See evidence exhibit #2.
To embarrass the US,
Russia has Russia Today.
And little Qater has Al Jazeera.
But what HAS Zhongguo?
Robert Fisk: Qatar's the star – and Washington is worried - Robert Fisk, Commentators - The Independent
Al-Jazeera, of course, has been enjoying Washington's embarrassment, sharing the disclosures with viewers on both its news channels, Arabic and English, while squeezing American government spokesmen and women dry. When the Iraq cables came out, proving that the US had turned a blind eye to torture by the Maliki government, Al-Jazeera put the former US commander in Iraq on screen; his attempts to wriggle out of the questions were deeply embarrassing.
And the Emir knows how to embarrass people who get in his way. Apart from being fabulously rich and owning large bits of London as well as the greatest liquid gas exporter in the Middle East he doesn't take kindly to insults. When he visited Washington during the Bush administration and was invited to see Dick Cheney, he was astounded to see the then vice-president with a large file on his desk, marked "Al-Jazeera". What's that for, the Emir asked? Cheney told him he intended to complain about the channel's coverage of the Iraq war. "Then you'll have to speak to the editors in Qatar," the Emir replied and walked out of the room.
But is Al-Jazeera the bargaining chip which US diplomatic cables suggest? A November 2009 dispatch from the American embassy in Doha suggests that the station is "one of Qatar's most valuable political and diplomatic tools". Qatar-Saudi relations had improved when Al-Jazeera toned down its coverage of the Saudi royal family, the embassy said. But the station's management have not been above inventing "decoy" stories which they had no intention of running and then suggesting to their Arab neighbours that they have been cancelled out of respect for their feelings. In other words, the cancelled "stories" were never intended to be broadcast.
