All Shook Up:

Why Qatar Has Turned Its Back on Saudi Arabia?

Rasa - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Libya have cut diplomatic ties and sealed off all land, sea and air contacts with Qatar, accusing the Persian Gulf country of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs.

News ID: 430167

Date: 06 June 2017 - 23:25

RNA - Riyadh took the lead on Monday to sever relations and other minions fell in line after Riyadh "urged all brotherly countries and companies to do the same." The "decisive" measure, the Saudi statement said, was due to "gross violations committed by authorities in Qatar over the past years." Qatar denies any wrongdoing.

There are many reasons why the Saudis have trust issues with Qatar. They only need to look in the mirror. There they will meet the one person that will betray them the most:

1) Long before the Monday severing of ties, Qatar had turned its back on Saudi Arabia and its destructive policies in the region. After the three summits were held in Riyadh, Qatar spoke against the summits’ decisions as Qatari media outlets attacked Bahrain and defended the resistance and Iran, saying Iran is an Islamic power and Hezbollah and Hamas represent their people and are no way terrorists.

2) The desperate move in Saudi policy lies in its grand ambitions for regional dominance, which is accompanied with weak capabilities. Its coalition to restore a puppet president in Yemen failed. Its regime-change wars on Iraq and Syria in collaboration with terror groups failed. Qatar is in the know. Qatar knows better than others that the world today is heading in the direction of adopting policies and practices that restrain Saudi Arabia, Al-Qaeda and ISIL, which just recently carried out three terror attacks in Britain. The Saudis don’t know where they stand, so the situation is escalating.

3) The Americans and the Saudis failed to partition the Levant countries. They are at the end of their ropes, tying a knot and holding on. It is time to take responsibility; time for a change; time to stop blaming others for their failures. Blaming Qatar doesn't empower the Saudis, nor blaming Iran does empower the Americans. It keeps them stuck in the quagmires of Syria, Iraq and Yemen forever, places they don't want to be because they don't want to make the painful decision to leave, to be responsible for the outcome of their disastrous military adventures.

4) The Saudis cannot accept the fact or this reality, so they blame Qatar or Iran instead of taking accountability. They are the ones that are being condemned globally for their support, funding and embrace of terrorist, extremist and sectarian groups throughout the region. Their insistence on regime change is even shaking the security and stability of the entire planet. For their information, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has challenged British PM Theresa May over a long-delayed inquiry into Saudi funding and support of terrorist groups in the UK, after the Home Office suggested the investigation may not be published. The inquiry into revenue streams for extremist groups is thought to focus on Saudi Arabia, while PM May says “challenging terrorism would require some difficult and often embarrassing conversations.

5) Sometimes loneliness makes the loudest noise. Riyadh is fooling no one when it says its "coalition" waging a dirty war on Yemen is ending Qatar's membership. Yemen is burning because of Riyadh’s policies and practices that strengthen terrorism, and its support for internationally-designated terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIL, as well as dealing with head-chopping “moderates” in Syria.

6) The crisis is a blowback from President Trump’s visit to the region last month, marked by the signing of a record $110-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Apparently, the visit failed “at getting Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations to stand in unity with Israel and confront Iran.” Instead, it has debilitated America’s favorite coalition, escalating tensions between Riyadh and Doha - and even Pakistan, Kuwait and Oman which refuse to cut ties with Qatar – all because of an article in Qatar's state-run news agency in which the emir was quoted as criticizing Washington, Riyadh and their minions for attempting to stir up tensions with “Islamic power” Iran.

7) The war on Syria created bizarre allies, while peace itself could be divisive as well. It is not Qatar rather Riyadh which has “betrayed” the Muslim world particularly at a time when Muslims need to reduce themselves to unity against the US and Israel which have waged a permanent war on Islam. Qatar has its share of the blame, of course. But it is largely Saudi Arabia that is still allowing and encouraging funding of Takfiri extremists like ISIL and Al-Qaeda.

8) Saudi Arabia and the UAE similarly stand accused of being allied to Israel and supporting other terrorist groups in the Arabian Peninsula. The escalation exposes an underlying bitter rivalry among them for influence in Yemen. The criminal hordes are divided over their role in Yemen on which they have been waging a deadly war for more than two years now – with American-British support. Their row with Qatar is there to distract us from serious discussions about their failed campaigns in Yemen and beyond.

9) Finally, all this might be a ruse to game Iran. The Saudis are desperate to present Iran as a sectarian divisive force not just among Shiite and Sunni communities but among Sunni nations as well. The problem is, Iran is familiar with their tricks in the book. Iran’s Foreign Ministry has already urged Qatar and its neighbors resolve their disputes through diplomacy and dialogue. No country will ever benefit from the escalation of tensions among neighboring states, particularly at a time when the whole world is suffering from the toxic consequences of Takfiri terrorism and Wahhabi extremism.

10) By now it is pretty much evident that it was Israel via Trump White House which ordered Riyadh to cut relations with Qatar. The idea is to game Iran, scapegoat Qatar for the current mess in the region, protect Israel, put pressure on Qatar to drop support for Tehran, and coerce it back into Saudi arms in post-ISIL Middle East. By accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism, the Saudis also want to clean their own criminal record of creating and supporting terrorist groups in the region.

In any case, the Saudis stand to lose. The fault lies with Riyadh and its minions. The international civil society welcomes Qatar's decision to withdraw from the US-backed, Saudi-led coalition that are bombing the defenseless people of Yemen in violation of International Law and International Humanitarian Law.

This new severing of ties might become a much bigger deal than previous ones, though. While it probably will ultimately be resolved by closing a few media offices in Riyadh and Doha or suspicious charity organizations that fund terrorism in Europe, the tensions are likely to linger far beyond that. After all, the Christian-Zionist-Wahhabi wars of attrition against Tehran’s close allies in the region are still ongoing while Qatar wants better relations with “Islamic power” Iran.

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