Zayed beat all odds
“The true legacy of Shaikh Zayed was not just in investing in building a modern El Dorado. It was in bringing the federation to life under extremely difficult circumstances and against great odds.
“The remarkable feat of the federation was achieved in a highly unstable regional environment. And how a visionary leader once described as “dreaming and [unable to] tell the difference between fantasy and reality” and the country whose formation (in 1971) appeared to the world as “the launching of a wealthy but militarily defenceless and politically underdeveloped mini-state into a sea of troubles whose survival could be seen as an exercise in long odds” emerged successful is an amazing story.
“When London announced that British forces would leave the Gulf by 1971, Shaikh Zayed spearheaded a plan to unite the nine major emirates that fell under British suzerainty. In the event, Bahrain and Qatar went their separate ways, but Shaikh Zayed managed to unite the seven remaining emirates.
“The 1968-1971 period was probably one of the most difficult in Shaikh Zayed’s distinguished career, as he cajoled, persuaded, forgave and promoted the creation of a federation that became the UAE on December 2, 1971. Shaikh Zayed was saddened to hear experts doubting the nascent country’s survival beyond a few months or years. Few thought that this experiment would succeed, allegedly because internal and regional rivalries were so acute that they would tear the nascent state apart.
“With the British announcement in 1968 of their plans to withdraw from the Gulf by 1971, Shaikh Zayed became the union’s most forceful voice in Arab and international media.
“His message, widely reported in the Arab and international press, was confident and optimistic, notwithstanding his country’s lack of the most rudimentary prerequisites of a modern state.
“In hindsight, not only has the federation survived and prospered, it also attained heretofore unheard of levels of stability and prosperity, in large part due to Shaikh Zayed’s policies.”