Under investigation, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who once was alleging a media house of being a foreign agent in a lobbied report submitted to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), has been reported of misconduct. A federal investigation by the Public Integrity Section of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) was recently opened into the allegations that she misused the campaign funds.

Months back, the former Representative of Florida wrote a report, entitled Report Concerning Qatar’s Al Jazeera Media Network & The Foreign Agents Registration Act. The report was the United Arab Emriates’ another attempt of defaming its regional rival, Qatar. After leaving the Congress in 2019, Ros registered as a foreign agent with a US-based lobbying firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, to represent the government of the UAE.

The Ileana Ros investigation comes after a 124-page report, released on July 6, where she claimed that Al Jazeera was owned, funded, directed and controlled by Qatar. The report also insisted that the media firm should register under the FARA. In August 2020, a lobbying disclosure with the DOJ revealed that a number of lobbyist have been in contact with Congress, on behalf of the UAE, months before the release of Ros’ report.

Akin Gump’s FARA filing for first half of the year revealed that the lobbying firm was under discussions with the congressional offices way back as February, where they held talks over the “upcoming report” on “foreign media issues”. The interactions have highlighted the lobbying efforts taken for the UAE to tamp down Al Jazeera’s global influence, using the report by Ileana Ros, under investigations by the DOJ.

The author’s note of the report states that she “was engaged to represent the Embassy of the [UAE] as part of my work with Akin Gump”. In a six-month period until June 30, 2020, the firm is known to have receive $673,366.10 in disbursements from the UAE’s embassy in the US.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a subject of a federal investigation, had stated of being “proud to support the UAE and to continue my close association with it”. In April 2017, she announced to not seek re-election in the following year, and initiated a transfer of $180,000 from her re-election campaign to a political action committee (PAC) she ran. In what’s consider illegal under federal law, she exploited the campaign funds for personal use.

Reports of expenses she made from PAC highlighted that $4,000 were used in December 2017, when UAE’s prominent lobbyist went on a trip with her children and grandchildren to Walt Disney World. Besides, on New Year’s Eve 2018, she spent $3,100 at MesaMar, a Coral Gables seafood restaurant. The Ileana Ros investigation was initiated citing a complaint filed in October 2019 by a nonpartisan watchdog group, Campaign Legal Center, which said that PAC was violated under federal law.

A prominent lobbyist for the UAE, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has been one of the US-based hawks, who have been assisting the Emirates to defame Qatar. However, the strong appeals of the former representative have become fragile, following the revelation of Akin Gump’s prolonged association with the Arab nation and Ros’ illegal acts that have prompted the DOJ investigation.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia’s Misk Foundation is said to embody ‘the spirit of Vision 2030’. However, as per the September finding, the foundation has only reflected Saudi Vision 2030 corruption.

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman has locked up royals, detained human rights activists, and journalists in the name of corruption or anti-nationalism, since coming into rule.

In early September, it was almost like entering the parallel universe when the leadership in Saudi Arabia ruled out a probe against the flagship charitable foundation of prince Salman; the Misk Foundation — an embodiment of the Saudi Vision 2030. The Prince, who is infamous for investigating others, was suddenly under scrutiny himself.

A probe was ordered against the Misk Foundation — a charitable foundation — since the Saudi Vision 2030 corruption was exposed via the organization which was found embroiled in ‘alleged’ scandals, as per Saudi officials. The officials further explained that the allegations became questionable after a Misk Foundation lawsuit was filed against the organization and one of its senior associates, at the US justice department.

The Misk Foundation lawsuit was filed in November 2019 against the former Twitter employees and another man charged with spying of users on the respective social media platform. They were allegedly allotted the job on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In August 2020, the Saad Aljabri lawsuit made headlines when the former intelligence officer accused the Crown Prince of Saudi, Mohammed bin Salman of attempting to assassinate him right after the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist. In his lawsuit, he didn’t spare the Saudi Vision 2030 embodiment, Misk Foundation, or its secretary-general Bader al-Asaker. The foundation as well as Asaker, were both named as the defendants alongside prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Saad Aljabri lawsuit in 2020.

