Thursday’s edition of Bloomberg News featured excerpts from a discussion with U.A.E. Ambassador His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, who discussed a host of topics including; the U.A.E.’s role in the fight against ISIL, tackling extremism throughout the Middle East, the move to bolster Egypt’s stability, and its support in curbing Iranian nuclear ambitions. As a strong strategic and military partner to the United States, the U.A.E. is driven by a common resolve to protect security in the Middle East and around the world. The U.A.E. is working with the U.S. and its allies to ensure that the threat of extremism is diminished in order to enhance regional stability.
The article, in full below, outlines the U.A.E.’s strengthened relationship with the United States as it leads the Arab world as part of the U.S.-led global coalition to curb the spread of ISIL. The Bloomberg piece underscores the dangers of extremism if left unchecked and U.A.E.’s intent to back a more activist and public approach at stopping the spread of violence and instability.
In order to recognize the relationship and security cooperation between the U.A.E. and the U.S., Ambassador Otaiba recently unveiled a new public diplomacy program called “United for a Better Future.” For more updates on the U.A.E.-U.S. bilateral relationship, you can also follow “United for a Better Future” on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and through the hashtag #UAEUSA.
Fear of U.S. Neglect Fades With Islamic State Fight, U.A.E. Says
By: Indira A.R. Lakshmanan
8 January 2015
Bloomberg News
The U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants has quieted grumbling among Persian Gulf allies about fading American power and commitment in the region, according to the United Arab Emirates’ envoy to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba.
“The perception and the fact that ISIS has brought us back together I think has definitely changed where we were a year ago,” Al Otaiba said Thursday at a Bloomberg Government lunch in Washington, using an acronym for Islamic State’s former name.
A year ago, Gulf allies were publicly and privately despairing that President Barack Obama failed to follow through on a vow to launch airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if he used chemical weapons against his people. That, along with the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and the Obama administration’s promised “pivot to Asia” fed the perception in the Middle East that the White House was disengaging from the region.
Fast-forward: Militants calling themselves the Islamic State have seized swaths of Syria and Iraq, declared a caliphate, beheaded hostages and forced minorities into slavery, prompting Obama to start a military campaign against the extremists in Iraq and Syria. The U.A.E., along with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain, have joined in the airstrikes on the militants in Syria, and that partnership has restored faith in the U.S. among its Gulf allies, Al Otaiba said.
Georgetown Graduate
The U.A.E. is a confederation of seven emirates, with Dubai as its business hub and Abu Dhabi the capital. Al Otaiba, a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington who’s been ambassador to the U.S. since 2008, said he doesn’t want the renewed trust in the U.S. alliance among Gulf states to be short-lived or based only on the fight against one group of radicals.
If one group is wiped out, “do we pack our bags and go home and we say it’s over and we forget that there’s al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and half a dozen other groups?” he asked.
“Radical Islam is a threat to us more than it is a threat to you,” he said, describing the U.A.E. as “a moderate, open, tolerant country” where residents can go to movies, drink alcohol, or wear a bikini at the beach.
Human-rights groups criticize the U.A.E. for suppressing domestic criticism, prosecuting activists and failing to protect the rights of migrant workers who make up most of its population.
Aiding Egypt
The ambassador said the U.A.E. takes seriously the threat from radical extremists within Libya and Egypt, as elsewhere.
As the largest Arab nation, Egypt “is too big to fail,” he said, explaining why the U.A.E. has given economic assistance to the government of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the former chief of Egypt’s armed forces who played a leading role in ousting President Mohamed Mursi after an uprising against the elected Islamist leader.
The ambassador said radicals must not be allowed to prevail in the armed turmoil in Libya because it’s a neighbor of Egypt, a gateway to Europe, and the producer of two million barrels of oil a day.
“Do you want radical Islamists controlling two million barrels a day, even if oil is at 50 bucks a barrel?” he said.
Al Otaiba also said his government is closely watching the international negotiations with the U.A.E.’s longtime nemesis across the Persian Gulf, Iran.
Iran Talks
“No one has more of a stake on how these negotiations play than the U.A.E. given our proximity and given our history with Iran,” he said. The U.A.E. would support a verifiable nuclear agreement that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, he said, with the same safeguards that the U.A.E. agreed to when it negotiated a civil-nuclear cooperation agreement with the U.S. in 2008.
Al Otaiba said that cooperation between the U.S. and U.A.E. has dramatically improved in enforcing sanctions on Iran. Where Dubai was once the leading location for Iranian front companies seeking illicit nuclear or missile materials, thanks to strict enforcement, Emirati companies are now largely refusing to do business with Iranians because “they don’t want the headache.”
“What we’re seeing though, is all this business that’s going away” is turning up elsewhere, “and what we would like to see is the same level of enforcement, the same level of scrutiny” to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, he said.
