What is the real story here.

Is this oil (vs) natural gas? Are oil only countries worried about natgas producers?
Did Qatar pay too much compensation than going ransom rates, forcing others to pay more?

Hard to believe Qatar is the only country supporting bad actors.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/06/polit ... index.html

This of course is the final nail to the FBI's credibility. I expect they will soon put out a report blaming the Flint water crisis on Russia also. Ridiculous.

aviationaware wrote:

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/06/politics/russian-hackers-planted-fake-news-qatar-crisis/index.html

This of course is the final nail to the FBI's credibility.

Nah, it is the final nail for your credibility, since the link you provide doesn´t say that the FBI is the source for that allegation. It only says that the FBI confirmed that a hack has taken place, but that "The FBI and CIA declined to comment".

best regards
Thomas

aviationaware wrote:

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/06/politics/russian-hackers-planted-fake-news-qatar-crisis/index.html

This of course is the final nail to the FBI's credibility. I expect they will soon put out a report blaming the Flint water crisis on Russia also. Ridiculous.

Well every one is on lookout for an exit strategy from current conundrum. Perfectly serves the purpose.

Qatar always claims they are being hacked without specifying sources... pointing to RU won't help exit anything...

Interesting...I did not know that Turkey has troops in Qatar.

dfwjim1 wrote:

Interesting...I did not know that Turkey has troops in Qatar.

Not many, but that will change fast....

As if the dynamics in the Middle East were not complicated enough now we have a member of NATO (Turkey) supporting Qatar who is an ally of both the United States and Iran.

Presumably the Turks would come in by military aircraft; could the Saudis not intercept and turn it away? (Not an act of war, as long as they didn't shoot it down).

Where are we now, some 72h into this crisis. Qatar seems to be holding its line. It has been reported by one site ("Dur"- not sure if it qualifies as real or fake news?) that the KSA has given Qatar 24h to accede to demands - though since more than 24h has passed since the alleged ultimatum, I'm assuming the latter!

So what is the KSA doing now? Have Kuwaiti attempts to broker a deal got anywhere? Presumably still ongoing?

If the KSA did choose to go down the military route and invade Qatar, could they actually do so. Stopping Iraq after it invaded Kuwait is one thing, but Saudi is another. How would this play out? Would other GCC countries imposing sanctions on Q get involved - the UAE for example? Iran might have difficulty threatening Saudi, but since both UAE carriers depend heavily on Iranian airspace for their European and US/Canada flights, that would be a big risk for them.
How would other countries react? Israel wouldn't say anything, but would be delighted - especially if Iran went to war with Saudi (it could provoke both); the US, despite Trump's comments, is probably warning against it and the EU would not accept it at all - but what they could do about it is anyone's guess. I think the most likely scenario is that the KSA would bang the war drums pretty loudly and make Qatar believe that invasion was imminent ... let's just hope it goes no further than that.

It's odd that it happened one week after Trump's visit in the region and the mega billion arms deal with the KSA. He probably gave his green light to the KSA to do whatever they want in the region (hopefully not to make war with Iran). First, the Saudis continue cleaning up the region with Yemen and now Qatar. Next, find a compromise with Al-Assad for their own pipeline project and better control the pro-Shiite Iraqi government. Next, make war with Iran.This has been their goal for a long time.

They are now realizing that they'd better do it now as Iran's population is getting close to 100 million souls in the next decade with a more capable army if they want to maintain their regional hegemony with Israel (their best non-official friend) and their religious views on the muslim world with the tacit support of their US and European allies. It's even more urgent with the increasing pressure from Poutine's Russia as they fear that the US and Europe might be tempted to negotiate a deal with Russia to their detriment.

I found it odd that the Western countries support whatever the KSA wants or does and in the same time denounce Al Qaeda and the IS who were initially funded by Saudi extremists groups to destabilize any country which is not in line with the KSA's objectives such as Iraq or Afghanistan with Massoud or Syria with Al-Assad or Libya or Yemen. Submission is the only term acceptable for the Saudis. There is a lot of hypocrisy in the West. They say one thing and do something else behind closed doors.

