The formation of the UAE as a separate nation has been preceded by a multitude of prerequisites that triggered global tension in the 1970s. The two superpowers of the world were engaged in the Cold War and arms race while at the same time struggling to release the tension. To understand the global situation in the 70s, it is worth peeking into what has caused it and when.
To start with, the Cold War stipulated the superpowers’ expansive international politics and the struggle for control. About the Middle East, it meant the US attempting to make use of its resources and simultaneously prevent the USSR from doing the same (Migdal, 2014). For that sake, the US engaged itself in recruiting allies in the region and encumber the expansion of USSR forces, and at the same time promoting peace.
As a consequence, albeit the USSR’s pretensions for the expansion into the countries of Northers Tier, the US made its best to prevent the outspread of communism. In response to the significant donations, Turkey has proved its devotion to the US and availed its military bases for American force and missiles (Migdal, 2014). Apart from the Northern Tier, however, the results of the US policies were insignificant.
The failure to recruit more partners was to a large extent caused by the US position in the Arab-Israeli conflict. On several levels, the US was more prone to support the Israeli, although the threat to lose the influence in the Middle East and open the path for the USSR to intrude was more than real (Migdal, 2014). Albeit the impression of neutrality the US tried to create, the trust of the Arabs could never be gained back.
Also, the USSR’s influence in Egypt was undeniable, considering the active supplement of the latter with the Soviet forces and arms. The US responded by providing the Israeli with defensive, and later – offensive weaponry, thus gaining a toehold of influence in Israel. While the Soviets presented Israel as “a tool” of the US and the West, the relationship was not deterred until the conflict in 1973 (Nizameddin, 1999, p. 110). When a civil war for Jordan broke out in 1970, the US mobilized the Israeli troops but never used them.
Such was the situation that the United Arab Emirates entered as a nation in 1971. After the British-Trucial Sheikhdom treaty has lost its power on December 1, the founding treaty of the UAE was signed. The departure of the British triggered the United States’ struggle to fill the void caused by it and emerged the Soviets’ activities that aimed at the same (Migdal, 2014). The major factor of influence on the Emirates’ foreign affairs was primarily the diversity of the superpowers’ intentions.
While the US claimed they offered protection of the newly born nation and partially play the role of Britain, the USSR set gaining more allies as their goal. However, as a result of the States’ support of Israelis, the relationship between the UAE and the US was that of economic persuasion (Almezaini, 2012). What the UAE did was offer protection and friendship to the fellow Arabs, both empirical and monetary. When the Yom Kippur conflict emerged in 1973, the USA and USSR were forced to spring into another indirect confrontation during the Cold War period to defend their partners.
The Israeli were not prepared for the conflict but they have managed to get the upper hand using the US weaponry. At the same time, the Soviets were forced to take up diplomacy. The superpowers could not stand idle since the victory or defeat of their allies was in direct proportion with their global power status (Migdal, 2014). As the oil embargo ensued, the US was forced to make a move in solving the conflict between the Arab and Israeli, given the Soviet influence and propaganda in the Middle East as well as South Asia and Latin America (Nizameddin, 1999). The actions are undertaken and the growing military power allowed to assume that “Soviet aims in the Middle East were to a large extent defensive”, at least since 1975 (Nizameddin, 1999, p. 39).
It was the oil that caused both the US and the USSR to regard the Middle East primarily as a means of enhancing their global power status. Albeit the British and the other states’ participation in the emerging conflicts, the superpowers were engaged in the Cold War which prevented them from overviewing the situation in any other context. Responding to the backup of Israel by the US, the oil was embargoed, disrupting the alliance not only with the USA but with the Soviets as well. The influence of the USSR was lost completely after the Afghan invasion which turned the UAE and Iran into the USA weaponry (Almezaini, 2012). Thus, the complex environment as the 1970s presented, the US has gained an advantage in the Cold War and survived the energy crisis.
References
Almezaini, K. S. (2012). The UAE and Foreign Policy: Foreign Aid, Identities and Interests. London, UK: Routledge.
Migdal, J. S. (2014). Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Nizameddin, T. (1999). Russia and the Middle East: Towards a New Foreign Policy. London, UK: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers.