I said before in one of my articles that Mr. Fahmi Huwaidi does not miss any opportunity to speak ill of the United Arab Emirates, using his well-known skill and professional experience. And yesterday, the writer published an article in which he addressed the case of the strategic weaknesses from which the Arab world suffers, and this is an indisputable fact. But he was putting his basic idea aside in many of the article’s parts, to make negative allusions to the United Arab Emirates, although he deals in his article with a vital issue, which should make him rise above all these trivial things to focus instead on a more substantive debate and respect the mentality of the readers.
In an article entitled “The Arab world is threatened in his frontiers and existence”, which Huwaidi started by a news published by the newspaper “Al Quds Al Arabi” about a lecture given by Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Washington early last January, where the newspaper, which is known for its tendency and continuous keenness on speaking ill about the UAE for reasons and considerations that are not the subject of discussion in this place, claimed that the UAE Ambassador, “revealed the existence of a large US military base in his country that has three thousand US soldiers, and all operations carried out by US warships in the region run from the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai “.
And because from the beginning, the paper lacked professional objective criteria, it has drafted a stark headline that has nothing to do with the content of the news, and interpreted the paragraphs of the lecture according to its whims, claiming that the UAE Ambassador hinted in his speech about extremism to the Salafi Wahhabi ideology prevailing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (!) And, therefore, the newspaper has caused, in turn, a writer of the size of Fahmi Huwaidi to fall in the trap of its cheap propaganda, even though he was supposed, as a veteran author, to document such serious strategic information to the original source, which is the lecture itself, since it is posted on several sites on the “Internet” and is no secret at all. But a desire to trap the UAE may have overcome the man while he grabbed his pen, so he considered that the news is valuable information upon which he built his idea and put it at the top of the article, considering it a base to the article, while the newspaper article is just disinformation that is contrary to the truth, or at best an unforgivable translation error. Here the writer made a mistake that is worth one thousand, as the saying goes (The saying states that a mistake from a smart man is worth one thousand mistakes).
I wanted to let Mr. Huwaidi look himself for the origin of what the UAE Ambassador said in Washington, but my confidence in that this will not happen made me put my translation of the exact text of this part of the lecture in front of the readers, noting that the lecture itself is available to anyone who wants to see it. The Ambassador Otaiba said in the text of his lecture on the strategic ties between his country and the American side:
“The Emirates and the United States are united to make the world safer. By working closely with the United States and international partners, the United Arab Emirates demonstrate its commitment to confront and eradicate terrorism in the Middle East. And in addition to joint military operations, we are also the starting point for military tasks to the United States in the region, and we host more than 3,000 US military at this moment, and the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai is the most widely used by American ships outside the United States. This cooperation is evidence of the strong ties that bind our two countries. “
It is known that there is a huge difference between the Ambassador saying -or bragging as claimed by sites of the Muslim Brotherhood – that we have a military base, and his actual saying that we are a starting point to military tasks against extremist and terrorist organizations, and that we are hosting troops according to the agreements of military cooperation between States, noting also that we are not hosting American forces only. Due to relations of military cooperation with various friendly countries of the world, we are hosting other military forces such as, for example, the sister Arab Republic of Egypt, whose valiant military forces are present in the UAE for some periods during the joint maneuvers and military exercises, and this is something we are proud of in the UAE by virtue of the brotherly relations we have with Egypt.
There is a very important point as well, regarding the fact that the content of this lecture has nothing to do with the basic idea in Huwaidi’s article, which is an absurd argument, which floats at times and fades other times, about the hierarchy of power and influence in the Arab world. The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, did not mention at all his country’s role or position in the Arab world and there was no room for that in his lecture, but rather he dealt extensively and clearly with the foundations of the strategic relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America!! I –personally- do not know why Huwaidi has thrown this lecture, specifically, in his article?!
Mr. Huwaidi says, after having shown opinion articles that solely reflect the convictions of their authors, that there is an inevitable truth that must be acknowledged, according to his point of view, – that “Egypt has become smaller while other countries have become bigger,” and these are also words of his own that engage no one except him. Egypt has not become smaller -as he pretends- regardless of strategic weights relative to the rest of the Arab parties and forces. The internal problems experienced by our sister Egypt do not mean it has become smaller or diminished compared to other regional powers. The strategic positions of all countries differ in calculation from the standard of “size,” they rather are subject to precise standards that make this State exercise its traditional role or withdraw from it, or sometimes this role erodes under pressure from various internal problems. But the relative weight of countries does not “get smaller,” as Huwaidi says. Their customary strategic impact may even freeze momentarily due to certain circumstances, and their role may decline tactically depending on these circumstances, but all that does not mean the end of the role or its downfall in the regional and international geo-strategic calculations.
I’m not here in a position to defend the role of a State of the size and value and prestige of sisterly Egypt, nor to compare its vital impact at the regional level with other Arab countries. Egypt will remain the heart of the Arab world and its center of gravity, regardless of any convictions or strategic calculations be they transient or permanent. But what concerns me here is the keenness of the writer on speaking ill of the UAE, towards which I am sure, he feels hostility, malice and hatred, for the only reason that the UAE stood like a stumbling block in the face of the exploitation by terrorist organizations and ideological extremism of the situation in some Arab countries, and their attempt to steal power in these countries for the sake of achieving the goals of these groups and currents.
I –personally- feel intense pity towards the desire of Huwaidi to offend the UAE and to try to distort its image, regardless of the contradiction of this with the facts and information he tries to delude readers that he relied upon in his findings and his writings. The man, for example, jumps on the documented official statistics on Universal armament, which puts other Gulf States in a higher rank than the United Arab Emirates in the import of weapons for the year 2014, which is, by the way, legitimate. But I report it for debate and for proving the ill intentions of the writer, who completely avoids to mention the name of any other Gulf or Arab countries, except the UAE, when speaking of arms and import of weapons and elements of power and influence, according to his point of view!!
I wish Huwaidi –and others- could wake up from their slumber, and pay attention to the seriousness of what is happening in the Arab world -plots and regional and international plans of division, in which his Iranian friends have a long history and pivotal role, and that he supports his Arabism and nationalism and rises above all pettiness, and does not promote the goals of States and groups that harbor only evil to Arab peoples , of which millions were displaced worldwide, because of the ambitions and aspirations of these countries and groups, which Huwaidi knows well.
