cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar

[new2010]

Assalamualaikum,

what is happening in Qatar?

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/05/mi...ons/index.html

May Allah forbid Muslims devide and unite the Ummah.

[Zafran]

seems like the saudis, UAE, Egypt dont like Qatar.

[new2010]

Yes, Maledives and Bahrain either.

[Singularity]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/w...ates.html?_r=0

MIDDLE EAST

5 Arab States Break Ties With Qatar, Complicating U.S. Coalition-Building
By ANNE BARNARD and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICKJUNE 5, 2017
Doha, Qatar. Five Arab nations have suspended diplomatic relations with Qatar and ordered their citizens to leave the country. Credit Yoan Valat/European Pressphoto Agency
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Egypt, Saudi Arabia and three other Arab countries severed all ties with Qatar early Monday, in a renewal of a four-year effort to isolate it and in a sign of a new boldness after a visit to the region by President Trump.

In an abrupt and surprising move, the five Arab states not only suspended diplomatic relations, as they have in the past, but also cut off land, air and sea travel to and from Qatar. All but Egypt, which has many thousands of people working there, ordered their citizens to leave the country.

Qatar, like other monarchies in the Persian Gulf, is a close ally of Washington, and it hosts a major American military base that commands the United States-led air campaign against the Islamic State.

As such, the feud among regional allies threatens to stress the operations of the American-led coalition and complicate efforts in the region to confront Iran — but could also be a heavy blow to Tehran’s regional ambitions, if Qatar is forced to sever ties.


Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson offered to broker the impasse on Monday in the hope of preserving the Trump administration’s efforts to create broad coalitions against Iran and terrorist groups in the Middle East.

“We certainly would encourage the parties to sit down together and address these differences,” Mr. Tillerson said.

The severing of all connections by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen created an immediate crisis for Qatar. Qatari diplomats were given 48 hours to leave their posts in Bahrain, while Qatari citizens were allotted two weeks to depart Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

President Trump in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May. Mr. Trump’s strong support for the Saudis may have helped encourage other Sunni states to renew their campaign against Qatar. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Qatar, a relatively small country jutting into the Persian Gulf, has a border with Saudi Arabia and is vulnerable to its larger neighbor. It imports almost all of its food, about 40 percent of it directly from Saudi Arabia. Several residents, reached on the internet chat, said that people were stocking up on food and cash.

Air traffic was disrupted, with the United Arab Emirates suspending service to Qatar by its three carriers, Etihad Airways, Emirates and FlyDubai, beginning Tuesday morning. Qatar Airways was banned from Saudi airspace.

Saudi Arabia said it was taking the action to “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism.” The Foreign Ministry of Qatar released a statement saying the action had “no basis in fact” and was “unjustified.”

The Iranian government criticized the Saudi-led action against Qatar in a diplomatically worded rebuke. “Neighbors are permanent; geography can’t be changed,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on his Twitter account. “Coercion is never the solution,” Mr. Zarif said. “Dialogue is imperative, especially during blessed Ramadan.”

It was not immediately clear why the five countries decided to take this action now. Last month, Qatar’s state news media published comments attributed to the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, referring to tension with Washington over Iran policy and saying Mr. Trump might not be in power for long. Qatar denied the comments, saying it had been the victim of a “cybercrime.”

But most analysts pointed to President Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, Mr. Sayigh said that the new moves reflected a “bullishness” prompted by the Trump administration’s stances — on the confrontation with Iran and on a willingness to look the other way on human rights violations.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are getting “no U.S. pushback” on human rights or on the Yemen intervention, he said, while “Egypt also feels off the hook with Trump, and is using the opportunity to repair ties with the Saudis, reinforce with the Emiratis and be more assertive in Libya.”

But the move also creates potential complications for the United States — raising questions about whether the Trump administration knew it was happening; if they understood the pitfalls; if they attempted to counter it and could not.


By The New York Times
“The question is what if anything will this administration do about it?” said Randa Slim, a regional analyst at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “Was it forewarned and did not have the staffing needed to mount an intelligent pre-emptive action? Going forward, will the U.S. put brakes on the escalation path? Or let it move forward?”

She said that an escalation against Qatar was not a surprise given the brewing tension: “Regionally, the decks are stacked against Qatar. If denied U.S. support, the Qatari emir has no option but to back down.”

But the move carries perils for the other countries as well, Mr. Sayigh warned. “Cutting relations with Qatar suggests a worrying readiness to be assertive and belligerent,” he said. which masks the countries’ deeper problems and challenges and may prove to be a case of overreach.”

In another indication of how the Trump visit may have emboldened Gulf monarchies, Bahrain has cracked down on opposition from its Shiite majority over the last two weeks.

Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world, has used that wealth in recent years to play an outsize role in regional politics. It has often sought to be the honest broker, trying to mediate the region’s intractable conflicts. But just as often, it has ended up angering all sides.

Its actions are a study in contradictions. Qatar has good relations with Iran, but hosts the American air base, is helping to fight the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and supports insurgents against the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is backed by Tehran. And yet, the Qatari emir once gave Mr. Assad an Airbus plane.

Home to some Israeli officials, Qatar has also given refuge to Khaled Mashal, a leader of Hamas, the hard-line Islamist group in Gaza that advocates the destruction of Israel.

Tensions had been building for years, beginning with Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and through the broadcasts of the Pan-Arab news network Al Jazeera, which Qatar funds. Qatar’s rivals have also faulted it for condoning fund-raising for militant Islamist groups fighting in Syria, although several of the other Sunni-led monarchies in the region have played similar roles.

Photo

The Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar last year, home of the American-led air war against the Islamic State. Credit Tech. Sgt. Terrica Y. Jones/U.S. Air Force, via Reuters
Qatar’s opponents have recently added a third allegation to those grievances: that it is conspiring with their regional rival, Iran. That latest charge is especially striking given Qatar’s role in the fighting against the Houthis in Yemen and the Assad government.

Qatar has had its successes. It has taken an important back-channel role with Iran to defuse points of contention in the Syrian war. It has repeatedly brokered hostage and prisoner exchanges, paying millions of dollars to insurgent groups in the deals.

Qatar is also a sponsor of the Four Towns agreement in Syria, negotiated with Iran and Hezbollah, in which civilians trapped under siege by government troops or by rebel forces have been bused to other areas. The deals are hailed by some as the only way to rescue civilians, but they have been derided by others as forced displacements.

However the crisis is resolved, if at all, Mr. Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who appeared in their first joint news conference, in Sydney, Australia, after talks with their Australian counterparts, insisted that it would not undermine the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

“I am confident there will be no implications,” Mr. Mattis said.

But the escalating confrontation between Qatar and other Sunni-led Arab states presents a fresh and unwelcome complication for the United States military, which has made strenuous efforts to forge a broad coalition against the Islamic State.

How, for example, can the American-led air campaign include warplanes from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates if those governments will no longer allow their military representatives to be based at, or even to visit, a major United States command center?

Beyond the military difficulties, several multinational corporations have operations in the feuding nations. A Saudi call for companies to withdraw from Qatar could present international executives with a difficult choices about where to do business.

Qatar is hosting the 2022 World Cup, for instance, and is building facilities for the tournament that are part of an ambitious construction boom, including creating branches of major international museums and universities.

About 80 percent of Qatar’s residents are foreign workers, including white-collar professionals and construction and service workers. There are several hundred thousand Egyptians working in Qatar, which is perhaps why Cairo did not call for its citizens to leave like Saudi Arabia did.

Anne Barnard reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and David D. Kirkpatrick from London. Gardiner Harris and Michael R. Gordon contributed reporting from Sydney, Australia, and Rick Gladstone from New York.

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[Simple_Person]

The hypocrisy of those Arab nations also has no boundaries..

Turkey I believe this year or last year ..when Erdogan went to those gulf states and was asked how they see Muslim brotherhood..they said we do not see them as a "terrorist organization"..that being said they also have been supporting ISIS and other groups that by so called norm of those Arab nations fall in the categorie of "terrorist groups" and also now and then Turkey is having good relations with Iran for own political interest.

So how come those hypocrite Arab nations also are not severing all ties with Turkey?..

There is something else going on ..maybe when the so called "Arab NATO" was being created that Qatar suddenly did not want to be part of it. Or something else that we are not aware of it.

Do know Qatar is absolutely not the friendly country one might think of. However I am glad what just happened not because what has happened but what we see are the dogs that run along...

When 1 country did severe ties suddenly all the other dogs followed in the sense of 1 country severed ties all those other countries followed...from Egypt to parts of Libya to UAE to Bahrain to Maldiven etc..

This also has happened back then when severing ties with Iran. With this it is clear who is the puppet master that the rest of the countries follow. If the puppet master falls In anarchy the rest will follow.

So this information is good to analyze and conclude political strategies of the Middle East and also beneficial for looking at the end times.

Edit:

I was reading another article about this whole thing and I remembered something else. Qatar how small it even may be it has a lot of influence ..how?. Al-Jazeera. If you have a stray dog that does not want to listen but has a certain ability to turn your own people against you this certainly is dangerous for dictators.

This I believe has happened. As Qatar did not want to be part of the pack but through media they can influence things ..by severing ties those hypocrite dictator Arab countries can also ban Qatar media sure such as Al-Jazeera.

This for example also has happened with RT and Sputnik. The west brands them as propaganda however if CNN/NBC/FOX etc are not also propaganda then I am not sure what is the definition of propaganda. RT and Sputnik (Russian media) tell the opposite side of the stories and also talk about things corrupt western politicians don't want you the civilian to know of. This off course can lead to people being educated and not be manipulated like sheep.

[Mustafa16]

The reason is because Qatar funded and supported Hamas, a group designated by many Muslim nations as a terrorist organization.

[Simple_Person]

The reason is because Qatar funded and supported Hamas, a group designated by many Muslim nations as a terrorist organization.

With each topic we advance, i want to have less discussion with you and rather just ignore you in general. All you are good at is repeating what they themselves are saying =_=!. It doesn't work like that.

What is being said in public is for the public to know, the real reason is only known to them, the one they are doing that to knows the reason, other countries know the reason...but NONE of them tells you the real reason. Everybody keeps their mouth shut.

However you yourself time after time just want to stick to what they are telling you. I know you are young, but that doesn't mean you have to blindly follow what they are telling you especially if other people give you a different perspective for you to include in your analyzing of the situation.

If we follow your logic, then Iraq had WMD and they were also "found". However later on we hear other things that prisoners were being tortured in to wanting to know where the Mahdi is..or 9/11 you think most probably this was done by some guys in caves in Afghanistan =_=!.

Anyways, if you do not ponder about what i or even other people here are saying including some other Turks. I might not agree with them either with lets say 50% of the things they say, but the remaining 50% i can agree with them. Then for you and me..consider this the last time i respond to a comment of yours.

[Mustafa16]

With each topic we advance, i want to have less discussion with you and rather just ignore you in general. All you are good at is repeating what they themselves are saying =_=!. It doesn't work like that.

What is being said in public is for the public to know, the real reason is only known to them, the one they are doing that to knows the reason, other countries know the reason...but NONE of them tells you the real reason. Everybody keeps their mouth shut.

However you yourself time after time just want to stick to what they are telling you. I know you are young, but that doesn't mean you have to blindly follow what they are telling you especially if other people give you a different perspective for you to include in your analyzing of the situation.

If we follow your logic, then Iraq had WMD and they were also "found". However later on we hear other things that prisoners were being tortured in to wanting to know where the Mahdi is..or 9/11 you think most probably this was done by some guys in caves in Afghanistan =_=!.

Anyways, if you do not ponder about what i or even other people here are saying including some other Turks. I might not agree with them either with lets say 50% of the things they say, but the remaining 50% i can agree with them. Then for you and me..consider this the last time i respond to a comment of yours.

Ignore me then. I've been ignoring you anyway. You always come up with what, in my opinion, are ludicrous conspiracy theories that blame everything on the West. I'd rather trust the West and the UN with my life then I would an Islamist with my laundry. And many displaced, tortured, persecuted, abused, and humiliated, starved, and besieged people around the world would agree with me.

[Mustafa16]

With each topic we advance, i want to have less discussion with you and rather just ignore you in general. All you are good at is repeating what they themselves are saying =_=!. It doesn't work like that.

What is being said in public is for the public to know, the real reason is only known to them, the one they are doing that to knows the reason, other countries know the reason...but NONE of them tells you the real reason. Everybody keeps their mouth shut.

However you yourself time after time just want to stick to what they are telling you. I know you are young, but that doesn't mean you have to blindly follow what they are telling you especially if other people give you a different perspective for you to include in your analyzing of the situation.

If we follow your logic, then Iraq had WMD and they were also "found". However later on we hear other things that prisoners were being tortured in to wanting to know where the Mahdi is..or 9/11 you think most probably this was done by some guys in caves in Afghanistan =_=!.

Anyways, if you do not ponder about what i or even other people here are saying including some other Turks. I might not agree with them either with lets say 50% of the things they say, but the remaining 50% i can agree with them. Then for you and me..consider this the last time i respond to a comment of yours.

Believe I've heard all of your arguments, and I actually used to believe in it. But I don't anymore. And keep in mind, I was born and raised in America, and I'm proud of it.

[Simple_Person]

Ignore me then. I've been ignoring you anyway. You always come up with what, in my opinion, are ludicrous conspiracy theories that blame everything on the West. I'd rather trust the West and the UN with my life then I would an Islamist with my laundry. And many displaced, tortured, persecuted, abused, and humiliated, starved, and besieged people around the world would agree with me.

People around the world (majority), do not believe in Allah as how Islam portrays Allah. So just because majority does that, doesn't mean they are right and how you show those "displaced, tortured, persecuted, abused, and humiliated, starved" as if the Muslim world is responsible for it. The people that are responsible you do not want to look at facts but you keep your eyes closed. The problem is not your brain or eyes..it is your heart. Because me or even Turks that on certain subject we can agree upon say things based on certain facts..but all you tend to do is emotionally follow "oooh Gulen is prosecuted oooh all the injustice and Trump/Obama are my heroes i will gladly sacrifice my life for them". You do not want to see and acknowledge. Do not go to extremes..control yourself and seek the balance which is clear from extremes.

The BIGGEST mistake you make in your life and you will pay dear for it if you do not take a moment to question yourself before you die. The world we live in today 2 sides are being shown that we "HAVE" To choose from.

Side 1: The west/UN + (Dictators in Middle East etc.) side

You sound like you have been a student of US presidents..."if you do not choose our side you are with them". Who said i am with the other extremist groups? That is your problem dude you look at things very black and white, while it isn't so black and white as how you look at it.

"O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people." Qur'an 5:51

The west now a days that fits the picture Allah tells us in this aya.

Side 2: Groups like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko haram, etc. etc. also tell you..if you are not with us, you are with them.

"Beware of going to extremes (in religion), for those before you were only destroyed through excessiveness."

Source used: http://dailyhadith.adaptivesolutions...n-Religion.htm

I tend to listen to what Allah and His Rasul(saws) teaches me to follow.

If you follow Allah and His rasul(saws), Allah shows you a 3rd choice. To depict both of them as terrorist and abstain from both of them. I point at both of their actions and look at Islam tells me about it. I also do not see problems, i see solutions. That is why i time after time bring up how come the corrupt western politicians are the core of the problem what we are having. However you do not have intellectual input how come i am wrong and based on what i may be wrong. Just some emotional reaction..cry me a river as if they (side 1 that you have sided with) will cry for you when you have died. While Rasullah(saws) back then was crying for his Ummah that would experience these end times.

Anyways..ALHAMDULILLAH..you will end up in your own grave and i will end up in my own grave. You will have to answer for your actions and me for mine.

Also majority of my life i also have lived in the west, but i tend to question things and not follow blindly of what is going on.

Btw, for people who say..ooh look "he says do not take Christians and Jews as allies"..no i am not saying that. There are AMONG Jews and Christians..the ones that stand up and speak the truth. The ones that do not fear prosecution. Those are my brothers and sisters. The ones that i am talking about that should not be taken as friends and allies are the ones are pushing for the coming of Jesus Christ ...in other words try to destroy the world so he could come back. And then you have the Zionists. There are Jews that are ANTI-Zionist state. Those Jews are my brothers and sisters just like those Christians who have those same views.

So ask yourself who am i?

[Abz2000]

Ma'qal bin Yasar reported that the messenger of Allah said: "Prayer (Ibadah) at the time of turmoil is like migration (Hijrah) towards me." (Muslim)

'Omar bin al - Khattab reported that the messenger of Allah said:
"Troubles will afflict my people in latter days from their rulers.
None will escape from them except one who recognises Allah's religion and then fights for it with his tongue, hand and heart, and his reward will already be sure; and one who recognises the religion of Allah and holds on to it; and one who recognises the religion of Allah and keeps quiet about it - if he sees somebody who does good, he loves him, and if he sees somebody who does wrong, he is angry with him, he will be saved for all that he kept secret. (Baihaqi)






Qatar hosts largest US military base in Mideast
By Brad Lendon, CNN

Updated 0600 GMT (1400 HKT) June 6, 2017

Al Udeid Air Base hosts more than 100 US aircraft
Planes take off or land at air base every 10 minutes, 24/7, Air Force says
(CNN)As Saudi Arabia, along with a growing list of other countries, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on Monday, it called on its allies to cease all travel and transport with its neighbor.

One of Saudi Arabia biggest allies, however, is the United States, which also happens to maintain its biggest concentration of military personnel in the Middle East at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base.
The sprawling base 20 miles southwest of the Qatari capital of Doha is home to some 11,000 US military personnel.

-------


List of Qatar wars - alliances and opponents:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...nvolving_Qatar


----------

Kuwait's ruler travelled to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for talks with King Salman over a Gulf Arab dispute with Qatar, Gulf Arab officials said.

Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, is acting as a mediator between Doha and other Arab states which have severed diplomatic and transport ties with Doha.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut diplomatic relations with Qatar on Monday in a coordinated move, accusing the peninsula of supporting "terrorists" and Iran.


WATCH: Qatar's foreign minister talks to Al Jazeera about diplomatic crisis (12:39)

Yemen's internationally recognised government also cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of working with its enemies in the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, state news agency Saba reported.

The Maldives and Libya's out-of-mandate Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni later joined the Arab nations in saying they too would cut ties.

Sanctions include shutting down transport links, including closing borders, airspace and maritime territories, which led to fears of supply shortages.

In an interview on Monday with Al Jazeera, Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Kuwait's ruler, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, had asked Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar's ruling emir, to hold off on giving a speech about the crisis late on Tuesday night.

"He received a call from the emir of Kuwait asking him to postpone it in order to give time to solve the crisis," Sheikh Mohammed said.

READ MORE: Qatar diplomatic crisis - All the latest updates

Sheikh Sabah called on Qatar's ruler to focus on easing tension and advised against making decisions that could escalate the situation, Kuwait state news agency Kuna said.

Still, the Qatari foreign minister struck a defiant tone, saying his nation rejected those trying to impose their will or intervene in its internal affairs.

Kuwait, Oman 'fear escalation'

Analyst Giorgio Cafiero of Gulf State Analytics, a geopolitical risk consultancy based in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera: "I think the Kuwaitis as well as Omanis ... fear the prospects of these tensions escalating in ways which could undermine the interest of all six members of the GCC.

"There are many analysts who believe that a potential break-up of the GCC has to be considered right now."

He added that if tension escalates, some have warned of a "military confrontation".

"If these countries fail to resolve their issues and such tensions reaches new heights, we have to be very open to the possibility of these six Arab countries no longer being able to unite under the banner of one council," said Cafiero.

READ MORE: Qatar diplomatic crisis - How it affects air travel

The dispute between Qatar and the Arab countries escalated after a recent hack of Qatar's state-run news agency. It has spiralled since.

As it cut ties on Monday, Saudi Arabia charged that Qatar was embracing "various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilising the region," including the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and armed groups supported by Iran in the kingdom's restive east.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry accused Qatar of taking an "antagonist approach" towards Cairo and said "all attempts to stop it from supporting terrorist groups failed".

Qatar denied the allegations, with a Foreign Ministry statement describing them as "baseless" on Monday.

The group issuing sanctions on Doha "is clearly the imposition of guardianship over Qatar, which is in itself a violation of its sovereignty, and is rejected outright," the statement said.

The move came just two weeks after US President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia and vowed to improve ties with both Riyadh and Cairo to combat "terrorism" and contain Iran.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the move was rooted in long-standing differences and urged the parties to resolve them.


WATCH: US says Trump 'committed to resolving' Gulf Arab diplomatic crisis (1:56)


"It is true that the current US administration is adopting to have a bit more Saudi position distant from Qatari position," Richard Weitz, a senior fellow and director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at Hudson Institute, told Al Jazeera

"But I still think that the US military contacts can play a good role to help resolve, perhaps, some of the difference, since US military particular want an end to this dispute because of the difficulties to find a space and terrorism cooperation and so on."

The Gulf countries ordered their citizens out of Qatar and gave Qataris abroad 14 days to return home to their peninsular nation, whose only land border is with Saudi Arabia. The countries also said they would eject Qatar's diplomats.

READ MORE: Timeline of GCC, Egyptian discord with Qatar

The nations also said they planned to cut air and sea traffic. Trucks carrying food had begun lining up on the Saudi side of the border, apparently stranded. The Qatar Stock Exchange fell more than seven percent in trading Monday.

Qatar Airways, one of the region's major long-haul carriers, has suspended all flights to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain until further notice.

On its website, the carrier said the suspension of its flights would take effect Tuesday and customers are being offered a refund.

The route between Doha and Dubai is popular among business travellers and both are major transit hubs for travellers between Asia and Europe.


