The United Arab Emirates’ decision to spend more than $4 billion on 436 French made Leclerc tanks shows how a little, ultra-rich nation goes about trying to buy friends to protect it from the threatening behavior of big, bad neighbors.
In the case of the emirates, that neighbor is Iran. A few months ago, Iran occupied all of Abu Musa Island, which it had shared with the United Arab Emirates since 1971. Tensions rose, but there was nothing the little emirates could do militarily.
In all, the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, all of which are nervous over Iraq and Iran, have spent more than $40 billion in the past few years on new arms. They have been careful to spread those purchases among several suppliers with the United States, France and Britain getting the lion’s share. Those three formed the backbone of the international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait, a GCC member.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 19, 1993
