President Trump continues to veer around wildly in his positions taken on Qatar, having gone from personally taking credit for the regional split with the tiny US ally earlier this week, backpedaling and offering to mediate, and now reversing course again and issuing a new condemnation of the Qatari government.
In his latest comments, President Trump demanded Qatar ends “its extremist ideology,” and accused the nation of funding terrorism “at a very high level,” an allegation which is consistent with claims by the Saudi government, but not consistent with actual evidence.
It’s also inconsistent with official US policy, as the US government only recognizes three nations as “state sponsors of terrorism,” and Qatar is not among them. Qatar has long been the host of the largest US military base in the Middle East, and the regional blockade is greatly complicating that base’s operation.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also backed the Saudi-led moves against Qatar in general, but insisted that they ought to ease the blockade against the nation, for the sake of the US military base and the war against ISIS, which is being operated at least in part out of the base.
Trump’s comments appeared to support the blockade more or less wholly, however, demanding Qatar make a series of concessions if they want to “rejoin the unity of responsible nations.” Qatar has already ruled out accepting Saudi Arabia’s long list of demands, saying that they have no intention of changing their foreign policy.
While Saudi officials have accused Qatar of “backing terrorism” as a way of justifying their split, by and large the dispute centers of Qatar’s state media and their positions during the Arab Spring, supporting protesters calling for democratic reform, something which didn’t sit well with the Saudis or many of their allies.
To the extent officials ever try to pin down who the “terrorists” Qatar is backing are, it tends to be the Muslim Brotherhood, for its role in the democratic revolution in Egypt (which was subsequently overturned by a military coup that the Saudis have endorsed) and the Shi’ite opposition parties in Bahrain, who have long complained of discrimination from the government. During the Arab Spring, the Saudis sent troops to Bahrain to crush the protests calling for free elections.
In accepting the Saudis’ transparent claims of terror, President Trump is also putting the US into a position of being more overtly against democracy in the Middle East, making enemies of groups that are seeking such reforms, and aligning with the Saudis and Egypt’s junta, both of whom are heavily averse to personal freedom.
This is like a sitcom. We look silly.
Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Jazeera, what do these have in common
but that the FDD wants them done away with. FDD started this. http://www.defenddemocracy.org/
Jason,
We agree that Trump is a belligerent ignorant bully. But you are spinning a false narrative when you ignore Qatar’s documented history of supporting al-Nusra and its allies in Syrian “Army of Conquest.” Of course KSA doesn’t care about Qatar’s support for the Syrian rebels. Actually, on a per capita basis, Qatar gives more aid to terrorists in Syria than KSA. .
KSA, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt (the “Gang of Four” or “GOF”) are in mortal terror of Al-Jazeera which was founded, funded and protected by the Qatari royal family. The GOF also wants Qatar to banish Hamas and the Islamic Brotherhood who have their major offices in Doha. And KSA does cannot afford interference from Oatar when KSA soon openly leads the GCC and the Arab League into detente or even normalization of relations with Israel with a “final status” deal that would leave the Palestinians divided between a concentration camp in Gaza and a Bantustan in the West Bank under Israeli security control. Finally, the US, Israel, and the Gang of Four are aiming to overthrow the Iranian regime and Qatar has cooperated with Iran to develop the world’s largest offshore natural gas reserves.
So yeah, the GOF has an evil agenda. But let’s not soft pedal Qatar’s support for real terrorists, the ones who are also bankrolled by KSA.
And also we need to remember the hypocrisy of all six feudal GCC regimes. None of what they say in public means anything. It is all about posturing and saving face. The latest “crisis” is about over. With the Qatari Air Force thoroughly embedded with the US Far East Command (both air forces are headquartered at Qatar’s al-Udeid base) there was no military option. But Rex Tillerson’s recent statement gives Qatar and the GOF a way to save face. The blockade will be lifted shortly for so-called “humanitarian” reasons with the GOF publicly making a stern warning to Qatar. Qatar will proudly proclaim that it did not back down and retained its independence. And three or four months from now Hamas and the Islamic Brotherhood offices in Doha will be closed, Qatar’s aid to Gaza quietly will be cut back, and Al-Jazeera will be very different. Qatar will probably continue to have some level of cooperation with Iran over the LNG fields. But the Emir will be more attentive to the Saudi line in the future.
