Gulf Arab Row Rattles Trump's Anti-Iran Axis

[Arminkh]

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-05-31/gulf-arab-row-rattles-trumps-anti-iran-axis

By Sylvia Westall and Tom Finn

DUBAI/DOHA (Reuters) - Just 10 days after President Donald Trump called on Muslim countries to stand united against Iran, a public feud between Qatar and some of its Gulf Arab neighbours is jolting his attempt to tip the regional balance of power against Tehran.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are incensed by Qatar's conciliatory line on Iran, their regional archrival, and its support for Islamist groups, in particular the Muslim Brotherhood, which they regard as a dangerous political enemy.

The bickering among the Sunni states erupted after Trump attended a summit of Muslim leaders in Saudi Arabia where he denounced Shi'ite Iran's "destablizing interventions" in Arab lands, where Tehran is locked in a tussle with Riyadh for influence.

The spat shows no sign of abating, raising the prospect of a long breach between Doha and its closest allies that could have repercussions around the Middle East.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani arrived in Kuwait on Wednesday for talks with his counterpart Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah that are expected to address the rift. Kuwait, a past mediator between Gulf states, has offered to help ease tensions.

But few expect an early end to what is not their first feud. Three years ago Saudi Arabia and the UAE withdrew their ambassadors from Doha for similar reasons, although they returned after less than a year.

Analysts point to the unusual willingness of Qatari state-backed media on one side, and Saudi and Emirati media on the other, to trade rhetorical broadsides in public.

This suggests that point-scoring is taking priority over displays of unity among some members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a Saudi-dominated club of states that presents itself as an outpost of stability in a turbulent region.


In the Gulf's tightly-controlled media scene, attacks made by news outlets tend to be authorised by governments.

"The GCC could harm it own interests in this fight and is at risk of becoming more vulnerable to Iranian encroachment," said a Western diplomat based in Doha.

EMBOLDENED BY TRUMP

The spat's immediate cause was a purported Qatari state media report that the emir had cautioned against confrontation with Iran, as well as defending the Palestinian group Hamas and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shi'ite movement allied to Tehran.

Qatar denied the report, saying its news agency had been hacked, but Saudi Arabia and the UAE allowed their state-backed media to continue running it, angering Doha.

The squabble revives old accusations that Qatar backs the Brotherhood, which is present across most of the Muslim world and whose political ideology challenges the principle of dynastic rule. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi also suspect Doha is complacent about Iranian expansionism.

Qatar has said it is "always in favour of maintaining strong and brotherly relations with GCC countries", and denies it has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Some analysts speculate Riyadh and Abu Dhabi felt confident to authorise criticisms of Qatar by their deepening friendship with Trump, confident that his opposition to Iran and all Islamist armed groups reflects their views more than Qatar's.

"When Trump gave fulsome support in Riyadh and said, 'let's isolate Iran' that sent a signal to the UAE and Saudi, which felt emboldened and said: let's let loose everything we have on Qatar," said Gerd Nonneman, professor of International Relations and Gulf Studies at Georgetown University in Qatar.


Acknowledging the tensions, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, wrote on Twitter on Sunday that the GCC countries "are passing through a new sharp crisis that carries within it a great danger".

Gulf officials and commentators outside Qatar said it did not matter whether the remarks were fake because they reflected Qatar's sympathies anyway.

"Doha's insistence in denying the issue is marginal because in reality, on the ground, Qatar confirms it adopts the policies that it is now trying to deny," an editorial in Saudi-owned newspaper Al-Hayat on Monday said.

RIFTS HAVE RAMIFICATIONS

A Gulf Arab official said patience had run out. "What is certain is the Gulf states led by Riyadh are not likely to tolerate such a deviation, if intentional, especially at this junction in our relationship with our hostile neighbour Iran."

Al Raya, a government-owned Qatari daily, hit back at Emirati reports on Friday by publishing pictures on its front page of UAE journalists it called "mercenaries".

Such animosities can have ramifications across the Middle East, where Gulf states have used their financial and political clout to influence events in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Yemen amid upheaval caused by the Arab Spring.

Nonneman said Kuwait and Oman clearly did not want a major rift. "It's not in the interests of anyone for this to grow into a clash beyond a media campaign - but sometimes these things take on a life of their own," he said.

