First, a quick who’s who

We will probably never find out what truly was discussed between Trump, the Saudis and the Israelis, but there is little doubt that the recent Saudi move against Qatar is the direct results of these negotiations. How do I know that? Because Trump himself said so! As I mentioned in a recent column, Trump’s catastrophic submission to the Neocons and their policies have left him stuck with the KSA and Israel, two other rogue states whose power and, frankly, mental sanity, are dwindling away by the minute.

Qatar's ambassador must be sitting on a hot plate as he struggles to remain polite while Trump, the opportunistic bumbling idiot at the White House, suddenly rains insults and accusations on his country. Qatar is no angel; it has financed Takfiris all over the world and assisted in the destruction of Syria and Libya, but the attacks by Ryadh and Washington are beyond hypocrisy.

While the KSA and Qatar have had their differences and problems in the past, this time around the magnitude of the crisis is much bigger than anything the past. This is a tentative and necessarily rough outline of who is supporting whom:

The numbers are on the Saudi side, but the quality?

Questions, many questions

The situation is very fluid and all this might change soon, but do you notice something weird in the list above? Turkey and Germany are supporting Qatar even though the US is supporting the KSA. That’s to major NATO member states taking a position against the USA.

Next, look at the list supporting the Saudis: except for the USA and Egypt they are all militarily irrelevant (and the Egyptians won’t get militarily involved anyway). Not so for those opposing the Saudis, especially not Iran and Turkey. So if money is on the side of the Saudis, firepower is on the side of Qatar here.

Then, Gabon? Senegal? Since when are those two involved in Persian Gulf politics? Why are they taking sides in this faraway conflict? A quick look at the 10 conditions the Saudis demand that the Qataris fullfildoes not help us understand their involvement either:

1. Immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Iran,
2. Expulsion of all members of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas from Qatar,
3. Freezing all bank accounts of Hamas members and refraining from any deal with them,
4. Expulsion of all Muslim Brotherhood members from Qatar,
5. Expulsion of anti-[P]GCC elements,
6. Ending support for ‘terrorist organizations’,
7. Stopping interference in Egyptian affairs,
8. Ceasing the broadcast of the Al Jazeera news channel,
9. Apologizing to all [Persian] Gulf governments for ‘abuses’ by Al Jazeera,
10. Pledging that it (Qatar) will not carry out any actions that contradict the policies of the [P]GCC and adhering to its charter.

The Saudis also handed over a list of individuals and organizations they want banned (see here).

Looking at these conditions it becomes pretty clear that Iran and the Palestinians (especially Hamas) are high on the list of demands. But why would Gabon or Senegal care about this?

More interestingly, why is ISRAEL not listed as a country supporting the KSA?

As always, the Israelis themselves are much more honest about their role in all this. Well, maybe they don’t quite say “we done it” but they write articles like “Five reasons why Israel should care about the Qatar crisis” which lists all the reasons why the Israelis are delighted:

1. It hurts Hamas
2. It brings Israel closer to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf
3. It shows US influence is back in the region
4. It delegitimizes terrorism
5. It bolsters Israel’s hand in general and Israel’s government in particular

That kind of honesty is quite refreshing, even if it is primarily for internal, Israeli, consumption. Quick check with a Palestinian source – yup, the Israelis are backing the KSA. This is hardly surprising, no matter how hard the western corporate media tries to not notice this.

What about the USA? Do they really benefit from this crisis?

The USA has what might possibly the largest USAF base worldwide in Qatar, the Al Udeid Air Base. Furthermore, the forward headquarters of United States CENTCOM are also located in Qatar. To say that these are crucial US infrastructures is an understatement – one could argue that these are the most important US military facilities anywhere in the world outside the United States. Thus one would logically conclude that the very last thing the US would want is any type of crisis or even tensions anywhere near such vital facilities yet it quite clear that the Saudis and the Americans are acting in unison against Qatar. This makes no sense, right? Correct. But now that the US has embarked on a futile policy of military escalation in Syria it should come as no surprise that the two main US allies in the region are doing the same thing.
...
Besides, was there ever a time with the Trump Administration’s policies in the Middle-East made any logical sense at all? During the election campaign they were, shall we say, 50/50 (excellent on ISIS, plain stupid about Iran). But ever since the January coup against Flynn and Trump’s surrender to the Neocons all we have seen in one form of delusional stupidity after another.