I will indicate some documentation for Qatars support of the Syrian in a separate post below.
If anyone thinks Qatar doesn’t support terrorism in Syria I suggest you Google “Qatar Syrian civil war” or “Qatar Syria Arab League” for many sources on Qatar’s support for al-Nusra and its allies. Here are some tidbits from Wikipedia:
“The Financial Times reported that Qatar had funded the Syrian rebellion by at least $1 billion and ‘as much as $3 billion’ over the first two years of the civil war.[1] It reported that Qatar was offering refugee packages of about $50,000 a year to defectors and family.[1] . . .
“The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that Qatar had fueled the war by delivering more weapons to Syria than any other country. In total, there were over 70 weapons cargo flights into Turkey between April 2012 and March 2013.[1][2] . . .
“Qatar operates a training base for rebels in its territory, in conjunction with U.S. military forces who ran the training, training about 1,200 rebels a year in three week courses.[3][4] . . .
“Qatar has provided support to rebel groups across the spectrum and has received criticism for not only funding more moderate rebels but also a coalition known as the Army of Conquest, which contains al-Qaeda linked groups. [5]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatari_support_to_Syrian_Opposition_in_the_Syrian_Civil_War
BUT the question is.. how much of that is exclusively Qatari ? none of it.. all with American cooperation. By the looks of things, Qatar was used as a conduit. Now that excuse is being cashed on.. it was planned all along…
If Qatar was used as a conduit so was KSA and UAE. But they were all very willing to be used by the Zionists and the US. The backstory is that Qatar has a very headstrong young emir who is trying to be the big man of the Gulf. He has upstaged KSA by trying to be even more anti-Assad than the old fogeys. Qatar, not KSA, tried to give the rebel alliance Syria’s seat at the Arab League. This is an honest-to-God Game of Thrones. The young man tried to show his stuff. The old men want to put the young man in his place.
The only reason these crazy sheikdoms survived the breakup of the Ottoman Empire is the old British stratagem of divide and conquer. The British and the sheiks were terrified of the rise of Pan-Arabism and the British supported the outdated sheikdoms and encouraged Saudi Wahhabism well into the 20th century. After the discovery of oil and the World Wars, the USA replaced Britain as the dominant imperial power in Arabia continued to prop up the monarchies against the Pan Arabism of Nasser, Gaddafi and the Baathists of Iraq and Syria. Wahhabism continued to be useful to keep the Arab masses backward.
All the GCC regimes, including Qatar, are anachronisms that will inevitably be overthrown. The sheiks live in mortal fear that a renewed Arab Spring will wash them all away. The differences between Qatar and its neighbors need to be viewed in that context.
Another way to look at it is Qatar is like Clinton and KSA is like Trump. Pick your poison.
Don’t forget Saudi Arabia and their support for Al Nusra and Islamic State.
What an ignorant man Trump is. The very regime he is trying to sell weapons of death to are very much in the same league as Qatar in terms of extremist-ideology.
Now this is the Trump I was hoping for when I cast my swing-state vote for Jill Stein. A Belligerent, moronic, self-defeating mess, unwittingly sabotaging American Imperial strategy with his own brand of ego-drunken stupidity. I welcome anything that divides the Wahhabi Gulf statelets and makes the American Empire look like the faulty piece of sh*t it is. Keep f**king talking Trump. Keep Talking.
The USA expects other nations to “stop their extremist ideology” while it goes about sponsoring and funding the worst type of “terrorist” cut throats that have terrorized the Middle East now for several years! It expects this while it goes about bombing civilians like they’re nothing but flies in the way(collateral damage)! It expects this while maintaining policies that would create “terrorists” under any human condition! If and/or when the USA becomes a humane, instead of a constant belligerent, nation, then the rest of the world won’t need “extremist ideologies” to ward off American imperialism and attacks! If you want a peaceful non-extremist world and you have the military to help this along, then the onus is on you to set the example for the rest of the world. The USA is full of hypocrites who preach one thing and then do just the opposite! If Trump is sincere about peace instead of enriching the military/industrial clique further, he would put a stop to further USA aggression.