Iran, which denies Arab accusations that it is engaged in subversion of Arab countries, appears to be gloating. Kayhan, a newspaper closely associated with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday the rift reflected Saudi Arabia's inability to "form an alliance against Tehran".


(Additional reporting by Katie Paul in Riyadh, Sami Aboudi and Noah Browning in Dubai, Ahmed Hagagy in Kuwait, Borzorgmehr Sharafedin in London, Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)

Copyright 2017 Thomson Reuters.

 

[Arminkh]

If it were a hack, hats off to its designer. But it seem there is some kind of fishy situation going on between Qatar and KSA as these conflicts are not unprecedented.

 

[Shapur Zol Aktaf]

If it were a hack, hats off to its designer. But it seem there is some kind of fishy situation going on between Qatar and KSA as these conflicts are not unprecedented.

Dear bro, when al-arabiya makes such a clip, then you know it's serious. As some pdf member said, this is not about arabian olive oil ,coffee or arabian horse, this is the real world, the reality. Also they don't need Iran to fight each other, they've their differences. Iran just needs close ties to Oman, Qatar, Kuwait as long as they respect Iran.

 

[Cthulhu]

Dear bro, when al-arabiya makes such a clip, then you know it's serious. As some pdf member said, this is not about arabian olive oil ,coffee or arabian horse, this is the real world, the reality. Also they don't need Iran to fight each other, they've their differences. Iran just needs close ties to Oman, Qatar, Kuwait as long as they respect Iran.

lol it says "And they stopped calling them fire-worshippers". Is that what they call Iranians? So the mouthpiece media of the Saudi Royal family, which is mainstream for Saudi Arabia, openly peddles derogatory epithets.

 

[Śakra]

They always say they belong to the same ethnicity arab yet they fight amongst each other like they were born enemies.

 

[Iranm]

Don't you get it guys, without war they won't get much money
Trump is a bossiness man. He is going to create more wars to sell more weapons.
That's his plan

 

[925boy]

They always say they belong to the same ethnicity arab yet they fight amongst each other like they were born enemies.

Hence, Iranian advantage.Besides, amongst the PG arabs, some can and will fight, while others will only provide money and moral support and both groups wont have the the same "say".

 

[Arminkh]

lol it says "And they stopped calling them fire-worshippers". Is that what they call Iranians? So the mouthpiece media of the Saudi Royal family, which is mainstream for Saudi Arabia, openly peddles derogatory epithets.

Yeah, I wanted to say the same

Another nice analysis:

Qatar-Saudi spat threatens Riyadh’s influence. But what are the Saudis really worried about?

Martin Jay is an award winning British journalist now based in Beirut who works on a freelance basis for a number of respected British newspapers as well as previously Al Jazeera and Deutsche Welle TV. Before Lebanon, he has worked in Africa and Europe for CNN, Euronews, CNBC, BBC, Sunday Times and Reuters. Follow him on Twitter @MartinRJay

Published time: 1 Jun, 2017 15:02
Get short URL

Saudi King Salman (L) chatting with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. © AFP
saying“we want peace." But is Saudi Arabia listening?

For the second time in four years, tiny Qatar has enraged its neighbor by yearning to write its own geopolitical creed in the region, other than the one so fervently espoused by Saudi Arabia, which is ultimately designed to marginalize Iran. And Qatar’s recent move couldn’t have been timed better if it were intended to rock Saudi Arabia’s new, zealous vision it is trying to cultivate for itself in the region: as a superpower to counter Iran’s new ‘threat.'

Read more
After Riyadh summit, Sunni unity crumbles
Qatar is threatening to undermine Saudi Arabia’s big plan, assisted by Donald Trump recently when he visited Riyadh and repeated the anti-Iran mantra in front of a delegation of over 50 Muslim countries who were heralding the beginning of a new anti-terrorism coalition.

All it took was a for a GCC country to question the basis of Saudi Arabia’s demonization of Iran for Riyadh to throw a petulant tantrum, almost galvanizing the point it has a lot to learn about being the superpower it alludes to be; Saudi Arabia and its closest ally in the GCC, the United Arab Emirates, immediately banned Qatar’s TV news channel Al Jazeera from being watched.

Bizarrely, on the same day Egypt, perhaps inspired by the Saudi move, also went ahead with its own ban of Al Jazeera plus 20 other websites but more for reasons linked to how Qatar and others report on the Muslim Brotherhood and not because of Iran.

