“We used our oil wealth to build an economic powerhouse. They used their wealth for nuclear programs that are nefarious, for missiles, drones, proxies, etc.,” she told host Jonathan Karl. “So whereas we tried to become and have become an international, global, responsible player, they are a pariah state. And they wanted to break that model, but they underestimated our resolve.”
The UAE has faced a barrage of attacks from Iran since the U.S. and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran in late February. While the Gulf state — like many of its neighbors — initially opposed the war, it has since shifted its tone as it considers how to avoid the breakout of a larger regional war.
So having weapons somewhere seemingly justifies targeting UAE civilian infrastructure to you. So is the US also allowed to hit Iranian civilian infrastructure, since there are Iranian weapons somewhere in Iran?
Any westerner who’s paid attention to the media a bit, has seen / knows of things like Israel flattening cities and genociding palestinians, and have seen things like the USA’s attacks on civilian infrastructure. Heck, the US started off their ‘operation’ by blowing up a girls school, and is routinely threatening to “blow up all the bridges and power plants” – they also joked/bragged about killing fishermen/war crimes at their state of the union.
The UAE whining about civilian targets getting hit, isn’t something the west cares about any more – the west is literally hitting civilian targets at this point, with the US wanting to maximize the “terror” aspects of their military. It’s the whole reason they renamed it to the department of war, and why Hegseth called all his generals in to a meeting last year to say “Let’s commit war crimes, anyone who doesn’t want to is fired! Ignore rules of engagement, we want our ‘war fighters’ to be feared!”. The United States isn’t a force for good, it’s not pretending like it’s bringing freedom/liberty, it’s not trying to improve the quality of life of people in any way shape or form anymore. Like they kidnapped Maduro, left the authoritarian regime intact, so that they could basically steal oil without changing anything else. Having the opposition leader win the Nobel Prize likely also contributed to it, as the diaper-wearing convicted felon that the USA chose as their dictator has such a brittle ego.
The US basically rebranded itself into a very overt global terrorist organisation. Western nations can’t decouple from the USA fast enough to be able to call it out / push back on it, so they all just sorta go along with it. But realistically, if we’re pretending that Israel’s justified in flattening whole cities because of “terrorist elements somewhere in there”, then the same would apply to anyone hosting US assets – especially while the US is actively blowing up civilian targets.
When the Iranians struck refineries and the Dubai airport, I doubt they did it because they thought there was a weapon hidden there. This is simply punishment on the UAE for aligning itself with America. When they hurt the economy of the UAE, this eventually leads to hurting the American economy.
I’m not saying that this is justified, but it is what they’re doing.