Divide and Conquer: The UAE Expands Its Influence By Promoting Division
NEED TO KNOW
Divide and Conquer: The UAE Expands Its Influence By Promoting Division
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
US President Donald Trump and the United Arab Emirates recently signed a deal that would establish one of the world’s biggest AI campuses in Abu Dhabi. American companies will operate the data centers, which will provide services to everyone who lives within 2,000 miles of the UAE – almost half of the world’s population.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s riches draw the leaders from throughout the region, hat in hand. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun recently visited, for example, to request that the UAE lifts a travel ban on his country imposed after Lebanese leaders in Hezbollah joined Hamas in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dating to October 7, 2023, the Atlantic Council wrote. It also wanted to lure the country into supporting Lebanon’s reconstruction, five years after the collapse of its financial system. The UAE took tentative steps to help, promising to assess future investments, the think tank added.
At the same time, the UAE has also become a major investor in Africa, the region that has room for enormous economic development such that it would magnify the global economy significantly, added the Guardian. In recent years, Emirati companies have spent $110 billion, including $72 billion on renewable energy projects. That amount was more than double the investment of British, Chinese, or French companies.
This economic activity in Africa has run parallel with greater strategic cooperation. UAE military and intelligence officials have sought to combat Islamist terrorists and extremist groups in the region, protect its economic interests, and counter geopolitical rivals in Africa, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Even as the country continues its rise as a regional power, extending its influence as far as possible throughout the Middle East and, increasingly, beyond, controversies and criticism have arisen as a result.
For example, Emirati bosses in Africa and elsewhere are accused of trampling on human rights and workers’ rights, and flouting the rule of law, for example, in the construction projects that have made Dubai a world-class destination, wrote Human Rights Watch. The organization’s researchers depicted the Persian Gulf country as maintaining an illusion of free markets and liberty, while cracking down on dissent.
At the same time, Sudan’s leaders filed suit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, accusing the UAE of supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group which has committed genocide in Darfur amid Sudan’s civil war – a blight on the country’s influence in Africa, CNN noted. The suit was recently dismissed on jurisdictional issues. The UAE denied the charges.
Still, as the Economist noted, “The UAE preaches unity at home but pursues division abroad: It is carving out a sphere of influence through militias who carve up Arab states.”
For example, it sides with and supports the RSF in Sudan, Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, who has tried to overthrow the United Nations-backed government in Tripoli, the Yemeni secessionist group, the Southern Transitional Council, and the leaders in Puntland and Somaliland, two breakaway republics in Somalia.
The activists aren’t alone, though. Powerful people in Washington, DC, are concerned at the country’s rise. For example, some American leaders were worried about Trump’s recent deal to sell chips and AI technology to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the New York Times explained, because they fear China and other rivals of the US would have better access to the strategic tech via the Gulf country.
At the same time, some Democratic lawmakers are trying to block weapons sales to the country because of concerns over the UAE meddling in other conflicts.
Still, with the country attempting to diversify its economy and having a lot to offer investors, analysts say it’s on an upward trajectory. Recently, for example, it was chosen to be the location of the newest Disney theme park, Disneyland Abu Dhabi.
“We did study the region very carefully and we know that we had many opportunities,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “And so, it was very, very clear to us that of all of the places that we could choose from, there didn’t seem to be any place that was better than this.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Russia Doesn’t Want Peace, US Says, As Europe Imposes New Sanctions Against Russia
UKRAINE
Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t ready to end the war in Ukraine, US President Donald Trump told European leaders this week, saying that “Vladimir doesn’t want peace,” because he thinks he’s winning, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Senior European officials told the newspaper that Trump also said he believed Putin ultimately desired peace, albeit on Russia’s terms. “The Europeans’ takeaway was that Trump didn’t believe that a near-term peace deal was in the offing and that the war was Europe’s problem,” the newspaper wrote.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt disputed these accounts, saying in an email to the newspaper that Trump “did say he believes Putin is winning the war BUT he NEVER said ‘Putin isn’t ready to end war.’”
The discussion Monday with European leaders was held to brief the US allies on Trump’s phone call with Putin the previous day. The Monday call, which included French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and also Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, capped a 10-day European diplomatic campaign to persuade the US president to increase pressure on the Kremlin.
However, Trump has backed off his earlier statements that the Russian president was ready to negotiate or his demand for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine which, if Putin didn’t agree, would lead to new sanctions on Russia.
Meanwhile, European leaders have long said they don’t believe that Russia wants peace unless it gets significant territory that belongs to Ukraine.
As a result, while the US has held back on new sanctions on Russia, the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed new measures this week, NBC News reported.
On Tuesday, the EU and UK unveiled a new series of sanctions targeting nearly 200 vessels belonging to Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet” and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on individuals and companies linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The measures – part of the EU’s 17th sanctions package since the 2022 invasion – aimed to disrupt illicit oil exports and the financing of Russia’s military.
According to Ukrainian sources and foreign analysts, the shadow fleet is made up of more than 400 vessels, many of which are aging, poorly maintained, and operate under unclear ownership structures.
Some of these ships have allegedly participated in transporting stolen Ukrainian grain, while others have come under suspicion of damaging critical European infrastructure, such as undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, the Associated Press wrote.
The new sanctions came in direct response to Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities over the weekend.
British and EU officials say the sanctions would “ramp up pressure” on the Kremlin and punish entities supporting Russia’s military, energy exports and disinformation campaigns.
However, Russia dismissed the sanctions, with officials saying Moscow would never bow to “ultimatums.”
