MuhammadHamza1
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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
cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar
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After you make such big statements,It is your duty to watch this video.For a start.
https://youtu.be/g1VNQGsiP8M
MuhammadHamza1
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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.
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
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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
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This is not Youtube video.
This is eye witness testimony.
MuhammadHamza1
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The massacre of Houla was the doing of rebels.
And not Syrian Government.
And not Syrian Government.
MuhammadHamza1
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And if I am not right or I am a crazy conspiracy theorist,
Refuting me should not be any hardwork.
Refuting me should not be any hardwork.
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/2017/jul/11/rex-tillerson-qatar-gulf-saudi-arabia-terrorism
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.
Sign up for Guardian Today US edition: the day's must-reads sent directly to you
Read more
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/2017/jul/11/rex-tillerson-qatar-gulf-saudi-arabia-terrorism
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Singularity
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/amph...7c9ede-67e9-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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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...-plans-turn-qatar-island-180406133003494.html
This sounds extremely exaggerated, something made up by either a Pro-Iranian agent or some animal that lives in Russia.
- - - Updated - - -
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.
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
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
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/
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
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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.
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.
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/
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.
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/
Salaam
Mohammad bin Salman (or should it be MBS) demonstrating his 'maturity' to rule.
Mohammad bin Salman (or should it be MBS) demonstrating his 'maturity' to rule.
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
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