Late last week, Qatar received a list of 13 demands from Saudi Arabia and the other Arab nations involved in blockading them, and has been warned by the Saudi kingdom that they have just 10 days to unconditionally accept all of them, or face unspecified further action. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement today insisting the list of demands is unreasonable.
The demands include Qatar agreeing to shut down every one of its media outlets, including the influential al-Jazeera, permanently, agree to pay an unspecified fine to the Saudis, close several foreign diplomatic posts that the Saudis don’t want them to have, and to expel the Turkish military from a base on the peninsula.
This list follows a 10-demand list from the Saudis which was rejected out of hand, and let the US to call for a “reasonable” list of demands, and Britain urged it to be “realistic.” Qatar insists they don’t think the new list is either, but rather an even bigger attack on their sovereignty than the last list was.
The US State Department has insisted Qatar is “reviewing” the demands, but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who’d initially called for reasonable, actionable demands, conceded it would be very difficult for Qatar to even conceivably meet some of the demand. He urged the nations to sit down and negotiate a compromise agreement, which is unlikely as Qatar has sought an end to the blockade as a condition for talks, and the Saudis and their allies are insisting these demands are absolute and non-negotiable.
Qatar. Stick to your guns and tell the head choppers and biggest state sponsors of terror to f-off.
Demands #8 for compensation to be determined and #13 for regular audits are hilarious put together.
Reads almost like Qatar must pay open-ended ‘compensation’ monthly for one year, quarterly for the next, and then yearly for another ten.
Its just so crude yet sophisticated.
I can’t see the Saudis getting their way without invading – are they really prepared to do that? With the Turkish military protecting Qatar? Attacking a NATO member would simply be madness – even by the unhinged standards of Saudi Arabia.
Block Island Guy…???
Is that a cultural reference?
Does this remind anyone of the demands Austria made of Serbia after the Archduke was assassinated? It kicked off WW One!
It seems the Saudi’s balls got bigger after the Donald’s a**kissing tour.
They were pretty belligerent before that as well
True. But the anti Iran tirade by Trump I think gave them(balls) some growth.
I think Trump’s the kind of dealer who’ll sell anyone all the rope they need to hang themselves. When his allies need him most, you bet he’ll be nowhere to be found.
UUUHHH….I got a feeling this new Crown Piece of:$hit is in for a really awful surprise…. Didn’t he get the memo….???? The Big Boys are not quite ready to let the BOY prince roll Qatar… ???????????
It reminds me of Blazing Saddles: “Oh, do what he say! Do what he say!”
This is Kushner apparently preparing to attack Iran. The new Crown Prince has a lot of military. First perhaps they shut down Al Jazeera through invasion, then prepare to attack Iran with the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia leading the attack. I wonder….”wouldn’t it be nice if we could just get along with the rest of the world” ….who said that?