1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
India electionsIranIsrael-Hamas war
Politics

The Rival Princes of the Gulf

September 30, 2019

A generational change has taken place in the three most important monarchies along the Persian Gulf.

https://p.dw.com/p/3QVJD
Katar Doha Scheich Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/O. Faisal

The new rulers in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar have dangerously shifted the political balance in this highly militarized Region.

The changes at the heads of the three royal houses brought three of the richest and most powerful men in the world to their respective thrones. They brutally suppress any form of opposition and wage an almost ridiculous ego war against each other.

The first to come to power was the 39 year old Qatari emir Tamim Al Thani. An enthusiastic amateur sportsman, he controls the BeIN media group, the world's largest transmission network for sporting events. This has enabled him to bring the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar, to the envy of his neighbors, who accuse him of supporting Islamist groups and maintaining too close a relationship with Iran.

The Qatari leader faces two opponents: Mohammed Bin Salman (34 years old, called MBS for short), the ambitious Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who has involved his country in a bloody war in Yemen. In order to press his claim to regional leadership, MBS enlisted the support of an ally and mentor: Mohammed Ben Zayed (58, known as MBZ), Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Regent of the United Arab Emirates. MBZ is a clever military strategist who has rebuilt his small country into the most important military power of the Arabian Peninsula.

While their fathers and grandfathers settled their disputes in the discreet silence of their Bedouin tents, today's rulers are prone to resolving their conflicts through cyber attacks, economic blockades and military threats. 

 

Broadcasting Hours: 

DW English

WED 27.11.2019 – 01:15 UTC
WED 27.11.2019 – 05:15 UTC
THU 28.11.2019 – 09:19 UTC
SAT 30.11.2019 – 02:15 UTC
SUN 01.12.2019 – 08:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 
San Francisco UTC -8 | Edmonton UTC -7 | New York UTC -5
London UTC +0 | Berlin UTC +1 | Moscow UTC +3


DW Deutsch+

THU, 28.11.2019 - 09:15 UTC
SUN 01.12.2019 – 08:15 UTC 

Vancouver UTC -8 | New York UTC -5 | Sao Paulo UTC -3