johnny crossan wrote:Bit of bile about us by Jack Pitt Brooke in his Athletic article about English football's lack of scruples - maybe someone should write one about his -
When Everton played Manchester City on Saturday, the gestures of the players — and fans — were important and inspirational. But look up at the backers of those two clubs: Manchester City are owned by Sheikh Mansour, part of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi who run the UAE. His brothers include Mohammed bin Zayed, the effective ruler, Tahnoun bin Zayed, the UAE national security advisor and Abdullah bin Zayed, the minister of foreign affairs. And despite lobbying from US secretary of state Anthony Blinken to Abdullah bin Zayed last week, the UAE abstained from the vote condemning Russia at the United Nations security council last Friday. The UAE did however vote for a motion to censure Russia at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday evening.
It's a fair point to make, and to be fair to the reporter, the bare facts have been reported without opinion (in the bit you've shared anyway).
Most residents of UAE I know were pretty shocked. A few days later it seems to have became apparent what was going on. Over the weekend, Russia voted positively (after abstaining on many similar votes) regarding a resolution which will likely be the final nail in the coffin of the Houthis in Yemen.
UAE's abstention made zero difference to the outcome of the vote on Russia, as Russia were always going to veto it. However Russia's vote on Yemen is significant and surprising in terms of Middle-East conflicts, as historically Russia has aligned itself with the Shia countries / client states of Iran.
Murky world of politics