UAE scraps F-35, reflecting waning US power
4 Min Read
The UAE's decision to halt the acquisition of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters is yet another indicator that Washington's allies attempt to minimize their reliance on US military strength.
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UAE is not willing to pay an inflated price for fighter aircraft when modern warfare is now more about drones.
The United Arab Emirates suspended the purchase of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, revealing signs of Washington allies' attempts to reduce their reliance on US military power, which is already hanging on a thin rope due to its overstretch in a multipolar world.
Earlier this week, the UAE suspended talks on a $23 billion deal to buy fifty F-35 jets, in addition to drones and advanced munitions. The decision came because of the onerous US restrictions designed to protect against alleged Chinese espionage.
On Friday, a US administration official told reporters that the two sides are still working out concerns about the contract, including some requests made by the UAE during Trump's presidency.
Former UK Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford feels the UAE had valid reasons to pull out of the contract because of Washington's arrogant demands, such as removing any capability the planes might have to damage "Israel".
He added that the UAE hates the strings the US wants to attach which would purportedly ensure that "even theoretically" the acquisition would not diminish "Israel's" military superiority.
"The Emiratis, rich but not stupid, have used this misstep as a pretext to halt the deal," Peter Ford said.
Ford added that the UAE is not willing to pay an inflated price for fighter aircraft when modern warfare is now more about drones. "If the deal goes ahead at all I would expect the planes to go now for a fire sale price," the former Ambassador said.
US' waning power
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is another development that shifted the UAE's views on the F-35 deal, said Peter Ford.
"The withdrawal has forced all the Gulf states into the realization that making their security wholly dependent on the US is unwise, and that some degree of detente with Iran is a better way of guaranteeing their security than becoming more and more beholden to the US," Ford added.
Dan Lazare, a historian and political commentator, thinks the main problem for the United States is "imperial over-extension," a reality allies like the UAE are starting to acknowledge.
Lazare explained that the US military was equipped to fight a two-front war on opposite sides of the globe. He warned, however, that the US was now facing the threat of warfare on three fronts: the South China Sea/Taiwan Strait, the Gulf, and the Black Sea and its environs.
"US weakness is increasingly apparent and other countries have begun making alternative arrangements in response," Lazare told Sputnik.
According to Lazare, this tendency can be seen in India's agreement to meet with Russia and China, as well as its recent plan to make 600,000 AK-203 assault rifles under a Russian license.
He said that recent security talks between Russia and Indonesia fell into the same category, as did the emerging Chinese-Iranian military partnership and the new alliance between China and Nicaragua.
"All are examples of small-to-middling countries waking up to the fact that the United States is no longer the only game in town and that they are now free to seek out partners elsewhere," Lazare said. "Unipolarity is fading in the rearview mirror whether the US likes it or not."
UAE-US tension
Tensions between the US and the UAE over F-35 fighter jets and drones followed a similar pattern. According to Lazare, the emirates had long pursued a largely independent strategy toward the US, Iran, and the Saudis.
"Abu Dhabi has thus bucked Washington by backing [President] Bashar al-Assad in Syria and [Marshal] Khalifa Haftar in Libya and by aligning with Russian foreign policy in both nations as well. It has kept a finger in the pie in Yemen and has backed the military coup in Sudan, both of which cause consternation in Washington," he said.
Negotiations on the F-35 sale will undoubtedly continue for the time being, but Lazare cautioned that the UAE statement this week had signaled a serious shift in Washington's position in the area.
"Undoubtedly, talks will go on as the two sides try to reach a modus vivendi. But the message is clear: Multipolarity has arrived and the Persian Gulf is no longer a US lake," he concluded.