INSIDE STORY: What's behind the diplomatic breakdown in the Gulf? (25:00)
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/0...100203072.html




Deep in the Gulf waters between Qatar and Iran lies the world's largest gas field, a 9,700-sq-km expanse that holds at least 43 trillion cubic metres of gas reserves.

Qatar's southern portion is known as North Field, while Iran's slice to the north is called South Pars. The two countries share exploration rights in the area, and it is one of many ties that bind them.

But Doha's relationship with Tehran has been put to a new test on Monday, after Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia led four other countries in cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member of undermining security in the region by siding with Iran, among other actions.

Saudi also urged "all brotherly countries and companies" to follow its lead in isolating Qatar, a call that GCC members Kuwait and Oman have so far sidestepped.

Saudi Arabia has claimed that Qatar is supporting "Iranian-backed terrorist groups" in the Saudi province of Qatif and in Bahrain, accusations that Doha called a "campaign of lies that have reached the point of complete fabrication".

What's behind the diplomatic breakdown in the Gulf?

Riyadh also said "authorities in Doha" have supported the Iran-backed Houthi armed group in Yemen. This despite Qatar's deployment of an estimated 1,000 troops to support the two-year Saudi-led campaign there.

In an editorial published on Monday, The National newspaper owned by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government also denounced Qatar's "false friendship" citing the "close ties between Doha and Tehran".

"Iran's actions in the Middle East have cost Doha's Arab neighbours blood and treasure," the editorial said, adding "the regime across the Arabian Gulf is no friend to Doha".

Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara, however, said the accusation "does not hold water", noting Abu Dhabi also maintains diplomatic relations with Tehran.

"And yet it prefers to sever its relationship with Qatar, rather than with Iran," he said.

In a separate statement, the Qatari Cabinet said the measures taken by the five countries against Doha were "unjustified".

"The aim is clear and it is to impose guardianship on the state. This by itself is a violation of its [Qatar's] sovereignty as a state."


Residents of Qatar welcome Saudi King Salman during his visit to Doha in December 2016 [Reuters]
Independent foreign policy

Souzan Krdli, a Tehran-based Gulf analyst, said more than demanding Doha's allegiance, Saudi and the UAE want to "rein Qatar in" and make it "another Bahrain if you will" in terms of foreign policy.

"Saudi and the UAE have always been troubled with Qatar's outreach and ambitious diplomacy," she told Al Jazeera.

Krdli, who previously worked at Qatar University, said Doha's relationship with Tehran reflects the country's attempt since 1995 "to carve a policy that is independent of its neighbours".

"This independence was an objective in itself, as well as a means to secure sovereignty" in the face of its larger neighbours, primarily Saudi with whom Qatar has had territorial disputes as recent as 1992, she said.

"The continuation of this independent foreign policy means banking on the economic and diplomatic ties Qatar has forged through investment, natural gas export, diplomacy and mediation."


In the middle of the current rift with Saudi, Krdli said Qatar is also "obliged" to maintain "a middle position" with Iran because of its shared gas exploration in the Gulf.

Krdli also noted, unlike previous disputes, when Qatar took immediate conciliatory actions to Saudi and the UAE, Doha is taking a more "defiant" stand this time.

Along with the decision by Saudi to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, Riyadh has also decided to block air, sea and land transport links.

There have been reports of trucks carrying food shipments from Saudi Arabia being blocked at the Qatari border.





FEATURES QATAR13 HOURS AGO


Qatar-Gulf rift: The Iran factor
Saudi-led severance of diplomatic ties with Qatar tests unity among GCC members as leaders call for dialogue.
Middle East analyst says if the Gulf crisis goes on it will only empower Iran in the region [Reuters]
by
Ted Regencia
Deep in the Gulf waters between Qatar and Iran lies the world's largest gas field, a 9,700-sq-km expanse that holds at least 43 trillion cubic metres of gas reserves.

Qatar's southern portion is known as North Field, while Iran's slice to the north is called South Pars. The two countries share exploration rights in the area, and it is one of many ties that bind them.

But Doha's relationship with Tehran has been put to a new test on Monday, after Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia led four other countries in cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member of undermining security in the region by siding with Iran, among other actions.

Saudi also urged "all brotherly countries and companies" to follow its lead in isolating Qatar, a call that GCC members Kuwait and Oman have so far sidestepped.

Saudi Arabia has claimed that Qatar is supporting "Iranian-backed terrorist groups" in the Saudi province of Qatif and in Bahrain, accusations that Doha called a "campaign of lies that have reached the point of complete fabrication".

What's behind the diplomatic breakdown in the Gulf?

Riyadh also said "authorities in Doha" have supported the Iran-backed Houthi armed group in Yemen. This despite Qatar's deployment of an estimated 1,000 troops to support the two-year Saudi-led campaign there.

In an editorial published on Monday, The National newspaper owned by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government also denounced Qatar's "false friendship" citing the "close ties between Doha and Tehran".

"Iran's actions in the Middle East have cost Doha's Arab neighbours blood and treasure," the editorial said, adding "the regime across the Arabian Gulf is no friend to Doha".

Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara, however, said the accusation "does not hold water", noting Abu Dhabi also maintains diplomatic relations with Tehran.

"And yet it prefers to sever its relationship with Qatar, rather than with Iran," he said.

In a separate statement, the Qatari Cabinet said the measures taken by the five countries against Doha were "unjustified".

"The aim is clear and it is to impose guardianship on the state. This by itself is a violation of its [Qatar's] sovereignty as a state."


Residents of Qatar welcome Saudi King Salman during his visit to Doha in December 2016 [Reuters]
Independent foreign policy

Souzan Krdli, a Tehran-based Gulf analyst, said more than demanding Doha's allegiance, Saudi and the UAE want to "rein Qatar in" and make it "another Bahrain if you will" in terms of foreign policy.

"Saudi and the UAE have always been troubled with Qatar's outreach and ambitious diplomacy," she told Al Jazeera.

Krdli, who previously worked at Qatar University, said Doha's relationship with Tehran reflects the country's attempt since 1995 "to carve a policy that is independent of its neighbours".

"This independence was an objective in itself, as well as a means to secure sovereignty" in the face of its larger neighbours, primarily Saudi with whom Qatar has had territorial disputes as recent as 1992, she said.

"The continuation of this independent foreign policy means banking on the economic and diplomatic ties Qatar has forged through investment, natural gas export, diplomacy and mediation."


In the middle of the current rift with Saudi, Krdli said Qatar is also "obliged" to maintain "a middle position" with Iran because of its shared gas exploration in the Gulf.

Krdli also noted, unlike previous disputes, when Qatar took immediate conciliatory actions to Saudi and the UAE, Doha is taking a more "defiant" stand this time.

Along with the decision by Saudi to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, Riyadh has also decided to block air, sea and land transport links.

There have been reports of trucks carrying food shipments from Saudi Arabia being blocked at the Qatari border.

Mediation not escalation

Sadegh Ghorbani, Tehran-based journalist covering foreign policy, told Al Jazeera the regional tension is "not welcome by Iran".

"However, it is clear that a rift in the GCC can be beneficial to Iran," he said. "Saudi Arabia is a lifeline for Qatar in terms of trade. We must wait and see whether Iran and Turkey can fill the void."

Already, Iran has offered food shipments to Qatar. Reza Nourani, chairman of Iran's union of agricultural exporters, said such transfers can reach Doha in 12 hours.


What's behind the diplomatic breakdown in the Gulf? – Inside Story
Earlier, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi called for a "clear and explicit dialogue" among the feuding parties, saying tensions would only threaten the interests of everyone in the region.

His statement reflected the social media posts of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif who wrote, "Neighbours are permanent; Geography can't be changed. Coercion is never the solution. Dialogue [sic] is imperative, especially during blessed Ramadan."

Mahjoob Zweiri, a Middle East expert at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera's Folly Bah Thibault that third party mediation is necessary to resolve the "crisis" immediately.

He said Saudi Arabia and its allies cannot leave Qatar without any other options by forcing it to choose sides.

"This is a scenario that will not lead to a solution. If this goes on, this will empower Iran in the region. I don't think Riyadh wants this," Zweiri, a doctorate graduate from the University of Tehran, said.

"I think if there is no mediation, if there is no third party intervening, I think we could see more escalation in this crisis."

Source: Al Jazeera News

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fea...102522955.html

-----------------


Qatar's official news agency was hacked last week and fake remarks critical of US foreign policy were posted on its website, wrongly attributed to Qatar's leader.

Now, a series of emails belonging to the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the US have been leaked.

They reveal close coordination between the diplomat and a pro-Israeli think-tank in Washington DC.

The emails also show how ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) lobbied in the US against Qatar and Kuwait.

How will this impact US policy in the Gulf?

Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra

Guests:

Saad Djebbar - international lawyer

Ian Black - visiting senior fellow at the Middle East Centre at London School of Economics and a former Middle East editor for The Guardian newspaper

Mohammed Cherkaoui - professor of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University

Source: Al Jazeera News
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/...190713001.html

----------




(CNSNews.com) – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates all severed diplomatic ties with Qatar in a concerted move on Monday, accusing of it supporting Shi’ite and Sunni extremists causing chaos and sectarianism across the region.

Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of supporting ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorists and the Muslim Brotherhood, backing Shi’ite Houthi militia in Yemen, and financing anti-government terrorism in Bahrain.

In a statement released through the official SPA news agency, the kingdom also accused Qatari authorities of sowing divisions in Saudi Arabia in a bid to incite anti-state resistance and undermine its sovereignty.

Bahrain meanwhile accused Qatar of “financing armed groups associated with Iran to carry out subversive attacks and spread chaos” in Bahrain, among other things.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain said they were closing their airspace, ports and territorial waters to traffic from Qatar, and would not allow their citizens to visit Qatar or Qataris to visit their countries. They also directed their criticism at Qatari media outlets

Qatar was also expelled from the Saudi-led military coalition battling against the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in support of ousted President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The deepening diplomatic row could prove awkward for the United States, which has close ties with all the countries involved – and has the forward headquarters of U.S. Central Command located at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base.

President Trump met with Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on the sidelines of last month’s U.S.-Arab-Islamic summit hosted by the Saudis in Riyadh.

The previous month, Defense Secretary James Mattis visited Doha to discuss “deepening the U.S.-Qatari strategic partnership” and the campaign to defeat ISIS, the Pentagon reported at the time.

Iran and its regional destabilization was a major theme at the summit attended by Trump in Riyadh.

Long-simmering tensions between Qatar and its neighbors came to the boil shortly after the high-level gathering, when Qatari media quoted the emir, al-Thani, as giving a speech in which he voiced support for Iran, and criticized the Saudi-led effort to isolate Tehran.

Qatar then denied the veracity of the report, alleging that its official news agency had been targeted by hackers.

In Monday’s fast-moving developments, the United Arab Emirates issued a statement through its official WAM news agency saying it was taking the same steps as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, in support of its two “sisterly” allies.

It cited in particular “Qatar’s continued support, funding and hosting of terror groups,” citing the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS and al-Qaeda.

The Emirati news agency also accused Qatar of violating a statement issued at the May 21 U.S.-Arab-Islamic summit “on countering terrorism in the region and considering Iran a state sponsor of terrorism.”

Egypt’s foreign ministry said it was taking the same steps against Qatar as the Gulf states, “to protect its national security.”

“Qatar’s policy threatens Arab national security and sows the seeds of strife and division within Arab societies according to a deliberate plan aimed at the unity and interests of the Arab nation,” it said.

Egypt’s statement also accused Qatar of supporting terrorist organizations, naming the Muslim Brotherhood in particular.

In mid-2013 the Egyptian military, then led by the Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, ousted the elected Muslim Brotherhood government of President Mohammed Morsi. Sisi, now president, then outlawed the organization.

Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood has caused problems in the past with its Arab Gulf neighbors, which view the Muslim Brotherhood as a security threat to their regimes. In 2014, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE temporarily withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar in a dispute over the Brotherhood.

In a speech that year, a senior U.S. Treasury Department official voiced concern about Qatar’s stance on extremist groups fighting in Syria, as well as the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The department’s then undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen, said fundraisers in Qatar were collecting donations for extremists in Syria, including ISIS and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, a situation which he said “threatens to aggravate an already volatile situation.”

Cohen also said that Qatar “has for many years openly financed Hamas, a group that continues to undermine regional stability.”


https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...ing-terrorists


---------------


Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq

Seumas Milne
The sectarian terror group won’t be defeated by the western states that incubated it in the first place

Contact author
Wednesday 3 June 2015 15.56 EDT Last modified on Friday 7 April 2017 19.05 EDT

The war on terror, that campaign without end launched 14 years ago by George Bush, is tying itself up in ever more grotesque contortions. On Monday the trial in London of a Swedish man, Bherlin Gildo, accused of terrorism in Syria, collapsed after it became clear British intelligence had been arming the same rebel groups the defendant was charged with supporting.

The prosecution abandoned the case, apparently to avoid embarrassing the intelligence services. The defence argued that going ahead with the trial would have been an “affront to justice” when there was plenty of evidence the British state was itself providing “extensive support” to the armed Syrian opposition.

Terrorism has come about in assimilationist France and also in multicultural Britain. Why is that? | Kenan Malik
Read more
That didn’t only include the “non-lethal assistance” boasted of by the government (including body armour and military vehicles), but training, logistical support and the secret supply of “arms on a massive scale”. Reports were cited that MI6 had cooperated with the CIA on a “rat line” of arms transfers from Libyan stockpiles to the Syrian rebels in 2012 after the fall of the Gaddafi regime.

Clearly, the absurdity of sending someone to prison for doing what ministers and their security officials were up to themselves became too much. But it’s only the latest of a string of such cases. Less fortunate was a London cab driver Anis Sardar, who was given a life sentence a fortnight earlier for taking part in 2007 in resistance to the occupation of Iraq by US and British forces. Armed opposition to illegal invasion and occupation clearly doesn’t constitute terrorism or murder on most definitions, including the Geneva convention.

But terrorism is now squarely in the eye of the beholder. And nowhere is that more so than in the Middle East, where today’s terrorists are tomorrow’s fighters against tyranny – and allies are enemies – often at the bewildering whim of a western policymaker’s conference call.

For the past year, US, British and other western forces have been back in Iraq, supposedly in the cause of destroying the hyper-sectarian terror group Islamic State (formerly known as al-Qaida in Iraq). This was after Isis overran huge chunks of Iraqi and Syrian territory and proclaimed a self-styled Islamic caliphate.

The campaign isn’t going well. Last month, Isis rolled into the Iraqi city of Ramadi, while on the other side of the now nonexistent border its forces conquered the Syrian town of Palmyra. Al-Qaida’s official franchise, the Nusra Front, has also been making gains in Syria.

Some Iraqis complain that the US sat on its hands while all this was going on. The Americans insist they are trying to avoid civilian casualties, and claim significant successes. Privately, officials say they don’t want to be seen hammering Sunni strongholds in a sectarian war and risk upsetting their Sunni allies in the Gulf.




Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq

Seumas Milne
The sectarian terror group won’t be defeated by the western states that incubated it in the first place

Contact author
Wednesday 3 June 2015 15.56 EDT Last modified on Friday 7 April 2017 19.05 EDT

The war on terror, that campaign without end launched 14 years ago by George Bush, is tying itself up in ever more grotesque contortions. On Monday the trial in London of a Swedish man, Bherlin Gildo, accused of terrorism in Syria, collapsed after it became clear British intelligence had been arming the same rebel groups the defendant was charged with supporting.

The prosecution abandoned the case, apparently to avoid embarrassing the intelligence services. The defence argued that going ahead with the trial would have been an “affront to justice” when there was plenty of evidence the British state was itself providing “extensive support” to the armed Syrian opposition.


That didn’t only include the “non-lethal assistance” boasted of by the government (including body armour and military vehicles), but training, logistical support and the secret supply of “arms on a massive scale”. Reports were cited that MI6 had cooperated with the CIA on a “rat line” of arms transfers from Libyan stockpiles to the Syrian rebels in 2012 after the fall of the Gaddafi regime.

Clearly, the absurdity of sending someone to prison for doing what ministers and their security officials were up to themselves became too much. But it’s only the latest of a string of such cases. Less fortunate was a London cab driver Anis Sardar, who was given a life sentence a fortnight earlier for taking part in 2007 in resistance to the occupation of Iraq by US and British forces. Armed opposition to illegal invasion and occupation clearly doesn’t constitute terrorism or murder on most definitions, including the Geneva convention.

But terrorism is now squarely in the eye of the beholder. And nowhere is that more so than in the Middle East, where today’s terrorists are tomorrow’s fighters against tyranny – and allies are enemies – often at the bewildering whim of a western policymaker’s conference call.

For the past year, US, British and other western forces have been back in Iraq, supposedly in the cause of destroying the hyper-sectarian terror group Islamic State (formerly known as al-Qaida in Iraq). This was after Isis overran huge chunks of Iraqi and Syrian territory and proclaimed a self-styled Islamic caliphate.

The campaign isn’t going well. Last month, Isis rolled into the Iraqi city of Ramadi, while on the other side of the now nonexistent border its forces conquered the Syrian town of Palmyra. Al-Qaida’s official franchise, the Nusra Front, has also been making gains in Syria.

Some Iraqis complain that the US sat on its hands while all this was going on. The Americans insist they are trying to avoid civilian casualties, and claim significant successes. Privately, officials say they don’t want to be seen hammering Sunni strongholds in a sectarian war and risk upsetting their Sunni allies in the Gulf.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...sis-syria-iraq
















كَمَثَلِ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ قَرِيبًا ذَاقُوا وَبَالَ أَمْرِهِمْ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ {15
059:015
:
They are like their immediate predecessors, they tasted the evil result of their conduct, and (in the Hereafter, there is) for them a painful torment;-

كَمَثَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِذْ قَالَ لِلْإِنسَانِ اكْفُرْ فَلَمَّا كَفَرَ قَالَ إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِّنكَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ {16
059:016
:
(Their allies deceived them) like Shaitan (Satan), when he says to man: "reject and be ungrateful to Allah." But when (man) rejects Allah, Shaitan (Satan) says: "I am free of you, I fear Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists)!------------------------

[Scimitar]

Believe I've heard all of your arguments, ...

..and we've been witness to your drivel.

Scimi

[Abz2000]

Ignore me then. I've been ignoring you anyway. You always come up with what, in my opinion, are ludicrous conspiracy theories that blame everything on the West. I'd rather trust the West and the UN with my life then I would an Islamist with my laundry. And many displaced, tortured, persecuted, abused, and humiliated, starved, and besieged people around the world would agree with me.

It is absolutely clear and beyond doubt that the godless American government are a criminal gang that feed off ignorance, suffering, bloodshed and evil.
The fact that they have been striving frantically to ensure that instability, war, bloodshed, suffering and depravity are always present globally - regardless of friend or foe - is undisputable.
I hope and expect that the Arab leaders have woken up to this fact and that Allah helps them in uniting and establishing His rule.


The rich oil deposits in the region were exploited and controlled by seven oil companies from England, France, and the United States until Iran's Mossadegh government nationalized their oil in 1951, taking it from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now British Petroleum).
Western nations imposed sanctions on Iran until 1953, when the CIA helped overthrow Mossadegh. Then General Norman Schwarzkopf Sr. helped Shah Reza Pahlevi set up the oppressive SAVAK state police.
The Hashemite monarchy in Iraq was overthrown in 1958 by a nationalist revolution led by Abdel Karim Kassem,
Two years later (1960) the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded to counter the western oil monopolies.
In 1963 a CIA-backed coup killed Kassem and thousands of his supporters.
Five years later (1968) the secular Ba'ath Party gained power in Iraq.....
..... and they nationalized Iraq's oil in 1972.
In 1972 the US had declared Iraq a nation that supports terrorism.
In May of that year President Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and the Shah of Iran began instigating the Kurds in northern Iraq to rebel by giving them weapons.
When Iraq agreed to share the disputed Shatt-al-Arab waterway with Iran in 1975, the Shah stopped supporting the Kurds.
The Shah was overthrown by the Iranian revolution in February 1979.
Saddam Hussein replaced al-Bakr as president of Iraq in June 1979

US Intelligence Helps Saddam's Party Seize Power in 1963

Saddam Key in Early CIA Plot (April 10, 2003)
According to former US intelligence officials and diplomats, the CIA's relationship with Saddam Hussein dates back to 1959, when he was part of a CIA-authorized six-man squad that attempted to assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim. (United Press International)

After the Americans in the Tehran embassy were taken hostage by the Iranian radicals in November 1979, US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski began urging Iraq to attack Iran to take back the waterway.
In 1980 the U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Iran because of the Tehran embassy hostage crisis;
In 1980 Iraq's Saddam Hussein, guided by US intelligence, went to war against Iran, a war that would last eight years and kill about a million people.
Weaker Iraq was supported in this war effort at first by the Soviet empire, Arab states including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and then by the western powers Britain, France, West Germany, and the United States, which provided satellite and AWACS intelligence. Egypt, which was receiving $2 billion per year in US aid, sent Iraq troops, tanks, and heavy artillery. Another US aid recipient, Turkey, helped Iraq by fighting its Kurdish rebels. Saudi Arabia provided money, and Kuwait alone loaned Iraq $30 billion.
The US sold arms worth $20 billion to Gulf states, and the Reagan administration illegally allowed Saudi Arabia to transfer weapons to Iraq.
In 1972 the US had declared Iraq a nation that supports terrorism, but the Reagan regime took Iraq off that list.
How the White House illegally armed Iraq is explained in detail by investigative reporter Alan Friedman in Spider's Web.
In December 1983 President Reagan sent special envoy Donald Rumsfeld to Baghdad to restore diplomatic relations with Saddam Hussein's government and to offer US loan guarantees to Iraq. The next spring the Export-Import Bank sent Iraq $500 million. The US also became Iraq's major trading partner by increasing its purchases of Iraqi oil. Vice President Bush, the State Department, and the CIA urged the Export-Import Bank to finance US exports to Iraq. The Atlanta branch of the Italian Banca Nazionale del Lavoro arranged for $5.5 billion in fraudulent loans that were guaranteed by the Commodity Credit Corporation. In 1986 a CIA team was sent to Baghdad as military advisors.
Meanwhile Oliver North had been secretly shipping arms to Iran until this illegal trade was exposed in late 1986.(iran contra).
The next year the US helped Iraq by protecting Kuwaiti oil tankers. In the late 1980s CIA fronts in Saudi Arabia and Chile sent 73 weapons transactions to Baghdad that included weapons-grade anthrax and equipment to repair rockets.

