After his visit to the Kingdom in May, Donald Trump decided to back the Saudi-led blockade of tiny Qatar (2015 population 2.235 million, but just 313,000 citizens) imposed less than a month later.
The siege was also joined by Bahrain, Doha, the Maldives, the UAE – Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. It was quickly pointed out that:
In the current environment, to express even a mildly dissenting opinion, point out basic but unwelcome facts such as the presence of significant public support for the government in Syria, or highlight the frequently brutal acts of rebel groups, has seen many people ridiculed and attacked on social media. These attacks are rarely, if ever, reasoned critiques of opposing views; instead they frequently descend into personal, often hysterical, insults and baseless, vitriolic allegations.
Kuwaiti officials have given Iranian diplomats 24 hours to leave the country as authorities prepare to shut down the Iranian cultural mission to the country.
The 13 point ultimatum issued to Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE has been slashed in an prima facie climbdown against the small Persian Gulf state.
Gone are the provisions which would force Qatar to take its state-owned media including Al Jazeera off the air. Additionally, the threats to force an audit of Qatar’s compliance with the demands has been scrapped in addition to reparations payments and a 10 day timeline which expired in June of 2017.
The United States has just levelled new sanctions on Iran. The stated justification for the sanctions is Iran’s procurement of “military hardware, such as fast attack boats and unmanned aerial vehicles”.
But while the US admits that Iran has not breached any part of the Nuclear Deal of 2015, it becomes apparent that the move was partly motivated as a retaliatory measure for Iran listing the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism.
By Finian CUNNINGHAM | Strategic Culture Foundation | 18.07.2017 In a sharp about-turn, US intelligence agencies are now accusing the United Arab Emirates for hacking into Qatar’s official news agency, thereby sparking the Gulf crisis between Washington’s Arab allies. The latest twist amounts to an admission that the US is guilty of previously broadcasting fake […]
By M K Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline | July 18, 2017 The United States’ regional strategies in the Middle East face multiple challenges and it needs strong nerves and robust realism not to overreact. Importantly, the temptation to display ‘muscular’ diplomacy must be curbed. Thus, the decision by the Trump administration on Monday to certify […]
United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan listens questions during a meeting with the press in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 11, 2017. (AP/Mindaugas Kulbis)
The UAE was behind a hacking campaign against Doha which sparked a diplomatic crisis in the Gulf region, US intelligence sources have said, after false statements attributed to Qatar’s emir were posted on an official news agency website.
(ANTIWAR.COM) — The latest in a series of moves by President Trump that appeared to throw a wrench into State Department efforts to calm the Qatar blockade situation saw him telling the Saudi King today that the US could well just abandon their largest military base in the Middle East, the al-Udeid Airbase in Qatar.