But the churlish reaction by the Saudis is more serious than it appears, as although the original statements from Qatar have since been attributed to a rogue hacker, the Saudis aren’t buying it.

For the Saudis, it’s more than just teaching its neighbor a lesson. There’s a lot at stake as central to Riyadh’s blueprint is to muster enough anti-Iran support from all the big players in the region, that Saudi Arabia can pull off a trick of the light: to dazzle Iran with its menacing influence from all the big guns.

The ultimate fear of Saudi Arabia: debate
Qatar might just scupper the plan and, along with Egypt and Turkey, start a discussion which offers a third way toward Iran from its mostly Sunni Arab neighbors: one of pragmatism toward a traditional foe.


Western-backed Saudi onslaught against Bahrain opposition continues (Op-Edge) https://on.rt.com/8cp4

9:20 PM - 25 May 2017

Western-backed Saudi onslaught against Bahrain opposition continues — RT Op-Edge
Under the vigilant command of Saudi Arabia, the monarchs of Al Khalifa in Bahrain are on a new brutal crackdown spree on peaceful protesters, rendering citizens stateless and condemning them to death.


Initially, Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, was quoted in state media “attacking US foreign policy, praising Iran and vowing to withdraw its diplomatic representation from several Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia,” according to Newsweek.

Astonishingly, as if deliberately planned to drop a bombshell on Saudi Arabia, Al-Thani said relations with Israel were “good,” and that Iran—the main rival to Saudi Arabia in the region — was a “stability guarantor” in the Middle East.

The row could have ended there, but the Saudi reaction appears to be a triumph of self-defeat. Since the initial statements on May 24, the Emir of Qatar telephoned Iran’s president on the 27th and asked for “better relations” with Iran, instructing his officials to work more closely with Iranian counterparts. If that wasn’t salt in the wound for Riyadh, then the stern request from Iran two days after that to back off from meddling in the affairs of Qatar must have surely done the job.

It’s not the first time the Qataris have shown that they crave their own foreign policy in the region and have their own ideas, which threaten the traditional set up of Saudi Arabia being Big Brother which the other Gulf States follow on geopolitics.

Three years ago, Saudi Arabia led the charge, joined by UAE and Bahrain, to withdraw their ambassadors from Qatar over its concerns about its support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

The row though was a minor dispute compared to what Qatar is threatening to do now, which is set an example for others to go rogue. Qatar has huge ambitions, yet despite having a big voice in the region, is still thought by western analysts as still “only having a small stick.”

The real problem for the Saudis is Qatar’s influence both in the region and the world. Despite being tiny, the clout is holds via its TV news outlet Al Jazeera, gives it a powerful mouthpiece to generate debate. Other countries such as Turkey – which also wants better relations with Iran – or Egypt which is eying Moscow for a new, better relationship will no doubt contribute to the idea of scrapping the Saudi plan altogether and looking at a more intelligent approach toward Iran, ultimately defusing tensions completely in the region.

Bahrain, Egypt block Al-Jazeera & others amid Qatar dispute https://on.rt.com/8co3

3:43 AM - 25 May 2017

Bahrain, Egypt block Al Jazeera & others for ‘supporting terrorism & lies’ amid Qatar news ‘hack’ —...
Egypt and Bahrain have blocked news websites, including those run by Qatari-based state funded Al Jazeera. Cairo has blocked 21 websites, claiming they support “terrorism” and published “lies.”


Egypt also stands out as a recalcitrant supporter at best of Saudi Arabia as it refuses to join the 41 nation ‘Muslim Nato.' Does President Sisi suspect that the new group will be used to intimidate Iran rather than hunt down ISIL and its affiliates in Africa and Asia?

Egypt like Qatar and Turkey represent a group of important players who don’t sign up to the Saudi view on Iran. They represent a third way toward peace in the region.