The Saudi official who offered these details, claimed without disclosing his identity for security reasons that, “It [the allegations in the lawsuits] has brought scrutiny to something that has done phenomenal things, I’m pretty sure the crown prince was furious that this jewel was linked to this.”

Asaker is still employed with the Misk Foundation and he works as a senior associate, as usual, despite the allegations. Prince Mohammed’s private office was unavailable, when reached out for comments over the Saudi Vision 2030 corruption allegations.

Before the investigation was called for, Misk remained pretty close to Prince Mohammed’s drive to entice the Saudi youth and expand his brand and influence globally. The foundation garnered ties with a number of international entities which included, The Gates Foundation, the UN, Harvard University, Bloomberg and General Electric. However, the Saudi Vision 2030 corruption got exposed and showed that the modernization and progressive program was actually a shallow cover for corruption that happened under the covers.

It was only after the November 2019 lawsuit filed with the US justice department that Misk Foundation’s fate flipped. Even though the lawsuit didn’t name either the foundation or its secretary-general, Asaker, it referred to them by indirect means.

As per the lawsuit, Asaker was called “Foreign Official-1” and Misk Foundation as the “Organization No 1”, founded by a Saudi royal, which clearly referred to prince Mohammed bin Salman. The description of the organization matched Misk, while US media firms named Asaker as the foreign official 1, on the basis of the statements of people familiar with the issue.

The result of the Misk Foundation lawsuit could be the end of some of the biggest global partnerships that the organization garnered over the period. Like how the Gates Foundation and Harvard had to resort to cutting ties with the Misk Foundation, after Prince Salman’s name got tied to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

From pushing the youth into the world of social media for non-political purposes (since the Arab Uprising) to committing corruption under the veil of lustrous projects like the Misk Foundation. The Saudi Vision 2030 has remained a cover for so many central issues within the kingdom such corruption within the system, arbitrary detention of journalists and activists, human rights abuse, nuclear weapon ambitions, and so on. Will Saudi’s corruption in Vision 2030 ever be exposed?

Saudi Arabia, a nation that once was only about oil, has entered several other sectors, since the throne of Crown Prince was acquired by Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) in 2017. In the series of initiating large-scale changes, the Kingdom broke a number of conservative walls. However, the paint of its true identity and economical requirements still reflects in the country.

As a part of its self-sufficiency program under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia and China agreed on a nuclear energy cooperation pact in 2017 to begin a project for exploration of uranium ore. Under the MoU signed between the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), the prospecting work progressed at a drastic speed, until the end of 2019.

The Guardian recently released a report based on confidential documents compiled by the CNNC and the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology. The information highlighted that the availability of mineable uranium ore reserves in Saudi Arabia is enough for domestic production of nuclear fuel. However, with every step the Kingdom has been taking towards the exploration of Uranium, the concerns around Saudi nuclear weapons programme have only managed to escalate.

Figures based on the initial surveys estimated that Saudi and China for Vision 2030 have identified reserves capable of producing over 90,000 tonnes of uranium from three major deposits falling in the centre and northwest region of the Kingdom.

NEOM: MbS’ setup for Nuclear weapons

Saudi Arabia has maintained from the beginning that its ambitions of domestically extracting uranium are part of its self-sufficiency efforts to produce nuclear fuel for energy programme. However, experts have analyzed that the country’s dependency on foreign providers would end, if it manages to sufficiently mine uranium domestically. It is believed that the Arab nation would also get a push to implement the Saudi uranium weapons programme, if it secures a domestic source of mining.

The Gulf country has long been regarded with suspicion by the United States, thanks Mohammed bin Salman’s statement of 2018, where he declared to follow the lead of its regional rival Iran, if it develops a nuclear bomb. Besides, Saudi’s lack of transparency in its nuclear ambitions have been just gravy.

In a pact signed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2005, Saudi Arabia restricted the agency to conduct complete inspection by avoiding the monitoring through small quantities protocol (SQP). While the IAEA is convincing the monarch to consider a full monitoring programme, a revelation over its nuclear exploration has covered the most prized possession of MbS: NEOM city of Vision 2030.

In what appears on maps, the planned city of NEOM is close to the Saudi Arabian shield, falling under the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS). This geological formation, rich in reserves, gives space to three high priority areas that would require comprehensive investigation for confirming the availability and extraction expenses.

