MBS vs. MBZ: How deep is the divide?

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Le Monde
1 Aug 2023 12:29
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Regardless of the rife political tension, it is a certainty that the two leaders carried out a diplomacy of US disengagement in the Middle East.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, and Abu Dhabi's powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, walk into a reception in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021 (Emirati Ministry of Presidential Affairs via AP)

A report by Le Monde on Tuesday detailed some of the reasons why the tensions between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) and his mentor Mohammed Ben Zayed Al Nahyane (MBZ), the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are not as frail as the media suggests.

Last December, MBS convened a small group of local media in Riyadh for a rare off-the-record briefing and delivered a shocking message, according to the Wall Street Journal. During the meeting, MBS said that the UAE, Saudi Arabia's longtime ally, had "stabbed us in the back," he claimed. "They will see what I can do,” he said, according to people who attended the meeting.

Writing for Le Monde, Hélène Sallon says that despite the widening gap between two of the most powerful figures in the Arab region, their alliance remains solid.

On several occasions, MBZ failed to show up to initiatives orchestrated by MBS and vice versa. Such was the case, for instance, with MBZ's absence at the Arab summit which was attended by Xi Jinping on December 9. Another instance was MBZ's absence at the Arab League summit which was organized for the purposes of re-integrating Syria into the bloc.

A determining moment in the deterioration of relations was undoubtedly the time when MBS condemned the "bad publicity" done to him by the UAE in Washington after implementing cuts in October 2022 within the framework of OPEC +.

Where the Emirates appeared as the US' most faithful ally, MBS proved himself to be a "spoiled child" that wrecks everything, comments expert in the Arab peninsula Bernard Haykel.

MBZ was indeed critical of MBS's proximity to Russia and the decisions he took in the OPEC+ without consultation.

The Chinese-brokered agreement restoring diplomatic relations with Iran was also another decision that vexed the Emirati President.

According to Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an expert close to the Emirati crown: "The two leaders respect and coordinate with each other, with the same vision for the region. They are not 100% on the same wavelength, but at least 70%. It's enough."

"Saudi Arabia is not going to do to the Emirates what they did to Qatar. These two countries are linked by a very strong strategic alliance and common enemies: political Islam and Iran. Their rivalry is structural, not ideological as with Qatar," Haykel tells Le Monde.

Regardless of the rife political tension, it is a certainty, Sallon says, that the two leaders carried out diplomacy of US disengagement in the Middle East, and the weakening of US influence across the region is effectively demonstrated by the power struggle that is being carried out by these two figures.