Speaking on the role of the emirates in the geopolitical market place, Khanna, Fellow and Director of Global Governance Initiative at the New America Foundation, a non-partisan, public policy institute in Washington DC, termed the UAE "a meeting point for first world European technology and third world labour".

"The UAE has a culture of Eurasia. It is a story of foreign legacies blended with indigenous power structures in a post-colonial world. It is also a success story of globalisation, which is rare in post-colonial countries," said Khanna, who was a geopolitical advisor to the United States Special Operations Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007.

Signing his first book, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order, the author who has travelled to over 50 countries observed, "These (50) second-tier countries are shaping the world as much as the three superpowers — the US, European Union and China."

"Countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq and Iran are actively trying to shape the region," said Khanna, adding that the second world was the best thing that happened to the "Third World countries".

"China and the UAE are huge investors in Africa and Latin America," he said, stressing on the active role of Dubai in North Africa and the UAE being a major donor to Afghanistan.

The analyst said it was highly likely that the US would come up with a "bold and new solution" for the Israeli-Palestine conflict in the next one year. However, he remarked, it was interesting that Arab countries were coming closer to the Palestinian authority which in the longer run may effect a positive change.

Emphasising that the US could survive another recession, Khanna said, "We don't know how long it will take to recover."

He also discarded theories that the power balance was shifting away from the traditional bastions like the US, EU and China, but said there was a natural equilibrium and a plurality in powers.

The author also categorically dismissed possibilities of nuking Iran, saying "all these threats are retaliatory". The Democrat supporter added if Barack Obama wins the US presidential elections, there would be room for serious face-to-face negotiations between the US and Iran.