Nearly two months back, The Wall Street Journal had released a report claiming that Saudis were on step number two for developing fuel for nuclear weapons. The report said that China helped the Kingdom in building a facility for processing uranium ore into a refined form called “yellowcake”.Moreover, the mill sat in another major part of MbS’ Vision 2030, AlUla.

MbS’ Vision 2030, encapsulated by NEOM and AlUla, emerged to have two colors, where one remains extremely shady. Although it boasts of self-sufficiency, the vision is being led to achieve some of the Kingdom’s most crooked objectives. With the help from China, Saudi nuclear weapons ambitions are exploiting Vision 2030, while the Arab nation continues to build an image of inculcating economic diversity.

Saudi Arabia has been leading the Yemeni civil war the way it pleases, pushing the poor Arab nation to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. From fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, to arming al-Qaeda terrorists, and torturing and assassinating civilians; the Saudi-led coalition has left no stone unturned in dragging Yemen to the edge of an irreversible catastrophe. Now, there is a high chance that UN sanctions Saudi Arabia, to hold it responsible for everything that the rich Gulf nation has gotten away with, in the name of driving out extremist groups and terrorists. Meanwhile, it blatantly abused and violated the international humanitarian law.

Houthis and Saudi Under UN Scrutiny

It isn’t just the Saudi-led coalition forces that are to be blamed for the man-made disaster brought upon Yemen. Both, the Houthi rebels and Saudi-led coalition have, through their proxy war in Yemen, brought the nation down to its knees.

A September 2020 report by the United Nations detailed the atrocities reported in the Yemeni civil war and called upon the UN Security Council to refer the actions committed by all the warring parties — Houthis and Saudis — to the ICC (International Criminal Court) for conducting possible war crime executions.

The report was prepared by the UN Human Rights Council designated expert panel, which urged the Security Council to extend sanctions upon the responsible individuals that have been a part of the Yemeni conflict, along with the initiation of a criminal investigations unit to look into the matter.

If UN sanctions Saudi Arabia, the country can be officially held accountable for the atrocities it has caused in Yemen. Till date, multiple parties have been involved in the Yemeni civil war as part of the foreign intervention in the Arab nation. However, all have escaped scrutiny in the Yemen crisis they have each contributed to.

When the UN sanctions Saudi Arabia, it not only holds the oil-rich kingdom accountable for the damage caused to Yemen, but also its coalition partner, the United Arab Emirates, which has been as responsible for Yemen’s condition as Saudi.

A range of rights violations have been committed by the warring Gulf nations, which includes, the illegal killing, disappearances and detention of civilians, along with the illicit use of child soldiers and sexual violence.

One of the most crucial reasons behind the demand for the UN sanctions Saudi Arabia is the inadequacy of the board established by Saudi Arabia for probing into civilian casualties.

War crimes led by the Houthis, such as the April 5 mortar attack on a Taiz prison that killed 6 female prisoners and the recruitment of child soldiers, as young as 7 years of age, became the reason for the rebel group to come under the scrutiny of the UN Security Council along with Saudi-led coalition and its neighbouring partner, the United Arab Emirates.

The legal system of a country is only successful when the severity of the penalty matches the severity of the crime conducted. Currently, there is zero cost for killing a human being in Libya, as per Hanan Salah, a senior Libya researcher for Human Rights Watch. Therefore, despite being named in several war crimes, including the shocking discovery of thousands of mass graves in Libya, the UAE-backed warlord Khalifa Haftar has remained free from international scrutiny and legal consequences for human rights violation Libya.

In an explosive exposé of the clandestine Erik Prince Libya operation, ugly details of the privatization of the Libyan civil war by the ill-famed mercenary contractor surfaced. The investigation revealed the illicit intervention of paid mercenaries in the Middle East nation, for the eradication of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord.

Unfolding the Web of Secret Libyan Operations

The plot sounds straight out of a movie scene, the only differences are unlawful civilian casualties are real, there isn’t a protagonist who saves everybody in the end, and most importantly, the end is nowhere in sight for years to come. Especially with international actors and mercenary contractors shaking hands with a brutal warlord like Khalifa Haftar, the end of human rights violation Libya is out of sight and question.

