Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Articles & Testimony
The relationship is being tested, and the knock-on effects could roil the region from the sands of Libya to the Strait of Hormuz.
One of the “givens” of the new Middle East has been the close personal relationship between Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the richest emirate in the UAE. Crucially for Washington, their views on regional issues overlap considerably (although not totally) with those of the White House. But things may be changing. This week the focus is on Yemen, where Saudi and UAE policy are no longer on the same page. Hence, there was considerable attention paid yesterday when MbZ visited Mecca...