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Tribune News Network
Doha
The UAE's ambassador in Washington told the country's United Nations ambassador that the global body"won't be very important for the next four years" ” an apparent reference to the election of President Donald Trump, according to a hacked January email exchange released to Newsweek.
The exchange with Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE's ambassador to the UN, will fuel rights groups' concerns that the president's"America First" doctrine is eroding support for the United Nations and allowing Middle East allies to forfeit accountability at the global level, at least in the short term.
In an email dated January 19, Nusseibeh sends her analysis of the Senate confirmation of US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to a slew of top Emirati government officials, including Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan and Anwar Gargash, UAE state minister for foreign affairs. But she did not include Yousef al Otaiba, the UAE's envoy to Washington, and promptly forwarded it to him with the message,"just realised forgot to copy the most important person!"
He replied,"No worries. The UN won't be very important for the next four years," alongside a smiley face emoji.
Nusseibeh responded, also with a smiley face:"So I can relax while you work over-hard?"
However, Otaiba and Nusseibeh had not responded to a request for comment.