The Iraq-Iran War ended with a cease-fire on August 7, 1988,
and the next day Kuwait drastically increased its oil production, breaking OPEC agreements and driving the price from $21 a barrel down to $11. this would cost Iraq $14 billion a year.

Only after the Iraq-Iran War ended did the US complain that Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons on the Kurds six months before. Yet the US had helped supply such weapons that also had been used against Iran. The US Senate voted to cancel technology and food sales to Iraq.

1989 CENTCOM's war plan 1002 was revised to make Iraq the enemy instead of the Soviet Union.

During an Arab summit meeting at Amman in February 1990 Saddam Hussein asked the US to withdraw from the Gulf and alerted others that the US wanted to dominate the Gulf region and fix oil prices

In April 1990 Saddam Hussein proposed that the Middle East become a nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons-free zone.
In May, Saddam Hussein complained of economic warfare, and on July 17 he publicly accused Kuwait and the US of conspiring to destroy Iraq's economy. He warned them, and the next day Iraqi troops moved to the Kuwaiti border.

On August 2, 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait.
President Bush immediately prohibited US trade with Iraq and froze $30 billion in Iraqi assets, making Iraq unable to pay its UN dues.
The US insisted that Iraq's vote be taken away even though the US owed the UN $1.6 billion in unpaid dues at the time.
The same day a US battle group of seven warships was dispatched, and the next day the United Nations Security Council condemned Iraq. Saddam Hussein told Jordan's King Hussein that he would withdraw if the Arab League did not condemn Iraq. King Hussein tried to persuade Egypt's Hosni Mubarak; but Egypt was pressured by the US and introduced the condemnation resolution. So instead of withdrawing, Saddam Hussein claimed that Kuwait was part of Iraq.

On August 6 the UN Security Council imposed international sanctions on Iraq, and the next day the US persuaded King Fahd to let the US military use territory in Saudi Arabia. The US claimed that Iraqi troops were near the Saudi border, but satellite photos later refuted this. On August 8 President Bush ordered 40,000 troops to defend Saudi Arabia.


Saddam Hussein offered to debate President Bush and Prime Minister Thatcher on television to no avail.
In September embargoed Iraq began rationing food supplies.

In the United States the media began demonizing Saddam Hussein, and Secretary of State James Baker even argued that the war was necessary to provide jobs for the sagging economy.
When a poll showed that Americans would support an invasion to prevent Iraq from getting nuclear weapons, that argument was used even though the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimated that Iraq was at least three years away from having even one atomic bomb.
A girl, who turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador, testified before a Congressional committee that Iraqi soldiers had taken babies from incubators, but this was later exposed as a hoax devised by the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton.

The United States used bribery and threats to get the United Nations Security Council to give it authorization for the war. Ethiopia, Zaire, and Colombia got new aid. China got a loan from the World Bank and better diplomatic relations. After its vote, the Soviet Union was loaned $4 billion by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE. Egypt altogether had $14 billion of debt canceled. Cuba and Yemen were punished for not voting in favor. The UN allowed the US and its allies to act without any limitation, and the US never even reported what it did. Essentially the UN had relinquished its authority to the US.

On January 16 Bush ordered General Schwarzkopf to begin the attack. Iraq was immediately hit with thousands of missiles and bombs that destroyed 85% of its power and vital services within two days. This attack on the civilian infrastructure that destroyed Iraq's energy, sewage, and water systems has been considered a form of biological warfare because of the diseases caused. This was probably the most one-sided war in history, and it is more accurate to call it a massacre or genocide.

On February 13 a US bomb killed 1,500 civilians in a Baghdad bomb shelter, and two days later President Bush urged the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
On February 21 Soviet diplomats announced that Iraq had agreed to withdraw unconditionally from Kuwait. The US gave them two days to do so before starting the ground attack. On February 26 as Iraqi troops tried to retreat or surrender along the Basra road, thousands were slaughtered during the "turkey shoot" on the "highway of death."
Two days later Iraq and the US agreed on a cease-fire; but two days after that, thousands of Iraqi soldiers were killed in another battle that did not kill a single American.

Ramsey Clark estimated that the bombing killed at least 25,000 Iraqi civilians directly and another 25,000 indirectly. American bombing hit 28 hospitals, 52 community clinics, and 676 schools, completely destroying 38 schools. Civilian vehicles on highways were strafed. The Pentagon admitted that civilian targets were attacked to demoralize the people and make the sanctions more effective.


The rest can be found here:
what were the iraq wars about?

[Mustafa16]

..and we've been witness to your drivel.

Scimi

I've been clinically depressed for months, even over a year now. I've been on again and off again hopeless, in despair, wanting to hurt myself, hurting myself, and wanting to either kill myself or give up on life. You've delivered the final blow. I'm giving up on life. I have no purpose in living. No hope....no hope.....I expect the mods will place this post under review because they are like the Turkish and/or North Korean Media. Very censoring. But I'll see after I click post.

[Ahmed.]

I've been clinically depressed for months, even over a year now. I've been on again and off again hopeless, in despair, wanting to hurt myself, hurting myself, and wanting to either kill myself or give up on life. You've delivered the final blow. I'm giving up on life. I have no purpose in living. No hope....no hope.....I expect the mods will place this post under review because they are like the Turkish and/or North Korean Media. Very censoring. But I'll see after I click post.

what!!!

this is serious mental illness man!!!

did you see a doc?

[Scimitar]

I've been clinically depressed for months, even over a year now. I've been on again and off again hopeless, in despair, wanting to hurt myself, hurting myself, and wanting to either kill myself or give up on life. You've delivered the final blow. I'm giving up on life. I have no purpose in living. No hope....no hope.....I expect the mods will place this post under review because they are like the Turkish and/or North Korean Media. Very censoring. But I'll see after I click post.

Bro, why are you stressing over "naitonal" affairs? do you not know that you are only a young pup? 17 years old and hardly able to see any truth at this age and only a world full of lies - even us adults remain wary of the nonsense the media and politicians spew on TV. We prefer to disengage from their lying narratives and instead - focus on our Islam - because politics aint getting you into heaven - Islam is!

All I have seen you do in recent months is make flippant topics on Gulenism, Turkey, and the politics - and between these - you have basically neglected your Islam - this is why I wrote "...and we've been witness to your drivel".

I like you, you know I do. I've defended you in the past against members who have thrown mud at you online, have I not? I was hoping that my harsh words would have some sort of impact, and they have - albeit - quite an over exaggerated one.

As an elder brother figure, unlce figure even due to my age - my advice to you is simple Mustafa - disconnect from any conversation about these three things:

1) Gulenism
2) Turkey
3) Politics

These three topics have become trials in your young and innocent life - and believe me - I treasure your innocence. I do not want to see your innocence lost over this nonsense. Instead I'd like for your innocence to remain pure and molded into something bigger than itself - something better than itself - what is that? you may ask. I've seen young brothers in your position learn Islam, and study it further and with their innocence - derive truthful understandings from Qur'an and Sunnah because they were untainted and had no evil in them - you too are like this. But your innocence and naivete is being played with by those 3 evils in your society. I know how difficult it is to be a young Turk. I have Turkish friends who have lost their innocence and drink alcohol and gamble and do worse - you are nothing like them - yet - because you haven't totally given up hope.

Hope.

This is what you should do my bro - totally, absolutely, forget the modern world and study history from Islam. Because the answers you seek deep down are coded into Islamic history.

Start with Stories of the Prophet's by Ibn Katheer - and when you are done reading from the Chapter of Adam Alalihis Salaam to the Chapter of Ibraheem Alaihis Salaam - let me know and I will add you to my whatsapp - then you learn frome me.

I do not usually offer this help to forum members bro, but you I consider as my little brother/nephew type - and I will not see you suffer this anymore.

At your wits end, the help has come. When one hits the rock bottom of the pit, and can go no lower in his own estimation - guess what? there is only one way left to go - you will rise again and when you do - it will be something you can live with happily because Islam brings "peace" to the heart. Not anguish and sorrow my bro. I will stay with you through this process in sh'Allah, and when you are fortified with deen and the understanding of the "self" - you will be able to help others too. I know you have it in you, the heart you have is a caring one, and caring hearts need to be guided so they do not care about the wrong things.

In sh'Allah, it's all about to change for the better.

Remember - no more Gulenism, politics or Turkey talk. Qisas al Anbiyah by Ibn Katheer (Stories of the Prophets by Ibn Katheer) once you are up to chapter Ibraheem and finished it - I will give you some deep understandings into the societal ills plaguing mankind today and you will see that these are just repetitive of previous peoples and nothing new. Knowing this is not enough - what i want to give you are the mechanics employed to make these evils fruit - so your sense will spot them before they ever take a hold of your soul and shake it like before - in sh'Allah

May Allah preserve you!

Scimi

what!!!

this is serious mental illness man!!!

did you see a doc?

No need for that bhaisaab - i too have suffered the same, and today I help others who suffer Allahu Alam.

[Mustafa16]

what!!!

this is serious mental illness man!!!

did you see a doc?

I do see a doctor and a therapist for it. Not much help, but I'd be alot worse if I didn't see them.

[Scimitar]

Will you do as I ask Mustafa?

[new2010]

Scimitar You bring it on the point. That's what I observed the last months either. And that's the reason why I recommended the brother Mustafa to read the Islamic Creed Series by Dr. Al-Ashqar. Maybe it's little too much for the beginnging (8 books). Perhaps you stick to the advice of the brother and read the stories of the prophets. Don't burden yourself too much.

I do see a doctor and a therapist for it. Not much help, but I'd be alot worse if I didn't see them.

Don't give up akhi. Life is nothing more than a struggle. Take the offered help from the brother Scimi! Calm dowm and don't burden world affairs on your shoulders. We little man can not change what's going on there. Focus on your own life!

wasalama

[Mustafa16]

Will you do as I ask Mustafa?

If you mean cease being Gulenist and hanging out with Gulenists and doing Gulenist Sufi practices and believing in the Gulenist ideals of peace, justice, human rights, democracy, rule of law, cooperation, non violence, dialogue, peacebuilding, education, etc.
then no.......if you mean stop obsessing over politics, and learning more about the Deen from both Gulenist and non-Gulenist mainstream sources, yes. i already watch islamic videos and i learned my lesson about trolling turks after getting temporarily banned from quora.

[Scimitar]

I can't help you - you're a Gulenist and therefore you put that above Islam!

You have basically cut your nose to spite your face!

Good bye to bad rubbish!

Scimi

[Mustafa16]

I can't help you - you're a Gulenist and therefore you put that above Islam!

You have basically cut your nose to spite your face!

Good bye to bad rubbish!

Scimi

Gulenism is an Islamic civil society charity organization. Just because youre gulenist doesnt mean youre not a Muslim.

[Scimitar]

Gulenmism is Pacifist Islam - and Islam is NOT PACIFIST - Islam believes in defensive jihad and protecting the innocent while your Gulenists will just take it lying down - not to mention your Guru is an American muppet, funded by zionists to pacify Turkey so it doesn't rebel against Israel !!!!

You made your choice - I am free from your 17 year old naivete!

Scimi

[Simple_Person]

..... of peace, justice, human rights, democracy, rule of law, cooperation, non violence, dialogue, peacebuilding, education, etc.
...

This is your problem. You have that firm belief as if being a Gulenist all the good you already will have.

Rasullah(saws) has said stick tot he Qur'an and the Sunnah. Throw the rest out. Islam is already the balanced way, no manipulation whatsoever. If something is said by ANYBODY. The first thing i do is look what Islam says about it. If it say it is wrong i go against it..if it says is good i agree with it.

Ask yourself how come you are depressed? Depression is a outcome, it is NOT a cause. By not walking the balanced way of life (Qur'an and Sunnah) you become depressed. I speak out against everybody who says something wrong even to my own family. I have good relations with my neighbors despite they not being Muslims. I talk about science and read about science, no need to brand myself some sect. I already PROUDLY wear two given labels by Allah. Muslim Kurd. First Muslim, then a Kurd. Because being a Kurd on #1 is nationalism and will not bring me anywhere in my grave. The questions in my grave will not be .."Did you love the Kurdish flag?". That is why i do not follow Kurdish culture, rather Muslim culture (habits and way of life). I am as content as i can be at the moment. I look at everything that i have i say Alhamdulillah. I look at the trials i am having..i say ALHAMDULILLAH. I look at the things that Allah has NOT given me but given other people..i say ALHAMDULILLAH. Because having something and even not having something has it's blessings. So to everything i say ALHAMDULILLAH.

You may be 17 years old, but instead of wanting to reason and listen to somebody older than you that GIVES you good argument, you still tend to stick to want you desire. That is why i have told you the problem is not your brain or eyes..it is your heart.

There is a reason why i have quoted that aya in my signature.. "....Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves...." Qur'an 13:11
I can speak out of experience that this indeed is true. Change what is in yourself and Allah will in'sha'Allah change your condition.

[anatolian]

Gulenism is an Islamic civil society charity organization. Just because youre gulenist doesnt mean youre not a Muslim.

Here I propose a solution for you. Listen to the ideas they teach you which is in parrellel with Quran and ahadith. Dont listen when they are not. I was somehow within them aprx 20 years ago and it was exciting from Islamic pov. Atleast for a youngster who seeks a warm religious enviroment. But when you stop questioning it there arises danger. And this aplies to all groups

[keiv]

Start with Stories of the Prophet's by Ibn Katheer

I was actually looking around for a good book on the subject. JazakAllah for the mention. I just placed a purchase for it and inshaAllah I will read through the whole thing

[Scimitar]

I extend the offer I made to Mustafa to you if you would be interested in sh'Allah!

Scimi

[AbdurRahman.]

why have they done that to their Muslim brother????; may ALlah unite them again ameen!!!!

[Indefinable]

why have they done that to their Muslim brother????; may ALlah unite them again ameen!!!!

Brotherhood has become a joke. No one takes it seriously any more.

[Abz2000]

Stories of the Prophets is also available on google playstore, however, the physical book feels more serious.

Topic...
Trump went to middle east, started bossing them about and putting "terrorism" on them despite the fact that they are all losing soldiers in america's proxy wars, along with losing credibility amongst their armies, armies families, and populations, they all pointed at qatar which appears to be american central command for chaos in the region - clever move.
They all know that America's discrediting and priming them for overthrow like they discredited and primed saddam - just that America doesn't care about what it calls "terrorism" , it's leadership hates God and hates Islam - and uses "terrorism" as the vehicle. All manner of killing and suffering and chaos without fighting for Islam appears acceptable to those crooks in washington and that's despicably wrong.

Trump looks like a doofus for messing up the schemes so he tries a damage limitation in america and claims it was his initiative to isolate the country which hosts the american war machine lol.


Aah already seeing results from my mideast trip - by pi$sing off a whole load of already frustrated leaders because i wanna play hero at home amongst the breitbart and fox crowd - and isolating my biggest puppet in the region who is actually the main source of chaos that my country's government orchestrated.

Oh M.E leaders and Qatari leaders- saddam also thought he had america at his back whilst he played unjust tyrant in the region and angered Allah. It didn't avail him one bit against Allah when his criminal backers betrayed him.
FattaqooAllah ya uli al albaab.
In the end - our return is to Allah anyway so it's best to side with Him innit? Siding with the enemies of Allah loses us this world and the next.

[Simple_Person]

Stories of the Prophets is also available on google playstore, however, the physical book feels more serious.

Topic...
Trump went to middle east, started bossing them about and putting "terrorism" on them despite the fact that they are all losing soldiers in america's proxy wars, along with losing credibility amongst their armies, armies families, and populations, they all pointed at qatar which appears to be american central command for chaos in the region - clever move.
They all know that America's discrediting and priming them for overthrow like they discredited and primed saddam - just that America doesn't care about what it calls "terrorism" , it's leadership hates God and hates Islam - and uses "terrorism" as the vehicle. All manner of killing and suffering and chaos without fighting for Islam appears acceptable to those crooks in washington and that's despicably wrong.

Trump looks like a doofus for messing up the schemes so he tries a damage limitation in america and claims it was his initiative to isolate the country which hosts the american war machine lol.


Aah already seeing results from my mideast trip - by pi$sing off a whole load of already frustrated leaders because i wanna play hero at home amongst the breitbart and fox crowd - and isolating my biggest puppet in the region who is actually the main source of chaos that my country's government orchestrated.

Oh M.E leaders and Qatari leaders- saddam also thought he had america at his back whilst he played unjust tyrant in the region and angered Allah. It didn't avail him one bit against Allah when his criminal backers betrayed him.
FattaqooAllah ya uli al albaab.
In the end - our return is to Allah anyway so it's best to side with Him innit? Siding with the enemies of Allah loses us this world and the next.

Yesterday I suddenly thought about this minor sign.

"Two large groups, adhering to the same religious teaching, will fight each other with large numbers of casualties"

As Qatar gets Iran as it's ally as well as Turkey. Turkey is gonna send 5.000 troops to Qatar. In this minor sign in the past it was depicted as (sunni vs Shia) but doesn't necessarily mean like that. Rather just two large groups. However Allah knows best.

[Abz2000]

Yesterday I suddenly thought about this minor sign.

"Two large groups, adhering to the same religious teaching, will fight each other with large numbers of casualties"

As Qatar gets Iran as it's ally as well as Turkey. Turkey is gonna send 5.000 troops to Qatar. In this minor sign in the past it was depicted as (sunni vs Shia) but doesn't necessarily mean like that. Rather just two large groups. However Allah knows best.

May Allah protect those who turn to Him. We know turkey has been a zionist agent for a while, and that the iranian administration has become weak minded after the replacement of ahmedinejad with a pro colonialist shill.
Allah knows best.

[Simple_Person]

"Turkey Approves Bill Allowing Troop Deployment To Qatar"

Source used: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...ployment-qatar

Sub'han'Allah, i am each time amazed what is going on. The Turks for such a long time have been the greatest hypocrites on earth and Allah is FORCING them to choose and no longer hide under hypocrisy to have both ways. This also is slowly happening with to choose sides be pro-Russia OR pro-NATO, now also pro-Muslim brotherhood or anti-Muslim brotherhood.

"But We have certainly tried those before them, and Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful, and He will surely make evident the liars." Qur'an 29:3

For sure all this time the Gulf states to Egypt and those countries near it to Pakistan and those Muslim countries near it have been sitting on their chair while seeing so many Muslims being killed in Sham. For them their chair is more holy than the blood of a Muslim, while the fact is that the blood of a Muslim is of MORE value than the ka'ba it self.

[Singularity]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-whi...212441643.html


World
Trump White House Blames ISIS Attack on Tehran and the 'Evil They Promote'
Claire Shaffer,Newsweek 18 hours ago
Reactions Sign in to like Reblog on Tumblr Share Tweet Email


President Donald Trump issued a brief statement Wednesday after the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) carried out an attack in Tehran that warned against the Iranian government's past support of terrorism.


"We grieve and pray for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks in Iran, and for the Iranian people, who are going through such challenging times," the statement read. "We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote."


At least 12 people were killed and over 40 wounded on Wednesday morning in Tehran, as masked gunman mounted twin attacks on Iran's parliament building and a historic tomb site dedicated to Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian revolutionary leader. One assailant detonated a suicide vest. The assault lasted for several hours, and ended with six assailants killed and five suspects taken into custody. Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused Saudi Arabia of helping to support the ISIS-claimed attacks, CNN reported.


Trending: Gulf Crisis: Arab Leaders Say ‘No Thanks’ To Trump's Offer of Resolving Diplomatic Conflict After President Justifies Cutting Ties With Qatar on Twitter


“This terrorist attack happened only a week after the meeting between the U.S. president and the backward [Saudi] leaders who support terrorists," the Revolutionary Guard said, referencing a recent summit between Trump and Gulf leaders during his "global religions" tour to Italy, Israel and Saudi Arabia in May. "The fact that Islamic State has claimed responsibility proves that they were involved in the brutal attack."


The attack is notably ISIS's first major attack in Iran, after years of escalated threats against the country. The State Department also issued a statement in response to the attacks, but without the same forceful tone used by the president.


"We express our condolences to the victims and their families, and send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Iran," the statement read. "The depravity of terrorism has no place in a peaceful, civilized world."


Trump's statement comes after a barrage of tweets aimed at Qatar and praising Saudi Arabia-along with Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates-for cutting ties with the country, which hosts the largest U.S.-run airbase in the Middle East and which has been crucial in the fight against ISIS. Saudi Arabia's diplomatic severing was a response, in part, to Qatar's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS militants supported by Iran.




http://www.newsweek.com/tehran-attac...inister-622848


TRUMP'S RESPONSE TO IRAN ISIS ATTACK IS ‘REPUGNANT,’ SAYS FOREIGN MINISTER ZARIF
BY JACK MOORE ON 6/8/17 AT 5:20 AM
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has condemned President Donald Trump’s response to the twin assault on Tehran Wednesday claimed by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), calling it “repugnant.”