KSA is a powerful country, probably the most powerful country in the world without a powerful army, thanks to their money and oil. Nobody wants an oil crisis or a debt crisis in their own country whatever the price is for such an alliance with the KSA.

Senegal, Chad and Niger cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in the last few hours.

Now some sources says Somaliland cut ties with Qatar as well. How many KSA is paying for these countries to cut ties?

Saudi Arabia now has an outright ban against watching AL-Jazeera. The UAE and Bahrain have even criminalized expression of sympathy with Qatar.
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/News/ ... al-Jazeera

I just learned something interesting. Saudi Arabia runs "deradicalization" programs to "treat" jihadists. So what are these about ? Basically, teaching them the exact same kind of backwards Islam, maybe even worse, all about chopping heads of opponents and stoning adulterers, but without the religious war element. Just do it through the legal system. Wonderful.

How are news agencies in Saudi, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt are covering Qatar News?

For example, if QR is #1 and EK #4 in SkyTrax ratings, how would a UAE newspaper cover this news?

Okay they have upped the stakes against Qatar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40378221

"Four Arab states have sent Qatar a list of 13 demands it must meet if it wants them to lift their sanctions. They are also asking Qatar to reduce ties with Iran and close a Turkish military base - all within 10 days."

Like that's gonna happen.

dtw2hyd wrote:

How are news agencies in Saudi, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt are covering Qatar News?

For example, if QR is #1 and EK #4 in SkyTrax ratings, how would a UAE newspaper cover this news?

At the moment only blame game, nothing else. Have a look at al arabiya, Gulfnews etc.

If Saudis and Emiratis don't like Qatari news outlet, they should start one and hire Qataris. Look at RT, Russian-funded American run.

So, what is the next step, assuming Qatar is not going to change course (and really, I can't see any sovereign state acceding to demands such as this)?

Qatar, by not taking any of the steps "required" by the other states is effectively daring the states lined up against it to take action, but what else can they do short of action which may put them on a collision course with Iran? (Has Iran said - or is it assumed - that the invasion of Qatar by the KSA, UAE and Bahrain) would trigger an armed conflict. As much as Saudi Arabia hates Iran, the latter has a population significantly higher and I wouldn't give much for the KSA's chances against Iran in a drawn out conflict (which a battle between them would be). And Iran could do serious damage to the UAE too.

All of that said, the three countries could do serious damage to Qatar's economy by banging the war drums and "suggesting" all foreign nations leave within a 10-14 day period and thereafter, imposing an air and sea embargo - which Qatar is almost totally reliant on for commerce, let alone food. How Turkey would react to this is another issue, but I don't think the Saudis would want to take on Iran and Turkey together. Turkey would almost certainly ignore Saudi threats; Saudi would probably react by cutting them off, i.e. preventing access to Qatar by Turkish military aircraft. Qatar's military would probably last about half an hour on a good day against Saudi, though if they had any sense, they would probably be constructing anti-tank defences in anticipation of an attack.

Could the UN or any other international agency, or indeed, countries such as India, China or the groups such as the EU intervene and try and organise a solution? Certainly, this has the potential to develop into a very nasty conflict and there are probably voices on both sides of the Gulf who believe that a conflict between Iran and the KSA is only a matter of time. It would be, like the Iran-Iraq war, a very bloody conflict, but unlike the Iran of 1980, the invasion of which Saddam Hussein thought would be a pretty straightforward matter, the Iran of 2017 is (despite embargos) a pretty well armed, trained and equipped country and would have the potential to hit the KSA as hard as it is hit itself. Would the KSA call Iran's bluff? Well, I guess that's the key question ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... 83b9edd9ce

Now things getting interesting......

Kiwirob wrote:

Time for FIFA to also pull the plug?

And give up all that money?