Objectively, the crisis around Qatar is not good at all for the USA. But that does not mean that an Administration which has been taken over by hardcore ideologues is willing to accept this objective reality. What we have here is a very weak Administration running a rapidly weakening country desperately trying to prove that it has still a lot of weight to throw around. And if that is, indeed, the plan, it is a very bad one, one bound to fail and one which will result in a lot of unintended consequences.

Back to the real world

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hat he have here is a severe case of smoke and mirrors and what is really taking place is, yet again, a clumsy attempt by the Three Rogue States (USA, Saudi Arabia, Israel) to weaken Iran.

Of course, there are other contributing factors here, but the big deal, the core of the problem, is what I would call the rapidly growing “gravitational pull of Iran” and the corresponding “orbital decay” of the entire region closer and closer to Iran. And just to make things worse, the Three Rogue States are visibly and inexorably losing their influence over the region: the USA in Iraq and Syria, Israel in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia in Yemen – all three have embarked on military operations which ended up being abject failures and which, far from showing that these countries were powerful, showed how weak they really are. Even worse is the fact that Saudis are facing a severe economic crisis with no end in sight, while Qatar has become the richest country on the planet, mostly thanks to an immense gas field Qatar it shares with Iran.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t could appear that Qatar is not such a big threat to Saudi Arabia after all, being – unlike Iran – another Salafi country, but in reality this is very much part of the problem: over the past couple of decades the Qataris have felt their new wealth give them means completely out of proportion with their physical size: not only did they create the most influential media empire of the Middle-East, al-Jazeera, but they even embarked on a foreign policy of their own which made them key players in the crises in Libya, Egypt and Syria. And yes, Qatar did become a prime supporter of terrorism, but so are the United States, Saudi Arabia or Israel, so that is just a hollow pretext. The real Qatari ‘crime’ was to refuse, on purely pragmatic reasons, to join into the massive anti-Iranian campaign imposed on the region by Saudi Arabia and Israel. Unlike the long list of countries who had to voice their support for the Saudi position, the Qataris could had the means to simply say “no” and chart its own course.

What the Saudis now are hoping for is that Qatar will yield to the threats and that the Saudi-lead coalition will prevail without having a “hot” war against Qatar. How likely they are to achieve this result is anyone’s guess, but I am personally rather dubious (more about this later).

What about Russia in all that?

The Russians and the Qataris have butted heads many times over, especially over Syria and Libya where Qatar played an extremely toxic role being the prime financiers of various takfiri terrorist groups. Furthermore, Qatar is Russia’s number one competitor in many LNG (liquefied natural gas) markets. There were also other crises between the two countries, including what appears to be a Russian assassination of the Chechen terrorist Leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and the subsequent torture and trial of two Russian Embassy employees accused of being involved in the assassination (they were sentenced to life in prison and eventually sent back to Russia). Still, the Russians and the Qataris are eminently pragmatic peoples and the two countries mostly maintained a cordial, if careful, relationship which even included some joint economic ventures.

It is highly unlikely that Russia will intervene directly in this crisis unless, of course, Iran is directly attacked. The good news is that such a direct attack on Iran is unlikely as none of the Three Rogue States really have any stomach to take on Iran (and Hezbollah). What Russia will do is use her soft power, political and economic, to try to slowly reel in Qatar into the Russian orbit according to the semi-official strategy of the Russian Foreign Ministry which is to “turn enemies into neutrals, neutrals into friends, friends into allies”. Just like with Turkey, the Russians will gladly help, especially since they know that this help will buy them some very precious influence in the region.

