https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/10/uae-syria-agree-on-plans-to-enhance-economic-cooperation
The United Arab Emirates have been aggressively working recently to re-establish positive and valuable diplomatic connections and influence with the government in Damascus. With the Civil War in Syria began in 2011, the ethnically Arab nations in the region jointly severed diplomatic ties with Syria. Among the non-Arab states, the President of Turkey became an ardent backer of the rebels while Iran and Russia notably supported Assad. In 2018, in the wake of the Civil War, with it being evident that Assad will remain in control, the UAE reopened its diplomatic mission, followed by a non-oil trade deal worth billions in 2021, and now with a meeting of the two economic ministers for future cooperation. I think this is very blatant, nonetheless good, diplomacy and politicking by the UAE. The UAE is a country very heavily reliant on its economy, and therefore trade, with few natural resources besides oil, and a smaller military. To quickly realign with Assad to an extent, so as to reestablish trade, and importantly not stand consistently opposed to Russia and Iran especially when it is unneeded seems more than logical. I do suspect there is more behind this that has propagated this move by the UAE from its larger ally Saudi Arabia who does not need unnecessary conflict between a country in their bloc and a weakened vacuum state for longer than it has already been. This is a fantastic example of Realpolitik that is very often mentioned in class. The concept coming from Bismarck and later heavily adopted by modern classical liberals such as Macron, it is the notion that ideology is irrelevant and countries work to their best interest, particularly at given times that may conflict with each other in an ideological sense. The UAE followed with the fellow Arab states, who are their allies, in their severing of ties with Assad, simply to reopen communication when it was evident he had one and there were things to be gained from diplomacy. I also believe this ties to the idea of state vs nation, and the Arab nation, regardless of state, clearly works together consistently because of their shared ethnicity.