Saudi spy chief Bandar bin Sultan insults Qataris

[Takaavar]

Badnar bin Sultan insults Qataris

DOHA | Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:20am EDT

(Reuters) - A U.S. media report quoting the Saudi intelligence chief as mocking Qatar over its small population has drawn a stinging rebuke from Doha, underlining tensions between the two Gulf Arab states over clashing foreign policies.

While both are in the Gulf Cooperation Council political-military bloc, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have strong differences with Doha backing Islamists in Arab Spring revolts elsewhere and Riyadh opposing them as a threat to regional stability.

Qatar had taken an especially robust lead in supporting Arab Spring revolutions in Syria, Egypt and Libya before Saudi Arabia earlier this year imposed itself as the main external backer of Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.


The Wall Street Journal reported that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a veteran Saudi ambassador to Washington who is coordinating Saudi aid to the rebels, had said at a meeting last summer that Qatar was "nothing more than 300 people ... and a TV channel", quoting a person familiar with the exchange. The "TV channel" is Doha-based pan-Arab satellite network Al Jazeera.

Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiya shot back in a Twitter message that became an instant sensation in the tiny Gulf Arab state.

"One Qatari citizen is worth an entire people and the Qatari people are equal to an entire nation," he wrote. "This is what we tell our sons, with all respect to the others," he added.

The Qatari newspaper al-Sharq said on Sunday the message was retweeted by more than 600 people in the first few hours, after a "hashtag insulting to Qatar (Qatar 300 people and a (TV) channel" spread on social media.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry confirmed the account belonged to Attiya but declined to make further comment, while Saudi officials were not immediately available.

Qatar has become quieter on the foreign stage since veteran emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani stepped down in favor of his crown prince and son, Sheikh Tamim Khalifa al-Thani, in June.

(Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Saudi prince's swipe at tiny Qatar draws riposte | Reuters

 

[Doritos11]

Hes right, 250.000 local Qataris with a leadership acting as a superpower in global politics.

 

[Sugarcane]

No offense but chief should change his first name

 

[al-Hasani]

Hes right, 250.000 local Qataris with a leadership acting as a superpower in global politics.

Qatar might be a small country (actually in terms of area it is not THAT small compared to many other countries in the world) and have a small local population (I believe that the local Qataris number 500.000 and not 250.000) but it is a IMMENSELY rich country. They have the highest GDP per capita in the whole world.

Look at their gas reserves. It is insane for such a small country.

So all this wealth and clever leadership in terms of promoting such a small country (look at Al-Jazeera, Qatar foundation etc.) gives them great influence compared to their size and population.

In fact no other country of that size and population yield such a big influence.

The differences between us and Qatar are well-known but at the end of the day they will follow our party line or be forced to. After the Emir was removed they have gone more quite. They are still part of the GCC though.

Would you want us to annex them though? I personally regret that they are not part of us due to all their riches.

 

[Doritos11]

Qatar might be a small country (actually in terms of area it is not THAT small compared to many other countries in the world) and have a small local population (I believe that the local Qataris number 500.000 and not 250.000) but it is a IMMENSELY rich country. They have the highest GDP per capita in the whole world.

Look at their gas reserves. It is insane for such a small country.

So all this wealth and clever leadership in terms of promoting such a small country (look at Al-Jazeera, Qatar foundation etc.) gives them great influence compared to their size and population.

In fact no other country of that size and population yield such a big influence.

The differences between us and Qatar are well-known but at the end of the day they will follow our party line or be forced to. After the Emir was removed they have gone more quite. They are still part of the GCC though.

Would you want us to annex them though? I personally regret that they are not part of us due to all their riches.

The west found gas for the idiots, not their achievement, US navy protects the gasfields in the gulf of Quntar, 5th fleet, Nimitz carrier nice stuff.
Qatar serves as a military base for the US which means annexing them is trouble, at least a real annexation like 1990 Kuwait however I believe in regaining the military power with the ability to bring heayy damage to Doha if needed ( ballistic missiles, bombers, cruise missiles as in the past ) just to keep them from sponsoring terrorism, besides that part its not a neighbor of us so not my issue as long as they keep from being terrorist funders which they are.

Besides that, I have no idea why Qatar does not act like the UAE, instead they choose to make trouble with large countries which they can do right now with US protection, but what if the US drops them ?

They have created enemies everywhere, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Israel first friends then backstabbing and going Hamas ? opening Taliban offices, even in the gulf they don't like the Qatari leadership.
Yzd khalifa claims it changed with the new emir but IMO same ****,

 

[al-Hasani]

The west found gas for the idiots, not their achievement, US navy protects the gasfields in the gulf of Quntar, 5th fleet, Nimitz carrier nice stuff.
Qatar serves as a military base for the US which means annexing them is trouble, at least a real annexation like 1990 Kuwait however I believe in regaining the military power able to bring heayy damage to Doha ( long range ballistic missiles, bombers, cruise missiles as in the past ) just to keep them from sponsoring terrorism, besides that part its not a neighbor of us so not my issue as long as they keep from being terrorist funders which they are.

