just thinks that we've demonstrated this is the same as your up to date here on dw up next, we're looking at the power play between saudi arabia and the united arab emirates on charge rate and building. thank you for watching the there's no, i'm just john can have his face and make the right decision. do you have any news on the ground? to follow? conflict crises was every single connection mapped out shows the geophysical reality. the on the board is what makes things the way they are mapped out, navigating a changing world. now on youtube, the

prisoner swaps between russia and ukraine. a hostage deal between israel and thomas, the un climate conference. what do they have in common? an arab gulf states was at the center of austin. now we're working to create new partnerships with everyone. do me. the arab gulf states one more global influence. sometimes that means high fiving and fist about things. so let's do a generation of politicians. they seem very empowered, they really just want to be viewed as peas, mondor, and islamic states, that despite their small size, has reach beyond their borders, oil and gas made the gulf states rich and powerful. and their long time allied. the u. s. provided security guarantees, but something is shifting. the us and china are buying for global influence. also

he here in the gulf. now the leaders of saudi arabia and the u. a. e are at a crossroads. so how are they pushing for power and the changing world? let's map it out, the nothing screams confidence more than shiny mega projects like these shown here in p. r. videos. the line, a futuristic linear city, powered by renewable energy that is designed to stretch a 170 kilometers along saudi arabia's red sea coast. or out the front near the united arab emirates capitol, abu dhabi touted as the world's largest single site solar plant, to understand what's going on in the gulf states. we're focusing on these 2 economic power houses, saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. it's oil that made this

kind of life possible here. it's made these 2 authoritarian monarchies wealthy and it's help the goals become a hub for global trade up to 30 percent of the world's trade in oil passes through this waterway. the strait of hormones. but they, one more they're pushing for political transformation. let's do a generation of one additional fee that they have for the capacities and they've come see added their hands to really play an important role and love to be like under the control of the west. some countries this is laurie hi ty, on, she's an energy policy expert and looks at how oil and gas shaped geo politics in the middle east. the politicians, she's talking about our mohammad been so mind, ford f b s the crown prince and prime minister of saudi arabia and shakes mohammad bins. i it, i'll not young or n b z. the president of the united arab emirates. he's the ruler of the average

public dobby on both recently to control and their country. they're completely different then. there may be a father's grandfathers to create theirs on these days. and they came from a history of control of the western countries over at these countries. instead of depending on the west, the saudis and the rods have been courting big asian powers such as india and china . and looking more towards countries of the so called global sound. this is come, you know, she's an expert on g o economics in the middle east. her focus is on the ties between the gulf states and china. we've seen the in the past really 1020 years of the willingness of, of the gulf states to join some of the multi lateral platforms that are non western centric. like breaks it's an economic alliance that is increasingly seen as a counterweight to more western oriented forms, including the g 7 bricks is a pretty exclusive club. the leaders of saudi arabia and the u. 8. when you were

asked to join the blog last year. west leadership at the global stage is spending 2 twin road. it's being increasingly challenged by new players, especially chinese. and so for the goal stage, they're trying to adapt to, to this change and the growing multiple leverage, see up each national debt. this strategy is pretty new for saudi arabia and the u. a. e. for decades they were very focused on the us as their main partner. basically ever since oil was discovered in the gulf and the 20th century, just look at do buying. this is what it looked like over 50 years ago. and this is what it looks like now. it's a similar story and saudi arabia, it's the last oil reserves, completely transformed the whole gulf region. and the us was a key partner during that time. for decades,

the 2 sides had an unofficial agreement as well for security, that cheap oil price in dollars fuel the booming us economy in return, the us provided security guarantees. security guarantees matter when your main arrival is just next door. iran, especially saudi arabia and iran, had historically both pushed to be the main regional power. the gulf states and iran adhere to 2 different branches of his last, sony and she, you know, rivalry is not just a, i mean, it's not just like a political one. it's a diplomatic one, it's an economic one. it's a, it's a religious one. denies fundy already is an expert on persian gulf security relations. iran in to lead or muslim, she is, while the saudis, in to legal of sending muslims. so it's just, it was inevitable that these 2 countries would have this competition would have this rivalry. the 2 sides are even fighting about wording. take

a look at this map. google shows 2 names for this body of water which the gulf states are named after it's commonly referred to as the persian gulf after persia, the historical named for iran. the arab states on the other side, wanted to be called the radian golf instead. but it's not just a war of words. the region has been placed by conflicts and disputes. and many of them have been the fact old proxy wars where ron and saudi arabia are supporting 2 opposing sides. for example, in the civil wars and yemen and syria. why do you need to know all this? well, it gives you some context for why the gulf states thought security guarantees from the us. so what did those look like in practice? the gulf states let the us set up military bases across the region, giving them a foothold in the middle east, and securing their access to all the gulf states. but what things and other

