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Opinion
Opinion UAE
Thursday, September 24, 2026

Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum: Columnists Mark His Legacy

Lead:

Editorial writers across UAE publications are confronting a sprawling agenda: the machinations of great powers at the United Nations, the human and technological disruptions reshaping society, expressions of regional solidarity and mourning, and the persistent challenge of maintaining institutional confidence in the face of shifting political winds. These pieces span geopolitical strategy, social policy, cultural memory, and the philosophy of human progress in an age of accelerating machine intelligence.

Voices & Positions:

In Al Khaleej, one columnist examines the Trump administration's apparent strategy to undermine multilateral institutions, arguing that the United States is waging a campaign against the United Nations because it refuses to align with American interests. This confrontation, the writer suggests, represents a troubling pivot toward unilateral power projection at the expense of collective governance frameworks that have structured international relations for decades.

Separately in Al Khaleej, another writer explores the existential challenge posed by artificial intelligence to human self-perception, contending that machine learning has shattered one of humanity's most foundational assumptions—that human beings alone possess genuine creativity and intellectual superiority. The writer frames this as a profound philosophical wound requiring urgent ethical reflection.

In Al Khaleej, a third columnist reflects on the death of Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, marking his legacy as a steadfast patron of Emirati sport and community welfare, portraying him as a figure whose absence leaves an indelible historical gap in the nation's institutional memory.

Multiple Al Khaleej writers celebrate recent policy directives from Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, approving housing support requests and salary increases for citizens—interpreting these acts as exemplary governance rooted in direct human concern for family welfare.

Tension & Convergence:

The columnists converge on a shared anxiety about institutional legitimacy—whether those institutions are the United Nations, artificial intelligence systems, or traditional hierarchies of human authority. They diverge sharply between those focused on geopolitical competition and those preoccupied with technological disruption, though both groups share concern about humanity's capacity to retain agency and moral coherence amid systemic change.

Editorial Takeaway:

The dominant voice today is one of measured alarm: systems that once seemed stable—international law, human exceptionalism, institutional trust—are fracturing simultaneously, demanding both defensive postures and philosophical reckoning.

UAE Brief

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