South Africans Dispute US Claims of ‘White Genocide’
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africans on Thursday reacted with dismay to US President Donald Trump’s claims of a White genocide in South Africa, accusations that dominated a meeting between the American leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and led many to wonder if his trip overseas accomplished its purpose – to repair relations, Reuters reported.
Ramaphosa had said before the trip that he hoped the conversation with Trump on Wednesday could be an opportunity to make a fresh start with the US, after relations between the two countries became strained since January.
Since February, Trump has canceled aid to South Africa, offered asylum to White Afrikaners, and expelled the country’s ambassador.
During the meeting, however, Trump repeatedly said that South Africa’s White minority farmers are being systematically killed and that their land is being seized, according to the BBC.
Data collected by White farmers themselves, however, does not indicate a genocide. South Africa, meanwhile, has one of the highest murder rates in the world, but the overwhelming majority of victims are Black.
Ramaphosa signed a new law this year that defines how land appropriations for “a public purpose” or “in the public interest” are to be compensated. It also allows for a limited number of cases where land expropriation would not be compensated.
Protests for Higher Pensions Escalate as Pensions Hike Fails
ARGENTINA
Dozens of people were injured in clashes with police this week in Buenos Aires after protests broke out in front of Argentina’s Congress following a failure by lawmakers to approve higher pensions, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier this week, Argentine lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on various bills, including pension increases and other benefits for the retired.
The administration of President Javier Milei, which has been focused on rescuing the economy and tackling high inflation while cutting public spending, opposed the proposals.
Protests for pension increases have become common in Argentina after Milei implemented austerity measures over the past year. During these demonstrations, retirees are often joined by other groups, such as unions or soccer fans.
The government says that austerity measures are necessary to bring down inflation, and promote investment and economic growth.
Economists and business folks say the tough medicine of Milei, the self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” who rode to power in 2023 promising to “blow up” the central bank, punish elites, axe a bloated government, and defeat sky-high inflation, is working.
And he is being rewarded for these moves, too.
Milei’s right-wing party, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), in an election upset, took first place with more than 30 percent of the vote in local elections in Buenos Aires on Sunday, traditionally considered the stronghold of the center-right Propuesta Republicana (PRO), which placed third, according to Euronews.
The party also beat the left-leaning Peronist party, which governed Argentina for most of the past 20 years and came in second in the elections.
DISCOVERIES
Let the Games Begin
Despite the tales of combat recounted in ancient mosaics and modern movies, archeologists had never found physical evidence of the fights between Roman gladiators and wild animals on the men’s skeletons.
Now, an 1,800-year-old human skeleton unearthed from a Roman settlement in the United Kingdom and showing bite marks corresponding to a large cat, potentially such as a lion, provides the first direct evidence of human-animal combat in Britain during the Roman Empire, according to the study.
The skeleton was first found 20 years ago, when a couple was beginning to plan a renovation of their yard in the northeastern English city of York. Initial research showed that there was an ancient cemetery there, containing the remains of more than 80 individuals. Nearly all of them were young men, and many of the skeletons showed signs of physical trauma.
The demographics, the injuries, and the burial styles suggested that they were all gladiators from around 1,800 years ago, when modern-day York, then Eboracum, was an outpost of the Roman Empire, according to Cosmos Magazine.
The researchers analyzed the unusual wounds of one skeleton, named 6DT19, which had small indentations in the hip bones.
While others had hypothesized that these signs could be bite marks, nobody had proved it yet.
“For years, our understanding of Roman gladiatorial combat and animal spectacles has relied heavily on historical texts and artistic depictions,” said study author Tim Thompson in a statement. “This discovery provides the first direct, physical evidence that such events took place in this period, reshaping our perception of Roman entertainment culture in the region.”
To see if 6DT19’s indentations came from bite marks, researchers collected data on what bite marks of large mammals look like by analyzing the carcasses of the animals that zoo lions eat.
The researchers projected a grid of light onto bones chewed by zoo animals to create a map of the size and depth of their bite marks. They also made a similar map of 6DT19’s hip bones and compared the bites of the different animals with marks on the skeleton, concluding that the injuries on the ancient Roman’s body best corresponded to a lion’s bite.
However, archeologists don’t think the man was killed by the hip bite. He might have died in a gladiator show or execution, and the animal might have bitten and dragged him away at around the time of his death. The skeleton was also found decapitated.
Researchers say this bite mark tells more than just the story of one unlucky man and provides insights into the life and culture of the Roman Empire and what it meant to be a Roman.
“You can imagine just being there and seeing this and thinking, ‘Oh yeah, when the tax collector comes around, I’m going to pay up, I’m going to be a very good Roman citizen,’” Kathryn Marklein, an anthropologist not involved in the study, told the New York Times. “‘Be very good, so that I don’t end up here.’”
Clarification: In our Taxes and Death item on Wednesday, we said that “when modern-day Palestine was conquered by the Macedonian King Alexander the Great, the region entered its Hellenistic period – referring to Greek influence – in 332 BCE.” It was, in fact, ancient Palestine, according to the Smithsonian magazine (or modern-day Israel and the Palestinian Territories): “The region’s Hellenistic period – named for pervasive Greek influence – began back in 332 BCE, when Palestine was conquered by Macedonian King Alexander the Great. After that, the wider region was ruled by two Macedonian empires: Egypt’s Ptolemaic kingdom, a dynasty founded by Ptolemy I Soter in 305 BCE, and the Seleucid kingdom, founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 312 BCE.”