you know what, fair enough about the UAE the fact that you have actually lived there makes you far more qualified than me to comment, I’m Turkish Cypriot and know more about the Middle East than most western commentators although I am by no means an expert.
Tell me if I am wrong, but the UAE practices a similar Whabi (Saudi born and fostered) influenced way of ruling, is that not the case? Are they not politically influenced by the Saudis? Is my assertion that they are little more than a satellite state of the Saudis far off?
politically I know more about the Qatari’s. And I honestly think they can’t be compared, although in some ways it’s still a medieval regime… but that says more about how bad the Saudis are.
Fair enough, but I'm not suggesting you know less about the UAE because you haven't lived there - anyone can have an informed view on anything, imo.
It's just that it doesn't align with my understanding of the UAE's stance, which is a bit more nuanced than being Riyadh's catspaw.
The UAE's governance system is based on Islamic jurisprudence, like every other GCC country. But they've had to adopt a less rigid interpretation of that than Saudi Arabia, because of their circumstances - in SA, the Royal Family has had to battle the Wahhabis and (before them) other flavors of religious fundamentalists for a century or so in the court of public opinion, with many Saudis feeling, implicitly or explicitly, that the royal family is illegitimate. To keep them onside, the Saudis have enforced strict interpretations of Islamic law - with varying success, and even as other royal family members openly flout that same Islamic law.
The UAE also has ruling families, but three things make it a little different - firstly, the country only rose to global prominence in the 1990s, and as late as 1999, Dubai was still a collection of in-construction high-rises on a dusty coastal road. Secondly, their oil reserves won't last as long as Saudi Arabia's. Thirdly, the native Emirati population is incredibly small as a proportion of the country's total population - maybe 10% or so, with the rest being immigrants.
In light of these factors, the UAE adopted a governance model that was basically as autocratic as Saudi Arabia, but with a veneer of openness in order to become a tourist, travel and finance hub for the GCC region. All the cruelty, torture of prisoners and murder of journalists that underlies Saudi Arabia' s governance exists in the UAE - it's just more hidden from public view, and Westerners are shown a limited slice of the country to keep them onside, like the beaches and resorts of Dubai where Islamic law isn't enforced as strictly (while in neighboring Sharjah, a few kilometres away, it absolutely is).
As for foreign policy, in the mid-2000s, the UAE made a major play to lead the GCC region, often butting up against Riyadh. That was when they were flying high pre- financial crisis. Since 2008, they've fallen in line with SA on geopolitics since they share common enemies (Iran) and interests (preservation of GCC and Sunni influence in the world and the wider Middle East). But it's more like the relationship between, say, the UK and the US, than a true client state relationship - common interests, common alliances, but not identical by any means.