Iran, the real target of it all

The Iranians are now openly saying that the recent terrorist attack in Tehran was ordered by Saudi Arabia. Technically speaking, that means that Iran is now at war. In reality, of course, Iran being the real local superpower is acting with calm and restraint: the Iranians fully understand that this latest terrorist attack is a sign of weakness, if not desperation, and that the best reaction to it is to act the same way the Russians reacted to the bombings in Saint Petersburg: stay focused, calm and determined. Just like the Russians, the Iranians have now also offered to send food to Qatar but it is unlikely that they will intervene militarily unless the Saudis really go crazy. Besides, with Turkish forces soon deployed in Qatar, the Iranians have no real need for any displays of military might. I would argue that the simple fact that neither the USA nor Israel have dared to directly attack Iran since 1988 (since the shooting down by the US Navy of the Iran Air Flight 655 Airbus) is the best proof of the real Iranian military power.

So where are we heading?

That is truly impossible to predict, if only because the actions of the Three Rogue States can hardly be described as “rational”. Still, assuming nobody goes crazy, my personal feeling is that Qatar will prevail and that the latest Saudi attempt to prove how powerful the Kingdom still is will fail, just like all the previous ones (in Bahrain 2011, Syria 2012 or Yemen 2015). Time is also not on the side of the Saudis. As for the Qataris, they have already clearly indicated that they are unwilling to surrender and that they will fight. The Saudis have already taken the outrageous decision to impose a blockade of a fellow Muslim country during the holy month of Ramadan. Will they really now further escalate and commit an act of aggression against a fellow Muslim country during that month? They might, but it is hard to believe that even they could be that ignorant of Muslim public opinion. But if they don’t, then their operation will lose a lot of momentum while the Qataris will be given time to prepare politically, economically, socially and militarily. Qatar might be small, and the Qataris themselves not very numerous, but their immense pockets allow them to quickly line up any amount of suppliers and contractors willing to help them out. This is a case where the famous “market forces” will act to Qatar’s advantage.

The Qatari Foreign Minister is expected in Moscow on Saturday and it is pretty obvious what the talks will be about: while Russia will not put all her political weight to support the Qataris, the Kremlin might accept to become a mediator between the KSA and Qatar. If that happens, that would be the ultimate irony: the main outcome of the Saudi-Israeli-US operation will make Russia an even more influential player in the region. As for Qatar itself, the outcome of this crisis will probably articulate itself along Nietzschean lines: “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”

Conclusion

I see this latest crisis as yet another desperate attempt by the Three Rogue States to prove that they are still the biggest and baddest guys on the block and, just like the previous ones, I think that it will fail. For example, I just don’t see the Qataris shutting down al-Jazeera, one of their most powerful “weapons”. Nor do I see them breaking all diplomatic relations with Iran as those two states are joined at the hip by the immense South Pars gas condensate field. The immense wealth of the Qataris also means that they have very powerful supporters worldwide who right now, as I write these lines, are probably on the phone making calls to very influential people and indicating to them in no unclear terms that Qatar is not to be messed with.

If anything this crisis will only serve to push Qatar further into the warm embrace of other countries, including Russia and Iran, and it will further weaken the Saudis.

The Three Rogue States have the same problem: their military capability to threaten, bully or punish is rapidly eroding and fewer and fewer countries out there fear them. Their biggest mistake is that instead of trying to adapt their policies to this new reality, they always chose to double-down over and over again, even though they fail each time, making them look even weaker and their initial predicament even worse. This is a very dangerous downward spiral and yet the Three Rogue States seem unable to devise any other policy.

I will end this column by comparing what Presidents Putin and Trump are doing these days as I find this comparison highly symbolic of the new era we are living in:

Trump, after bombing a few “technicals” (4×4 trucks with a machine gun) and trucks in Syria, proceeded to tweet that Comey was a liar and a leaker.

As for Putin, he participated in the latest meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which welcomed both Pakistan and India as full members. The SCO now represents over half of all the people living on our planet and one quarter of the world’s GDP. You can think of it as the “other G8”, or the “G8 that matters”.

I submit that this quick comparison of agenda really says it all.

—The Saker

UPDATE1: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is now telling the Saudis to ‘cool it’.  The Saudi-Israeli plan is already beginning to collapse.

Watch the latest video at <a href="//video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com</a><span id="mce_marker" data-mce-type="bookmark" data-mce-fragment="1">​</span>

This column was written for the Unz Review 

by Ghassan Kadi
THE SAKER

The sudden, unprovoked and coordinated outrage of Middle East regional powers, as well as international powers, against Qatar is something akin to a story in “Fables de La Fontaine”. With a bit of a twist, it resembles the story of “The Animals Seized with the Plague”.