Not this discussion again. Do you know how the West became rich? It was also by stealing or discovering others natural riches. First gold in South America and later all the discoveries in USA etc.
We cannot criticize them for having oil or gas. KSA, Iraq, UAE, Iran etc. cannot do it and all the other oil and gas rich countries since they live off it themselves.
Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia etc. could criticize it. Or Syria. Or Lebanon. Or Palestine.
Quntar? What is that?
Yes, of course the Americans are there and it is unrealistic. It would be like when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The world society would bomb us back to the stone age, impose sanctions etc.
Not realistic.
You should ask that to your leaderships Iranian Mullah friends. They would love to bomb and kill us Arabs. Just look at this forum. The hatred they have for anything Arab or Semitic.
Qatar's foreign policy has already changed. We will see bigger effects later.
Only solution is a personal union.
Also the West would be against those ideas.
You probably also want to annex Kuwait I imagine. Access to the Arabian Gulf and more oil, gas and land.

 

[Doritos11]

Not this discussion again. Do you know how the West became rich? It was also by stealing or discovering others natural riches. First gold in South America and later all the discoveries in USA etc.
We cannot criticize them for having oil or gas. KSA, Iraq, UAE, Iran etc. cannot do it and all the other oil and gas rich countries since they live off it themselves.
Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia etc. could criticize it. Or Syria. Or Lebanon. Or Palestine.
Quntar? What is that?
Yes, of course the Americans are there and it is unrealistic. It would be like when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The world society would bomb us back to the stone age, impose sanctions etc.
Not realistic.
You should ask that to your leaderships Iranian Mullah friends. They would love to bomb and kill us Arabs. Just look at this forum. The hatred they have for anything Arab or Semitic.
Qatar's foreign policy has already changed. We will see bigger effects later.
Only solution is a personal union.
Also the West would be against those ideas.
You probably also want to annex Kuwait I imagine. Access to the Arabian Gulf and more oil, gas and land.

Yes but I like to use it when it comes to Qatar.

The US will be happy as long as governments don't go against their interests, they don't want large powerful countries, they have enough bases to make sure it stays as they want.
Unless you want B52 bombers above you..

Iraq's claim to Kuwait exists before the British found oil, it however was created for western interests and it was a good move for the west only, they keep Iraq in check and deny our influence in the gulf, US has thousands of soldiers in Kuwait as well so they will protect it from anyone, but currently relations are better, even though Iraq is nowhere near annexing anyone for at least ~25 years of military rebuilding/structuring/training.

Qatar=Quntar, they should follow UAEs example and stay out of this, now they have enemies everywhere.

 

[al-Hasani]

Yes but I like to use it when it comes to Qatar.

The US will be happy as long as governments don't go against their interests, they don't want large powerful countries, they have enough bases to make sure it stays as they want.
Unless you want B52 bombers above you..

Iraq's claim to Kuwait exists before the British found oil, it however was created for western interests and it was a good move for the west only, they keep Iraq in check and deny our influence in the gulf, US has thousands of soldiers in Kuwait as well so they will protect it from anyone, but currently relations are better, even though Iraq is nowhere near annexing anyone for at least ~25 years of military rebuilding/structuring/training.

Ok, fair enough. We all have our biases.
Well, that is the exact point. Imagine if KSA controlled all the resources of UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. Or Iraq controlled half of Kuwait and Ahwaz. Think about that. I don't know what legitimacy UAE or Qatar have as countries apart from being part of the ancient Dilmun civilization, Greater Bahrain region and later Eastern Arabia.
Borders changed all the time. You should look at the maps of the Islamic Empires, Caliphates, Neo-Assyrian Empire and other ancient Semitic empires in the region. Quite interesting.
I know what is going on in Iraq after all I have relatives living in Ramadi and Baghdad as I have told you many times besides having ancestors who lived there/were from Iraq. I follow all Arab countries and the region closely. This is my main "interest" aside from following sports and obviously my studies which have nothing to do with this.
The West knew what they were doing.
I always think about what would have happened about our Arab world/Middle East region if it was not for the Mongols that sacked Baghdad in 1258 and destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate.
Yes, Qatar has made a lot of enemies. I for once don't understand their policy. They support the MB while the MB are anti-monarchy. It makes no sense. At least whether you want to believe it or not then the House of Saud do not support any terrorist groups unless you think that FSA or the Syrian National Council are terrorists. Unfortunately the Iranian Mullah's are constantly meddling in all our neighbors and even try to do it in the Eastern Province. We have no other option. They have caused problems since 1979 wanting to rule the whole Muslim world and capture Makkah and Madinah. We have no ambitions of conquering any countries. Very annoying. This behavior makes most Arabs today anti-Iranian aside from them hating us Arabs and Semites from nature so we do the same. Normal relations between governments cannot happen until they are gone. House of Saud although I am not a huge fan of them did not cause any problems before 1979 and if they did I like to know about it. Unfortunately the region suffers from it. Also the old Sunni-Shia rivalry that is nothing new but 1400 years old. This is how our region is. We can try to change it. I do not know what can be done?