… Trump’s antics also obscure clear understanding of what’s going on.
Looks like Qatar and its Al Jezeera propaganda news service ruffled more than a few feathers playing democracy and the Arab Spring for influence against its neighbors, and its payback time.
Crooked is tolerated among thieves; blatant hypocrisy not so much. The Gulf States were always divided; looks like a major score is about to be settled.
The Economist on July 8 2013 “Democracy? That’s for other Arabs” indicates more than a little tension on elite Qatari circles against the Emir. How real that is, may not be relevant as it did begin to float a pretext for overthrow.
Empire USA has ordered Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt to overthrow Qatar, all to silence Al-Jazeera.
In response, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Syria have united for battle.
Yet, you are so blinded by glory as to side with Empire USA.
Read Pepe Escobar’s article “Trump’s Sword Dance Sets Off War of the Wahhibis”, June 7, 2017 at Sputniknews.com. There’s a lot more going on than ‘taking sides’ at your level really helps to understand.
A key factor is Qatar apparently opening Yuan clearing house; nominally this is a low-level yellow flag offense for any energy power, but the Saudi’s are taking it to snowflake extremes, which suggests Deep State machinations.
A black flag death sentence would be Qatar pricing its liquid natural gas (LNG) in Yuan or other major currency than the $US.
A red flag warning shot would accompany selling LNG to China in Yuan, threatening the $US energy monopoly if other nations wanted to trade in their currencies. Qatar did neither; opening a Yuan clearing house is potentially alarming to some, but its just Qatar positioning itself to benefit from the Eurasian century and China’s rise.
It is Qatar’s ambition to be a global financial powerhouse; the attempted blockade is perhaps a reminder of how easily they can be shut down as a global hub. Qatar’s rise likely has caused discomfort from Tel Aviv through London to New York. Riyadh is their tool and a clumsy one at that, but Qatar remains true to the general Muslim stance against Israel, a non-negotable point of Arab NATO is that Israel be accepted.
Israel’s position either way is secure. They have stakes in both Arab
NATO and CENTCOM and if the Wahhibis are in discord, all the better as
Saudi Arabia is also a rival for regional primacy. The sooner it or Qatar or any of them go down for good, the better as far as Israelists are concerned.
Doha’s tilt towards Eurasia is especially not a problem for American power and security. Note also the relative silence over CENTCOM’s future; there’s no question the base is secure.
Pepe seems to think the Pentagon would be upset; on this I disagree; why would they? There’s no way Qatar is cozying up with Iran and China or giving up on Al Nusra in Syria without the Pentagon knowing and allowing it.
Qatar as a global financial hub gives Pentagon spooks in Doha an inside track on Eurasian financial ops in the ME over the Riyadh/CIA connection, a win-win for their mission to safeguard American interests and one-up a rival Deep State outfit that seems more than a little rogue (than they are themselves…).
Forbes magazine reports that “The U.S. Is Transforming The Global Liquified Natural Gas Market” (April 16, 2017). LNG stands poised to become the new oil. The U.S. is not going to allow Russian natural gas escape its oil price torpedo or the formation of a gas OPEC. Its not clear where the die will fall for Qatar; they so appear loyal to their faction of the Deep State however, which would appear to be the Pentagon.
Russia and Iran are just bystanders in this little drama, and Turkey and Qatar, hardly Eurasian allies the way Syria is a Russian ally. China is an inadvertent catalyst.
Which faction of the Deep State gets the best chairs in the Doha window-box to Chinese Yuan activity in the Gulf seems to be a much more decisive influence than any versus scenario between the U.S. and Russia and their proxies.
Always has the lower-half of USA been kept so impoverished that they refuse to vote, always has this caused the 26% most wealthy to be the voting majority and always has each and every president been selected, not elected.
So, they fooled you again.
Nobody fooled anybody. I voted for Jill Stein because she was the most consistently antiwar candidate on the ballad. The fact that this hurt Killary and put an idiot in charge of an empire that could use a good car crash was just icing on the cake. I hate Trump but old Kill-dog would have launched a full blown ground invasion of Syria by now and everyone in the press would be behind her 100%. I don’t believe in voting for the lesser of two evils. I don’t believe in voting for any kind of evil. But if I did, Trump would clearly have been the second most evil choice. With that being said I have a hell of a lot more respect for the people who chose not to vote than the people who voted for Trump or Killary.
