Prince Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum is one of the wealthiest men in the world and a very influential political figure in the Middle East and geopolitics. He is the leader of Dubai, capitol of the United Arab Emirates, a tiny Persian Gulf nation whose location across from Iran by way of the Strait of Hormuz places her in one of the most geopolitically strategic areas in the world. Maktoum is known for his ruthless temper and brutal assertion of his power as he is for his foreign philanthropy and domestic grand building projects, such as the famous Burj Al-Khalifa (Caliph’s Tower) in Dubai.
But the Sheikh’s family has suffered a series of family crises that are tearing at his power and threatening to reveal the internal workings of his wealth and influence. His troubles began in February 2018 when his daughter, Latifa, made international news as she attempted to flee from her family, broadcasting the news on social media before she was caught in a boat off of the coast of India and forcibly returned to Dubai. Her claims of abuse and the fact that she was not confirmed alive until December 2018 (which prompted inquiries if she was still alive) caused international outrage and have focused negative public attention on Maktoum.
A princess running away from her home might not seem as though it is a big deal. Indeed, this may have been a real incident, born out by frustration. Then again, it may not have been or, perhaps, it may have been provoked and assisted by external factors.
For years, Shoebat.com has been warning about the rise of Turkey and the existential threat this poses to Saudi Arabia. Put simply, Saudi Arabia is a very weak nation who, in spite of her wealth, relies completely on the good will of the US to buy her oil, provide her with food and cheap weapons, and protect her from Turkey, who has made clear by historical example and comments in media that she wants to destroy Saudi Arabia and would have the support of much of the Muslim world in doing this, as the Saud family is hated and looked upon as spiritual frauds. Out of a well-hidden but deeply rooted fear, the Saudis have been desperately grasping at whatever means they have to maintain friendship with the US while building as many foreign allies as possible, even if they are untrustworthy, and keeping her people distracted from the horrible reality that is happening so to keep them at peace.
The Saudis are weak, but they are not going to simply submit and go, in the words of the poet Dylan Thomas, “gently into that good night,” but they will “rage, rage, at the dying [of their power]”.
In November 2018, I wrote an article called “Did Saudi Arabia Just Settle The Family Business While Cucking Turkey At The Same Time?“, where I suggested that the reason for the October 2018 murder of Turkish journalist Jamal Khashoggi, his body being subsequently cremated at the Saudi embassy in a giant barbecue oven, and then a report coming out later which confirmed the order was given directly by Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman and of which evidence suggests may have been encouraged by the Trump administration through his son-in-law Jared Kushner, was part of a power struggle within the Saudi family where the older members were looking to strip power from the younger members, whose inexperience and rash behavior threatened the long-term ability of the House of Saud to survive:
Abdulaziz used the Khashoggi murder to destroy any credibility that MbS had in the Middle East or the Saud family and with that strip him of his power and move in to take his place, bringing with him his reputation of good will towards the Shia and by default, the Iranians. Improving relations with the Shias improves relations with Iran and muddles any joint Turkish-Iranian desires or plans to destroy Saudi Arabia. His actions also allow him to invert the threats of MbS to refuse to buy American weapons. In theory, he is now in a position to say that he not only does he want US weapons, but MORE than before and that he will want a closer partnership with the Americans.
The Saudis come out looking great, like they had a “bad apple” they disposed of and are trying to make a better nation (when in reality they are not, just to have the appearance of it) before the world, Iran is forced to say something nice about Saudi Arabia, America gets to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and put more troops in the Middle East for cheap oil, and a major internal family dispute is settled. The biggest loser is Turkey, who is going to rant about what Saudi Arabia did but now cannot criticize her for failing to address the matter because she made “reforms” to deal with the “problem” (even though it was all a staged show). Turkey already hates Saudi Arabia so the Saudis could care less about her reaction if she wants to talk so long as they cannot give her a justification for military action, which Turkey hoped to use this for but was tricked by the Saudis as it appears to have been all planned out.
In short and using common language, it is looking like Turkey got cucked by Saudi Arabia before the entire world while settling a family dispute. (source)
The fallout from the Khashoggi murders was that Mohammed bin Salman was stripped of his power, thus allowing him to keep his title and the image of power but having none in reality, as it all has been delegated to the elder members of the family as they wanted it to happen.
Having made what seems to be a temporary peace within the Saudi family’s affairs, the nation would logically the turn to affairs with her neighbors and attempt to make them amenable to her situations while at the same time not upsetting the US and Israel- her two main allies -and in the case of the former, her main source of wheat nd weapons.
Israel wants a war against Iran, and due to the power and influence of the Israeli lobby in the US as well as US geopolitical objectives for her long-standing series of Gladio-type programs that have been operating since the end of the Second World War, Saudi Arabia is going to, whether saying it out loud or not, support Israel and the US. Saudi Arabia is also afraid of the emergence of a Turco-Aryan alliance, for while Turkey and Iran have fought for centuries, they have a common enemy in the House of Saud and would not hesitate to work together against her.
