The Ukraine conflict allows the UAE to pull Syria's Assad in from the cold

Since its military participation in the Syrian civil war in September 2015, one of Russia's main foreign policy objectives has been to persuade Gulf Arab monarchs to recognise the survival of Syrian President Bashar al-government Assad and its "legitimacy."

A slew of recent events in Gulf-Syrian ties, most notably al-visit Assad's to the United Arab Emirates, show that Russia's policy has been highly effective.<....