 

[Doritos11]

Ok, fair enough. We all have our biases.
Well, that is the exact point. Imagine if KSA controlled all the resources of UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. Or Iraq controlled half of Kuwait and Ahwaz. Think about that. I don't know what legitimacy UAE or Qatar have as countries apart from being part of the ancient Dilmun civilization, Greater Bahrain region and later Eastern Arabia.
Borders changed all the time. You should look at the maps of the Islamic Empires, Caliphates, Neo-Assyrian Empire and other ancient Semitic empires in the region. Quite interesting.
I know what is going on in Iraq after all I have relatives living in Ramadi and Baghdad as I have told you many times besides having ancestors who lived there/were from Iraq. I follow all Arab countries and the region closely. This is my main "interest" aside from following sports and obviously my studies which have nothing to do with this.
The West knew what they were doing.
I always think about what would have happened about our Arab world/Middle East region if it was not for the Mongols that sacked Baghdad in 1258 and destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate.
Yes, Qatar has made a lot of enemies. I for once don't understand their policy. They support the MB while the MB are anti-monarchy. It makes no sense. At least whether you want to believe it or not then the House of Saud do not support any terrorist groups unless you think that FSA or the Syrian National Council are terrorists. Unfortunately the Iranian Mullah's are constantly meddling in all our neighbors and even try to do it in the Eastern Province. We have no other option. They have caused problems since 1979 wanting to rule the whole Muslim world and capture Makkah and Madinah. We have no ambitions of conquering any countries. Very annoying. This behavior makes most Arabs today anti-Iranian aside from them hating us Arabs and Semites from nature so we do the same. Normal relations between governments cannot happen until they are gone. House of Saud although I am not a huge fan of them did not cause any problems before 1979 and if they did I like to know about it.

NATO ( US ) pretty much has the upper say in most of the world anyway, not like the times you talk about of Islamic empires, that was a big country while today the ME is seperated in small ones many against each other some way or another, why would they want it unified ? not their benefit.

Better to just wait and see what happens, endless arguing here don't help as we have no power and don't know much.

 

[al-Hasani]

NATO ( US ) pretty much has the upper say in most of the world anyway, not like the times you talk about of Islamic empires, that was a big country while today the ME is seperated in small ones many against each other some way or another, why would they want it unified ? not their benefit.

Better to just wait and see what happens, endless arguing here don't help as we have no power and don't know much.

Well, that is exactly the problem. I for once believe that the Americans will be against a expanding GCC. For example if Iraq (as some Iraqi politicians want) wanted to join and the GCC member states agreed (all of them) they would fear a strong Arab organization. If Yemen, Jordan and Morocco etc. also joined then it would only be worse. So they would probably try to play out the states against each other. But one should also be cautious about all those conspiracy theories. What is certain though is that the USA as any other world power is afraid/against competitors and a united Arab world would be one at least in terms of natural resources, landmass, strategic location, potential etc.
The solution is more cooperation at least between Arab states, maybe new governments and most importantly the new young generation to enter the scene of decision making to influence societies.
Obviously education, economic prosperity etc.
Maybe the Sunni world and the Shia world could unite or have better relations one day even? Unfortunately I only see that happening if both parties faced a common enemy.
Besides the USA are not that harmful again if the countries are not anti-American for no reason. Better cooperation with China could also balance things out. Which I and many other Arabs are big proponents of.
Anyway what do we know as you say? We can only wait and see. But if Europe can unite at least politically and economically then our region could also do it.
But we see the same rivalries and tensions in Asia (India-Pakistan, India-China, China-Japan etc.), Africa, South America, Central America etc. Fair to say that this is human nature.

Anway I think that Bandar bin Sultan's comment, if true (he is that kind of person that could actually say it) is rather funny. He is quite a character no doubt about it.

 

[Doritos11]

Well, that is exactly the problem. I for once believe that the Americans will be against a expanding GCC. For example if Iraq wanted to join and the GCC member states agreed (all of them) they would fear a strong Arab organization. If Yemen, Jordan and Morocco etc. also joined.
The solution is more cooperation at least between Arab states, maybe new governments and most importantly the new young generation to enter the scene of decision making to influence societies.
Obviously education, economic prosperity etc.
Maybe the Sunni world and the Shia world could unite or have better relations one day even? Unfortunately I only see that happening if both parties faced a common enemy.
Besides the USA are not that harmful again if the countries are not anti-American for no reason. Better cooperation with China could also balance things out.
Anyway what do we know as you say? We can only wait and see. But if Europe can unite at least politically and economically then the region could also.
But we see the same rivalries and tensions in Asia (India-Pakistan, India-China, China-Japan etc.), Africa, South America, Central America etc. Fair to say that this is human nature.