You are the 51% most wealthy who always vote against a $15 minimum wage, the 51% who always impoverish the lower-half of society to the point that they refuse to vote. And this causes the 26% most wealthy to be the voting majority that wins all elections, the 26% most wealthy that now uses Trump to brainwash and enslave you.
You enslave yourself, surely you are the fool of fools.
Motherf**ker, I’m a tranny on well-fare. I don’t know who the f**k you think you’re talking to but you need to f**king check yourself.
BTW Jill Stein ran on a $15 minimum wage. I voted for her because she was the only candidate promising a 50% cut in defense spending. I don’t know what the hell you did because you only speak in vague, poorly worded, riddles punctuated with % numbers in an attempt to sound informed. It’s not working. Eat me.
You the Empire builders, you the greed driven 51% most wealthy who destroy society for the glory of wealth.
Yeah, OK, sure. Me Empire builders! You Jane! And?…51%!!! RABLE! RABLE! RABLE! RABLE! RABLE!
Pretty good analysis right here:
http://www.unz.com/tsaker/the-crisis-in-qatar/
Voter’s remorse big time!!
BTW, Turkey is sending troops to Qatar in joint agreement with the Qatar MOD. I would like for nothing more than to see Turkish forces engage the Saudis.
Saudi troops won’t be engaging anyone over Qatar. The Qatari Air Force is embedded with the USAF at the al-Udeid air base. There are 11,000 US military personnel at the base which is owned Qatar and headquarters for the Qatari AF and regional headquarters for the USAF The Saudis cannot attack Qatar.
Not militarily, but there are other ways to deal with a serious regional rival. A little hybrid war coup in tiny Qatar, maybe. They sure are confident about their position.
In my mind, I keep going back to the 9/11 attacks here in the US. 15 were Saudis, and 2 came from the UAE. What this has to do with present allegations of Qatari terrorism, I’m not sure. But it does make me think about who is supporting the current attacks in Europe and elsewhere.
I wonder who The Orange One will blame (it won’t be himself, of course) when the Qataris request that the US vacate the A/O. Someone really should have told The Donald that there were over 11,000 US military stationed in Qatar before he sounded off on how bad the Qataris were.
Perhaps the Saudis will allow the US military to relocate from Qatar to SA when the Qataris throw the US out? Somehow, I don’t think so. To the Kingdom, the US is useful but not enough to allow them to take up residence, eh?
Clearly the USA has a failed and utterly tragic foreign policy in the region.
The selective blindness to terrorism supported by the so called allies Trump references to is astonishingly duplicitous.
I am starting to wonder if Clinton wouldn’t have been a better President and that is scary situation to be in.
Trump was selected — Not elected
If the rich keep the lower-half of society so impoverished that they refuse to vote, if they do this so that the 26% most wealthy become the voting majority and win all elections, how can democracy be anything other than slavery?
Empire USA — For the rich no less then Qatar
be it USA or Qatar, does not the upper-half of society own all the land, wealth and oil so crude?
USA or Qatar — Is not the lower-half so enslaved by poverty that they both refuse to vote and refuse to fight for the right to vote?
Trump Slams Qatar Over ‘Its Extremist Ideology’
Tillerson Urges ‘Easing’ of Blockade for the Sake of ISIS War
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Let me try to understand this? Qatar is really the one behind the terrorists says Trump, …not Saudi Arabia, …but Tillerson says SA should ease the blockade so we can fight the terrorists?
What? They must really think the American people are really stupid.
Other nations may have “extremist ideologies” but the USA most certainly has “extremist” actions! Actions are always louder than words Mr. President! What about all the suffering and destruction and death that your own government has vidited upon the world? I call this attention to “extremist” nations while you go about dealing with nations in a grossly extreme manner HYPOCRISY!!!
“not consistent with actual evidence”?!? What kind of nonsense is this? Qatar is absolutely a head chopper funder.
Before you go all indignant on Qatar it might be a good idea to remove our military base(s) we maintain there. Looks sort of bad, you know, to garrison an extremist nation like that.