An eerie quiet hangs over Ras Al Khaimah’s industrial port. Usually a thriving maritime hub of the United Arab Emirates, now ships stand docked and silent. Not far out along the hazy horizon, a backlog of hundreds of tankers have lined up in recent days, halted along a waterway flooded with danger.
Any vessel heading past Ras Al Khaimah out to the Arabian Sea must traverse the world’s most treacherous strip of water for shipping today: the strait of Hormuz. Just over 20 nautical miles from Ras Al Khaimah, two oil tankers heading for the strait were attacked by Iranian missiles this week, one catching fire.
It is one of the many consequences facing Gulf states as they are pulled deeper into a war that they did not start and had diplomatically tried to prevent.
For decades, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman have allowed US military bases, infrastructure or access on their soil, and have been among the largest buyers of American weapons and technology. In return, the US has stood as the Gulf’s closest and most significant military partner and protector.
But now, Gulf states have growing concerns over the relationship, analysts say, after Donald Trump was seen to wilfully torpedo peaceful diplomatic negotiations in favour of starting a war in the Middle East.
Those bases were originally built to protect them from soviet imperialism
Now its being used to forward Israeli imperialism.
The irony.
Those bases were built to protect oligarchs economic interests, nothing more.
Uhh, citation needed? Maybe a little bit during the cold war but I think it was the Gulf War that did the trick. Everyone looks at it through the hindsight of a seal clubbing victory but that’s not how it looked going in. Saddam’s military was legitimately terrifying and the US wasn’t sure how Desert Storm would shake out.
After ‘91, you clearly wanted to be on the US’ good side. They decided if you were safe or if you were a target. If you stayed in power or if the opposition-of-the-day (Arab Spring, ISIS, CIA, regional enemy) toppled your government.
The US started building bases in the region starting in 1946.
But the thing with bases is they are useful in many ways. There are rarely single purpose.