{"text":[[{"start":7.25,"text":"A week into the US-Israeli war against Iran, the United Arab Emirates’ president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan toured a hospital, visiting civilians wounded in Iranian missile attacks. He clutched the hands of patients, bending to kiss one on the forehead as he sought to reassure a nation that had been abruptly thrust on to the front lines of conflict. But he also had a warning for the state’s enemies: “Do not be misled by the UAE’s appearance,” Sheikh Mohamed said, raising a finger to make his point. “The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh — we are no easy prey.”"}],[{"start":46.65,"text":"For decades, Sheikh Mohamed, known as MBZ, had been building up the UAE’s military and defences — and the war presented their sternest test. Over five weeks, Iran fired some 2,800 missiles and drones at its smaller neighbour, far more than at any other Gulf state or Israel. Most were intercepted by the UAE’s air defences. But the war has taken the sheen off the state’s much-vaunted “safe haven” status, which underpinned its rise as the Middle East’s dominant trade and tourism hub. "}],[{"start":77.7,"text":"For MBZ, it is a pivotal moment — a conflict he had long prepared for, but also a test of who among his nation’s traditional allies could be relied upon in a crisis. And the UAE has made clear it believes some have been found wanting. "}],[{"start":91.5,"text":"The state has openly criticised what it perceives to be the tepid response of Arab and Muslim partners. This week, it dropped the bombshell that it was exiting Opec, a pointed snub to Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the oil producers’ cartel. Abu Dhabi has for several years voiced frustration over Opec quotas restricting its ability to sell more crude. But the war gave it the impetus to act on a threat it had previously only dangled, deepening a festering rift with Riyadh, fuelled by economic competition and conflicting visions of how to manage the region’s crises."}],[{"start":124.6,"text":"“The absolute priority now is about who their reliable partners are. This exit from Opec is about that as much as it is about oil,” says one person familiar with Abu Dhabi’s thinking. “This is about focusing on the future; the new economy, the knowledge-based economy — ‘I’m not a part of these failed or lagging petrostates, I’m different’.” "}],[{"start":143.75,"text":"“He’s not ideological about identity — ‘we are Arabs, we are Muslims’ — he doesn’t see the world through that lens,” says Nadim Koteich, a Lebanese-Emirati media executive."}],[{"start":154.95,"text":"The sentiment underlines the feisty mood in Abu Dhabi. While other Arab states have privately bristled at Israel’s belligerence, blaming it for dragging the US into a war they warned against, the UAE is doubling down on its ties with the Jewish state. The partnership took off when MBZ normalised relations with Israel in 2020, shaking up decades of Arab consensus."}],[{"start":177.29999999999998,"text":"A graduate of Sandhurst, the British officers’ academy and heavily influenced by his military background, MBZ has never been afraid to butt heads with allies — be it Arab neighbours, the UK or the US — if he feels it serves the UAE’s interests. His foreign policy outlook has long been underpinned by a deep-rooted belief that both Iran and Islamists pose a grave threat to regional stability. His abhorrence of the Muslim Brotherhood formed early after studying under an Egyptian Islamist teacher. "}],[{"start":207.39999999999998,"text":"After graduating from Sandhurst in 1979 — the year of Iran’s Islamic revolution — he began revamping the UAE’s military, which had relied on Pakistanis and Egyptians. Backed by his late father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the UAE’s founding leader, MBZ flew across the nation in a helicopter, recruiting the second sons of prominent Emirati families who were dispatched to military academies. He also oversaw the UAE’s heavy investment in US weaponry, from fighter jets to air defences, developing a military that today is widely lauded. "}],[{"start":245.74999999999997,"text":"A hands-on visionary to supporters, an iron-fisted autocrat to detractors, MBZ has steered the UAE’s trajectory for more than two decades. He used Abu Dhabi’s vast oil wealth to transform the country’s sleepy capital with an array of grandiose megaprojects to diversify its economy and project it on the global stage as a modern, outward-looking state. But his ambitions would extend beyond the UAE as he sought to shape the region in his vision, deploying both soft and hard power. When popular uprisings rocked the Arab world in 2011, MBZ viewed it as a perilous moment that Islamists would exploit. As he envisioned potential threats, he launched crackdowns at home against Islamists and activists, further narrowing the space for public discourse. "}],[{"start":296.2,"text":"He introduced military conscription for Emiratis — a measure unheard of for pampered Gulf nationals — and sought to forge a greater sense of nationalism. MBZ intervened in regional conflicts, first in Libya, then in Yemen where the UAE joined a Saudi-led coalition in 2015 to fight Iranian-backed Houthi rebels — a conflict that later became a key source of friction with Riyadh. "}],[{"start":320,"text":"This muscular approach expanded the UAE’s influence across Africa and helped make MBZ one of the Arab world’s most powerful leaders. But it also drew criticism from those who saw a state seeking to punch above its weight, while doing the very thing it chided rivals for: intervening in others’ affairs in pursuit of its own interests. "}],[{"start":342.75,"text":"“He’s got a very black and white perspective on projection of power and how you solve threats abroad,” says a former US official. More recently, the UAE’s backing of the Rapid Support Forces militia in Sudan’s civil war has drawn widespread condemnation and confounded its allies. Abu Dhabi denies that it has supplied weapons to the group. But it makes no secret of its concerns that the Sudanese Armed Forces — the RSF’s foe — is infiltrated by Islamists. "}],[{"start":372.05,"text":"MBZ, however, is not one to shy away from ruffling feathers. “We live in a very tough neighbourhood, and this war was a big lesson for everyone,” says Koteich. “I wouldn’t say he’s an outlier leaving the region behind, but he’s asking himself daily: ‘What did I do for the region and what did the region do for me?’” "}],[{"start":398.09999999999997,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1777688960_7186.mp3"}