s president, state media reported Saturday. Sheikh Mohammed has often used his influence to intervene in regional conflicts with one of the most well-equipped armies in the Middle East.

Crown Prince Abu Dhabi Since 2004, MBZ has controlled the world’s fourth-largest wealth fund and about 6% of proven crude oil reserves. He also helped shape the UAE’s image as a socially free, pro-business oasis in a troubled region, while tightly controlling dissent and covering the country with high-tech surveillance.

He was born in the oasis town of Al Ain in 1961, years before oil was first discovered in Abu Dhabi, and a decade earlier his father helped create a nation of seven emirates. He is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK, and has served in the UAE Special Forces as a helicopter pilot.

The 61-year-old is trustworthy Washington And used the UAE’s economic clout to forge influential partnerships from Russia to China, choosing capitals for countries he doesn’t visit often.

He is not as well known outside the Middle East as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But during his tenure as the UAE’s de facto ruler, Sheikh Mohammed pushed for much of a hard-line foreign policy that reshaped the Middle East alliance and resisted Islamic politics.

Fearing a U.S. retreat from the Middle East, the MBZ began an offensive across the region. A professional soldier, he built a formidable arsenal — the UAE has been the world’s eighth-largest arms importer for the past five years — and led his country to wars in Libya and Yemen. It also joined the US-led coalition against Islamic State and backed Egypt’s strongman President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi against elected Islamist Mohamed Mursi.

In a rare public address to young Emiratis in 2017, MBZ made his priorities clear when he recalled the words of a fallen soldier’s mother: “She said we should pre-empt it and nip it in the bud.”

president Joe Biden Called the UAE an “important partner” of the US and pledged to further strengthen ties. In a White House statement, Biden recalled previous meetings with Sheikh Mohammed, saying the new president “has long been at the forefront of this partnership.”

Who will succeed MBZ as Abu Dhabi’s crown prince has yet to be determined. While there are no strict succession rules, MBZ’s brother and influential national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed is a contender. One of his sons could also be selected, including Sheikh Khlaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed, whose responsibilities have increased in recent years.

Overseen by the MBZ, the Gulf Arab state of 10 million people sits on one of the world’s major shipping waterways, has developed a confident foreign policy and is focused on eradicating political Islam of all kinds at home and abroad. The Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic movements and moderate dissidents are all seen as potential threats to security and authoritarian dictatorships in the region, especially since the 2011 Arab uprisings.

The UAE’s oil wealth and rapid growth since the 1990s have made it the second largest economy in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia. This has helped shape the country as the business and tourism hub of the Middle East.

Sheikh Mohammed is injecting the country’s energy wealth into new industries such as technology and manufacturing, creating jobs for its citizens and preparing the country for a post-oil future.

In the Gulf, MBZ severed ties with his closest regional ally, the Saudi crown prince, in 2017, breaking a 50-year-old regional alliance, only to mend ties again in 2021. He unexpectedly began normalizing relations with Qatar. Israel is in the 2020 deal backed by then-US President Donald Trump.

Fearing Iran’s regional ambitions, he has backed Trump’s campaign to isolate Iran, but has allowed cautious engagement with Tehran after a 2019 tanker attack off the coast of the United Arab Emirates failed to provoke U.S. military retaliation.

His administration’s tolerance did not extend to domestic dissent. A prominent Emirati activist, Ahmed Mansoor, has been behind bars since 2017 after calling for reform, and even figures close to the leadership have come under pressure for comments, local media are strictly controlled. Officials dismissed criticism of widespread surveillance, saying it was necessary to prevent threats.

Popular text and video chat app ToTok has been accused of being a secretive espionage tool for the UAE, according to a classified U.S. intelligence assessment reported by The New York Times.

At the same time, the UAE’s role in Yemen has come at a high price in terms of people, money and reputation. The intervention sparked allegations of war crimes by a UN panel, and by 2019 MBZ pulled out of a war that killed tens of thousands and sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.