The
role of Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East chaos is
quite well known.
Recall that in a
letter
of the Podesta email series, John Podesta admitted that both Qatar
and Saudi Arabia were
helping ISIS. Podesta also mentioned that the US should exercise
pressure to these countries in order to stop doing it: “...
we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence
assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi
Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic
support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region.”
Of
course Hillary Clinton wouldn't do anything about this problem too,
as in another
letter
of the Podesta email series, it was revealed that Bill Clinton was
receiving "expensive gifts" from the Qataris!
As
reported by Antimedia,
in 2009 Qatar proposed a pipeline to run through Syria and Turkey to
export Saudi gas. Assad rejected the proposal and instead formed an
agreement with Iran and Iraq to construct a pipeline to the European
market that would cut Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar out of the
route entirely. Since, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have been
staunch backers of the opposition seeking to topple Assad.
Collectively, they have invested billions of dollars, lent weapons,
encouraged the spread of fanatical ideology, and helped smuggle
fighters across their borders.
The
Iran-Iraq pipeline will strengthen Iranian influence in the region
and undermine their rival, Saudi Arabia — the other main OPEC
producer. Given the ability to transport gas to Europe without going
through Washington’s allies, Iran will hold the upper-hand and will
be able to negotiate agreements that exclude the U.S. dollar
completely.
Yet,
less than a year ago, a crisis erupted between ‘unholy’ allies,
apparently because Qatar has chosen to change camp and proceed into a
deeper approach with Iran.
As
reported by Guardian,
Saudi Arabia and its allies have issued a threatening 13-point
ultimatum to Qatar as the price for lifting a two-week trade and
diplomatic embargo of the country, in a marked escalation of the
Gulf’s worst diplomatic dispute in decades. The onerous list of
demands includes stipulations that Doha close the broadcaster
al-Jazeera, drastically scale back cooperation with Iran,
remove Turkish troops from Qatar’s soil, end contact with groups
such as the Muslim Brotherhood and submit to monthly external
compliance checks. Qatar has been given 10 days to comply with the
demands or face unspecified consequences.
Then,
apparently, Rex
Tillerson tried to persuade Qatar to stay in the
unholy alliance and move away from Iran a day after wrapping up
discussions with the king of Saudi Arabia and other officials from
Arab countries lined up against Qatar.
We
can tell now that Qatar has not changed stance and chosen to continue
its approach with the winning alliance in the Syrian battlefield. We
have the first signs showing that the US empire and its allies in the
Middle East will move against Qatar, beginning with a typical first
step: propaganda war.
A
Pentagon “propagandist,” who previously headed a company that was
paid half a billion dollars to produce fake terrorist videos in Iraq,
was hired by a Dubai based company to
create a film accusing Qatar of links to terrorism,
the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed.
Charles
Andreae, the CEO of Andreae & Associates which was contracted to
produce the film, used to work for PR firm Bell Pottinger, the UK PR
firm that was payed $540 million dollars to create fake terrorist
videos in Iraq.
The firm
was employed to produce the anti-Qatari film amidst a diplomatic row
in which the Saudi and UAE governments cut ties with Doha, which it
accused of supporting terrorism. Qatar has strongly denied the
accusation and accused its neighbours of fabricating stories. US
intelligence agencies have since confirmed that the UAE orchestrated
the hacking of Qatari government news and social media sites to
justify its unprecedented attack against Qatar.
According
to the Bureau, Andreae was given over $500,000 to produce a six-part
film linking Qatar with global terrorism. The film, entitled “Qatar:
A Dangerous Alliance,” features a number of neo-conservative
pundits making the UAE and Saudi case against Qatar in a 37-minute
video.
Washington's
double standards and hypocrisy are quite evident in this case too.
After this crisis between allies erupted, a number of US officials
immediately launched a series of statements through which they
depicted Qatar as the sole supporter of terrorist groups in the
Middle East. Again, Saudi Arabia, the most authoritarian regime in
the region and probably the biggest supporter of jihadist extremists,
was miraculously vanished from their radar and, naturally, the radar
of the Western corporate media.
In case
Qatar will not compromise and keep walking the path towards
decoupling itself from the US/Saudi axis of evil, the next steps will
be a new series of upgraded, Iranian-type sanctions, or even a
military invasion as the last option. The only thing that can save
Qatar for now is the fact that it hosts
the largest US military base in the Middle East.
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