UAE Strongman Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Named New President

DUBAI: UAE strongman Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed named new president

United Arab Emirates strongman Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who was formally elected president on Saturday, led a realignment of the Middle East that created a new anti-Iran axis with Israel and fought a rising tide of political Islam in the region.

Working behind the scenes for years as de facto leader, Sheikh Mohammed, 61, transformed the UAE military into a high-tech force, which coupled with its oil wealth and business hub status, extended Emirati influence internationally.

Mohammed began wielding power in a period when his half-brother President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, who died on Friday, suffered bouts of illness, including a stroke in 2014.

The council, which groups the rulers of the seven emirates of the UAE federation, elected Sheikh Mohammed, known as MbZ, a day after the death of his half-brother, President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, who was also ruler of Abu Dhabi.

“We congratulate him and pledge allegiance to him as do our people...and the entire country will follow his leadership to glory,” Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also UAE vice-president and premier, said in a Twitter post.

MbZ, 61, had already been wielding power for years in a period when Sheikh Khalifa suffered bouts of illness, including a stroke in 2014.

MbZ, as he is known, was driven by a "certain fatalistic line of thinking" that Gulf Arab rulers could no longer rely on their main supporter the United States, according to former U.S. envoy to the UAE Barbara Leaf, especially after Washington abandoned Egypt's Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 Arab Spring.

He becomes president at a time when the UAE’s long-standing ties with the United States have been visibly strained over perceived U.S. disengagement from its Gulf allies’ security concerns.

MbZ led a realignment of the Middle East that created a new anti-Iran axis with Israel. He also bolstered the military might of the UAE which, coupled with its oil wealth and business hub status, extended Emirati influence in the region and beyond.