West Asia News and Discussions

[putnanja]

Wonder what was the reason for UAE president to visit India on such short notice for a 1.5 hours meeting! There appears to be some realignment going on in West Asia. The recent Saudi-UAE spat in Yemen, the Iran protests, Turkey-Saudi-Pak axis, Israel-Palestine conflict etc has kept the region on the boil. Looks like there is lot boiling under the surface in many countries.

[uddu]

3 hours, Defence Deal: Why UAE President Suddenly Visited India | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G
The UAE's president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited India for a short, surprise visit amid rising tensions in West Asia. Though MBZ's trip lasted just 3 hours, both India and the UAE agreed to strike a strategic defence partnership. The visit and the defence boost come amid a UAE-Saudi split and a recent Saudi-Pakistan mutual defence treaty. Palki Sharma tells you why the UAE president came to India.

[uddu]

Cross posting from Modi 3.0
India First: Gaurav Sawant With Panel Discuss PM Modi-MBZ Meet And Trump's 'Board Of Peace' For Gaza
In this episode of India First, host Gaurav Sawant, Managing Editor at India Today, analyses the strategic significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent high-level visit to the United Arab Emirates. Joined by Pranay Upadhyay and Sushant Sarin, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, Sawant explores the 'substantive' nature of the bilateral agreements signed, ranging from space sector development to nuclear energy and investment. A key highlight of the discussion is the invitation from Donald Trump for India to join a 'Board of Peace' for Gaza. Sawant notes, 'Donald Trump, the Mrs.5 president, has invited several countries, including India, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to be a part of the Board of Peace for Gaza.' The panel examines the shifting geopolitics in West Asia, including the UAE-Saudi Arabia dynamics and the impact of Indian expatriates in the region. The debate also touches upon the defense pacts involving Pakistan and Turkey, questioning India's potential role in regional peace initiatives.

[A_Gupta]

Why was the India-UAE deal done with a one day notice of MBZ’s visit?

[A_Gupta]

It seems UAE's adventures with its proxies/allies in Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya have run into setbacks, before the UAE came running to India.
I hope that the UAE deal with India does not mean that India is drawn into these conflicts. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, the UAE, Iran, Ethiopia are all playing violent power politics for which India does not have the bandwidth if it wants to be Viksit Bharat 2027.

There are other points of friction possible - e.g., the UAE supports Haftar in Libya; Haftar allegedly signed the JF-17 deal with Pakistan - if the deal goes through, it will likely be with UAE funding.

https://youtu.be/wFAuZg1w_Gk?si=KTkm1lXAp-Eb_ElB


There is the Saudi-Pakistan alliance, possibly expanding to Turkey and Egypt.

After several years spent happily subverting larger, more powerful nations across the Middle East. After years engaging in a no holds barred geostrategic dog fight, Emirati leaders appear to have worked themselves into a predicament that is entirely of their own making. The UAE has been working on the fundamental assumption that a regional alliance like this was not possible or at the very least was so unlikely that it could be discounted as a possibility. It's targeted, subverted and absorbed the regional strategic interests of other nations because those nations were each out for themselves. Each had a bigger thing to worry about. And each came to the conclusion that it was better to regard the Emirates as a troublesome but ultimately acceptable friend than an enemy that would have been very hard to deal with by themselves.

But now they've gathered into an alliance with about seven times the economic power. And if we're only talking about Emirati citizens, well, 400 times the population of the Emirates. Bring all that power to bear against the UAE and it's not a close fight, especially considering that the Emirates have funneled their resources not into building a military on par with say Israel's, but into a decentralized network of proxy groups across the region. Of course, it's not likely that these four nations would simply start a war with the Emirates and force regime change in Abu Dhabi. But they don't have to. Already the collapse of the SDC, the severing of the Emirates relationship with the Somali government, and the recent setbacks in Sudan have made it clear the regional network that the Emirates have built is very fragile. They're prone to interruption. They're able to be severed or thwarted if the Emirates [music] as regional adversaries decide to work together. And once those connections are gone, they're going to be very difficult to rebuild. In the span of just a few weeks, the Emirates's position has already been meaningfully stunted across the Middle East. And it's become very clear that when powerful Muslim nations begin to form alliances, the Emirates are not a priority.

in today's episode and we'll say it again. The fact that the Emirates became as relevant as they did in as many industries and as many corners of the world as they have is a highly impressive feat. But at some point in the not too distant past, Abu Dhabi made a bet that it could cultivate a regional influence network, play the power games of the Middle East, and push limits wherever it pleased, all without ever being forced to account for its actions by a gathering of its rivals. Today, in January of 2026, the verdict is in. Abu Dhabi made a very bad bet, and now it's up to Abu Dhabi's rivals to decide what they'd like to collect.

As for how the Emirates chooses to deal with its new situation, its leaders do still have options, but it's clear they'll have to chart a new path forward. For Abu Dhabi, Yemen no longer appears to be in play, at least for the short term. The RSF is still on the offensive, and it'll be very difficult to defeat, even if aid from the Emirates were to stop tomorrow. But its value to Abu Dhabi is based on Abu Dhabi's ability to reach it. And that's already going to be difficult. Its approach in Somalia will need a fundamental rethink. And as for Libya, it appears that the Emirates are just the latest regional power to learn that relationships with Haftar can be fickle.

If the Emirates choose to maintain their proxy network as best they can and try to resist pressure from a growing regional alliance that doesn't feel the need to include Abu Dhabi, then it'll be fighting an uphill battle from a point of economic, strategic, and diplomatic disadvantage. But the alternative is for the Emirates to swallow its ambition. And all too often in geopolitics, ambition turns out to be the one thing that a nation is unwilling to sacrifice.

[uddu]

https://x.com/kurdistannews24/status/20 ... 6687440251
@kurdistannews24
For human rights lawyers and Kurds in Turkey:

This man, who rap*d and then executed a Kurdish girl in the Syrian city of Raqqa and cut her hair as a gift, is a member of Turkish intelligence.
His name is Rami al-Dahash , and he lives in Urfa, Turkey

[Tanaji]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cjrzjqg8dlwt

The “Board of Peace” unveiled

Bhikaristans PM was sulking in background as usual

[uddu]

https://x.com/i/status/2014501482972991920
@MeghUpdates
TRUMP: "We have a lot of ships on their way to Iran. We have an aircraft carrier heading there too. We'll see what happens."

Israeli channel 13: "The IDF has completed preparations for an American strike on Iran and the home front is now ready."