By Syed Ali Mujtaba
India, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates have initiated a Mid-East Quad on October 19, 2021. This move was to mark the first anniversary of the Abraham Accord that was signed between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain in August 2020. The Abraham accord marks a significant departure in Arab world politics and is seen as a step to accommodate Israel in the larger matrix of the gulf region.
Since then, Israel and the UAE have become good partners and both enjoy good relations with India and the U.S. The US wields considerable influence over India, Israel, and the UAE and shares many common interests that facilitated the formation of the Mid- East Quad.
In a cooperative set-up, the four nations have put their synergies together with the UAE having the capital, Israel and the US having the technological edge, and India having the manufacturing and execution capabilities.
However, the primary reason for the creation of the Mid-East Quad is to meet challenges from China which is not just military but political and economic as well. The US is now actively involved in responding to China’s challenge in multiple regions and the formation of the Indo-Pacific Quad and AUKUS and the Mideast Quad is the chain reflective of this fact.
Both Indo-Pacific Quad and the Mid-East Quad are a reflection that the U.S. is gearing up for a broader struggle with China and looking for partners that go beyond meeting China’s direct military pressure.
India too wants to contain China and is a partner to the US and others in the Indo-Pacific Quad. The Mid-East Quad connects New Delhi with Israel UAE and the US the key nations on its western front i.e. the gulf region.
The curious fact is China’s relationship with both Israel and the UAE had been growing even though both are close U.S. allies. The broader expansion of China’s political and economic influence in the Gulf region has made both Israel and the UAE albeit the US pressured to join the Mid-East Quad. They are also discussing political cooperation in the region on many global issues including having maritime cooperation.
However, the formation of the Mid-East Quad has non-security reasons as well. The Mid –East Quad countries are working together more closely on economic growth and discussing future opportunities for expanding economic cooperation through trade. The Mid-East Quad also seems to lay emphasis on climate change and Covid-19 and a common thread among them is people-to-people ties in technology and science.
This is reflected in the setting up of two working groups, one on religious coexistence apparently to mellow down the Israel-Palestine conflict, a UAE’s idea, and on water management and energy cooperation an Israeli idea.
In a kaleidoscopic strategic environment, India is situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean with its sea borders opening to the two areas that can bridge them in association with the US. India is likely to be a restraining force in the Mid-East Quad and is less likely to get too deep into local rivalries, focusing on cooperation in areas like; energy, health, economics and climate change, etc.
This is because the geopolitical situation in the Middle East is a web of complexities. The UAE is a close ally of Saudi Arabia, but the does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Inevitably, any cooperation of the four countries of the Mid-East Quad may include Saudi Arabia as the unseen guest. But any such happening will jeopardize Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in the Islamic world.
And there is the Turkey factor where Ankara is trying to emerge as a rival center of political Islam reclaiming the pre-World War I role as the Caliphate. As a result, Saudi Arabia and Turkey’s rivalry continue.
The conflict in Yemen sees the UAE and Saudi Arabia ranged on one side supporting the government there, while Qatar and Iran are backing the Houthi rebels in the ongoing civil war.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have a measure of hostility towards Qatar, so is Israel that too has similar complaints about Qatar. Then there are the conflicts in the region like in Syria, which is supported by Russia and Iran but opposed by the US and Saudi Arabia.
India has stayed aloof of the conflicts trying to maintain some neutrality keeping bridges to Iran, Qatar, and Iran.
Even though the Mid – East Quad recognizes that regional security has become ever-more complex, that’s testing all the countries individually and together in such geopolitical environment promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law among the countries may be a tall order.
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com
What do you smoke Mr.Mujtaba ??
” The UAE is a close ally of Saudi Arabia, but does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. ”
What were the Abraham Accords all about ??
Uae and Israel already have a half a billion in trade since they formalised ties last year.
Reuters and AP news published a story about change in UAE laws about non-Muslim marriages, I like media to seek clarifications about the new law. Pls clarify the law for better understanding, I am disappointed in the way news is being reported by reporters. The main effort is to reduce islamophobia but this also covers up the facts as they are. Unless media is made accountable for incomplete or fake news we cannot see future of news and media. It is media responsibility to ask right questions and when they print story incomplete then they are actually misleading people.
I recall NDTV had also invited a princess from UAE to speak on hinduphobia and saffron terrorism but does NDTV have no shame that they have no morality to setup a interview to ask these questions to the same princess of UAE. What kind of selective and biased media age we are living in. If same law was changed in India by Modi govt then media will tear apart the Indian govt but when it comes to middle east and muslim news they are so silent.
Sharia law interprets several passages of the Qur’an to mean that marriage should be restricted to only those of the Muslim faith, including Qur’an 2.221 and 5.72-6. In other words non-Muslim marriages were considered illegal as per Islam.
As per Shariah Law a Muslim women cannot marry a non-Muslim and so this is not permitted. And so what changes done in this law to allow Muslim women marry non-Muslims freely and legally. And since marriage between Muslim women to non-Muslim was not permitted then what changes done in this law to legalize the child born to Muslim women with a non-Muslim man.
And however while Muslim women were totally not permitted to marry non-Muslim men as per Shariah law, vice versa is allowed but with a caveat. In other words as per Shariah a Muslim man can marry a non-Muslim women but such a women under shariah will have status of a mistress unless she converts to Islam and her children born out of such a marriage will not have full rights. So what changes have been made to law via the new law to change the status of non-Muslim women married to Muslims under the new law. So under the new law does she and her children have right to inheritance of the the Muslim man.
Has the new law made any efforts to equalize the Muslim and non-Muslim women or does it only have cosmetic value for economic benefits to the state. It is the job of media to interpret news in correct prospective not report for ignorant to misunderstand the law.
Furthermore as per Shariah the Muslim women marrying Muslim men can marry only once the guardian or parent of the girl provides permission for the marriage but we have seen in Muslim countries in the case of marriage of non-Muslim women with a Muslim Man there is no need for permission from parents or guardians of non-Muslim women which allows room for persecution and rape of non-Muslim women. Has this law made any efforts to change this and make this equal for marriage to non-Muslim women.
We would be interested to know if this law is meant to modernize the state or only cosmetic change meant to benefit economically from the lucrative income of non-Muslim marriages.
I am particularly concerned about the wording “harm done to be proved in court of law”, so if a non-Muslim women comes with a complaint against a Muslim man in its courts how can she prove harm done there are no guidelines under shariah law only men can be witness to harm done but not females. So this law does not fix issues rather it is open to interpretation of the court of law.
And it is not that marriages were not happening between non-Muslim but the embassy of India was giving Marriage certificates to such marriages, but now UAE court also can give such marriage certificate. So this is monetary benefit again to state.
If after 1400 year of Islam only cosmetic changes done only then not a big change so why is all media saying this is unprecedented change.
In 1999 Indian billionaires spent almost 100 billion in just 32 wedding events in Turkey this has sparked the eyes of all nations who want to benefit from this marriage tourism, so why not govt give incentives to our billionaires and millionaires to marry in India so that money benefits Indian economy. I am disappointed at our media and journalists are not deliver news in correct prospective rather hiding facts to the public.
India is the least important nation in this self declared quartet of crooks. What are Hindus going to bring to the table, cow sh1t patties? Israel is a terrorist state along with its American sugar daddy.