Of course, for Saudi Arabia to think this way would mean an admission that the new, inexperienced government has got it all wrong and really should plow the $300 billion it has set aside for US-made weapons into its economy, infrastructure, healthcare and getting its economy less oil dependent. But no one is expecting such a move. The House of Saud is behaving like a rich man who can’t accept he’s bought a fake painting; indeed, the larger the amount the new owner has paid for it, the less inclined he is to admit it is fake in the first place.

https://twitter.com/RT_com
Qataris asking “Do we need Iran as an enemy?”
It’s an entirely reasonable question. But reasoning with Saudis is difficult in a country which discourages free thinking and has no real fourth estate to speak of at all. Saudi Arabia has a terribly long way to go before it can call itself a modern Arab country, despite an initiative from its new deputy crown prince. Constructive criticism from its neighbors seems hard to imagine in a country where a Saudi stand-up comic struggles to explain to government officials “what the concept of someone standing on stage and making jokes” was. "It was like literally Chinese to them" says Yaser Bakr in a recent article in the Washington Post.

But there are other reasons why the Qataris vex the Saudis so easily.

They are also less likely to accept that they don’t have the muscle that Qatar has because of Al Jazeera. The Saudi media is painfully monolithic and blinkered, like its paymasters, and struggles to look over the garden fence at its neighbors, let alone consider their viewpoints. Al Arabiya, Saudi’s Arab-language TV network cannot be compared to Al Jazeera, for example as even its English language website mirrors the painfully blinkered view that Riyadh has of the region and its own importance.

Saudi Arabia is blinded by its own dogma and struggles to think beyond its own delusional narrative at the best of times. It would do well to look at Al Jazeera’s success and see if it cannot replicate the same and embrace some of the tenets of journalism that Doha does – aided by an army of ex-BBC journalists who flocked to it when it began - rather than stick to the spoon feeding journalists of its own state-owned outlets with the press release fodder which repeats that Iran is a regional “threat” and Hezbollah are “terrorists."

Never though do these same organs actually substantiate the claims; Iran’s support of Assad in Syria is nothing remarkable and the Houthi rebellion which started in the same year is largely because of the Saudi-led elite’s refusal to include this group in the political process, rather than Iran planning to overthrow the entire country.

Media Blackout: Qatar state news agency reels from ‘fake news hack’ https://on.rt.com/8clc

11:20 PM - 24 May 2017

Qatar: We were hacked into praising rivals Iran & Israel — RT News
A Qatari state news agency report which criticized Saudi Arabia for fueling tensions with Iran has prompted a sharp response from Gulf nations. Doha has blamed unidentified hackers for breaking into...

Al Jazeera, of course, has its agenda, but it is at least capable of listening to others’ views. Saudi Arabia is still indulging itself with its twilight glory, rather like Britain in the 1950s clinging on to delusions of empire, and has a long way to go in being a true superpower if it can be so angered by Qatar’s alternative views on Iran. The thumb-sucking and tantrums need to stop as banning Al Jazeera merely shows the whole world that its own logic is erroneous and out of touch with the realities which most Arabs have to deal with each day in the Middle East.

Riyadh needs to grow up and at least behave in a mature manner befitting of a regional power and listen to Qatar and engage in intelligent debate. The only real “threat” is ignorance, stubbornness and a woefully unrealistic view that Saudi Arabia has of itself. If it could at least learn to listen to Qatar and others, anything is possible. Hell, peace could even break out in the Middle East, although this would be a major setback to Trump’s defense procurement plans here.

Martin Jay is based in Beirut and can be followed at @MartinRJay

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

 

[Cthulhu]

 

[Arminkh]

What the hell are they doing? witchcraft?

 

[Cthulhu]

What the hell are they doing? witchcraft?

Quite frankly, I don't know. Whatever they're doing is just creepy, It's like the Illuminati stuff. They probably hooked up with some guy wearing a goats head, and then went out and started doing whatever they're doing.

 

[Fafnir]

What the hell are they doing? witchcraft?

It actually reminds me of this scene from an old 70s sf tv show featuring an evil brain in a perspex bubble

 

[Fafnir]

When I look at this pic,this is what comes to mind

 

[EgyptianAmerican]

I cant even locate your irrelevant country on the map.

Thank you for acknowledging your lack of education. This is why you and your uneducated lot are perfect for hard labour.

My statement is about real arabs

Egyptians are real arabs, there was a genetic study done recently connecting Ancient Egyptians to Arabs from the Levant, also numerous trade routes and 100s of years of inter-mixing has lead us to being Arabs. Deal with it.

Also "cuck"? Really... Do you even know what that means?

 

[Zibago]

Also "cuck"? Really... Do you even know what that means?

Dont offend non white white nationalists