Trump said that “states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote” after masked gunmen and suicide bombers killed 13 people and wounded more than 40. The attacks targeted the Tehran parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic in 1979.


“Repugnant WH [White House] statement…as Iranians counter terror backed by U.S. clients,” Zarif tweeted.


Police killed six attackers and arrested five more suspects in the aftermath of the attack. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accused Saudi Arabia, its regional rival, of supporting the attack. Zarif also alluded to Saudi involvement.


“Terror-sponsoring despots threaten to bring the fight to our homeland,” he wrote in an earlier tweet on Wednesday. “Proxies attack what their masters despise most: the seat of democracy.”


Read more: Gunmen storm Iranian parliament, attack Ayatollah Khomeini Mausoleum in Tehran


It is the first major ISIS-claimed attack on Iranian soil. The jihadi group has increased its propaganda output aimed at Iranians and Persian speakers this year, including a video in March that called on Iran’s Sunnis to take up arms against Iran’s Shiite elite. Four issues of its online magazine Rumiyah were also translated into Farsi. Around 9 percent of the Iranian population is Sunni, while the rest are mainly Shiites.


Trump has repeatedly accused Iran of sponsoring “terrorism.” Israel also accuses it of funding extremist groups. Both accuse Iran of funding proxy groups across the Middle East, such as Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Palestinian militant group Hamas and Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, and suspect it of trying to form a “Shia crescent” of influence across the region.


Iran is currently backing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against Sunni rebels and jihadi groups in the war-torn country. Tehran has also propped up Iraq’s fight against ISIS, advising Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite forces and militias in the battle to recapture cities such as Tikrit and Ramadi.


Iranian authorities warned last year that the country faces a significant threat from ISIS, which promotes an ultra-conservative strand of Sunni Islam that analysts have described as “medieval.” Hardline Sunnis consider Shiite Islam to be heresy, viewing their worship at shrines as idolatrous.


In October, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said Iranian security services had dismantled a foreign ISIS cell targeting mourners on the Shiite holy day of Ashura—a commemoration of the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson in the 7th century. They discovered around 100 kilograms of explosive material and said it was one of several plots they have uncovered. ISIS did not claim responsibility for the plot.


Tehran attack
A boy is evacuated during an attack on the Iranian parliament in central Tehran, Iran.
OMID VAHABZADEH/TIMA VIA REUTERS

[Abz2000]

Anyone who even attempts to claim that they believe that the u.s.a government wish, plan, hope, or expect bloodshed to dwindle should honestly be called out as either a deceiver or a dupe.

The u.s.a government works through big budgets and has a very sophisticated accounting and secret intelligence apparatus,
One just needs to look at the military spending curve to realize that they don't wish or expect that the chaos they engineer will recede.

Maybe also check out it's links with the g.i.a in algeria and how a mercenary group was set up to discredit Islamic activism and control dissent when the first ever elections were stopped as soon as it became clear that the islamic political party would win.
If the french really gave them independence and allowed an election - who would prevent the election without secularist backing?

Armed Islamic Group (GIA): Having initiated terrorist activities in 1992 following Algiers refusal to accept a democratically elected Islamist government, the GIA has conducted multiple mass killings of civilians and assassinations of Algerian leaders. While present in areas such as Yemen, the GIA reportedly does not target the U.S. directly. However, it is possible that GIA splinter movements or personnel may become involved in anti-U.S. action.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...tc/modern.html

One is left seriously wondering how this ex-military analyst and current security consultant confidently assures his clients that it won't be anyone currently with the G.I.A......

The p.r in secularist news is more fictional than a hollywood movie. - anyone may research bell pottinger al qaeda.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/pentago...l-qaeda-videos



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Equatorial_Guinea_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_attempt[/url]

http://www.factbehindfiction.com/ind...ickForsyth.htm


An unofficial responsibility for getting ‘a job’ for the team came to rest with Cat. Which wasn’t easy in these troubled times. ‘In fact he foresaw in the offing a nasty outbreak of peace’. This troubled Shannon,....


https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/war/

http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/economic

[Singularity]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b0c5a35c9ea755


POLITICS 06/09/2017 11:05 am ET
Al Jazeera Employees Fear Consequences Of Qatar Crisis For Network
But staff tell HuffPost they’re used to uncertainty.
By Daniel Marans


WASHINGTON ― Several Arab nations’ severing of ties with Qatar sparked speculation that the wealthy Gulf state will scale back or close its prized news outlet, Al Jazeera, as the price of reconciliation with its neighbors.


That Al Jazeera reported a massive cyberattack on its systems Thursday is only likely to buttress perceptions that the network is one of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other regional governments’ chief grievances with Qatar. Saudi Arabia effectively shut off Al Jazeera’s broadcasts in the kingdom, while the United Arab Emirates removed the company’s subsidiary beIN Sports from its airwaves.


The developments since the Qatar diplomatic crisis began Sunday have spooked some longtime Al Jazeera employees in Washington, D.C., where the network’s North and South American operations are based.


Four employees at Al Jazeera’s Washington bureau spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the matter. I know all four from my stint as a segment producer at the now-defunct channel, Al Jazeera America, which operated out of the same offices.


In the D.C. newsroom, “everyone’s obviously talking about” the Qatar crisis’ potential impact on Al Jazeera, one employee told HuffPost.


The chatter is based not on any information from Al Jazeera’s management, but “media reports suggesting the best bargaining chip for Qatar would be to close the network especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia,” he said. “Personally, it freaks me out.” If Qatar starts to take a “big time hit financially,” the nation is liable to begin cutting the network’s funding, he added.


Recent actions by management have only heightened employees’ anxiety. In April, the network announced a restructuring aimed at reallocating resources to its digital news operations. Amjad Atallah, who ran Al Jazeera English’s American operations from the Washington bureau, was among those laid off in the first round of terminations. Last Friday, in a second round of terminations, the bureau laid off about 10 other other employees, including several video editors, the director of human resources and finance staff for Al Jazeera Arabic.


“Since April, a lot of people have made their peace with the fact that there are gonna be changes we don’t know about,” said a second employee at the D.C. bureau. Now, since the Qatari diplomatic crisis hit, “people started talking about Al Jazeera disappearing as a network.”


Al Jazeera Media Network, the parent company of Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Arabic and other, smaller news channels, denied that Qatar’s dispute with Arab nations would affect its future.


“In the past, we have had restrictions imposed upon us: our channels have been blocked in certain countries or regions; access to our digital platforms has been cut; we have had our offices closed down in some places; we have had licences revoked; and down through the years we have had tough experiences with some of our journalists being either killed, detained, imprisoned or threatened,” the network said in a statement.


“The current crisis represents a new challenge and new circumstances,” the statement continued. “But Al Jazeera remains committed to continue its pioneering and courageous journalism around the world in a professional, balanced and objective manner.”


Qatar changed the face of media in the Middle East when it created Al Jazeera Arabic in 1996. The channel earned a reputation for critical coverage that was unprecedented in the largely state-controlled Arab media landscape.


Ten years later, the network inaugurated Al Jazeera English, which won a loyal English-speaking audience across the world with its comprehensive global coverage and willingness to challenge Western biases.


The outlet reached new fame during the Arab Spring uprisings, with its unsparing, on-the-ground coverage of the revolutions sweeping the Middle East in 2011.


But the same reporting that won it international acclaim began to rankle Arab leaders wary of the democratization and Islamist movements unleashed by the revolution in Egypt in particular.


Qatar had supported the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood’s rise in post-revolutionary Egypt, while Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE backed the military coup that removed the democratically elected, Brotherhood-affiliated government from power in July 2013.


Soon after Egyptian coup General Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi became president, he and his Saudi and Emirati backers accused Qatar of using Al Jazeera to promote the Brotherhood, which they deemed a terrorist organization. Al Jazeera argued that it was merely covering popular opposition to the coup and the victims of the government’s repression. And the network’s English-language coverage of Egypt continued to earn high marks from industry watchers.


Sisi’s forces nonetheless arrested three Al Jazeera English journalists in December 2013 on trumped-up charges of involvement with the Brotherhood.


As part of its efforts to reconcile with Egypt and its Gulf neighbors, Al Jazeera shuttered its Arabic-language Egyptian channel Mubasher Misr in December 2014. Egypt released the prisoners over the course of the following year.


As Sunday’s rupture demonstrates, however, Egypt and its powerful Gulf state sponsors remain angry about Qatar’s support for Islamist groups, including Hamas, a militant Palestinian Brotherhood affiliate whose political leadership has enjoyed a safe haven in Doha. And Saudi Arabia and UAE’s subsequent moves to limit Al Jazeera broadcasts suggest they continue to view the network in general, and Al Jazeera Arabic in particular, as a vehicle for that agenda.


Given the geopolitical wrangling that Al Jazeera is subject to, it is easy to wonder why Western journalists would choose to work there. But veterans of the Washington bureau say they are attracted to the higher-than-normal pay, decent working conditions and opportunity to work on substantive journalism.


“Whatever happens politically, that’s the Qatari government. We just do our jobs as journalists. We produce very good journalistic products worldwide,” a third employee said.


Working for a Qatari-funded outlet, with the risks it implies, is merely an unfortunate byproduct, according to the staff members.


“Everyone here sort of has qualms about who they work for and they realize, especially in the last few years, that geopolitics affects the company they work for,” the first employee said.


The political system of Qatar is an absolute monarchy and the country’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is head of state. Employees say they sometimes see traces of authoritarianism in the leadership’s opaque communication style with staff. Layoffs, which have become a virtually annual occurrence in recent years, are typically sudden, swift and inscrutable.


“It’s always been kind of the culture here; Doha dictates and then all of this stuff happens out of the blue,” a fourth employee said, in reference to management in Al Jazeera’s headquarters in the Qatari capital. “We get the last shockwave from whatever is happening up in Doha.”


One advantage to working under that kind of management is that employees are constantly prepared for the worst and eyeing their next job, several of the staff members said.


Not even President Donald Trump’s initial expression of support for the Arab nations’ break with Qatar is enough to faze the employees who spoke to HuffPost. (He has since walked back his comments and offered to mediate the dispute.)


“He’s just so bizarre you don’t know what he’s going to say or do next,” the fourth employee said.

[noraina]

This whole diplomatic crises was just so bizarre and yet not surprising at the same time.

The reasons for cutting ties with Qatar are - I wouldn't say weak because some of the accusations are pretty serious - but they need to be given a lot more thought..

Qatar may have supported terrorism - well to be honest most countries have supported what are considered terrorist organisations in the past. Those hacks - again, things like this always happen, and usually just precisely before something important is coming up. As for Al-Jazeera and its emails - since when has any media outlet been the epitome of neutrality or political correctness. And don't get me started on Donald Trump - I thought we'd learned by now he'll try to stir up chaos wherever he sets foot, you can't seriously take advice on 'cooperation and supporting world peace' from him.

I hope everything is resolved quickly and peacefully though. In this Ummah we need cooperation and dialogue, not yet more division.

[anatolian]

All those countries who blame Qatar for funding terrorism had funded it themselves previously. This is the hypocrisy of politics. I think the real reason is Qatar is trying to act on it's own apart from the Arab league. Oil is gonna finish and Arabs are anxious about it.

[Abz2000]

All those countries who blame Qatar for funding terrorism had funded it themselves previously. This is the hypocrisy of politics. I think the real reason is Qatar is trying to act on it's own apart from the Arab league. Oil is gonna finish and Arabs are anxious about it.

All those middle eastern states and some Islamic military groups have been set against each other- put in situations of blackmail, had mercenary militant groups and neighbours set upon them, and forced to hoard weapons purchased from the u.s.a and russia through indications, hints, and threats of arming a regional leader with differences, whilst the arming of the zionist state is continually used to keep the arms race running.
Below is a small list of some of the more overt actions in which the u.s.a has been implicated and in most cases found guilty by the judges and investigators, I only add clippings of the details since more details are available in the link:

United States and state-sponsored terrorism.

The United States has at various times in recent history provided support to terrorist and paramilitary organizations around the world. It has also provided assistance to numerous authoritarian regimes that have used state terrorism as a tool of repression.[1][2]

United States support for non-state terrorists has been prominent in Latin America, the Middle-East, and Southern Africa.[1] From 1981 to 1991, the United States provided weapons, training, and extensive financial and logistical support to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, who used terror tactics in their fight against the Nicaraguan government.[3] At various points the United States also provided training, arms, and funds to terrorists among the Cuban exiles, such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles.

Various reasons have been provided to justify such support. These include destabilizing political movements that might have aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, including popular democratic and socialist movements.[4] Such support has also formed a part of the war on drugs.[2] Support was also geared toward ensuring a conducive environment for American corporate interests abroad, especially when these interests came under threat from democratic regimes.[4][5]

Kashmir Princess incident

On 11 April 1955 the “Kashmir Princess,” an Air India Constellation passenger airliner, was damaged in midair by a bomb explosion and crashed into the South China Sea while en route from Mumbai, India, and Hong Kong to Jakarta, Indonesia.[6] Sixteen of those on board were killed, while three survived.[7][8] The explosion had been caused by a time bomb placed aboard the aircraft by a Kuomintang secret agent who was attempting to assassinate Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, who had been scheduled to board the plane to attend the conference but had changed his travel plans at the last minute.

When police began to focus on Chow Tse-ming, a janitor for Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co., he was plucked away to Taiwan on a CIA-owned Civil Air Transport aircraft.


Years of Lead

The Years of Lead was a period of socio-political turmoil in Italy that lasted from the late 1960s into the early 1980s. This period was marked by a wave of terrorism carried out by both right- and left-wing paramilitary groups. It was concluded that the former were supported by the United States as a strategy of tension.



Piazza Fontana bombing

The Piazza Fontana Bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on December 12, 1969 at 16:37, when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (National Agrarian Bank) in Piazza Fontana in Milan killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs were detonated in Rome and Milan, and another was found undetonated.[20]

In 1998, Milan judge Guido Salvini indicted U.S. Navy officer David Carrett on charges of political and military espionage for his participation in the Piazza Fontana bombing et al. Salvini also opened up a case against Sergio Minetto, an Italian official of the U.S.-NATO intelligence network, and "collaboratore di giustizia" Carlo Digilio (Uncle Otto), who served as CIA coordinator in Northeastern Italy in the sixties and seventies. The newspaper la Repubblica reported that Carlo Rocchi, CIA's man in Milan was discovered in 1995 searching for information concerning Operation Gladio.[15]

A 2000 parliamentary report published by the center-left Olive Tree coalition claimed that "U.S. intelligence agents were informed in advance about several right-wing terrorist bombings, including the December 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan and the Piazza della Loggia bombing in Brescia five years later, but did nothing to alert the Italian authorities or to prevent the attacks from taking place." It also alleged that Pino Rauti (current leader of the MSI Fiamma-Tricolore party), a journalist and founder of the far-right Ordine Nuovo (New Order) subversive organization, received regular funding from a press officer at the U.S. embassy in Rome. "So even before the 'stabilising' plans that Atlantic circles had prepared for Italy became operational through the bombings, one of the leading members of the subversive right was literally in the pay of the American embassy in Rome", the report says.[21]

Paolo Emilio Taviani, the Christian Democrat co-founder of Gladio (NATO's stay-behind anti-Communist organization in Italy), told investigators that the SID military intelligence service was about to send a senior officer from Rome to Milan to prevent the bombing, but decided to send a different officer from Padua in order to put the blame on left-wing anarchists. Taviani also alleged in an August 2000 interview to Il Secolo XIX newspaper: "It seems to me certain, however, that agents of the CIA were among those who supplied the materials and who muddied the waters of the investigation."[22]

Guido Salvini said "The role of the Americans was ambiguous, halfway between knowing and not preventing and actually inducing people to commit atrocities."[23]

According to Vincenzo Vinciguerra, the terrorist attack was supposed to push then Interior Minister Mariano Rumor to declare a state of emergency.[15]


Kidnapping attempt and assassination of General René Schneider



The Contras

From 1979 to 1990, the United States provided financial, logistical and military support to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, who used terrorist tactics in their war against the Nicaraguan government[3][27][28][29][30][31] and carried out more than 1300 terrorist attacks.[32] This support persisted despite widespread knowledge of the human rights violations committed by the Contras.[28]


The U.S. government explicitly planned to back the Contras, various rebel groups collectively that were formed in response to the rise of the Sandinistas, as a means to damage the Nicaraguan economy and force the Sandinista government to divert its scarce resources toward the army and away from social and economic programs.[46]


The United States began to support Contra activities against the Sandinista government by December 1981, with the CIA at the forefront of operations.[47] The CIA provided the Contras with planning and operational direction and assistance, weapons, food, and training, in what was described as the "most ambitious" covert operation in more than a decade.[48][49] One of the purposes the CIA hoped to achieve by these operations was an aggressive and violent response from the Sandinista government which in turn could be used as a pretext for proper military actions.[50]


In the fiscal year 1984, the U.S. Congress approved $24 million in contra aid.[47] However, the Reagan administration lost a lot of support for its Contra policy after CIA involvement in the mining of Nicaraguan ports became public knowledge, and a report of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research commissioned by the State Department found that Reagan had exaggerated claims about Soviet interference in Nicaragua.[47][61] Congress cut off all funds for the contras in 1985 by the third Boland Amendment.[47][62] As a result, the Reagan administration sought to provide funds through other sources.[63] Between 1984 and 1986, $34 million was routed through third countries and $2.7 million through private sources.[64] These funds were run through the National Security Council, by Lt. Col. Oliver North, who created an organization called "The Enterprise" which served as the secret arm of the NSC staff and had its own airplanes, pilots, airfield, ship, and operatives.[64] It also received assistance from other government agencies, especially from CIA personnel in Central America.[64] These efforts culminated in the Iran-Contra Affair of 1986–1987, which facilitated funding for the Contras through the proceeds of arms sales to Iran. Money was also raised for the Contras through drug trafficking, which the United States was aware of.[65] Senator John Kerry's 1988 Committee on Foreign Relations report on Contra drug links concluded that "senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems".[66]

Another common theme the administration played on was the idea of returning Nicaragua to Democracy, which analysts characterized as "curious," because Nicaragua had been a U.S. supported dictatorship prior to the Sandinista revolution, and had never had a democracy
.

Leslie Cockburn writes that the CIA, and therefore indirectly the U.S. government and President Reagan, were encouraging Contra terrorism by issuing the manual to the contras violating Reagan's own Presidential Directive.

The manual, Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare, clearly advocated a strategy of terror as the means to victory over the hearts and minds of Nicaraguans. Chapter headings such as ‘Selective Use of Violence for propagandistic Effects' and ‘Implicit and Explicit Terror' made that fact clear enough. ... The little booklet thus violated President Reagan's own Presidential Directive 12333, signed in December 1981, which prohibited any U.S. government employee—including the CIA—from having anything to do with assassinations.[80]


The ICJ found that the U.S. had encouraged violations of international humanitarian law by assisting paramilitary actions in Nicaragua. The court also criticized the production of a manual on psychological warfare by the U.S. and its dissemination of the Contras.[82] The manual, amongst other things, provided advice on rationalizing the killing of civilians, and on targeted murder. The manual also included an explicit description of the use of "implicit terror."[82]

Having initially argued that the ICJ lacked jurisdiction in the case, the United States withdrew from the proceedings in 1985.[82] The court eventually ruled in favor of Nicaragua, and judged that the United States was required to pay reparations for its violation of International law.[82] The U.S. used its veto on the United Nations Security Council to block the enforcement of the ICJ judgement, and thereby prevented Nicaragua from obtaining any compensation.




Cuban exiles

United States government provided support to several Cuban exiles after the success of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, especially under the administration of George H. W. Bush. Among the most prominent of these were Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, who were implicated in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban plane. Bosch was also held to be responsible for 30 other terrorist acts, while Carriles was a former CIA agent convicted of numerous terrorist acts committed while he was linked to the agency.[84][85][86][87] Other Cuban exiles involved in terrorist acts, Jose Dionisio Suarez and Virgilio Paz Romero, two other Cuban exiles who assassinated the Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in Washington in 1976, were also released by the administration of George H.W. Bush.[88]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit...ored_terrorism


And I believe most of us are aware of OPERATION NORTHWOODS.

The director of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan, General William Odom recently remarked, “by any measure the U.S. has long used terrorism.
In 1978-79 the Senate was trying to pass a law against international terrorism – in every version they produced, the lawyers said the U.S. would be in violation.”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/america...-group/5402881


Here's an interesting method used to propose or muse over think tank policy by using a discarded ally victim state as the subject of context:
(For those who know how the Nidal organization was used as a tool and excuse for repression during the washington-saddam alliance - and to bomb Badghdad in 1992 during the end of Saddam's reign).


Journal
Cambridge Review of International Affairs
Volume 27, 2014 - Issue 3


Governmental support for nonstate actors designated as terrorist organizations is not only a policy that carries significant international and domestic costs; it further poses a theoretical challenge to structural realist thinking about alliance politics in international relations. By debating, firstly, the utility of terrorism as a means to influence systemic power distribution, and, secondly, the functional equality of nonstate actors, this article considers under what conditions state sponsored terrorism occurs despite the expected security loss. Drawing on the example of Iraq between 1979 and 1991, the assumption that the interplay of external security challenges—as well as domestic dissent as an intervening, unit-level factor—affects governmental alignments with terrorist groups will be reviewed in the cases of the Iranian Mujahedin al-Khalq Organization, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and armed Palestinian factions.

The article concludes by addressing whether state sponsorship of terrorism is inevitably linked to policy failure or whether it could be seen as a good investment to balance external and internal security challenges successfully.

