The present or swaps between russia and ukraine. A hostage deal between israel and tomas, the un climate conference. What do they have in common . An arab gulf states was that the center of all of them were working to create new partnerships with every want to me. The arab gulf states want more global influence. Sometimes that means high fiving and fist about things. So lets do a generational politicians, they seem very impala, they really just want to be viewed as these monitoring is lomax states that despite their small size, have reach beyond their borders, oil and gas made the gulf states rich and powerful. And their long time allied. The u. S. Provided security guarantees, but something is shifting. The us and china are buying for global influence. Also here in the gulf. Now the leaders of saudi arabia and the u, a. E, all right across roads. So how are they pushing for power and the changing world . Lets map it out. The nothing screams confidence more than shiny mega projects like these shown here in p r videos. The lines, a futuristic linear city powered by Renewable Energy that is designed to stretch a 170 kilometers along saudi arabias red sea coast. Or out the front near the United Arab Emirates capitol, abu dhabi touted as the Worlds Largest single site solar plant. To understand whats going on in the gulf states, were focusing on these 2 economic power houses. Saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Its oil that made this kind of life possible here. Its made these 2 authoritarian monarchies wealthy and its help the goals become a hub for global trade up to 30 percent of the worlds trade in oil passes through this waterway. The strait of hormones. But they one more theyre pushing for political transformation. Lets do a generation of one additional fee that they have for the capacities and theyve come see add the demand to really play an important sort and love to be like under the control of the west. Some countries this is laurie. Hi ty, on, shes an Energy Policy expert and looks at how oil and gas shaped geo politics in the middle east. The politicians, shes talking about, our mohammad been so mind for as the as the crown prince and Prime Minister of saudi arabia. And shakes mohammad bins, i it, ill not john bore n, b z. The president of the United Arab Emirates is the ruler of the average. Public dobby, both recently took control in their country. Theyre completely different then there may be a fathers grandfathers to create theirs. On these days. They came from a history of control of the western countries over these countries, instead of depending on the west, the saudis and the rockies have been courting big asian powers such as india and china. And looking more towards countries of the so called global south. This is come, you know, shes an expert on geo economics in the middle east. Her focus is on the ties between the gulf states and china. Weve seen in the past really 1020 years of the willingness of, of the gulf states to join some of the Multi Lateral platforms that are non western centric. Like breaks its an Economic Alliance that is increasingly seen as a counterweight to more western oriented forms, including the g 7 bricks is a pretty exclusive club. The leaders of saudi arabia and the u. A. When you were asked to join the blog last year. West leadership at the global stage is spending 2 twin road. Its being increasingly challenged by new players, especially chinese. And so for the goal stage, theyre trying to adapt to, to this change and the growing multiple leverage, see up each national debt. This strategy is pretty new for saudi arabia and the u. A. E. For decades they were very focused on the us as their main partner. Basically ever since oil was discovered in the gulf and the 20th century, just look at do buying. This is what it looked like over 50 years ago. And this is what it looks like now. Its a similar story and saudi arabia, its fast, oil reserves completely transformed the whole gulf region. And the us was a key partner during that time. For decades, the 2 sides had an unofficial agreement, oil for security, that cheap oil prices and dollars fuel the booming us economy in return, the us provided security guarantees. Security guarantees matter when your main rival is just next door. Iran, especially saudi arabia and iran had historically both pushed to be the main Regional Power the gulf states and iran adhere to 2 different branches of as long. Sony and she, you know, rivalry is not just a, i mean, its not just like a political one. Its a diplomatic one, its an economic one. Its a, its a religious one. Denies fundy already is an expert on persian gulf security relations. Iran in to lead or muslim, she is, while the saudis, in to legal of sending muslims. So its just, it was inevitable that these 2 countries would have this competition would have this rivalry. The 2 sides are even fighting about wording. Take a look at this map. Google shows 2 names for this body of water, which the gulf states are named after its commonly referred to as the persian gulf after persia, the historical named for iraq. The arab states on the other side, wanted to be called the rate in golf instead. But its not just a war of words. The region has been placed by conflicts and disputes. And many of them have been the fact old proxy wars where ron and saudi arabia are supporting 2 opposing sides. For example, in the civil wars and gammon and syria. Why do you need to know all this . Well, it gives you some context for why the gulf states thought security guarantees from the us. So what do those look like in practice . The gulf states let the us set up, military bases across the region, giving them a foothold, and then at least securing their access to all the gulf states. But what things and other military hardware from the us, billions of dollars worth for decades and through various wars. The partnership has been pretty useful for both sides the but since the early 2 thousands political cracks have emerged in the relationship. One example, the arab spring uprisings of 2011, which swept through much of north africa in the middle east. Us president brock obama expressed support for the pro democracy demonstrators, seemingly ignoring old loyalties to leaders in the region, the