In fact, a top gun Australian fighter pilot of his days, former Flt. Lt. Christiaan Durrant enrolled himself in the war as a private mercenary for Opus — the private operation to topple GNA in Libya — and started working for the notorious former Navy SEAL and American mercenary contractor, Erik Prince.

Being a former fighter pilot, a daily dose of adrenaline was necessary for Durrant, which led to his increased interest in the mercenary job pitched to him by friend Erik Prince. When the bureaucracy-struck Durrant left the force in 2004, frustration led him to try different walks of life such as, flying jumbos for Qantas, joining an aviation consultancy, starting a tourism business and even becoming a farmer. However, nothing worked, until he met Erik Prince in UAE.

Prince is known for having ties with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed and serving as his defense advisor for almost a decade. The Emirati prince is also the deputy commander of the UAE armed forces that backs Khalifa Haftar’s army, LNA, in Libya.

Monkey, Marine and the Mercenary

In his 2012 autobiography, Durrant told how he kept himself motivated. He said, “there is a monkey on your back … He only eats danger, excitement and impossible feats. If he is not fed, he will whisper in your ear how little you are worth,” which further became the reason for Durrant to join team Erik Prince Haftar alliance.

It was the ‘monkey’ on his back that pushed Durrant to accept what the Erik Prince Libya contract offered him. The thirst for adrenaline and doing something dangerously impossible was the motivation behind joining a Libyan warlord like Khalifa Haftar’s army in conducting a coup against the opposition GNA, toppling their government.

In 2014, when Durrant began working for Erik Prince at the Frontier Services Group as an aviation specialist, he was also responsible for covertly helping him in the weaponization of Thrush crop dusters to be used as attack aircraft.

Unfortunately, two investigative journalists exposed the The Thrush project. Yet the professional relation shared by Durrant and Prince remained unproved as they had gone to lengths to ensure keeping them separate on paper. In one of his statements, Christiaan Durrant has even denied having any “business or financial relationship” with Prince.

The name Erik Prince has resonated multiple times in the world of political conspiracies and controversies. Four Corners revealed in its investigation Durrant’s alleged role, along with that of the two other Australian military men hired for Erik Prince Libya operation. The Australian military men and Durrant were all in breach of a UN arms embargo on Libya imposed to end violence in the country since the regime of Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011, leaving Libya leaderless.

Opus, the 2019 operation led by a shadowy group of mercenaries allegedly Prince’s Frontier Service Group and Durrant’s Lancaster6. FSG came into being after the mercenary contractor sold off Blackwater — his first military contracting firm. In early 2020, Blackwater mercenaries Libya offered Russia’s Wagner Group military support. However, the firm collapsed for violating US arms trafficking regulations, illicit killing and mismanagement.

However, Durrant never agreed upon the coalition, and said in his defense, “We don’t breach sanctions; we don’t deliver military services, we don’t carry guns, and we are not mercenaries.” He argued that the United Nations’ accusations were based on “false documents” to hold him accountable in the Erik Prince Libya operation, Opus.

Meanwhile, the UN assured that they were convinced of the credibility of the documents they based their allegations on. In fact, apart from the UN investigations, FBI also started investigating Erik Prince Libya operation overseen by the mercenary contractor. Durrant on the other hand, is asserted by the UN to be accomplice in the operation as the organizer and has thus, breached the arms embargo equally.

By early next year, the expert panel at UN will publicly deliver its final report of evidence providing the alleged Erik Prince Libya operation, Opus, and Durrant’s connection to it.

If proven in the Australian court, the allegations could lead to severe domestic implications for the citizens involved in the operation, i.e., up to 10 years of jail or a 500,000 USD fine for Durrant.

In four years of Donald Trump’s presidency, some of the Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have built quite-a-good connection with the United States. A single thread from Washington’s fabric of extensive accord with the Gulf was used by Bob Woodward to weave Rage, Trump’s book.

Amongst many of the absurd choices that the Trump administration made in favor or under direction of such Arab countries, one has tainted the reputation of the US as a democracy immensely. On October 2, 2018, a journalist of The Washington Post and Saudi Arabia’s dissident, Jamal Khashoggi became a topic criticized by human rights defenders across the world.