Additional author information

Magdalena Kirchner
Magdalena Kirchner (MA, Heidelberg) is a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Heidelberg. Her research interests include International Relations Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis in the context of political violence and terrorism as well as state-society relations in the Middle East. She has taught political science at the University of Heidelberg and serves as editor of the German Armed Forces journal Security Policy Reader.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...nalCode=ccam20

[Quote]
A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah, on the West Bank, described the circumstances as "mysterious". The official said he had been told he had committed suicide but was unable to explain how this was consistent with a report that he had suffered three gunshot wounds.


Mystery death of Abu Nidal, once the world's most wanted terrorist
Leader of group that struck across globe is found shot dead

Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor, Richard Nelsson, research department
Tuesday 20 August 2002 01.54 BST

Abu Nidal, leader of a renegade Palestinian terrorist group responsible for a string of atrocities in the 1980s and 1990s, has died from gunshot wounds in mysterious circumstances in a flat in Baghdad, according to Palestinian and other sources. He was 65.
Abu Nidal's group carried out hijackings, attacks on synagogues, kidnappings and assassinations of diplomats. His targets included the US, Israel, Britain, France, Jordan and many other countries, as well as followers of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. About 900 were killed, including eight Britons.

Members of his group, the Fatah-Revolutionary Council, better known as the Abu Nidal Organisation, said yesterday that he had committed suicide because he was suffering from cancer.

A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah, on the West Bank, described the circumstances as "mysterious". The official said he had been told he had committed suicide but was unable to explain how this was consistent with a report that he had suffered three gunshot wounds.

His death has been expected since news emerged in 1998 that he had been admitted to a clinic in Cairo.

Abu Nidal is a nom de guerre for Sabri al-Banna and which means Father of the Struggle. The US state department once termed his group "the most dangerous terrorist organisation in existence".

He was a terrorist mercenary, who worked, at various times, on behalf of Iraq, Syria and Libya and, it is claimed, even Israel.

Yossi Melman, an Israeli author, who wrote a biography of Abu Nidal, said his death could be the result of illness but he could also have been assassinated, perhaps by one of his own men in the internal feuds for which his organisation is known or perhaps by an Iraqi government fearful that he knew too much about its operations.

But his presence in Baghdad was not considered an embarrassment to the Iraqi government at a time when it is facing a threatened US invasion.

The US administration, though desperately seeking to link the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, to terrorism, has at no time made an issue of Abu Nidal's presence in the Iraqi capital. This may be, in part, because Abu Nidal's group is no longer operational.


He moved to Baghdad about 18 months ago after he feared that the Egyptian government would arrest him in hospital and hand him over to western countries.

An Iraqi affairs specialist based in Beirut, Khairallah Khairallah, said Abu Nidal's relations with the Iraqi government were strained. The Iraqi government fell out with him in 1991 during the Gulf War when he sided with with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/20/israel

(Kuwait and Saudi Arabia ....or America????? One is left to wonder.



It's no easy task for the government of tiny Qatar to tell the u.s.a to remove u.s.a military bases from qatar and be done with kaafir dajjal u.s and british troops, along with blackwater mercenaries landing on it's soil and flying back out in choppers and in convoys flying shahadah flags with the aim of increasing confusion and chaos in the region and globally. It's useful to study the story of Barseesah the monk at this point.

[Simple_Person]

Been reading up a bit more about the news and history and so far i see it, it has a lot to do with Iran.

What has happened in the recent history that we can connect the dot of Qatar pressuring to it? Well we know of Trump visit. The whole Arab-NATO plan and really start pressuring Iran. If Iran falls, Syria falls. If Syria falls, as well as the Houtis, hamas, hezbollah lose and not to forget Russia loses their harbor in Tartus. Qatar however made clear that the on the other hand did not want to join this coalition against Iran.

So step by step by directly pressuring Qatar, however looking at it, Qatar isn't gonna budge as now a sort of new alliance has been created..Turkey + Iran + Qatar. However if this new alliance for sure becomes a fact, the next step the Arab countries gonna take, will DEVASTATE the Middle East. That step, i will keep for myself something for you to ponder about.

[Singularity]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/qatar-bus...125316210.html


World
Qatar Businessman to Beat Gulf Blockade by Airlifting 4,000 Cows
Jack Moore,Newsweek 11 hours ago
Pigs might fly, but for one Qatari businessman, so will cows. Entrepreneur Moutaz Al Khayyat will airlift a herd of four thousand to the Gulf state on around 60 flights to get around a regional blockade in place because of an ongoing row with Sunni states.


On June 5, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremist groups, such as Palestinian militant group Hamas, and Shia regional power Iran. Qatar denies the accusations. The country shares a land border with Saudi Arabia, and more than half of its food comes from its neighbor, as well as most of its milk.


Because of the threat the blockade poses to Qatar’s milk, Khayyat, chairman of Power International Holding, is taking matters into his own hands.


“This is the time to work for Qatar,” he told Bloomberg of his plan to airlift the dairy aid package. Transporting the cows could take as many as 60 Qatar Airways flights from the U.S. and Australia, where he bought the cows.


Cow
A cow at a dairy organic farm in Plesse, western France. A Qatari businessman is to airlift 4,000 to the Gulf state amid a blockade by rival Sunni countries. Loic Venance/AFP/Getty


Khayyat said he had already made plans to bring the cows to Qatar by sea but the Gulf rift made him accelerate the move. His company’s production of fresh milk at a farm north of Doha will now begin at the end of June, as opposed to September as originally scheduled.


Qatar, a tiny, oil-rich Gulf nation, is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but the embargo by its neighbors and fellow Sunni states has forced it to look elsewhere for revenue streams and transport links.


A Qatari government employee, speaking to Bloomberg in the capital, Doha, lauded the cow airlift as showing Qatar can finds ways to survive on its own. “It’s a message of defiance, that we don’t need others,” Umm Issa, 40, said. “Our government has made sure we have no shortages and we are grateful for that. We have no fear. No one will die of hunger.”


Qatar’s allies, Iran and Turkey, have helped the country in actions and rhetoric. Both have delivered food supplies to the country and Turkey has agreed to deploy troops. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the isolation of Qatar as “inhumane” and “un-Islamic” on Monday. Iran has opened its airspace to Qatari flights after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE all closed off inbound flights from the country.


Iran is a Shia-led country that rivals Saudi Arabia for regional influence. Qatar’s close relationship with the Islamic Republic is one of the factors believed to be behind the rift.

[Mustafa16]

This just may be the beginning of the end for Erdogan. All those accusations he's accused Gulenists, Kurdish activists, free thinking journalists, Kemalist activists, people who say,
"MAYBE.....you SHOULDN'T throw all your opposition in jail.....?" of being "terrorists" "blood sucking vampires", a virus, "worse than ISIS" all of that will be turned on him. expect either a military coup backed by the CIA, a military coup by cliques loyal to Gulen, America, or Russia, or economic sanctions will happen. As for the former, this time, like all other Turkish coups, it will be at night, when everyone is sleeping, that way there will be no resistance or loss of civilian life. And with much more troops. And it won't be a false flag. This way, Turkey can be Kemalist for the next few years under military rule, Erdogan will be executed or jailed for life, the economy will get bad under socialism, and then another center right politician will seize the stage for the upcoming years only to continue the cycle. As for Qatar, I wouldn't hesitate to believe Saudi accusations.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Gives interesting perspective on the crises

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Depressing but very eye opening.

There is a cold war in the Middle East being fought between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This cold war is beyond sectarianism and the Sunni/Shia divide. Rather it's a contest for influence that's being played out within the domestic politics of weak Arab states. Arab states such as Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, and Syria have become battlefields in a larger arena of geopolitics. This video will explore why the Sunni vs Shia framework fails to explain current events, and why an inter-Sunni conflict is becoming more important in Middle Eastern politics. We'll discuss the United States role in the Middle East and its goals going forward.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Interesting take on the subject.

Saudi Arabia's spat with Qatar just a distraction to protect the ruling family, political analyst says

Saudi Arabia's blockade of neighboring Qatar is a distraction as the Arab world's biggest economy shores up its monarchy and attempts to shift away from reliance on oil exports, according to one analyst.

The country's royal family adjusted its order of secession earlier this week, paving the way for Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman to lead the House of Saud in the future.

Salman promotes an "ambitious reform agenda designed to protect … and stabilize the Kingdom after the Arab Spring," Sanam Vakil, associate fellow at Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme, told CNBC Thursday.

Vakil suggested that Saudi Arabia's recent diplomatic spat with Qatar, in which the Kingdom and several other Arab countries accused their Gulf neighbor of supporting terrorist groups, was an attempted distraction from "the real challenge at home which is declining oil prices (and) a very young population in need of one thing, jobs, jobs, jobs."

She said that the Kingdom's smoke and mirrors game was "about the future and protecting the internal stability of the House of Saud."

At the age of 31, Crown Prince Salman is the world's youngest defense minister. Experience on the international stage, with Saudi Arabia actively involved in conflicts, will prime Salman in his future role as king as "The threat (to stability) is always internal," said Vakil.

Vakil forecast that "We're going to see much more of a robust and ambitious Saudi Arabia building on a number of events that have already taken place over the past year," notably U.S. President Donald Trump visiting the Kingdom on his first overseas foreign trip in May.

Vakil described Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, its long term project to diversify the economy and move away from dependence on oil, as potentially changing the fabric of the country's deeply religious Sunni Muslim society. While attempting to generate 1.2 million jobs, "at the same time (the government is) offering the youth fun," she said. Vakil spoke of the building of cinemas and theme parks, which would "rock the boat a bit, challenging some of the conservative elements within the Kingdom and at the same time reducing subsidies."

Vision 2030's acknowledgement of the pastoral care of citizens signifies a wider attempt by Gulf countries to "make themselves relevant, and of course to create vibrant societies while enshrining (their) very closed political systems," Vakil explained.

Helima Croft, managing director at RBC Capital Markets, shared Vakil's view that deliverance on domestic economic reform and creating a swathe of new jobs for young people would be key to Salman's success.

Croft spoke positively to CNBC's Worldwide Exchange Wednesday of the new leader in waiting. Referring to Salman's appointment to defense minister in 2015, Croft said that "He has defied all of the skeptics with his staying power." She also pointed out Salman's successes with the Vision 2030 project, one example being the expected IPO of Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company.

"I think he's going to be leading Saudi Arabia for the next few decades at this point," she said.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/23/saudi-arabia-diplomatic-spat-qatar-protect-royal-family.html

[sister herb]

What I read from the news; Saudis and others demand Qatar do several things like cut ties to Iran, Muslim Brotherhood but also close the brances of al-Jazeerah. Do they afraid that al-Jazeerah writes too critical news about their own violations and their own citizens read the truth and start to demand better leaders?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Yes the Sauds and the rest of the dictatorships in the middleeast don't like being criticised. You eventually realise that they are obedient servants of outside powers (globalists) and are more interested in looking after their own interests than their peoples.

I think they know that the writing is on the wall. The status quo cant continue.

[anatolian]

"Turkey Approves Bill Allowing Troop Deployment To Qatar"

Source used: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...ployment-qatar

Sub'han'Allah, i am each time amazed what is going on. The Turks for such a long time have been the greatest hypocrites on earth and Allah is FORCING them to choose and no longer hide under hypocrisy to have both ways. This also is slowly happening with to choose sides be pro-Russia OR pro-NATO, now also pro-Muslim brotherhood or anti-Muslim brotherhood.

"But We have certainly tried those before them, and Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful, and He will surely make evident the liars." Qur'an 29:3

For sure all this time the Gulf states to Egypt and those countries near it to Pakistan and those Muslim countries near it have been sitting on their chair while seeing so many Muslims being killed in Sham. For them their chair is more holy than the blood of a Muslim, while the fact is that the blood of a Muslim is of MORE value than the ka'ba it self.

Can I simply ask what the heck Turkey's decision to take part with Qatar has anything to do with hypocrisy? I am %100 sure you would blame Turkey with the same thing if we had taken part with American muppet Saudis. You are only producing anti-Turkist nonsense

[Simple_Person]

Can I simply ask what the heck Turkey's decision to take part with Qatar has anything to do with hypocrisy? I am %100 sure you would blame Turkey with the same thing if we had taken part with American muppet Saudis. You are only producing anti-Turkist nonsense.

If you still do not see what is clear, then it doesn't matter what i even say or not say. It is all the same, you will not see. So that is why i leave it like that, for you something to wonder about.

[anatolian]

If you still do not see what is clear, then it doesn't matter what i even say or not say. It is all the same, you will not see. So that is why i leave it like that, for you something to wonder about.

I am not for any war between Muslims and I know the real reason behind Turkey's backing up Qatar is the huge Qatari money lying in the Turkish banks but if there needs to be a support in this stupid conflict it must be for Qatar instead of Saudi Arabia from all Islamic points of views..

Hence, you seek to to blame Turks, you meaninglessly use events..

[anatolian]

Saudi Arabia recently made a 110 Biillion Dollar weaponry purchase from America. What are the Saudi planning to do with crazy amount of weaponry? Are they planning to conquer the World? Can you do that against America with American guns? Dont think so. So what? Or are they gonna paint the middle east with blood? Saudi Arabia is already an American base in the southern Mid-East. A free Kurdistan will be another base in the north. They are laying all these weaponry in the mid-east for a future Great Mid-East war "Armageddon".

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Yes I dont know why Turkey is getting blamed, whatever criticisms youd like to make of Erdogan (plenty) he has at least tried to help Muslim causes (Palestinians, Syrian refugees) etc unlike the Sauds and co.

Blockading Qatar, targeting Iran

The Saudi-Israeli alliance is out of the closet.

The almost simultaneous blockade of Qatar spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and joined by a few of its sidekick states and two pernicious, violent attacks on two symbolic sites in Tehran may have taken the world by surprise but the mad logic and the mischievous rhetoric of them are anything but surprising.

The organic link between the regional, decidedly anti-Palestinian, ambitions of Israel and the sectarian designs of Saudi Arabia for the Arab and Muslim world at large have been known for quite some time now. The question is what has triggered that alliance between the Israeli settler colony and the Saudi garrison state suddenly to up the ante and come out with such ferocious intensity, throwing all pretences of "Arab brotherhood" or "Muslim unity" under the speeding Zionist bus.

As reported by Al Jazeera, there is now an active lobbying putsch in Washington, DC, coordinated among Israel, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, simultaneously targeting Qatar and Iran, with the future of Palestine and the fate of millions of Palestinians in and out of their homeland as the focal points of this treacherous alliance to sabotage and destroy the cause of Palestinian self-determination.

Taking full advantage of this crisis, the timing of the US ambassador to the United Nations, the die-hard Zionist, Nikki Haley's visit to Israel marks Benjamin Netanyahu's long-standing design to push the Palestinian question completely off the global agenda. The ruling regimes in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt are willing and eager parties to this perfidious act.

Although there can never be any hard evidence of the Saudi instigation of the suicide attacks and bombing of two symbolic sites in Iran, the parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian officials are pointing fingers at the Saudis. But we need not necessarily accept the Iranian account to realise that Israel and Saudi Arabia are (and have been for a very long time) the main beneficiaries of such violent acts against Iran and Iranians.

If we put the blockade of Qatar by its Arab neighbours and the unprecedented attack on Iran analytically together, a number of crucial consequences emerge to redefine the geostrategic map of the region.

Israel and Saudi Arabia as two garrison states

The current Saudi-Israeli alliance in trampling the Palestinians' fate, warmongering against Iran, and subjecting Qatar to a crippling blockade dominates and distorts the real picture of the region. The principle enemies of the Saudi and Israeli garrison states are not their counterpart states in the region but, in fact, the defiant nations that are falsely framed by these states.

Three powerful nations in this area defy their respective states to map out their own democratic destinies: Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. These are the three nations that, in their thick historical memories and ensuing democratic aspirations, pose the greatest threat to the Saudi and Israeli colonial concoctions with no historical legitimacy on the ground. By virtue of US military and diplomatic support, this Saudi-Zionist alliance dominates the geopolitics of the region beyond its historical deserve.

Among these three historic nations, the Saudi Arabia and Israel falsely assume they have neutralised Egypt by recruiting the military junta that has aborted its revolutionary momentum. Egyptians as a people, as an historically self-conscious nation (remember Tahrir Square), are not to be confused with the corrupt junta that now rules it, tramples on Palestinian rights, and is even willing to sell its own territorial integrity to Saudi Arabia.

This Saudi-Zionist alliance thinks it can also disregard Turkey for it confuses the current coup-countercoup draconian dynamics of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government with the robust democratic urges of Turks as a people, as a deeply rooted and self-conscious nation (remember both the Gezi Park movement and the popular uprising against the military coup last year).

The alliance, therefore, laser beams on Iran for, contrary to its ridiculous claims, it is not the adventuresome disposition of its state that bothers it but, in fact, the volcanic democratic upsurge of Iranians as a nation frightens the living daylights out of these two colonially manufactured garrison states.

It is not accidental that the primary target of those demented mercenaries attacking Iran was the Iranian parliament, next to the office of the presidency and the city councils the most democratic institution in an otherwise theocratic state apparatus. It is the democratic effervescence of the people of Iran (and Turkey and Egypt), trapped as they are within the framing of a misrepresenting state, that poses an existential threat to Saudi-Israeli alliance.

Keep your eyes on these three nations: Turkey, Iran, and Egypt - do not be distracted by the antics of their respective state apparatuses being dragged into the geopolitics of the region - and you will have a far more accurate conception of every single development in the Arab and Muslim world. Keep also in mind that the Palestinian cause is at the heart of these three nation's democratic aspirations, and not a matter of systematic political abuse by their respective states.

Despite its tiny size and sparse population, though deeply informed by waves of Arab and non-Arab migrant skilled labourers, scholars, journalists, artists, and intellectuals from across the world populating its universities, museums, and research institutes, Qatar has dared dreaming itself integral to the larger Arab-Muslim desire to fulfill its historic sense of dignity, which it has in part invested in putting the Palestinian self-determination at the forefront of its sense of moral identity.

Qatar is not just for Qataris. Despite all its structural limitations as a minuscule rentier state with a massive US military base on its soil, Qatar has enabled an engine of social, intellectual, and artistic ambitions for the larger Arab and Muslim world. Donald Trump looks at Qatar and all he sees are dollar signs for his military contractor friends. Israel looks at Qatar and it is worried to see a thriving Arab capital with a sharp critical intelligence to the Palestinian politics it enables. Saudi Arabia looks at Qatar and sees dangerous ideas being bandied about its northern frontiers.

That Zionists see that dream as a nightmare is, of course, natural. That the Saudis and their sidekicks have now joined forces with these Zionists in crushing that dream is an obscenity beyond words. The marriage of convenience between Israel and Saudi Arabia as two garrison states, armed to their teeth by the US to spread menace and to pit one group of Muslims against another, overcomes all other disparities between the odd couples.

The simultaneous targeting of Qatar and Iran should forever put an end to the false flag that this is a battle between Arabs and Persians or else between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Qatar is both an Arab and a Sunni country, and is today the target of a most pernicious blockade and defamation by its own Arab and Sunni neighbours, while planeloads of food are being flown to Doha from Turkey and Iran.

For now, let it be remembered that Israel, with all its ridiculous claim to be "the only democracy in the Middle East" (built on stolen Palestinian lands), is today in active alliance with the most retrograde and backward-ruling regimes in the region against the democratic aspirations of their nations. Let it also be remembered that the ruling family in Saudi Arabia are now in active alliance with the European settler colony that has stolen Palestine from its rightful inhabitants. Everything else from this point forward must commence with these two sobering facts.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/06/blockading-qatar-targeting-iran-170618070407788.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

A look at the internal politics of Saudi Arabia

[Qassam]

السلام عليكم
well I didn't read the whole comments or the post but I know about the problem itself.
They want to hit Hamas as a good move to support isreal's fight aganiest palestine.
though they will do anything to make Trump[who is jewish himself,I saw his picture near the western wall in Al-Quds]
as Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Tuesday that Qatar must stop supporting terrorist groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
THIS IS TRUE SCANDEL.
my family is a part of muslim brotherhood,Alhamdillah Turkey and Qatar and Sudan was good people they accepted us and they didn't hurt or bother us like UAE and KSA did,This war is on islam.
KSA is ruled by Al-Salol [hypocrites].
Soon inshaallah we will rule this world again.

[Abz2000]

Salaam

Depressing but very eye opening.

There is a cold war in the Middle East being fought between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This cold war is beyond sectarianism and the Sunni/Shia divide. Rather it's a contest for influence that's being played out within the domestic politics of weak Arab states. Arab states such as Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, and Syria have become battlefields in a larger arena of geopolitics. This video will explore why the Sunni vs Shia framework fails to explain current events, and why an inter-Sunni conflict is becoming more important in Middle Eastern politics. We'll discuss the United States role in the Middle East and its goals going forward.

That's what we're seeing on one layer, however, it's a bit like russian dolls (dunno if you've ever played with them when you were little, I think my nieces had them, was very intriguing, one doll is a case, and it fits over another doll, and so on until you see a huge doll), there is another aspect similar to the one we observe that took place during the iran-iraq war, the region was being weakened and both sides were being armed and prodded along by the one group along with it's allies - with the open american support for and arming of saddam
with all sorts of horrendous weapons along with diplomatic shielding from repercussions, and whilst iran was also being supplied with weapons (iran-contra + others that didn't come to surface so openly), both sides were weakened, whilst saddam was isolated slowly from his neighbours - including Iran, obviously by looking at the map and the amount of manpower and resources it has access to, you'll see that Iran was not going to be invaded easily without weakening it first.
A similar situation appears to be happening with other governments in the region, yes, they do, in their narrow minded bubbles, see their own thrones in contrast to that of their neighbours, and do engage in petty squabbles, but seem to often forget that they're being maneuvered and weakened by the daughter of the british empire, which ruled around a third of the world from a tiny little island in northern europe, not by strength, but by guile.
Then there's a force which it would be wise of everyone to keep in mind, including the americans, the russians, the british, the chinese, the asians, and the arabs - this force transcends all the russian dolls and is more far reaching and tactically superior than everyone combined, that is the force of Allah the most wise and just.
If only we looked up to His throne with humility and respect, we would all be able to work together and succeed - instead of damaging each other because of our will to dominate and lord it over others, whilst commiting injustice and trying to claw each others resources.

