Meet UAE Leader Sheikh Mohammed's New Royal Troubleshooter - Bloomberg
If you’re interested in the geopolitics of the Middle East, chances are you know Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the national security advisor of the United Arab Emirates. In this role, he’s been pivotal to the country’s military operations in Yemen and Libya, and in its recent efforts to mend fences with regional rivals like Turkey, Qatar and Iran.
If you’re interested in the business of the Middle East, you may have heard of Sheikh Tahnoon as the chairman of International Holding Co. In this role, he heads the UAE’s second most-valuable listed company, with interests ranging from healthcare and real estate to IT and utilities — and a market capitalization north of $72 billion.
But the key to understanding Sheikh Tahnoon’s place in Middle Eastern affairs lies in his pedigree: His brother is the UAE’s de facto leader, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, widely known as MBZ, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the most powerful of the seven emirates in the federation. They may be separated in age by 10 years, but the two men are joined at the hip as they steer their country through a period of economic, security and foreign-policy uncertainty.
The U.S., historically the protector of the UAE and other Gulf monarchies as well as a major trade partner, is disengaging from the region; Iran, their historical antagonist, is widening its influence. Economic competition within the Arabian Peninsula is growing sharper as countries pursue similar diversification goals to prepare for a future when hydrocarbons alone can no longer sustain their populations. Under MBZ, the UAE has punched above its weight in its neighborhood — both politically and economically — earning the nickname “Little Sparta” in American national-security circles. But the crown prince will need help to keep it that way.
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