Anway I think that Bandar bin Sultan's comment, if truth (he is that kind of person that could actual say it) is rather funny. He is quite a character no doubt about it.

I dont know what the US reactions are to such alliances.

According to some articles 4 out of 6 gulf states support on Iraq joining to have a bigger economic and miltary benefit with another large state, controlling oil prices better. Iraq was invited as an observer to GCC meetings, especially Kuwait wants to push for it probably for the silk road to Turkey or have an allied neighbor north instead of hostile.

*???? ?????? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ???????*

http://www.ebaa.net/wjhat-nadar/11/446.htm

Kuwait stresses necessity for Iraq to join GCC | Politics

observer links

http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?is...8#.Ug_olRffqt8

http://www.iraqcenter.net/vb/showthread.php?t=4205

? | - -

http://www.iraquon.com/vb/showthread.php?p=157492

But ^^ this has also to do with a defense pact/alliance with the US or being neutral, as joining GCC is pretty much seen as being non neutral anymore and Iraq cannot afford that now it is also the official stance Iraq has to hold according to the gov.
Not saying that it is likely, just saying what articles say and the situation.

Would it be better with Russia or China as the strongest ? West is pretty much free if you know what I mean, could be much worse, their superiority is at least keeping everyone in his place no conscription.

 

[livingdead]

self-delete

 

[Sugarcane]

why ?

Are you serious?

 

[livingdead]

Are you serious?

chalo .. I deleted .. dont want to upset @Yzd Khalifa

 

[al-Hasani]

I dont know what the US reactions are to such alliances.

According to some articles 4 out of 6 gulf states support on Iraq joining to have a bigger economic and miltary benefit with another large state, controlling oil prices better. Iraq was invited as an observer to GCC meetings, especially Kuwait wants to push for it probably for the silk road to Turkey or have an allied neighbor north instead of hostile.



But ^^ this has also to do with a defense pact/alliance with the US or being neutral, as joining GCC is pretty much seen as being non neutral anymore and Iraq cannot afford that now it is also the official stance Iraq has to hold according to the gov.
Not saying that it is likely, just saying what articles say and the situation.

Would it be better with Russia or China as the strongest ? West is pretty much free if you know what I mean, could be much worse, their superiority is at least keeping everyone in his place no conscription.

That is right. But would KSA, Qatar etc. trust Iraq if they keep fairly warm relations with the Iranian Mullah regime? How would they (their rulers rather) react to an emerging Iraq whose oil prices are much cheaper in general and who would be a competitor? At the end of the day all countries are competing against each other. But now we are back to some of the narrow views found in our region - unfortunately. As long as all states can benefit from each other and there is mutual cooperation there should not be any problem. Today the world is ruled by the economy. Ethnicity, religion, sect etc. matter little in the big decisions.
But again if the EU could welcome new big states such as Poland etc. to the EU (a potential competitor) then why should/could we not. Of course this depends on Iraq and other countries if they want to join the GCC and how that union's future will look like. Or whether other unions will be formed? We can only guess.
Is Turkey really that hostile aside from supporting the MB and cooperating with Kurdistan and some say that they are behind the protests in Al-Anbar together with Qatar. But to be honest that is not correct. The people who demonstrate are genuine protestors who are emotional and want fair demands. There were also demonstrations in the South against corruption.
Being neutral will do you no good on the long run as I see it. Small countries can be neutral but not Iraq. The country must stabilize itself, some issues must be solve (Sunni, Shia, Kurdistan, corruption etc.) and then a stance must be made.
Taking the party of Iran would be a mistake since you would potentially lose allies in Jordan, KSA, Kuwait, Syria (after Al-Assad) and Turkey. Besides NATO, EU and USA. Besides no matter who rules Iran then they would want to have their influence in Iraq and see themselves as rulers of the Middle East. On the other hand most of Iraq's other neighbors do not have such ambitions. Not even KSA or Turkey despite doing much better on virtually every field and also have historical claims of ruling Islamic Empires or families from their lands ruling it etc.
Russia is not strong enough on the long run. Too little population compared to USA and China. Losing influence each year. The youth are becoming Westernized. Still a major power of course but I see China as a more potent future power.
Some say that China and USA will go to war in 20-30 years time. Another cold war rivalry.
As always there are many topics about this region. Let us hope for the best. I am tired of it all to be honest. Sometimes it could be better to be a New Zealand or Iceland. Located far away from anyone else.