We will all one day recognize our humility and weakness before him and how his plots are unable to be fathomed by mankind, jinn, and computers combined.
We shall see some of it on earth - and on the day when He asks: "li man al mulk al yaum?" "Whose is the kingdom this day?".
That will be the day when some beggars and street cleaners will look down upon some kings and queens with pity.

[Simple_Person]

@Junon and @anatolian just believe what you want to believe it doesn't matter anymore what i say or not say it will be all the same. In the past even one month back I spent a lot of time trying to untangle things so one could see what I am trying to say.

However I have noticed a lot of times..me explaining or not explaining it is all the same. You don't understand it? Well it probably has a reason why..whatever that even might be...you yourself are to be blamed for not being able to see it.

So I say "believe what you want to believe"

[Singularity]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/qatars-ne...021256641.html


Associated Press
Qatar's neighbors issue steep list of demands to end crisis
JOSH LEDERMAN,Associated Press 19 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries that have cut ties to Qatar issued a steep list of demands Thursday to end the crisis, insisting that their Persian Gulf neighbor shutter Al-Jazeera, cut back diplomatic ties to Iran and sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.


In a 13-point list — presented to the Qataris by Kuwait, which is helping mediate the crisis — the countries also demand an end to Turkey's military presence in Qatar. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the list in Arabic from one of the countries involved in the dispute.


Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke ties with Qatar this month over allegations the Persian Gulf country funds terrorism — an accusation that President Donald Trump has echoed. Those countries have now given Qatar 10 days to comply with all of the demands, which include paying an unspecified sum in compensation.


Qatari officials in Doha did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP. But the list included conditions that the gas-rich nation had already insisted would never be met, including shutting down Al-Jazeera. Qatar's government has said it won't negotiate until Arab nations lift their blockade. The demands were also likely to elicit Qatari objections that its neighbors are trying to dictate its sovereign affairs by imposing such far-reaching requirements.


Only a day earlier, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had warned the demands must be "reasonable and actionable." The U.S. issued that litmus test amid frustration at how long it was taking Saudi Arabia and others to formalize a list of demands, complicating U.S. efforts to bring about a resolution to the worst Gulf diplomatic crisis in years.


According to the list, Qatar must refuse to naturalize citizens from the four countries and expel those currently in Qatar, in what the countries describe as an effort to keep Qatar from meddling in their internal affairs.


They are also demanding that Qatar hand over all individuals who are wanted by those four countries for terrorism; stop funding any extremist entities that are designated as terrorist groups by the U.S.; and provide detailed information about opposition figures that Qatar has funded, ostensibly in Saudi Arabia and the other nations.


Qatar vehemently denies funding or supporting extremism. But the country acknowledges that it allows members of some extremist groups such as Hamas to reside in Qatar, arguing that fostering dialogue with those groups is key to resolving global conflicts.


Qatar's neighbors have also accused it of backing al-Qaida and the Islamic State group's ideology throughout the Middle East. Those umbrella groups also appear on the list of entities whose ties with Qatar must be extinguished, along with Lebanon's Hezbollah and the al-Qaida branch in Syria, once known as the Nusra Front.


More broadly, the list demands that Qatar align itself politically, economically and otherwise with the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional club that has focused on countering the influence of Iran. Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led nations have accused Qatar of inappropriately close ties to Iran, a Shiite-led country and Saudi Arabia's regional foe.


The Iran provisions in the document say Qatar must shut down diplomatic posts in Iran, kick out from Qatar any members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, and only conduct trade and commerce with Iran that complies with U.S. sanctions. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were eased but other sanctions remain in place.


Cutting ties to Iran would prove incredibly difficult. Qatar shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Iran which supplies the small nation that will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup its wealth.


Not only must Qatar shut down the Doha-based satellite broadcaster, the list says, but also all of its affiliates. That presumably would mean Qatar would have to close down Al-Jazeera's English-language sister network.


Supported by Qatar's government, Al-Jazeera is one of the most widely watched Arabic channels, but it has long drawn the ire of Mideast governments for airing alternative viewpoints. The network's critics say it advances Qatar's goals by promoting Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood that pose a populist threat to rulers in other Arab countries.


The list also demands that Qatar stop funding a host of other news outlets including Arabi21 and Middle East Eye.


If Qatar agrees to comply, the list asserts that it will be audited once a month for the first year, and then once per quarter in the second year after it takes effect. For the following 10 years, Qatar would be monitored annually for compliance.


___


Hussain Al-Qatari in Kuwait, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Vivian Salama in Washington contributed to this report.


___


Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

[Abz2000]

Information:


RIYADH:
Bahrain’s foreign minister accused Qatar on Monday of creating a military escalation in a dispute with regional powers, in an apparent reference to Doha’s decision to let more Turkish troops enter its territory.
Bahrain, alongside Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt imposed a boycott on Qatar three weeks ago, accusing it of backing militants — then issued an ultimatum, including demands that Qatar shut down a Turkish military base in Doha.
Turkey, the most powerful regional player to stand with Qatar, has increased the number of its troops in the base since the crisis erupted.

“The foundation of the dispute with Qatar is diplomatic and security-oriented, never military,” Bahrain’s foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, said in a message on Twitter.
“Bringing in foreign armies and their armored vehicles is the military escalation that Qatar has created,” he added, without mentioning Turkey.
In earlier tweets on Sunday, Sheikh Khalid said external interference would not solve the problem.

The four Arab powers’ ultimatum, which also includes demands for the closure of Al Jazeera television and the curbing of ties with Iran, appears aimed at dismantling Qatar’s two-decade-old interventionist foreign policy.
Two contingents of Turkish troops with columns of armored vehicles have arrived in Doha since the crisis erupted, along with 100 cargo planes loaded with supplies.
Turkey also rushed through legislation to send more troops to the base days after the sanctions were imposed in a show of support.
On Sunday, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the ultimatum as unlawful interference in Qatar’s affairs.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1120551/middle-east

[MuhammadHamza1]

It is about looting Qatar.
And Also this.
1)-The Syrian war was exported from outside.Mainly West.
The Protests at the start of the War,were not peaceful.The protestors were ARMED.
2)-There were many reasons for ousting Assad.
Number 1:He is Anti Israel.
Number 2:He was not allowing the gas pipeline to be developed between Saudi Arab and West.As the Pipeline had to pass through Syria.
3)-NOW QATAR.
The Syrian war is being won By Syrian Arab Army.
Everybody knows that Assad has almost won.
The only way something other than this may happen,is by full scale Invasion by US,or by Partition of Syria.
So Qatar realizing that Assad has won and there will be no Gas pipeline to Europe,
Decided to form a gas pipeline with Iran which includes Syria.
This would actually change the fate of These countries.Including Iran.
And Saudi Arab does not like Iran.
Hence,The current conflict.
Do not be Surprised if this breaks into war.
That is why Turkish troops are there.To prevent the War.

[sister herb]

Everybody knows that Assad has almost won.

Well, we others also know that without support from Russia, Assad would to be a dead man already. If Russia by some reasons sends its troops to home, Syrians may beat him into the pieces very easily. No need the western invasion.

[MuhammadHamza1]

Well, we others also know that without support from Russia, Assad would to be a dead man already. If Russia by some reasons sends its troops to home, Syrians may beat him into the pieces very easily. No need the western invasion.

Watch this for a start.
After you make such big statements,It is your duty to watch this video.For a start.
https://youtu.be/g1VNQGsiP8M

[MuhammadHamza1]

If ISIS wins.
Then this is what most probably will happen.
1)-Israel states that ISIS is a threat to its security.Hence,it shall invade Syria.
Remember.Attacking Iran will be way easy if you control Syria and Iraq.
2)-After Syria,it will be Iran's turn.
3)-And after Iran,most probably Pakistan.
Pakistan because
1)-It has joined SCO.
2)-It is moving towards Russia and leaving US.
Just read today's headline from Pakistan.
3)-It is Nuclear armed.

[sister herb]

Watch this for a start.
After you make such big statements,It is your duty to watch this video.For a start.
https://youtu.be/g1VNQGsiP8M

Read the world history and get more information about how the international policy runs, then you don´t have to get your knowledge from the YouTube videos.

[MuhammadHamza1]

Read the world history and get more information about how the international policy runs, then you don´t have to get your knowledge from the YouTube videos.

This is not Youtube video.
This is eye witness testimony.

[MuhammadHamza1]

The massacre of Houla was the doing of rebels.
And not Syrian Government.

[MuhammadHamza1]

And if I am not right or I am a crazy conspiracy theorist,
Refuting me should not be any hardwork.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update. And good to see who Qatar truly serves.

Rex Tillerson applauds Qatar plan but Gulf rivals refuse to lift sanctions

US secretary of state praises agreement on tracking terrorist financing, putting pressure on Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states isolating Qatar

Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, has lavished praise on the isolated Gulf state of Qatar after it became the first regional power to sign a new memorandum of understanding with Washington on tracking the flow of terrorist financing.

Qatar has been locked in a bitter month-long dispute with its fellow Gulf states for allegedly allowing the funding of terrorism and extremism. But speaking in Doha on Tuesday, Tillerson praised Qatar for signing the memorandum, and said the oil-rich country had behaved reasonably throughout the dispute.

But the attempt to mollify US concerns appeared not to have been enough to satisfy Doha’s rivals in the Gulf: late on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt announced they would maintain economic sanctions on Qatar.

The UAE foreign minister, Anwar Gargash, said on Twitter: “A temporary solution is not a wise one”.

Egypt also upped the stakes, arguing that Qatar should be expelled from the alliance of states combatting Islamic State.

“It is unacceptable for the coalition to have amongst its members states that support terrorism or advocate for it in their media,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Ahmed Abu Zeid, at a meeting of the coalition in Washington.

“The decision by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain to boycott Qatar – a coalition member – is in accordance with that principle,” he said in a statement.
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Earlier, the Qatari foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, signed the memorandum at a joint press conference with Tillerson in Doha.

He claimed the memorandum agreement was unrelated to the pressure being applied by the fellow Gulf states, and had been in preparation ever since Trump called for more action to track down terrorist funding at a summit in Riyadh two months ago.

He added: “Today, Qatar is the first country to sign a memorandum of agreement with the US, and we call on the countries imposing the siege against Qatar to join us as signatories to this MOU [memorandum of understanding].”

Tillerson said he applauded Qatar for being the first to sign the deal, saying the work was the product of weeks of detailed discussion between experts and adding that Qatar had been the “first state to respond to President Trump’s challenge at the Riyadh summit to stop the funding of terrorism”.

The memorandum commits Qatar to the effort “to track down and disable terror financing”, with specific milestones set out for the weeks and years ahead.

“The US has one goal: to drive terrorism off the face of the Earth,” Tillerson said, adding: “The president said every country has an absolute duty to make sure that terrorists find no sanctuary on their soil.

“Together the United States and Qatar will do more to track down funding sources, will do more to collaborate and share information, and will do more to keep the region and our homeland safe.”

Full details of the memorandum have not been released.

Saudi Arabia is likely to argue that Qatar would not have signed the agreement without the pressure exerted by the other Gulf states. But the Saudi leaders will be angry that Qatar appears to have stolen a march on them, and will now have to sign similar deals. The US has a 10,000-strong military base in Qatar, as well as strong economic ties to the country.

Last month, the Gulf states unveiled a string of demands of Qatar, including the expulsion of named terrorists, changes to the output of al-Jazeera – the Doha-backed broadcaster – and an end to Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and Iran.

The four states are expected to meet tomorrow in the Saudi city of Jeddah and will have to decide whether to use the memorandum to declare victory, or instead irritate the US by maintaining the embargo and insisting on the outstanding demands.

Tillerson is expected to be present at part of the meeting, but in a sign that he wants Saudi Arabia to rethink its position, the secretary of state said: “I think Qatar has been quite clear in its positions and I think very reasonable.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...abia-terrorism

[Singularity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/ampht...fbf_story.html


The question about Islam that has vexed the world for a decade


By David Ignatius
July 13, 2017 at 7:36 PM




U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani announced, July 11, a memo of understanding on steps Qatar will take to stop the funding of terrorism. (The Washington Post)
The diplomatic machinations that have enveloped Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar may seem like a membership feud in a Persian Gulf club for the wealthy. But their quarrel highlights battles that have been roiling the Middle East since the Arab Spring began nearly seven years ago.


The boycott against Qatar announced last month by the Saudis, Emiratis, Bahrainis and Egyptians took the Trump administration by surprise — and triggered a mediation effort this week by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He is said to view the conflict as counterproductive — damaging all the feuding countries and helping their common rival, Iran.


Tillerson is right to see this as a fratricidal dispute that should be resolved through negotiation. The allegation that Qatar supports terrorism is weak, especially after it signed a memo with Tillerson on Tuesday committing to a joint counterterrorism battle with the United States. The demand that Qatar close Al Jazeera is outrageous; the region needs freer media, not more censorship.




The Saudis’ and Emiratis’ basic problem is that they find Qatar a meddlesome and untrustworthy neighbor. But by escalating the family quarrel so radically, they have hurt themselves. The longer this battle goes, the more damage it will do to gulf relations with Washington, stability in the region and, perhaps most important, hopes for modernization and reform in Saudi Arabia.


If Tillerson wants to resolve this dispute, he needs to reckon with the intensity of the anger that triggered it. The fuse was lit in 2013, but its roots go back to 1996, when a branch of the ruling family the Saudis didn’t like took power against Saudi wishes. For Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar feels like a thorn in the side, much as Cuba did for the United States for more than 50 years.


This secret history emerges in documents published this week by CNN. The network obtained a copy of a handwritten accord signed Nov. 23, 2013, by the ruling monarchs of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. It’s basically a mutual non-interference pact, with the additional stipulation that no signatory will destabilize Yemen or support the Muslim Brotherhood.


It’s the Muslim Brotherhood issue that has caused the most bitterness. Qatar has argued that the Brotherhood’s involvement in politics will defuse extremism, rather than augment it. The Obama administration took a similar view in its outreach to the Brotherhood in Egypt after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, and in its support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government in Turkey. Both Obama policies are now widely judged to have been failures.




President Barack Obama’s pro-Muslim Brotherhood actions were poisonous to the Saudis and Emiratis and help explain the deep split that developed after Mubarak’s departure in 2011. Rage at Obama deepened as he negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran, another bitter enemy of the gulf Arabs.


The gulf Arabs responded by squeezing Qatar to protect their flanks. The secret November 2013 agreement came just five months after a coup ousting the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi in Egypt, and after Iran had signed a framework nuclear agreement.


Hoping to compel Qatar to cease its regional activism, the gulf states signed a second pact on Nov. 16, 2014, which was described as a “rescue of the first agreement,” Saudi sources said. It was broadened to include the rulers of Bahrain and the UAE. And it added a joint commitment to protect Egypt’s stability (meaning, help suppress the Brotherhood).


Qatari officials argue that they have abided by the non-interference terms of the agreement and that Al Jazeera and other media outlets operate independently. They protest that any complaints regarding the 2014 pact should have been referred to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The Saudis privately concede that they acted unilaterally because they didn’t have GCC consensus.


What complicates this feud is that nearly everyone has been playing both sides of the street. The Qataris do maintain contact with the Taliban and al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, but they coordinate some of their activities with the CIA. The Qataris do broadcast some extremist Islamist rhetoric, but they also host the biggest U.S. air base in the region. The Saudis and Emiratis want to be America’s best friends, except when they decide that their interests compel unilateral action.




The Qatar quarrel may seem like a tempest in an Arabian teapot. But at its heart is the question that has vexed the world for a decade: Is there a role for political Islam in the modern world? Qatar says yes. The UAE counters that Islamist agitators are the enemy of tolerance and modernity. It falls to Tillerson to see whether there’s a middle ground.


Read more from David Ignatius’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Theres is civil war cold and hot going on between Muslim countries no doubt being stoked by outsiders. Less than impressed particularly by the UAE 'leadership'

Also be wary of those who promote the new religion of 'tolerance' and 'modernity', we see how damaging it can be as history has shown.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Qatar Restores Full Relations With Iran, Deepening Gulf Feud

LONDON — Qatar restored full diplomatic relations with Iran on Thursday, the latest volley in an 11-week-old geopolitical feud that has set the tiny yet fabulously wealthy Persian Gulf nation against its neighbors and rattled a previously placid part of the Middle East.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry announced that it was sending its ambassador back to Tehran after a 20-month hiatus that started in January 2016, when Qatar broke off relations after attacks on two Saudi diplomatic facilities in Iran.

The Qataris gave no explanation for the sudden move. But the timing suggested a purposeful snub of Saudi Arabia, which along with three other countries began a punitive boycott of Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism and having a too-cozy relationship with Iran. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut their air and sea routes to Qatar, and closed its only land border, with Saudi Arabia.

Mediation by the United States, Kuwait and Germany has failed to resolve the feud in the gulf, the one corner of the Middle East that has been largely free of war, refugees or political turmoil in recent years. Analysts said the partial blockade has badly weakened the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and threatens to undermine regional stability.

The crisis lapsed into a stalemate after Qatar refused an initial list of 13 demands, which included cutting all ties with Tehran. But things took a turn for the worse this week after a visit by a minor Qatari royal, Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani, to the Saudi ruler, King Salman, at his holiday villa in Morocco.
Continue reading the main story

Sheikh Abdullah, who lives in London and comes from a wing of the ruling family that was ousted in a 1972 coup, posed for pictures with King Salman at his lavish coastal palace outside Tangiers. (Estimates of the cost of the king’s holiday run as high as $100 million — expensive even for a monarch who typically travels with an entourage of 1,000 or more.)

Although there was no official explanation for the visit, the Saudi news media played up Sheikh Abdullah’s visit as the beginning of a potential challenge to the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Few analysts believe the emir faces a serious threat, but some Qataris took the move as a provocation, and as further evidence that the true intention of the Saudi- and Emirati-led boycott is to engineer leadership change in Doha.

The diplomatic skirmishes are the latest moves in a crisis that, until now, has largely played out in the news media, amid accusations of hacked emails and fake news stories, and in fruitless efforts at conciliation led by worried Western allies like Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson.

President Trump’s role in the crisis has been hotly debated since he openly sided with the Saudi-led bloc in June, although he has been silent in recent weeks.

The charge that Qatar is too close to Iran resonated with Mr. Trump, who during a summit meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in May called on Muslim leaders to isolate Iran, a nation that he said “fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.”

Qatar insists that it maintains cordial relations with Iran out of commercial necessity, in that the two countries share the world’s largest gas field, the source of Qatar’s vast wealth, and notes that the United Arab Emirates has a far greater trading relationship with Iran.

Doha also says it has shown solidarity with its Sunni neighbors during disputes with Shiite-led Iran, particularly in the January 2016 attack on the Saudi mission in Iran, after which Qatar recalled its ambassador.

Still, Qatar’s payment last April of a huge ransom to Shiite militants in Iraq, in exchange for a group of hostages that included members of the Qatari royal family, was seen by critics as fresh proof of Qatar’s reckless approach to foreign policy. The incident further inflamed the already tender relations between Qatar and its neighbors.

Since the dispute flared in June, Iran has provided Qatar with sea shipments of fresh food and allowed a stream of Qatari airplanes to cross its airspace. On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, welcomed the return of Qatar’s ambassador to Tehran in a short statement. There was no immediate reaction from the four boycotting countries.

Qatar has taken a defiant stance, introducing a raft of measures to ensure the country, whose population is 90 percent foreign, remains attractive to outside investors and workers.

On Thursday, it enacted regulations that give greater protections to foreign domestic workers, many of whom work as nannies, cooks and cleaners. Their limited rights and often poor treatment in gulf countries like Qatar has frequently been a focus of Western human rights groups.

But the strain of the crisis is starting to show on Qatar’s economy and financial system. Depositors from boycotting countries withdrew billions of dollars from Qatari banks in June, forcing the treasury to step in. Qatar’s rating with international credit agencies has also taken a hit.

Qatar’s imports fell 38 percent in June and recovered only slightly last month, according to official figures released on Thursday.

Still, the sanctions have not affected Qatar’s gas exports, the primary source of its wealth, which grew by 7.8 percent in July compared with a year earlier. Analysts say the effect of the sanctions may lessen as Qatar develops alternate sea and air routes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/world/middleeast/qatar-iran-boycott-saudi-arabia.html?mcubz=1

[سيف الله]

Salaam

This dispute is still continuing. :hmm:

Twitter mocks Saudi plans to turn Qatar into an 'island'

Social media users mock project that seeks to create a maritime channel along Saudi-Qatar border.

Twitter users in the Middle East have mocked a Saudi plan to develop a maritime channel along the Saudi-Qatari border, saying it will never see the light of day. Saudi newspaper Sabq reported on Thursday that the project, which is still awaiting official approval, involves the construction of a maritime channel between the Saudi regions of Salwa and Khawr Al-Udayd. Sabq said the waterway will be 60km in length, 200 metres wide and between 15-20 metres deep, enabling it to receive "container and passenger ships".

The newspaper said that a 1km stretch of land north of the canal, bordering Qatar, would become a "military zone", permanently ending land trade between the two Gulf countries. It said the initial cost of the project would be SR2.8bn ($750m), adding that it could be completed within 12 months. The anti-Qatar sentiment comes amid an illegal blockade against the Arab Gulf country by Saudi Arabia, which has imposed a land, air and sea embargo against it.

