Dear Mallick,
You touch a very sensitive nerve, and I can speak to it. I was resident in the UAE for ten years (2006-2016).
The rulers' posture of power under the US umbrella was PR lingo, designed to reassure investment in their desert. As a geopolitical observer I was flabbergasted that they did not push a single button. ZERO reply to aggression. Friends still living there called me. I joked that they should pull their uniforms out of the cardboard. They are not the courageous type. They shiver at every "fallen debris", as the missiles that missed their target were called.
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Your analysis is clear. The US are brilliant salesmen. They sell beautiful aggressive hardware the buyer is not authorised to use.
By luck for Europeans, this comes at the moment Belgium, Switzerland, and Spain decided to stop or cancel their F-35 acqisition, an absurdly expensive gadget, once they discovered they would need US authorisation every time they wanted to upgrade the navigation software.
They were shocked. Now they are watching it play out live in the Gulf.
Americans are excellent second-hand car salesmen. We all forgot how they brag, selling an old Chevrolet for a Ferrari.
