An eerie quiet hangs over Ras Al Khaimah’s industrial port. Usually a thriving maritime hub of the United Arab Emirates, now ships stand docked and silent. Not far out along the hazy horizon, a backlog of hundreds of tankers have lined up in recent days, halted along a waterway flooded with danger.
Any vessel heading past Ras Al Khaimah out to the Arabian Sea must traverse the world’s most treacherous strip of water for shipping today: the strait of Hormuz. Just over 20 nautical miles from Ras Al Khaimah, two oil tankers heading for the strait were attacked by Iranian missiles this week, one catching fire.
It is one of the many consequences facing Gulf states as they are pulled deeper into a war that they did not start and had diplomatically tried to prevent.
For decades, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman have allowed US military bases, infrastructure or access on their soil, and have been among the largest buyers of American weapons and technology. In return, the US has stood as the Gulf’s closest and most significant military partner and protector.
But now, Gulf states have growing concerns over the relationship, analysts say, after Donald Trump was seen to wilfully torpedo peaceful diplomatic negotiations in favour of starting a war in the Middle East.
How are the bribes to the child rapist paying out? I see you are recieving bombs in exchange to the “payments” you made to Mango Hitler. I suppose it was the expected result? Bombs for money, isn’t it?
Good. You need to keep getting bombs.
The Zionists paid more.
This is possibly the one thing that will get Cheeto to pay attention. OPEC oil boys getting mad
Not after he declares himself Acting President of Iran
Nah, they’re learning the lesson that they should have learned the first time he was president. He will stab EVERYONE in the back. No one is safe from him backstabbing if he thinks it’ll get him something better.
This is what happens when you outsource defence to a nation that has never acted altruisticly towards an ally (except Israel).
Was it Kissinger who said something along the line of “USA has no permanent allies or enemies, only interests.”
KSA: “Yeah I defnitley didn’t do nothing just like Israel over there. I don’t even know what an Iran is”
Maybe stop allowing America to use your country as bases to terrorize and control your neighbors?
They fucking love America. How do you think they can move $100 million cargo ships full of oil around on a daily basis!
You were talking about a bunch of dictatorships that use their Neighbor slave labor to suck oil out of the ground and concentrate trillions of dollars in the hands of a few people
They didn’t start it because they’re cowards who have America and Israel do their dirty work.
Let me cry crocodile tears and play the worlds smallest violin for the poor lil ole petrol states
Those countries have been directly funding Donald Trump and are all littered with American bases. They are absolutely involved.
I met several US Navy servicemen when I was living there.
The beatings will continue until America is great again. Apparently the strategy is to lower the bar on what “great” means by dragging the entire rest of then world down.
MBS and other Gulf dictators were begging Trump and Israel to attack Iran. They are now being served a good example of FAFO. In particular, I hope MBS and MBZ go down in flames. They are the worst of this inhuman scum.
They should make the pertinent conclusion that US bases don’t protect them, that US is only standing by Israel.
Those bases were originally built to protect them from soviet imperialism
Now its being used to forward Israeli imperialism.
The irony.
Those bases were built to protect oligarchs economic interests, nothing more.
originally built to protect them from soviet imperialism
Uhh, citation needed? Maybe a little bit during the cold war but I think it was the Gulf War that did the trick. Everyone looks at it through the hindsight of a seal clubbing victory but that’s not how it looked going in. Saddam’s military was legitimately terrifying and the US wasn’t sure how Desert Storm would shake out.
After ‘91, you clearly wanted to be on the US’ good side. They decided if you were safe or if you were a target. If you stayed in power or if the opposition-of-the-day (Arab Spring, ISIS, CIA, regional enemy) toppled your government.
The US started building bases in the region starting in 1946.
But the thing with bases is they are useful in many ways. There are rarely single purpose.
Fuck. Them.
Seriously tho 🤣 Iran bombed the fuck out of them and now they can’t sell oil. Sorry I can’t find my compassion for the petrostate dictators. May they lose all their ill gotten gains.
You lie down with dogs, you get fleas.
If you don’t like being a target, get the US bases out.
Every single one of you were buddy buddy with Trump to America’s detriment. I don’t give a single shit what happens to you.
