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Flashmag August 2020 www.flashmag.net
The United Arab Emirates, made up of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Sharjah, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras el Khaïmah and Oumm al Qaïwaïn, united around a federation with the city of Abu Dhabi as federal capital.
Despite the wealth of the emirates, the population of original Emiratis since the 1970s has not grown much, in 2018 the United Arab Emirates had 9,701,315 inhabitants. However, the UN estimates that 90% of the population is made up of immigrants.
While the oil windfall has made this small country a state that counts in the sub-region, it remains extremely dependent on Western sponsors like the United States or the former colonizing power Great Britain, from which it buys at a high price, defense systems.
Likewise, to preserve their interests, it happens that the countries of the Gulf and the Middle East in general try through well-placed lobbying to influence governments of Western countries. Thus, the Jewish Lobby is very influential in the politics of the United States, Israel often counts on its diaspora in the United States to contribute financially to facilitate the election of candidates who have a program which guarantees the consolidation and the expansion of the State of Israel in the Middle East.
In the same logic the diplomacy of money is not negligible. Also, by buying important shares of Western companies, countries of the Middle East make themselves essential in the economic fabric of Western nations. This is the case for example from Qatar which for several years has been investing heavily in France, controlling the medias, and sports entities such as the emblematic club of the French capital, Paris St Germain.
The coming years will be the scene of major demographic changes, likely to increase the risks of tensions and crises around the world. Migratory flows, increasing urbanization of the planet, pressure on natural resources (water, energy, food resources), aging of the population, could indeed fuel the conflicts of tomorrow.
Along these lines, an American study aimed at redefining US policy in the face of population growth and access to resources was adopted. The National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests (NSSM200) was completed on December 10, 1974 by the National Security Council of the United States under the direction of Henry Kissinger. The proposals in this study were adopted as official US policy, by US President Gerald Ford, in November 1975. The secret document has become available since the 1990s.
Berlin Wall
Lerone Pieters