France’s Abu Dhabi military outpost 16, March 2009
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Random.Tags: Abu Dhabi, France, military base, UAE
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The opening date for France’s new military base in the UAE has been announced. President Sarkozy will inaugurate the base in Abu Dhabi in May this year. Whilst it was reported some time ago, the opening date was something of a mystery until now. This is an important strategic move for both sides. For France, it assures their presence in a crucial and volatile part of the world, in addition to supplying supplying the UAE with military materiel. For the UAE, being less than 50 miles away from an often bellicose Iran at the closest point (not forgetting their borders with vastly larger Saudi Arabia), this will be seen as a hard security guarantee. This is a region, after all, that has seen three major wars in the last 20 years.
The Gulf blog 
[…] it must be remembered, set up a military base in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, overlooking the Straits of Hormuz. For sure, a significant […]