On the eastern shores of Saudi Arabia is the United Arab Emirates, a tiny nation made up of ruling warlords of which Prince Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum is the veritable leader and representative for them. The UAE was formed beginning in the 19th century as a part of British trade treaties, and while she is her own independent nation, she acts as a type of tributary state for the UK in a relationship that has been maintained to this day. She is also right across from Iran by way of the highly strategic Strait of Hormuz.
While relations between the UAE and Iran have varied, Iran’s location to Dubai has made her a strategic place for Iranian business. Likewise, Iran is a major destination for exports from the UAE, and in spite of the US war drums, tens of billions of dollars move between the two nations across the Strait (source, source).
But business in this region goes far beyond trade just between those two countries. Chabahar Port, which is located on the Strait, is a major part of the North-South Transit Corridor that connects India and Afghanistan via Iran to the Caucasus and lines that lead to the northern parts of Central Asia as well as Turkey through Azerbaijan.
The significance of this route is critical, since Iran is a mountainous nation and such select but accessible shipping routes facilitate the free trade of goods and people all around the world. These lines intersect with major oil pipelines and railway lines being constructed through Turkey and Azerbaijan to Central Asia around and through the oil-rich Volga and Caspian basins in the Turanian Depression. Afghanistan has always been in a strategic location, and her wealth in rare-earth minerals, valued at over a trillion dollars, connects via Iran for easy transportation all around the world. Subjugating Imran as a nation would also mean that any political obstacles between connecting US and western interests from Europe to Asia would be eliminated, thus bringing about the conditions for a modern revival of the “Silk Road” of the ancient world along the exact same trade routes used before while isolating Russia from global trade and economically starving her more than what she already has been, as the west would not need to force trade through Russia, and the opening of trade route from Central Asia by southern routes instead of only Russia gives them a option they did not have before, and which the West will ensure is cheaper and more efficient than what Russia can offer.
The above reasons explain in part why the US and Israel are pushing for a war with Iran, because there is a huge amount of money to be made and power to grab in doing so.
The US is working hard to foment conditions for war. Make no mistake that the Saudis are not helping. But how could the Saudi’s help?
Consider what is said above- that the UAE is a major hub of Iranian business. Under Mohammed bin Salman, historically troubled relations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE were improving, and it is said that the two nations were conspiring to invade Qatar but such was stopped by the US. It is in the interest of the US to have Saudi Arabia turn against the UAE in order that the UAE’s business relationship with Iran, which supplies a great amount of wealth to Iran’s economy, would fall and so help to create more favorable conditions for the US to go to war with Iran while at the same time keeping the Saudis close to the US while not directly being accused of taking part in the conflict with Iran. In addition, a defeated Iran is a major blow to any joint Turco-Aryan plans to invade Saudi Arabia, which likewise gives Saudi Arabia time to build up her defenses and prepare for a potential future conflict.
Prince Maktoum has said in 2008 (here, here) and 2014 (source, source) that sanctions against Iran should be lifted. Trade ties between the UAE and Iran are so close that the UK Telegraph described them as a “hole in the net” on any sanctions that could be established against Iran (source, source). Naturally, if one wanted to destablilize Iran’s economy, as well as that of her neighboring country that helps her via trade- the UAE -it would be strategic to attack its leader. However, this cannot be done outright.
Noting this, consider the recent scandal in the UK, where one of Prince Maktoum’s wives has fled with her two children and is filing for divorce:
Now one should not discount the claims of abuse being made, or the woman’s grief. Indeed, many members of these “royal” families are living in whitewashed tombs, where the veneer of power and money covers an endless web of corruption and dysfunction. The desire to escape, to get a divorce, to start a life anew- these are not things which should be scorned, or even immediately presumed to be done out of malicious desires, but real and natural ones.
Do not think that the US does not know about such situations, for she has many spies all around the world that report on the personal habits of world leaders and their families.
Now one does not have direct proof of this yet, who but who is to say that the Princess, who likely wanted to escape for genuine reasons, may have been encouraged whether or not she is aware of it by members of foreign intelligence- such as the US/UK/Israel/Saudi Arabia -to do this? This is to say that she is innocent and genuine in her desires to seek a new life, but that she was encouraged to do so because of the potential geopolitical fallout that it would have?
As the story from 60 Minutes details, the divorce would be a serious international custody case, and it would expose the inner workings of the Maktoum family, which are objectively corrupt. Maktoum has already had a public relations problem beginning last year with Latifa’s attempt to run away and his handling of the case. This incident is not going to make it better.
There are many potential effects this could have. At the very least, it will jeopardize the political state of the UAE, which due to her ties to Iran as well as the British, could bring further Western intervention into the nation while endangering Iran’s economic position there. The potential consequences for Gulf politics and Iran are almost endless.
It is important to expose the evils that happen in other nations. This includes the notoriously abusive families among the very powerful. However, one must consider the context, and that while a person’s grievances and desires may be real, that the ends for which they may be used may be much larger than what one is presented with.