Middle East

A Military Power Rises in the Mideast, Courtesy of One Man

From the Switzerland of the Persian Gulf to its Sparta, is how one Western official describes the transformation. It’s one full of risks, because the U.A.E.’s business model has largely worked -- turning it from a $50 billion economy in 1990 to the Arab world’s second-largest after Saudi Arabia, with output of $400 billion last year.

From Dubai skyscrapers, Citigroup and Uber run regional hubs. Abu Dhabi, where Sheikh Mohamed holds court, has Ferrari World and branches of New York University and Paris’s Sorbonne; Guggenheim and Louvre museums are under construction.