saudi arabia and the u. A e warrants, and he used then obama signed the 2015 Nuclear Agreement with their regional rival, iran. Things seem to look up for the gulf when donald trump took over the us presidency. But that ended up being more show than substance in 2019 iran backed rebels, attacked Saudi ArabianOil Facilities set to be shown here. Trump didnt take any action. This was seen as proving the us cant be fully counted on for security. To add insult to injury trump, successor joe biden snapped principle, habit of saudi arabia for several years. The risk emerged over the murder of this mat, jamal ketchup, t a. Saudi journalist, and fierce critics of the monarchy in 2018. He was killed in the saudi consulate in turkey, on top of that, in the mid to thousands. The us challenge the very foundation of the us goals partnership. It started fracking more and more of its own oil and gas thats has allowed us to reach almost a sort of a energy independence. And this has shifted quite a lot. The understanding that may be actually the gulf states and the me to these is not going to to remain as important as it used to be for the Us Energy Security the gulf states or reacting to all these changes down to a global push to move away from fossil fuels, but the saudis and, and morattis have been investing big, and renewables presenting themselves as green front runners. The u. A even hosted the most recent un climate conference. But neither country is actually quitting oil. In fact, theyve been increasing oil and Gas Production and exploration. They are in loans of the countries in the world for, for whom the, the, the production of ford is the cheapest in the world. So they whole brand, especially as our grand dialed tuesdays. What they say the last months spending, so that the last month, the last producers of oil in the, in the world. And they found new customers for, in china. And india have replace for us as tough buyers of gold, crude oil, their economic pivot to asia. And towards the so called global south also gets rid of another heading. Human rights are key issues that has come up time and again and meetings with western meters. China, on the other hand, has when it calls a non interference policy on other countries, internal affairs. It basically means dont ask, dont tell when it comes to rights abuses, to balls i know develops friendly relations with move countries made on mutual respect, unknown into sarasota by. Okay. So china seems to be a pretty convenient business partner. But that still leaves the security issue. Remember the us military bases in the region while theyre still there. But whats new as that . The saudis, in emeralds have been trying to expand military cooperation with china to these are images from Chinese State media. They show the countrys biggest air show here in to high in 2022, the saudis report as we use the occasion to buy 4000000000. 00 worth of chinese weapons. Its also sometimes by going towards china a way to keep the was interested also in individual east and, and, and this, this kind of positioning has been already working quite well. The gulf strategy is to keep both the us and china close. And it seems to be working. The us is wary of growing chinese influence in the gulf to jo bidens fist pumping visit to saudi arabia in 2022. We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to refill by china. Russia or ram will seek to build on this moment with active principle, american leadership. What does all this mean . The us doesnt want to completely give up ties in the gulf. And the gulf states arent willing to risk losing us support either. Despite how frustrated they are with the united states, big less remains their main Security Partner right now. Even if they have uh, purchased a lot of advanced weapons from, from the, from the us and from other states. Theyre militarys remained quite under developed and they dont have at the moment the ability to, to defend themselves. So lets recap of the end. When it comes to international partners, the gulf states have a 2 track approach. Theyre expanding ties with china in the global south, but theyre keeping their long time security guarantor of the us close. They find themselves having to play this really delicate balancing act, where they dont really want to take sides. That pragmatic approach on still extends to regional ties. The 2 countries have been trying to bury the hatchet on historical rivalries like the ron, and also with israel, their vision, creating stability for maximum economic growth. They cannot achieve that vision if theyre fighting multiple front wars, or theyre stuck in intentions with countries in the region and outside. So this kind of no problem with your neighbors policy is one that theyve been pursuing over the last couple of years. Which brings us back to these images, the gulf states, as mediators and middle man. This is how they want the world to see them. Mediating gives them added credibility. It shows that they have these diplomatic and political credentials both inside the region and outside the region. Frankly, if youre in meet. Busy it looks good, but stability in the region seems to be on shaky ground. Thomas terrorist attacks on israel and the is rarely bombing of gaza has put the normalization of diplomatic relations with israel on hold. And those who see rebels, a militia backed by the gulf, other regional rival, iran are attacking ships in the red sea. Us and the u. K. Are responding with air strikes in the future to saudi arabia and the u. A es attempt to position themselves between the worlds powers. They also mean ending up at the center of the worlds conflicts the, as the boring ukraine grinds on, the neighboring voltage states, whats anxiously from the ring side seat, pressing the west to increase 8 to kia and make sure russia doesnt with my guess this week is the last to be as 5 minutes to kristy on these kinds, and hes clear nato a start up. Its good. The difficulty in the frustration that i feel is that as we are going step by step, russia is going full frontal flows. So how ready is nato to take on an expansion . Is russia, why are some rich european states still im willing to meet the alliances defense spending targets and was present the macro really calling his allies