A 15-man hit squad from the Kingdom executed the well-planned assassination of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Weeks after, the CIA had concluded that the brutal killing was directed by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Additionally, the Arab nation had itself admitted that the murder was premediated.

As updates in the case surfaced, the US got divided in two sections. While the Democrats, and even some Republicans, denounced Saudi Arabia, Donald Trump continued to defend the Kingdom’s de facto ruler MbS, considering that the Arab country was buying their weapons and providing oil in return. However, in the recently released Trump’s book, Rage, the US President was seen bragging about the protection he offered to Prince Salman from congressional scrutiny.

Bob Woodward’s book on Trump, Rage is a sequel to his 2018 book Fear: Trump in the White House. It brings parts from 18 different interviews he conducted with the President and from what he learned from the White House officials about the inside stories of the Trump administration.

Woodward writes that he was called by the President on January 22, 2020, where one of the topics they discussed was the ruthless murder of Khashoggi and the role of MbS in ordering the assassination. Boasting about the favor he did to the Saudi Crown Prince MbS, Trump said that he “saved his ass” and left the rest for the readers to figure out.

Nearly two years after the death of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor confirmed, earlier this month, that the eight out of those responsible for the murder have been sentenced to prison between seven and 20 years. The “final” ruling of reduced sentences in the case, which revealed no name of the defendants, was decried as “neither fair, nor just, or transparent” and a “legal farce”.

The power and wealth of Mohammed bin Salman brought for him massive support from the US President, where he was saved from any repercussions from the Congress. Bob Woodward’s book on Trump, Rage lays several decisions that the President took by analysing the economical parameters, rather than considering diplomatic or humanitarian grounds, while he was dealing with countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The question is, will these Arab nations be able to tolerate the turbulence in the alliance with US, if Trump loses the upcoming elections?

Fragrance of flowers, fancy lights, luxurious facilities and an elite vibe of five star hotels often comes into the account of people who own loaded bank accounts. However, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, such luxuries are offered to those deemed a threat to the authority of the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who seems to have a habit of imprisoning humans, with or without reasons.

Since the de facto ruler was given the princely post in 2017, numerous journalists, clerics, academics, human rights defenders and others became a victim to the strict crackdown on perceived dissents. While most are detained in the clingy prisons, the elite citizens detained in the Kingdom without specific reasons are locked up in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh. In the latest round of the MbS regime’s unreasonable imprisonment, two prominent clerics arbitrarily detained.

One of the most renowned reciters of the holy book Quran in the Islamic world, Sheikh Abdullah Basfar was arrested by the Saudi authorities, in August this year. However, for nearly a month, his detention remained unknown. It was in early September, when the official Twitter of Prisoners of Conscience revealed that the cleric was arrested.

The account posted, “We confirm the detention of Sheikh Dr Abdullah Basfar since August 2020.” However, no other details about how or where he was arrested were provided. Sheikh Basfar has been a professor at Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz University in the department of Sharia and Islamic Studies. Additionally, he is also the former Secretary-General of the World Book and Sunnah Organisation.

Another report of detention coincided with the confirmation of Sheikh Basfar’s arrest, concerning Sheikh Saud Al-Funaisan. A university professor and a former dean of the faculty of Sharia at Al-Imam University in Riyadh, Al-Funaisan was arrested months before Sheikh Basfar, in March 2020.

For past three years, Crown Prince MbS has been using his position to wipe out the existence of his critics and the religious identity of his country. Considered a violation of the human rights by many, the detentions of clerics were praised by some as a part of the crackdown on extremist dissents in Saudi.

However, many others aggressively laid their views, where one stated on Twitter, “Our clerics are being detained arbitrarily, while the trivial people enjoy freedom and spread corruption in the country. It is an overt campaign to get rid of Islam and spread vice in the land of Haramin.”

A single Tweet by the Saudi authorities, confirming the arrests, concluded the fate of the clerics. These are people who offered years of their service to the religious establishment of the country. The detentions highlight the large-scale violation of human rights under MbS’ regime. However, they also paint the strategic approach that the Saudi Crown Prince have opted to confuse the world over his ideas.