The Israel connection

The UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have also cut ties with Qatar, and banned Qatari nationals from entering their countries. The quartet have expressed their displeasure over Qatar's foreign policy, and urged the country to "change its direction". According to media reports, the four countries want to normalise relations with Israel, and develop a regional alliance against Iran. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, has said he is ready for talks with his neighbours, but has refused to bow to pressure and give up his country's sovereignty.

Hundreds of social media users have taken to Twitter to support the Qatari emir and lay scorn at the announcement, with the Arabic hashtag #SalwaMaritimeChannel being the number-one trending topic in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Here's how some users responded:

Twitter user Ghanem alMasarir said:

Translation: If the Saudi leadership could wipe Qatar from the map they would, their hearts are filled with hatred and envy as they seek to deliberately humiliate and crush all those who do not agree with them.

#SalwaMaritimeChannel project is just propaganda tool and a way of scaring us to giving them the keys to Qatar.

The final approval of such project would be in Washington, Riyadh can only play with photos and hashtags.

Wajdan al-Qarni said:

Translation: Normally when two countries dispute they go to war, but if Saudi Arabia is upset it will just change your place on the map.

One user wrote that Saudi Arabia had a long history of failed projects, including the doomed Hail economic city, its failed plan to build nuclear reactors, and the world's largest park in Riyadh.

Translation: Regardless of what is said on Twitter about transforming Qatar into an island, there are several criteria and stages to be passed in international law before thinking about isolating a country and building a watershed boundary. Mohammed bin Salman and others will not be able to implement this project on the ground and will only apply it on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Twitter user Q. al-Marri said:

Translation: Their demands failed. Their plans to enter militarily failed. Their plans to launch a coup and overthrow the Al Thani leadership failed. Divide Qatari people failed. Their plans to weaken Qatar economically failed. All you have left is to dig up Salwa, so just do it do us both a favour.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/twitter-mocks-saudi-plans-turn-qatar-island-180406133003494.html

[JustTime]

Salaam

This dispute is still continuing. :hmm:

Twitter mocks Saudi plans to turn Qatar into an 'island'

Social media users mock project that seeks to create a maritime channel along Saudi-Qatar border.

Twitter users in the Middle East have mocked a Saudi plan to develop a maritime channel along the Saudi-Qatari border, saying it will never see the light of day. Saudi newspaper Sabq reported on Thursday that the project, which is still awaiting official approval, involves the construction of a maritime channel between the Saudi regions of Salwa and Khawr Al-Udayd. Sabq said the waterway will be 60km in length, 200 metres wide and between 15-20 metres deep, enabling it to receive "container and passenger ships".

The newspaper said that a 1km stretch of land north of the canal, bordering Qatar, would become a "military zone", permanently ending land trade between the two Gulf countries. It said the initial cost of the project would be SR2.8bn ($750m), adding that it could be completed within 12 months. The anti-Qatar sentiment comes amid an illegal blockade against the Arab Gulf country by Saudi Arabia, which has imposed a land, air and sea embargo against it.

The Israel connection

The UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have also cut ties with Qatar, and banned Qatari nationals from entering their countries. The quartet have expressed their displeasure over Qatar's foreign policy, and urged the country to "change its direction". According to media reports, the four countries want to normalise relations with Israel, and develop a regional alliance against Iran. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, has said he is ready for talks with his neighbours, but has refused to bow to pressure and give up his country's sovereignty.

Hundreds of social media users have taken to Twitter to support the Qatari emir and lay scorn at the announcement, with the Arabic hashtag #SalwaMaritimeChannel being the number-one trending topic in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Here's how some users responded:

Twitter user Ghanem alMasarir said:

Translation: If the Saudi leadership could wipe Qatar from the map they would, their hearts are filled with hatred and envy as they seek to deliberately humiliate and crush all those who do not agree with them.

#SalwaMaritimeChannel project is just propaganda tool and a way of scaring us to giving them the keys to Qatar.

The final approval of such project would be in Washington, Riyadh can only play with photos and hashtags.

Wajdan al-Qarni said:

Translation: Normally when two countries dispute they go to war, but if Saudi Arabia is upset it will just change your place on the map.

One user wrote that Saudi Arabia had a long history of failed projects, including the doomed Hail economic city, its failed plan to build nuclear reactors, and the world's largest park in Riyadh.

Translation: Regardless of what is said on Twitter about transforming Qatar into an island, there are several criteria and stages to be passed in international law before thinking about isolating a country and building a watershed boundary. Mohammed bin Salman and others will not be able to implement this project on the ground and will only apply it on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Twitter user Q. al-Marri said:

Translation: Their demands failed. Their plans to enter militarily failed. Their plans to launch a coup and overthrow the Al Thani leadership failed. Divide Qatari people failed. Their plans to weaken Qatar economically failed. All you have left is to dig up Salwa, so just do it do us both a favour.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/...133003494.html

This sounds extremely exaggerated, something made up by either a Pro-Iranian agent or some animal that lives in Russia.

- - - Updated - - -

Salaam

Theres is civil war cold and hot going on between Muslim countries no doubt being stoked by outsiders. Less than impressed particularly by the UAE 'leadership'

Also be wary of those who promote the new religion of 'tolerance' and 'modernity', we see how damaging it can be as history has shown.

This entire dispute is supported by Iran, the only reason Iran is involved is to gain a further foothold in the Arabian Peninsula, but instead of using violence like in Yemen this is more like a coup, they managed to remove a major component in the Saudi-intervention in Yemen, they managed to convince Qatar to convince the opposition in Syria to surrender Aleppo.

It wont be long before Shia missionaries show up in Qatar under the guise of "Iranian cultural centers" it happened in Syria and Lebanon entire Bedouin tribes converted to Shiism from "Iranian Cultural Centers", and in Iraq several Sunni Pro-New-Government individuals converted to Shiism as well after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

What the KSA and other Arab nations that followed them in blockading Qatar isn't right and was Haram and they are being too harsh on Qatar, however Qatar's leaders are playing a very dangerous game, and they need to fear Allah and ask him for guidance against those who seek to do harm.

But the history of this dispute between KSA and Qatar goes back further than 2017, and the origin of the cause is based entirely on tribalism on behalf of arrogant men.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, most interesting.

Embedded Tweet

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Saudi Arabia threatens 'fall' of Qatar government, unless it pays for US troops in Syria

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir warned its rival the Qatar government that it faced its imminent demise unless it funded a US military presence in Syria. Jubeir said Qatari troops should replace US soldiers in northern Syria or Washington could pull its support for Doha leading to its downfall.

"Qatar has to pay for US military presence in Syria and send its military forces there, before the US President [Donald Trump] cancels US protection of Qatar," he said in a statement.

He warned that without US protection, Qatar's government "would fall there in less than a week". Jubeir indicated that the "protection" he was alluding to was "the presence of a US military base on its territory".

Qatar hosts al-Udeid, one of the largest US' airbases in the world. It has been at the forefront of the US fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. Riyadh has led a blockade on Qatar since June, when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism and being too close to Iran. Qatar strongly denies the claim. Since then, Saudi and UAE ministers and media have routinely attacked Qatar and attempted to woo Trump to their side.

President Trump promised earlier this month that the some 2,000 US troops in Syria helping in the fight against IS could be withdrawn, now that the threat of the militant group had been diminished. After harsh criticism of the plan from military commanders and Pentagon officials, he then suggested Arab countries could play a role in securing the peace in northern Syria.

"We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort," Trump said.

"Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS."

Egypt's former intelligence chief said Cairo would not join the proposed multi-national Arab force meant to replace US troops in Syria. Trump initially showed support for Riyadh during the blockade of Qatar, but faced resistance from most policy makers and advisers. Since then he has tried publically to bridge the divide and urged Saudi Arabia and the UAE to end the "senseless" blockade.

This month, Trump also met Qatar Emir Tamim al-Thani, heaping praise on the leader.

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/News/2018/4/24/Qatar-should-pay-for-US-troops-in-Syria-Riyadh

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Defiant Qatar determined to proceed with S-400 deal

The primary goal of any state is first and foremost to ensure its security, while other goals (social justice, prosperity, etc) are secondary. This is because of the anarchic nature of the international system, which has no supreme authority to safeguard the state’s national interests.

Qatar is not an exception to this rule of international relations. Being in a threatening regional environment, it seeks to balance any threats to its security posed by local actors, especially Saudi Arabia, a major power in the Gulf.

Last June, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. At the same time, they imposed a full air, land and sea blockade on the emirate after accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.

Saudi Arabia and its allies laid down 13 demands on Qatar, including shutting down its Al Jazeera media network, curbing relations with Iran, and closing a Turkish military base it hosts. Doha did not succumb. The stalemate continues despite Kuwaiti efforts to mediate and de-escalate the crisis.

Qatar was a fervent supporter of the so-called Arab Spring and the mass movements that swept away totalitarian regimes in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. In particular, Doha supported the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt, giving the Saudis grounds for suspicion that it is supporting the local branch of MB in Saudi Arabia and that the emirate would be happy if the House of Saud was overthrown by a similar revolution.

Economically a giant because of its rich natural resources but militarily and strategically weak and therefore vulnerable, it is not surprising that it seeks to purchase S-400 air systems to enhance its security.

Coercive actions by Saudi Arabia

However, Qatari plans to purchase the S-400 from Russia infuriated Saudi Arabia, which directly threatened the emirate with military action.

According to the newspaper Le Monde, Saudi King Salman had written a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, expressing his profound concern over negotiations between Doha and Moscow.

Confronted with the coercive diplomacy of a regional power, Doha seems ready to proceed with the purchase, ignoring Riyadh’s threats.

As we know from patron-client relations in the field of international politics, weak states are not completely weak as they can “draw on” or “borrow” the external strength of other states. This can be done by joining formal or informal alliances, or by wooing great powers. Purchasing guns falls into the aforementioned paradigm.

It is a fact that Qatar supports Iran at various levels and this is also obvious in the case of the Iran nuclear deal. Qatari Minister of State and Defence Affairs Mohhamad Al Thani defended the deal despite the criticism from other Gulf states. “ Is it wise to call the US and Israel to go and fight Iran? It is very dangerous to push the region or a county to start a war with Iran,” he said at a security conference in Singapore.

The Qatar-Saudi Arabia rivalry has multiple dimensions. As The Independent newspaper reported, Riyadh is working on plans to turn Qatar into an island by building a canal along the border and dumping nuclear waste there. This is fostering fears in Doha that it will cut off the emirate from international trade.

We must bear in mind that it is not the first time that Doha has sought to enhance its security.

Last June it concluded a $12-billion deal with the US to buy F-15 fighter jets and in December it finalized contracts with France to purchase 12 fighter jets.

In any case, Doha is determined to proceed with the S-400 deal despite Saudi Arabia’s opposition, and Moscow does not seem disposed to cancel it. A Russian official was quoted as saying that “Russia seeks its own interest, supplying S-400 to Qatar and earning money for the state budget.”

Another element in the whole story is US plans to relocate its base in Qatar as a measure against the emirate “due to fears that it is supporting terrorism.”

Perhaps the aim of the S-400 deal is to send a message to the American hegemon that another great power, Russia, wields considerable influence in the Middle East.

http://www.atimes.com/defiant-qatar-determined-to-proceed-with-s-400-deal/

[JustTime]

Salaam

Another update

Defiant Qatar determined to proceed with S-400 deal

The primary goal of any state is first and foremost to ensure its security, while other goals (social justice, prosperity, etc) are secondary. This is because of the anarchic nature of the international system, which has no supreme authority to safeguard the state’s national interests.

Qatar is not an exception to this rule of international relations. Being in a threatening regional environment, it seeks to balance any threats to its security posed by local actors, especially Saudi Arabia, a major power in the Gulf.

Last June, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. At the same time, they imposed a full air, land and sea blockade on the emirate after accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.

Saudi Arabia and its allies laid down 13 demands on Qatar, including shutting down its Al Jazeera media network, curbing relations with Iran, and closing a Turkish military base it hosts. Doha did not succumb. The stalemate continues despite Kuwaiti efforts to mediate and de-escalate the crisis.

Qatar was a fervent supporter of the so-called Arab Spring and the mass movements that swept away totalitarian regimes in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. In particular, Doha supported the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt, giving the Saudis grounds for suspicion that it is supporting the local branch of MB in Saudi Arabia and that the emirate would be happy if the House of Saud was overthrown by a similar revolution.

Economically a giant because of its rich natural resources but militarily and strategically weak and therefore vulnerable, it is not surprising that it seeks to purchase S-400 air systems to enhance its security.

Coercive actions by Saudi Arabia

However, Qatari plans to purchase the S-400 from Russia infuriated Saudi Arabia, which directly threatened the emirate with military action.

According to the newspaper Le Monde, Saudi King Salman had written a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, expressing his profound concern over negotiations between Doha and Moscow.

Confronted with the coercive diplomacy of a regional power, Doha seems ready to proceed with the purchase, ignoring Riyadh’s threats.

As we know from patron-client relations in the field of international politics, weak states are not completely weak as they can “draw on” or “borrow” the external strength of other states. This can be done by joining formal or informal alliances, or by wooing great powers. Purchasing guns falls into the aforementioned paradigm.

It is a fact that Qatar supports Iran at various levels and this is also obvious in the case of the Iran nuclear deal. Qatari Minister of State and Defence Affairs Mohhamad Al Thani defended the deal despite the criticism from other Gulf states. “ Is it wise to call the US and Israel to go and fight Iran? It is very dangerous to push the region or a county to start a war with Iran,” he said at a security conference in Singapore.

The Qatar-Saudi Arabia rivalry has multiple dimensions. As The Independent newspaper reported, Riyadh is working on plans to turn Qatar into an island by building a canal along the border and dumping nuclear waste there. This is fostering fears in Doha that it will cut off the emirate from international trade.

We must bear in mind that it is not the first time that Doha has sought to enhance its security.

Last June it concluded a $12-billion deal with the US to buy F-15 fighter jets and in December it finalized contracts with France to purchase 12 fighter jets.

In any case, Doha is determined to proceed with the S-400 deal despite Saudi Arabia’s opposition, and Moscow does not seem disposed to cancel it. A Russian official was quoted as saying that “Russia seeks its own interest, supplying S-400 to Qatar and earning money for the state budget.”

Another element in the whole story is US plans to relocate its base in Qatar as a measure against the emirate “due to fears that it is supporting terrorism.”

Perhaps the aim of the S-400 deal is to send a message to the American hegemon that another great power, Russia, wields considerable influence in the Middle East.

http://www.atimes.com/defiant-qatar-...th-s-400-deal/

Nothing about that is a good thing, and that's aside the fact KSA bought those same missiles recently from Russia. All this means is further division among the Arabs and Muslims for the interest of the Russians and Iranians.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Qatar bans Saudi, UAE goods from stores

Qatar has ordered shops to remove goods originating from a group of Saudi Arabian-led countries that a year ago imposed a wide-ranging boycott on the emirate, Doha officials said on Saturday.

A directive from the economy ministry ordered shops to immediately strip shelves of products from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.

Inspectors will visit stores to ensure they comply with the order, the ministry said. The government will also try to stop products including Saudi dairy goods from entering via a third country.

Qatar, which has one of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, has absorbed the shock of the embargo, Bloomberg News said. The economy expanded faster than most of its neighbours last year and is expected to outperform this year, according to International Monetary Fund data.

Embedded Tweet

Qatar’s Government Communications Office (GCO) said the ban on goods was to “protect the safety of consumers”.

“Products originating from blockading states, which as a result of the blockade cannot pass the GCC customs territory, have to undergo proper import inspections and customs procedures,” the GCO said in a statement.

“Qatar conducts its trade policy in accordance with all of its multilateral and bilateral agreements.”

The order comes just days before the anniversary of a bitter Gulf crisis.

Since 5 June last year, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have cut all relations with Qatar, accusing it of financing terrorist groups and having close ties with Iran.

The countries subsequently imposed a trade and diplomatic boycott on Qatar, which rejects the charges and says the countries are seeking to change the government in Doha.

The row has forced isolated Qatar, which previously relied on its Gulf neighbours, to look elsewhere for food imports, including Turkey, Morocco and Iran.

Many such imports enter the country via ports of Kuwait and Oman.

It is through these ports, and also via individuals, that goods from the boycotting countries manage to get in to Qatar, said a source with knowledge of the situation.

“Businessmen from the blockading countries are trying to go around the blockade … by using third parties,” said the source.

After shoring up ties in Western capitals and spending billions on weapons, Qatar plans to retool its economy to attract foreign investment and build a financial hub for companies in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan, Bloomberg said.

https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2018/05/27/41248/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Mohammad bin Salman (or should it be MBS) demonstrating his 'maturity' to rule.

Embedded Tweet

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Qatar takes UAE to court over 'racially discriminatory' boycott

Doha says Emiratis have “fostered an environment of hate" in legal attempt to end neighbours' yearlong blockade

Qatar took its dispute with the United Arab Emirates to the world’s highest court on Wednesday, accusing its Gulf Arab neighbour of human rights abuses and racially discriminating against Qataris through its yearlong blockade.

Doha asked the court to secure full reparation, including compensation, for the harm caused by the UAE.

The Emiratis had “fostered an environment of hate” and “implemented a series of discriminatory measures”, Qatar argued at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Qatar’s lawyer, Mohammed al-Khulaifi, told judges in the Hague that the blockade – which was implemented in June 2017 by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain – violates the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

The CERD, which has not been signed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Bahrain, includes discrimination based on nationality.

“The UAE’s course of action places Qataris on an unequal footing, violates their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, and is blatantly inconsistent with recognizing the ‘dignity and equality inherent in all human beings',” court documents filed by Qatar read, quoting the CERD.

In the court filing, Qatar said the UAE “has directly incited hate speech” and been responsible for “a full-scale media campaign against Qatar and Qataris”.

“UAE government officials themselves actually have participated in social media attacks on Qatari ‘sympathisers’ and have called for attacks against Qatar,” it added.

Bad neighbours

The blockade was launched by Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Manama in an attempt to force Doha into aligning its policies with their own.

Qatar in turn accused the quartet of violating the tiny, incredibly wealthy peninsula emirate’s sovereignty.

The four countries accused Qatar of promoting terrorism, supporting Iran and threatening their national security – accusations Doha vehemently denies.

As part of the blockade, which severed diplomatic and travel ties, Qataris were expelled from the boycotting countries, which the United Nations and rights groups have said violates human rights.

"Historically the people of Qatar and its neighbours have been close. For decades Qataris and Emiratis have worked together, prayed together and married into each other's families," Khulaifi told a 16-judge bench at a tribunal on Wednesday.

Now, the lawyer argued: "The UAE has fostered such an environment of hate against Qatar and Qataris that individuals in the UAE are afraid even to speak to family members living in Qatar."

Countersuit

The UAE, which dismissed the Qatari claims as “lies”, is expected to respond on Thursday.

However, in a surprise move the boycotting quartet announced they too would file a case at the ICJ over accusations of airspace violations, according to Saudi and Emirati media.

Qatar is accused of sending fighter jets to intercept passenger jets and a Bahraini helicopter. Doha denies the claims.

The court filings are the latest in a diplomatic standoff that shows no sign of abating.

Earlier this month, reports in Gulf Arab media claimed Saudi Arabia was going ahead with plans to dig a canal that would cut Qatar off from its only land border – effectively dislodging the emirate from the Arabian Peninsula.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/qatar-takes-uae-court-over-racially-discriminatory-boycott-387611879

[JustTime]

The Arab Nations need to unite against Iran and work on eradicating the Houthis in Yemen, defending the people of Syria and formulating a plan to remove all of Iran's influence in Iraq.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

The Arab Nations need to unite against Iran and work on eradicating the Houthis in Yemen, defending the people of Syria and formulating a plan to remove all of Iran's influence in Iraq.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

A little different, its good to know if anymore confirmation is needed where the rulers of Qatar make Qibla to.

NATO dashes membership hopes of Qatar

NATO has thwarted Qatar’s hopes of becoming a member of the alliance.

“According to Article 10 of the Washington Treaty, only European countries can become members of NATO,” an official told AFP on Wednesday.

“Qatar is a valuable and longstanding partner of NATO,” the official added.

It comes a day after Qatar’s defense minister, Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah, expressed his country’s ambition for “full [NATO] membership.”

“Qatar today has become one of the most important countries in the region in terms of the quality of armament,” he told the official magazine of the Qatari defense ministry.

Qatar signed a security agreement with NATO in January, setting out a framework for the exchange of classified information, according to NATO.

Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic ties with Qatar in June 2017, after accusing it of supporting terrorism and backing Iran.

Bahrain and the UAE have also signed individual security agreements with NATO under the same framework as Qatar.

https://www.politico.eu/article/qatar-nato-dashes-membership-hopes/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Oh dear.

Questions raised over paid protest timed for Qatari leader's No 10 visit

Casting agency offers £20 per head for extras to stand outside Downing Street during emir of Qatar’s visit

A casting agency advertised for paid extras to come and stand outside the gates of Downing Street when the emir of Qatar visits on Tuesday, amid accusations that the country’s Gulf rivals are paying protesters to oppose the country’s activities and create the impression of an upswell of British support against the country.

“This is NOT a film or TV production,” said the advert from booking agency Extra People, offering £20 to respondents willing to take part. “The company are looking for a large group of people to fill space outside Downing Street during the visit of the president of Quatar [sic]. You will not have to do or say anything, they just want to fill space.”

A Qatari diplomat pointed the finger at the country’s regional rivals, who have placed it under an economic blockade since last year, creating a vicious and expensive media war often fought through lobbyists, online advertising and selective leaks to journalists in the UK and US.

