On Tuesday, President Trump surprised many by declaring Qatar an ally in the war on terror. President Trump, after all, had for the past year backed the Saudis in their anti-Qatar measures. Now, Trump wants the Saudis to make nice.
US officials are confirming President Trump called the Saudi King earlier this month and “demanded” that the kingdom and its allies in the GCC quickly resolve the ongoing Qatar dispute. Trump reportedly told the king that his position on Qatar “makes no sense.”
Last year, with Trump backing them and accusing Qatar of sponsoring terror, the Saudis imposed a region-wide blockade on Qataris, accusing them of being secretly in league with Iran. Qatar, a small but incredibly wealthy nation, replaced all GCC trade in fairly short order, and since the US is still hosting Central Command within Qatar very little really changed.
Trump’s newfound interest in getting along, which he tried to sell the Saudis on as “unity” against Iran, likely reflects his intention to use Qatar as a base for his Syria war. The Saudis, however, seem to be headed in the opposite direction.
Instead of a rapprochement, Saudi state media is pushing proposals whereby the Saudi government would hire engineers to build a canal around the whole of Qatar, turning it into an island, and then dumping nuclear waste around the border region for good measure.
Nah. Trump doesn’t want Qatar for Syria. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Qatar paid up. That filing by the Kushner organization a few days ago that they’d somehow, from someone, come up with more than a billion dollars to cover all their problems with that albatross office tower that Jared built.
Qatar paid the protection money, so now they’re off the hook, and Trump is calling off his dogs.
That’s diplomacy in the Trump era. “Nice little country you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it.”
Maybe the time’s coming near when the Emirate should offer Mother Russia a military base and warm-weather port in the Gulf. Qatar has a right to self-defense, Trump is too unreliable, and the Emirate can’t defend itself on its own.
That’s an odd angle. There may be a relation with Syria but not in that form. Trump can work with Qatar without Saudi approval. If Trump attacks Syria though he may want some compensation/contribution from the Saudis and settling with Qatar could be a part in that.
Building a moat and filling it with nuclear waste. That sounds like something a Russian clown named Zhirinovsky said a long time ago about I forget who… maybe Ukraine??