One side, Saudi authorities have been detaining scholars and clerics, indicating their plans to secularize the country. However, on the other side, a number of people in the country have been arrested for breaching the unreasonable Sharia laws that the Kingdom follows. It reflects how Prince Salman has been reflecting an image of a secular leader, where the ground reality hardly experienced any change.

The Libyan civil war has become a playground for international actors eyeing for influence in the North African country and the region, as a result. However, what is being unfolded daily by Russia and the United Arab Emirates in Libya, is indeed no child’s play. Both the countries have contributed their share of destruction to Libya with illegal weapon supply and joint attacks, collaterally killing civilians and forces, equally. Russia and UAE backing Khalifa Haftar’s LNA, were held responsible by the United Nations for violating the UN arms embargo heavily, in a detailed confidential report released by the UN Security Council panel, also highlighting

The report highlighting MbZ UN violation dug out ugly details of the joint offensive led by UAE’s MBZ and Russia in Libya via military-supplying cargo flights laden with multitude of weapons, busting the UN-led arms embargo.

Russian and Emirati Hypocrisy

According to the report by UN, on January 2019 the military intervention by UAE in Libya was supported by four weapon loaded cargo planes. This happened while, the Gulf nation’s leader and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE’s Armed Forces, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was attending a luncheon with German chancellor, Angela Merkel, right before attending the Berlin peace conference.

The four planes weren’t all, as Russia, another accomplice to the Libyan civil
war besides the UAE and Egypt, flew into Libya a fifth plane loaded with weapons to support its mercenaries fighting in the African nation. The irony is that the UAE MBZ Russia Libya intervention took simultaneous to the former’s attendance at the peace conference held in Berlin for achieving stability in Libya.

It was reportedly one of the 350 military-supplying flights that had flown into Libya from Russia in a mere period of nine months. The military cargo flights swelled the number of Russian and Syrian mercenaries fighting in Libya under the Wagner Group, to an American estimate of 5,000 fighters. The Russian Wagner group reportedly comprises of about 3,000 Russian military personnel along with 2,000 mercenaries from Syria, warring in the Libyan battlefield.

MBZ UN violation only throws light on the fact that the international parties trusted to mediate in the Libyan civil war to end it, have in fact, turned into those responsible for fuelling the conflict furthermore.

The UN report also showed that 35 more military cargo flights were sent by UAE in Libya within 11 days of Sheikh Mohammed attending the Berlin conference, meant to bring peace in Libya. MBZ UN violations didn’t stop there, as he sent 100 more military-supplying cargo flights in just the first half of the year 2020. Many of these aircraft used three Kazakhstan-registered charter airlines.

Besides MBZ, Russia Libya intervention by Wagner Group is said to have led to land mines and I.E.D.s (Improvised Explosive Devices) being planted in civilian occupied areas both, in and around Tripoli. This has put the lives and safety of the civilians in Libya at peril. A statement by the Africa Command claims that satellite imagery proves the presence of transport trucks belonging to the Wagner Group along with mine-resistant, armoured vehicles owned by Russian military in Libya.

Many of the aircraft that were reported to have flown from Russia and UAE in Libya switched off their transponders — tracker devices meant to identify an aircraft’s position — while they entered the Libyan or Egyptian airspace.

However, the approach to disguising military supply cargos went evidently failed on a large scale, which led the LNA-backing nations to come under the scrutiny of the United Nations Security Council panel. As a result of which, the report highlighted in detail Russia’s and MBZ UN violations in Libya that not only led to the violation of UN arms embargo, but also the international humanitarian law by endangering the lives of Libyan civilians.

The UAE-Israel peace deal has been one of the most controversial pacts of the year which has received as much criticism as appreciation. The Abraham Accord opened doors to opportunities that had been stalled for about four decades due to the Arab-Israel boycott. However, recent developments in the UAE-Israel relations gave hope of not peace in the Middle East, but of surge in business prospects as well.

However, was the UAE-Israel deal ever a peace pact or just a defense deal that was covertly played out by two of the most controversial nations in the Arab region?

Abraham Accord: A Defense Deal or Peace Pact?

Israel and UAE surprised some while shocked other in August when it announced normalizing of diplomatic relations via a US-brokered ‘peace deal’, after being at odds for around 4 decades.