“The blockading countries have a long history of using paid protesters to try and discredit those who do not agree with their views,” said the Qatari diplomat. “Despite their latest attempts to spread lies about Qatar, the visit of HH the Emir has further strengthened the historic and strategic partnership between Qatar and the UK.”

The casting agency later retracted the advert and said that they did not want to be involved in providing extras for the event, which was arranged to coincide with the arrival of Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to meet prime minister Theresa May.

“Upon receiving further information about the event, which regrettably was after our enquiry went out to our artistes, we began to understand what the hirer was asking of our artistes and the event involved,” said a spokesperson for the booking agency.

The agency declined to identify their client but said they backed out when they realised the event would involve the extras protesting outside the gates of Downing Street.

There have also been separate claims that attendees were paid to take part in an earlier anti-Qatar protest outside parliament on Monday afternoon. Protesters at the earlier event waved placards referring to allegations Qatar paid up to $1bn to terrorist groups as a ransom for 28 members of a royal hunting party kidnapped in Iraq.

The advert raises questions over the growing influence of Gulf money in the UK, with the ongoing political struggle between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It follows an agreement by the Independent to licence its brands to a publishing business with close links to the Saudi government to produce Middle Eastern versions of its publications.

A series of anti-Qatar adverts have appeared on billboards around London, while other adverts highlighted the country’s treatment of migrant workers, its record on LGBT rights, and the continued existence of an absolute monarchy.

Many of the protests were also attended by British-based Qatari businessman Khalid Al-Hail. He has previously organised a “Qatari opposition” conference in London featuring paid speakers, such as the former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith and the BBC journalist John Simpson.

Embedded Tweet

Al-Hail has also been linked to a high-profile big budget football conference opposing corruption in sport, which was attended by Tory MP Damian Collins and footballer Louis Saha, and focused on criticism of the decision to award Qatar the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

Qatar’s successful bid to host tournament has been beset by widespread allegations of corruption and poor conditions for workers building the stadiums.

Qatari-funded news network al-Jazeera has previously claimed that extras were paid to protest against the Qatari government at events in Germany.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/23/qatar-accuses-gulf-rivals-of-paying-for-political-protest-in-london

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Rex Tillerson stopped Saudi and UAE from 'attacking' Qatar

Former US Secretary of State reportedly prevented Saudi troops from attacking its Gulf neighbour, The Intercept reports.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates planned to launch a military operation against Qatar at the beginning of a diplomatic crisis that erupted in June last year but were stopped by former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in an act that may have played a key role in his dismissal.

According to the investigative news website The Intercept, the plan involved Saudi ground troops crossing the land border into Qatar, and with military support from the UAE, advancing 100km inland and seizing the Qatari capital.

Based on information it said it received from a current member of the US intelligence community and two former Department of State officials, The Intercept said the coup, which was largely devised by Saudi Arabia and the UAE's crown princes, "was likely some weeks away from being implemented".

It said the attack against Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, would have involved Saudi forces circumventing the Al Udeid Air Base, which is home of the US Air Force Central Command and some 10,000 American troops, and seizing Doha.

Al Udeid serves as one of the US' most important overseas military bases and carries out operations throughout the Middle East.

However, after Tillerson was notified of the plan by Qatari intelligence officials, he reportedly urged Saudi Arabia's King Salman not to carry out the attack and also encouraged Defense Secretary James Mattis to explain the dangers of such an invasion to his counterparts in the kingdom, it said.

Pressure from Tillerson caused Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, to back down, who was concerned that the invasion would damage Saudi Arabia's long-term relationship with the US.

Long-standing rivalry

However, Tillerson's intervention reportedly enraged Mohammed bin Zayed, also known as MBZ, with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto ruler of the UAE, subsequently lobbying the White House for Tillerson's removal.

MBZ has had a long-running rivalry with Qatar and supported a failed coup against the Qatari government in 1996 when he served as chief of staff of the UAE armed forces.

The Intercept said none of the current or former officials interviewed by The Intercept had direct insight into why Trump decided to fire Tillerson, but one source said that the timing - a week before the Saudi crown prince arrived in Washington for a much-publicised visit - was significant.

Tillerson, a former executive for the energy company Exxon, had repeatedly criticised the blockading countries for the crisis before his dismissal, and in October last year, accused them of heightening tensions.

"There seems to be a real unwillingness on the part of some of the parties to want to engage," Tillerson said at the time.

"It's up to the leadership of the quartet when they want to engage with Qatar because Qatar has been very clear - they're ready to engage."

Emirati influence over Trump

Tillerson has not given any interviews since he was replaced with Mike Pompeo, but is believed to have disagreed on a number of issues with President Donald Trump, including the blockade of Qatar.

According to one news report, Tillerson was frustrated with Trump for endorsing the blockade, with his aides suspecting that a line in the president's speech where Qatar was accused of funding terrorism at a "very high level" had been written by the UAE's ambassador, Yousef al-Otaiba.

Otaiba is a well-known figure in US national security circles, and according to Politico maintains "almost constant phone and email contact" with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The Intercept also reported that four of the sources it interviewed pointed to an ongoing campaign by the UAE to try to provoke Qatar into escalating the crisis.

The UAE has made it illegal for people to express sympathy with Qatar on social media, meanwhile Emirati officials, with close links to its leadership, repeatedly hurl insults against Qatari women.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, along with Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic and trade links with Qatar on June 5, accusing Doha of supporting "extremism and terrorism" and cosying up to Iran.

Qatar has vehemently denied all allegations.

The quartet subsequently ordered Qatari nationals to leave their countries, and also urged their citizens to return to their respective nations, disrupting the lives of thousands in the region and restricting their freedom of movement.

According to several media reports, the four countries want Qatar to join a regional alliance against Iran and normalise relations with Israel.

Qatar's emir has denounced all of the attempts to infringe on the Gulf nation's sovereignty and rejected all of their demands.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/rex-tillerson-stopped-saudi-uae-attacking-qatar-180801125651449.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

*sigh*

Gargash: Qatar's attempt to block Hajj pilgrims is 'disgraceful'

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs says Qatari rulers have shown mistrust in its own people

Dr Anwar Gargash described an attempt by Doha to prevent Qatari citizens from performing Hajj as "disgraceful" and said its rulers had shown mistrust in its own people.

In a strongly worded statement on Twitter on Friday, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs suggested that with time Qatar's move will not be forgotten. Doha is believed to have blocked a website set up by the Saudi Ministry for Hajj and Umrah for those wishing to make the holy pilgrimage to Makkah from Qatar.

Embedded Tweet

"As soon as the Qatar crisis subsides and years pass by, the Qatari government's call to restrain its citizens from performing hajj will remain pinned because such a perverse and unorthodox call is widely unsupported by states which find it disgraceful to their year-long stand and political approach," Dr Gargash said.

In a separate tweet, he questioned Qatar's priorities and ability to distinguish between political matters and the wishes of its citizens to visit Saudi Arabia to fulfill their religious duties.

"The Qatari government’s decision bars its citizens from performing the rituals of hajj, and regardless of all the justifications it touted, it shows a clear absence of informed vision that can differentiate between what is political and what is more important. Not to mention that the politicisation and enticing fear against your own citizens’ performance of hajj is a sign of mistrusting them, their priorities and their choices," he said.

Last month Saudi Arabia relaunched an online portal for Qataris to register for Hajj after Doha appeared to block local access to the old one.

The site is intended to help Qataris perform the holy pilgrimage despite Saudi Arabia being embroiled in a diplomatic standoff with its neighbour.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/gargash-qatar-s-attempt-to-block-hajj-pilgrims-is-disgraceful-1.756727

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

The Saudi-Qatari media war

For such a small country, the Gulf emirate of Qatar has had a large influence over Arabic media. Beginning back in 1996, the renowned 24/7 satellite TV channel Al Jazeera began to carve out a unique and influential place for itself among Arab viewers.

For the first time, the Arab world could watch a wide variety of modern, vibrant news programming, from breaking news, to deep-diving historical documentaries, to in-depth investigative journalism. And viewers lapped it up. Before Al Jazeera, the biggest Arabic TV channels were all tired, bland regime outlets which tended to parrot the line of the powers that be, and mostly propped up the US-imposed regional order.

For a long time, Al Jazeera seemed different. Of course, it never bit the hand that fed it – you could not look to the channel for critical coverage of human rights violations in Qatar. But by giving its talented journalists a relatively free reign to report on and criticise the US and Israeli imposed regional order, the channel seemed to offer something different.

The US under George W. Bush infamously bombed Al Jazeera’s Baghdad bureau during the illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq – so threatening to the US empire was the channel’s journalism considered.

A decade later, Qatar launched Al Jazeera English. By pouring in large amounts of cash to hire some of the best broadcasting talent in the world, the gas-rich emirate was able to launch a credible alternative to the BBC News channel and CNN aimed at internationally-focused English language viewers.

Al Jazeera’s investigative unit, in particular, has pulled off some of the biggest scoops of the last decade.

But since the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings of 2011, something shifted in Al Jazeera. As Qatar began to get more and more involved in exporting and imposing its foreign policy throughout the region, so the coverage of both channels (but far more so the Arabic language one) began to more and more reflect the interests of its financial backers.

This reached its nadir in 2013, with a series of fawning interviews with Abu Mohammed Al-Joulani, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Syria.

Seen as being responsible for openly backing a side in a regional war – the same one supported by the Qatari government – Al Jazeera began to lose popularity, credibility and viewers.

Qatar sought to extend its media influence further in the west by financing and founding a series of websites and think tanks. These in turn fed into the western media, via often willingly naive correspondents reliant on regime-friendly fixers, pundits and lackeys.

As the Lebanese-American professor and commentator As’ad AbuKhalil recently explained, both Qatar and Saudi Arabia “have been able to control or influence the narratives of Western journalists and pundits through heavy investments in the elite Washington foreign policy community, especially through think tanks and PR firms. Think tanks in Washington, such as the Brookings Institution, the Middle East Institute, and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, are notoriously awash in funding from Gulf regimes and thus, reflect their agenda.”

And so we come onto Saudi Arabia – a far bigger Gulf regime, which is completely hostile to democracy, has an atrocious human rights record, has zero freedom of expression and is even more involved in imposing its foreign policy agenda on the region than Qatar.

Saudi Arabia has been slow off the mark in moving into the modern media realm as compared to Qatar, but it has more recently been playing catch up.

It launched Al Arabiya in 2003 as a kind of competition to Al Jazeera, but never matched the latter’s successes. Aside from Al Jazeera, Saudi Arabia, however (along with the UAE) have a death-like grip on the Arabic media across the region. Many of the region’s newspapers and websites are controlled by Saudi interests.

But now the Saudis are moving into the western media too. With public trust in the UK’s news media at an all-time low, and print titles in seemingly terminal decline, they may be viewed as low-hanging fruit by the oil-rich kleptocracy.

Last year, interests close to the Saudi regime bought a 30 per cent stake in the Independent, the liberal UK news website which was until 2016 a daily newspaper. And this month it was disclosed that the Saudis have decided to use this financial interest to expand globally, launching four new news sites in Turkish, Urdu, Persian and Arabic – reportedly arriving later this year.

Embedded Tweet

AbuKhalil wrote that it was part of the “demise of Western media”.

As well as being a further attempt to spread its questionable influence and foreign policy around the world, the expansion is no doubt a further attempt to push back against Qatari influence – the latest move in the two ruling families’ regional competition.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20...ari-media-war/

[JustTime]

Why is Qatar so reluctant to cut ties with Iran? Out of all the allegations this is the biggest and the one that they are the most stubborn on, why is Qatar so reluctant to cut ties with Turkey and Iran?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Why is Qatar so reluctant to cut ties with Iran? Out of all the allegations this is the biggest and the one that they are the most stubborn on, why is Qatar so reluctant to cut ties with Turkey and Iran?

:facepalm:

Well after threats, intimidation, blockade and general thuggery from their 'brotherly' neighbours, why shouldn't they look elsewhere for help and support?

This might be hard to comprehend, not everyone wants to be a Saudi lapdog.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Blurb

For the second time since the blockade on Qatar by Saudi Arabia and three other countries more than a year ago, both Qatari citizens and expatriates have been unable to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, the five-day annual pilgrimage undertaken by Muslims to the holy city of Mecca, which is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. Saudi Arabia has been accused of using Hajj as a tool of pressure in its foreign politics.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Saudi Arabia may dig canal to turn Qatar into an island

Plan takes shape amid bitter dispute that led the Saudis, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to cut ties with small peninsula nation

A Saudi official hinted on Friday the kingdom was moving forward with a plan to dig a canal that would turn the neighbouring Qatari peninsula into an island, amid a diplomatic feud between the Gulf nations.

“I am impatiently waiting for details on the implementation of the Salwa island project, a great, historic project that will change the geography of the region,” Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said on Twitter.

The plan, which would physically separate the Qatari peninsula from the Saudi mainland, is the latest stress point in a fractious 14-month long dispute between the two states.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and being too close to Riyadh’s arch rival, Iran – charges Doha denies.

In April the pro-government Sabq news website reported government plans to build a channel 60km long and 200m wide stretching across Saudi Arabia’s border with Qatar.

Part of the canal, which would cost up to 2.8 billion riyals ($750m), would be reserved for a nuclear waste facility, it said.

Five unnamed companies that specialised in digging canals had been invited to bid for the project and the winner would be announced in September, Makkah newspaper reported in June.

Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment and there was no immediate reaction on the plan from Qatar.

After the dispute erupted last year, Qatar – a small peninsula nation – found its only land border closed, its state-owned airline barred from using its neighbours’ airspace and Qatari residents expelled from the boycotting countries.

Mediation efforts led by Kuwait and the US, which has its largest Middle East air base in Qatar, have failed to resolve the dispute.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/01/saudi-arabia-may-dig-canal-to-turn-qatar-into-an-island

[anatolian]

It seems bin Salman has the same mentor with Trump.. He was talking about building a wall between Mexica.. The boundaries of a tyrant is limited with only the intelligence of the masses..

[Abz2000]

Salaam

Another update

Saudi Arabia may dig canal to turn Qatar into an island

Plan takes shape amid bitter dispute that led the Saudis, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to cut ties with small peninsula nation

A Saudi official hinted on Friday the kingdom was moving forward with a plan to dig a canal that would turn the neighbouring Qatari peninsula into an island, amid a diplomatic feud between the Gulf nations.

“I am impatiently waiting for details on the implementation of the Salwa island project, a great, historic project that will change the geography of the region,” Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said on Twitter.

The plan, which would physically separate the Qatari peninsula from the Saudi mainland, is the latest stress point in a fractious 14-month long dispute between the two states.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and being too close to Riyadh’s arch rival, Iran – charges Doha denies.

In April the pro-government Sabq news website reported government plans to build a channel 60km long and 200m wide stretching across Saudi Arabia’s border with Qatar.

Part of the canal, which would cost up to 2.8 billion riyals ($750m), would be reserved for a nuclear waste facility, it said.

Five unnamed companies that specialised in digging canals had been invited to bid for the project and the winner would be announced in September, Makkah newspaper reported in June.

Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment and there was no immediate reaction on the plan from Qatar.

After the dispute erupted last year, Qatar – a small peninsula nation – found its only land border closed, its state-owned airline barred from using its neighbours’ airspace and Qatari residents expelled from the boycotting countries.

Mediation efforts led by Kuwait and the US, which has its largest Middle East air base in Qatar, have failed to resolve the dispute.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...into-an-island

You know a lot of this is more to do with unlawful sabotage, protectiin racketeering, pressure, and blackmail from the american government than it is to do with actual relations between the countries.

Here are some examples of the blackmail and underhand deals we rarely see:

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...-should-pay-us

https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmo...ells-to-china/





WASHINGTON — When President Obama secretly authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to begin arming Syria’s embattled rebels in 2013, the spy agency knew it would have a willing partner to help pay for the covert operation. It was the same partner the C.I.A. has relied on for decades for money and discretion in far-off conflicts: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Since then, the C.I.A. and its Saudi counterpart have maintained an unusual arrangement for the rebel-training mission, which the Americans have code-named Timber Sycamore. Under the deal, current and former administration officials said, the Saudis contribute both weapons and large sums of money, and the C.I.A takes the lead in training the rebels on AK-47 assault rifles and tank-destroying missiles.....

....The support for the Syrian rebels is only the latest chapter in the decadeslong relationship between the spy services of Saudi Arabia and the United States, an alliance that has endured through the Iran-contra scandal, support for the mujahedeen against the Soviets in Afghanistan and proxy fights in Africa. Sometimes, as in Syria, the two countries have worked in concert. In others, Saudi Arabia has simply written checks underwriting American covert activities.....


....When Mr. Obama signed off on arming the rebels in the spring of 2013, it was partly to try to gain control of the apparent free-for-all in the region. The Qataris and the Saudis had been funneling weapons into Syria for more than a year. The Qataris had even smuggled in shipments of Chinese-made FN-6 shoulder-fired missiles over the border from Turkey.....


......The Saudi efforts were led by the flamboyant Prince Bandar bin Sultan, at the time the intelligence chief, who directed Saudi spies to buy thousands of AK-47s and millions of rounds of ammunition in Eastern Europe for the Syrian rebels. The C.I.A. helped arrange some of the arms purchases for the Saudis, including a large deal in Croatia in 2012.....


.....Months later, Mr. Obama gave his approval for the C.I.A. to begin directly arming and training the rebels from a base in Jordan, amending the Timber Sycamore program to allow lethal assistance. Under the new arrangement, the C.I.A. took the lead in training, while Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency, the General Intelligence Directorate, provided money and weapons, including TOW anti-tank missiles.....



.......The Qataris have also helped finance the training and allowed a Qatari base to be used as an additional training location. But American officials said Saudi Arabia was by far the largest contributor to the operation......

....
While the Saudis have financed previous C.I.A. missions with no strings attached, the money for Syria comes with expectations, current and former officials said. “They want a seat at the table, and a say in what the agenda of the table is going to be,” said Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. analyst and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.......

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/w...an-rebels.html






This has been happening for decades - i recall bush the first demanding that saudi arabia get together with other countries and pay the bill for the American war against Iraq after saddam had signed a peace treaty with iran - and america had begun to provoke iraq by attempting to bankrupt it by getting kuwait to break the treaty and pump stupid amounts of oil from border straddling fields and thereby decimating the price.

Before accusing these small countries of treachery - we must also at the same time recognize that they are being blackmailed (although it'sno excuse) - and that care must be taken when acting on secularist news reports.
The attack on Gaddafi who was standing up to blackmail after dubious american controlled mujahideen groups had been used to put him under pressure is an example of how they keep our leaders afraid of us.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

It seems bin Salman has the same mentor with Trump.. He was talking about building a wall between Mexica.. The boundaries of a tyrant is limited with only the intelligence of the masses..

He strikes me as rather crude and vulgar or 'thuggish' if you prefer.

Compare and contrast him with King Faisal, who was educated, cultured and understood his faith.

Look at the amount of money he's spending on this useless project. It could of gone to education, healthcare, housing, infrastucture, business etc etc.

A shameful waste.

[anatolian]

LOL. Your definition fits better. It fits Trump too. No doubt he is appointed by the same people who appointed Trump as the Saudi version of Trump. Saudi Arabia will become an American base soon. They spent an enormous money for the American weaponry last year. They will cry a lot when the oil is finished.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

So much for 'brotherhood'.

UAE fans throw shoes at Qatar players after losing 4-0 in Asian Cup semi-finals

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) football fans threw shoes and drink bottles at Qatar players after an embarrassing 4-0 defeat in the Asian Cup semi-finals.

The Qatari national anthem was also loudly booed by fans of the host nation in Abu Dhabi amid political tensions between the two Gulf monarchies.

Qatar has been boycotted by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and other Arab countries over its support for the Islamic political movement, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Qatar’s coach Felix Sanchez told the BBC: “It wasn’t an easy situation.

“The players were aware there was going to be a lot of pressure but they managed their emotions quite well. I’m very proud of them.”

Boualem Khoukhi put Qatar in the lead with his eighth minute goal before Almoez Ali increased the lead in the first half with his eighth goal of the tournament.

Hassan Al-Haydos and Hamid Ismail made it 4-0 after the break as Qatar reached the Asian Cup final for the first time.

They will play four-time winners Japan in the final on Friday 1 February.

Qatar will be hosting the 2022 World Cup football.

https://5pillarsuk.com/2019/01/30/ua...p-semi-finals/

Related

British man detained in UAE after wearing Qatar football shirt to match

Ali Issa Ahmad held over ‘false allegations against security officials’ after initial arrest

A British football fan has been arrested and detained in the United Arab Emirates after he wore a Qatar national team shirt to a match.

Ali Issa Ahmad, 26, a British Arsenal fan who lives in Wolverhampton, travelled to the UAE for a holiday in January. While he was there he got a ticket for an Asian Cup match between Qatar and Iraq on 22 January. The tournament took place in the UAE between 5 January and 1 February and was won by Qatar.

Ahmad wore a Qatar shirt to the match not knowing that doing so in the UAE is an offence punishable with a large fine and an extended period of imprisonment.

After his initial arrest he was held over claims that he had made false allegations about security officials, a friend of Ahmad told the Guardian.

The UAE embassy said it was investigating the circumstances of the arrest and the Foreign Office (FCO) said it was offering support.

The FCO website in its section containing information for travellers to the UAE warns: “The UAE authorities announced on 7 June 2017 that showing sympathy for Qatar on social media or by any other means of communication is an offence. Offenders could be imprisoned and subject to a substantial fine.”

Its advice adds: “You should respect local traditions, customs, laws and religions at all times. There may be serious penalties for doing something that might not be illegal in the UK.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...shirt-to-match

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, new faultlines are emerging within the Ummah.

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