military hardware from the us, a billions of dollars worth for decades. and through various wars, the partnership has been pretty useful for both sides the but since the early 2 thousands political cracks have emerged in the relationship. one example, the arab spring uprisings of 2011, which swept through much of north africa in the middle east. us president brock obama expressed support for the pro democracy demonstrators, seemingly ignoring old loyalties to leaders in the region, the saudi arabia and the u. a e weren't to needs. then obama signed the 2015 nuclear agreement with their regional rival, iran. things seem to look up for the gulf when donald trump took over the us presidency. but that ended up being more show than substance in 2019 iran

backed rebels, attacked saudi arabian oil facilities set to be shown here. trump didn't take any action. this was seen as proving the us can't be fully counted on for security. to add insult to injury trump successor joe biden, snobs, principal habit of saudi arabia for several years. the rest emerged over the murder of this mat, jamal ketchup, t a. saudi journalist and fierce critics of the monarchy in 2018. he was killed in the saudi consulate in turkey, on top of that, in the mid to thousands. the us challenge the very foundation of the us goals partnership. it started fracking more and more of its own oil and gas that's has allows us to reach almost a sort of a energy independence. and this has shifted quite a lot. the understanding that may be actually the gulf states and the me to these is not going to remain as important as it used to be for the us energy security

gulf states or reacting to all these changes down to a global push to move away from fossil fuels, but the saudis and, and the rods have been investing big and renewables presenting themselves as green front runners. the u. a even hosted the most recent un climate conference. but neither country is actually quitting oil. in fact, they've been increasing oil and gas production and exploration. they are in loans of the countries in the world for, for whom the, the, the production of ford is the cheapest in the world. so they whole been especially strapped down to state what they say the last months spending. so that the last month, the last producers of oil in the, in the world. and they found new customers for, in china. and india have replace for us as tough buyers of golf crude oil, their economic pivot to asia, and towards the so called global sales. also gets rid of another heading. human

rights are a key issue that has come up time and again, and meetings with western meters. china, on the other hand, has when it calls a non interference policy on other countries, internal affairs. it basically means don't ask, don't tell when it comes to rights abuses, to balls i know develops friendly relations with move countries made on mutual respect, unknown into sarasota by. okay. so china seems to be a pretty convenient business partner. but that still leaves the security issue to remember the us military bases in the region while they're still there. but what's new as the saudis and emeralds have been trying to expand military cooperation with china to these are images from chinese state media. they show the country's biggest air show here in to high in 2022, the saudis report as we use the occasion to buy $4000000000.00 worth of chinese weapons. it's also sometimes by going towards china

a way to keep the was interested also in individual east and, and, and this, this kind of positioning has been already working quite well. the gulf strategy is to keep both the us and china closer. and it seems to be working. the us is wary of growing chinese influence in the gulf to jo biden's fist pumping visit to saudi arabia in 2022. we will not walk away and leave a vacuum to refill by china. russia or ram will seek to build on this moment with active principle, american leadership. what does all this mean? the us doesn't want to completely give up ties in the gulf. and the gulf states aren't willing to risk losing us support either. despite how frustrated they are with the united states, big less remains their main security partner right now. even if they have uh, purchased a lot of advanced weapons from, from the, from the us and from other states. they're military's remained quite under

developed and they don't have at the moment the ability to, to defend themselves. so let's recap of the end. when it comes to international partners, the gulf states have a 2 track approach. they're expanding ties with china in the global south, but they're keeping their long time security guarantor of the us close. they find themselves having to play this really delicate balancing act, where they don't really want to take sides. that pragmatic approach on still extends to regional ties. the 2 countries have been trying to bury the hatchet on historical rivalries like the ron, and also with israel, their vision, creating stability for maximum economic growth. they cannot achieve that vision if they're fighting multiple front wars, or they're stuck in intentions with countries in the region and outside. so this

kind of no problem with your neighbors policy is one that they've been pursuing over the last couple of years. which brings us back to these images, the gulf states, as mediators and middle man. this is how they want the world to see them. mediating gives them added credibility. it shows that they have these diplomatic and political credentials both inside the region and outside the region. frankly, if you're in media. busy it looks good, but stability in the region seems to be on shaky ground. how most terrorist attacks on israel and the as rarely bombing of gaza has put the normalization of diplomatic relations with israel on holt. and those who see rebels, a militia backed by the gulf, other regional rival, iran are attacking ships in the red sea. us and the u. k. are responding with air strikes in the future to saudi arabia and the u. a e's attempt to position

themselves between the world's powers. they also mean ending up at the center of the world's conflicts the . this is focus on europe. i'm lar, babble a welcome. russian president vladimir putin has been handed a 5th term in elections that the u. n. usa were neither free nor fair, despite their efforts to isolate russia, food, and is tightening his grip on power with the help of russian oligarchs. they are finding ways to evade new sanctions by purchasing real estate and mega yachts abroad.