It was then that the two nations started receiving both, condemnation and appreciation over their decision from the neighboring Arab countries.

Palestinians, who were the most taken aback by the historic deal, called the pact a ‘betrayal’ from the United Arab Emirates, of the Palestinian cause. In response to the mending of UAE-Israel relations, the Palestinians recalled their ambassador to the UAE.

On 7 September 2020, a minister from Israel announced the possibility of the UAE-Israel peace deal yielding an annual trade worth $4 billion.

What was initially known as a UAE-Israel Peace deal, soon witnessed the lifting of an economic boycott on Israel. From that day on, officials from both the nations confirmed that besides attaining peace in the region, they were looking for cooperation in several sectors namely, energy, defense, tourism, medicine, financial investment, and technology.

Since the two nations announced normalization of their relations, multiple business deals have been signed. Eli Cohen, Israeli Intelligence Minister further confirmed that “Within three to five years’ trade between Israel and the United Emirates reach $4 billion.”

UAE-Israel peace deal is not the only peace treaty to be signed between an Arab nation and Israel. The increased business prospects, interest in weapon purchase shown by the United Arab Emirates followed by Israel seeking access to more American weapons has all happened before.

The Egypt 1979 treaty also went on a similar pathway — a peace treaty, followed by normalization of relations with Israel, and questionable purchase of American weapons.

With the shifting Arab stance on Israeli annexation of Gaza, the pressure for actually achieving peace in the Middle East has reduced. With major powers on its side, Israeli’s succeeded in turning a blind eye on their conflict with Palestinians. Meanwhile, superpowers like US have well capitalized on their agendas as well. Now, whether the UAE-Israel peace deal truly hold the key to peace prospects for Middle East or only furthermore chaos to the already volatile region, is something yet to uncover in the time to come.

From the Middle East peace process to normalizing relations with Israel, the United Arab Emirates has covered a long way, leaping from being a backer to seeking benefits. Abdullah bin Zayed’s US visit will soon take place, where the UAE Foreign Minister will be leading a delegation for the signing ceremony of the controversial and historic UAE-Israel peace deal.

The unforeseen pact probably did deserve the backlash it received, as the Emirates has been backing Palestine’s stance on independence until then. The extent of the Arab nation’s sheer support for the West Bank could be judged from the millions paid to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, while he served as the Middle East peace envoy.

In a quartet, comprising of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, which aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Tony Blair was the Middle Eastern representative. However, three years back, leaked emails revealed that Blair was secretly being funded by the UAE.

Before the Abdullah bin Zayed’s US visit to head the UAE delegation, he was known for his involvement with the former British PM, for years. The UAE Foreign Minister held several official meetings with Tony Blair. Abdullah bin Zayed was one of the powerful Emirati sheikhs, who maintained close contacts with Blair, during his status as the envoy.

The leaked emails of 2017 provided information, where year-after-year the senior UAE officials transferred millions to Blair through Windrush Ventures, the company which channelled money for his commercial advisory work. Other than Abdullah bin Zayed, the Emirati sheikhs involved with Blair included the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed; his brother, Khalifa bin Zayed; and the chief executive of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

Abdullah bin Zayed’s office separately paid $2 million to Windrush in 2011. Invoices also suggested that the UAE foreign ministry also transferred $12 million to Windrush for Blair’s consultancy work in Colombia, Vietnam and Mongolia. Additionally, millions were separately paid to Blair by Mubadala.

While Abdullah bin Zayed and other Emirati officials were paying Tony Blair, in the name of his work as a Quartet representative, the former British Prime Minister was changing the direction of UK’s foreign policies towards the Middle East. Besides, Blair also breached the arms sales policies of his own nation to fulfil the interest of Gulf countries. The Arab nations, in return, received weapons for billions, while continuing to wage a war in Yemen, causing humanitarian crisis.

Back then, the United Arab Emirates was supporting Palestine and its Foreign Minister was bankrolling Tony Blair, who was the Middle East peace process envoy, working for the benefit of the Emirates. Abdullah bin Zayed’s US visit will soon take place, but with different objectives. The UAE, as it changed its stance, is probably having different agendas in the prolonged Israel-Palestine conflict.