Back in 1990, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was blasting his way through Kuwait and threatening to continue his rampage southward down the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf Arab oil leaders were apoplectic with fear and outrage over the violation of a sovereign state’s territory by a tyrant. They jetted to the United States to offer desperate promises on bent knee: anything the Americans want, just turn back this invasion and restore Kuwait’s sovereignty.
Then there was the petroleum-rich Gulf states’ outrage over the violation of sovereign territory during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when Israel seized large swaths of neighboring Arab land. The Arab oil producers organized an international boycott, demanding that the United States force Israel to respect sovereign territory and comply with international law.
Fast forward to 2022. A tyrant from Russia is rampaging through Ukraine. Freedom-loving nations around the globe are taking a principled stand in defense of the occupied and in condemnation of the aggressor. And from the Arab Gulf states? Crickets. Forgotten are all those moral, righteous stands quoting U.N. resolutions about the unacceptability of acquiring territory by use of force. Equally forgotten is the concept of strategic alliances and friendship with the United States, the nation whose troops sacrificed multiple times on the battlefield for the survival of those Gulf monarchies.
That’s because money talks. And Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his band of oligarch thieves have lots of it, along with a desperate need to park it somewhere. Gulf Arab states like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia suddenly are welcoming Russian visitations and investments at a time when the rest of the world is trying to tighten economic sanctions.
Putin and Russia’s billionaire oligarchs have an urgent need to park their money, jets and yachts in places where sanctions enforcers can’t seize them. Even Swiss banks, notorious for their willingness to turn a blind eye to ill-gotten gains, are threatening Russian asset seizures. Yet the resort emirate of Dubai finds its docks bulging with Russian-owned mega-yachts. Its luxury high-rise real estate market is booming as Russian money floods in.
According to various news reports, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are openly rebuffing U.S. calls for international solidarity on sanctions. Even Egypt, dependent on billions of dollars in U.S. aid, is withholding criticism of Moscow. Much of what’s happening, including Arab states’ insistence on restricting oil production to keep prices high, is a less-than-subtle expression of their displeasure over the Biden administration’s resumption of talks with Iran to reinstate an accord curtailing Tehran’s nuclear bomb-making capability.
The blood of American troops will forever stain Arabian Peninsula sand as U.S. forces protected these countries from annihilation. But blood, it appears, isn’t as thick as greed when it comes to measuring the loyalties of one-time allies. With friends like these …