For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with this fable, the animals convened to find out why they were struck by the plague. One by one, the big predators made their confessions about their hunting, killing and ravaging adventures, but they were forgiven and vindicated. Then a donkey admitted that he once a mouthful of grass from someone’s pasture, and for this act, the donkey was named as THE culprit, killed and sacrificed to save the rest of the animals from the wrath of the gods.

Qatar is not as innocent as La Fontaine’s donkey, but who are those who are passing judgement?

The Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) clearly has his eyes on the ailing Saudi economy and stature. An invasion and takeover of Qatar can put Saudi Arabia in the position of being on par with Russia in terms of having the world’s largest reserves of both petrol and gas combined, and not petrol alone. This is a badly needed stripe on the shoulder that MBS can use, and this on its own is a very lucrative prospect. But has Trump given him the go ahead to march his troops into Qatar? If the crisis keeps escalating at its current rate, we shall find out the answer to this question in the not too distant future.

Let us get this straight. The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is not ideological. Even though Qatar supports the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and helped former Egyptian MB President Mursi and continues to support and fund the now outlawed MB within Egypt (and Saudi Arabia), in principle, the ideology of the MB is not drastically different from the Saudi Wahhabi version.

And at the time that Qatar’s Al-Jazeera was allowing Muslim clerics like Egyptian-born Qardawi to call for Jihadi recruits to go and fight in Syria, Saudi Arabia was allowing Syrian-born Ar’our alongside many other Saudi clerics to use Saudi televised media to do just the same. As a matter of fact, many Saudi clerics have used Al-Jazeera to vent their hatred for Syria and for canvassing recruitments.

What is interesting in all of this is the following current amazing political mosaic:

1. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are both pushing for different forms of Muslim fundamentalism, but they are emerging as mortal enemies.
2. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have both supported and sponsored terrorism that became known as Islamic terrorism, despite the Saudi accusation that the sponsorship was only Qatar-based.
3. Qatar is principally one of the nations that form the Saudi-led anti-Yemen coalition.
4. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are just a tad away from engaging in a war, but they have united views about being enemies of Syria.
5. Erdogan is a friend of Saudi Arabia, but a supporter of Qatar and of the Egyptian MB.
6. Qatar is a dedicated enemy of Syria, but accused to be close to Iran, Syria’s friend.
7. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are both allies of the USA and the USA has a base in Qatar that it used as a launch pad against Iraq.
8. Trump, who has a base in Qatar, now says that Qatar has been sponsoring terrorism.
9. Hamas supports the MB and remains close to Qatar, even though under MB President Mursi, the Egyptian siege of Gaza was intensified.

One could add more to that interesting mosaic, especially if other players are to be included in the equation. Such is the “logic” of the Middle East, but the West is not any better or more rational; allegedly fighting terrorism with one hand and feeding it with the other.

What is most ominous in the sudden and virtually global anti-Qatar stance is the stark similarity with previous situations. Gaddafi and Assad were never really regarded as friends of the West, but there was a time when Gaddafi was accepted and established good relationships with Britain, France and Italy before they suddenly joined the anti-Gaddafi tsunami and decided to join the plot. Likewise, Assad was accepted by the West, and has in fact partaken in international events like the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II. He was also on very good terms with Erdogan before Erdogan decided to stab him in the back. And how can we mention Assad and Gaddafi without remembering Saddam and Mubarak?

What is different in those scenarios was that the fate of Assad was sealed by his people, and the support he received from his people and friends of Syria, but what is the likelihood of the Qatari Royals receiving such a support from their popular base? In any event, the whole population of Qatar is in the vicinity of a quarter million, they never had any clout in the past, and they won’t have any in the future.

Doha skyline.

What is also of interest is that long before the discovery of oil and gas in the region, “states” like Qatar and Bahrain depended mainly on the pearl trade, and a quick search on any Internet search engine reveals a long history of tribal wars and rivalries between them as well as with Al Saud during the early days of the birth of Saudi Arabia.

Who is fighting who in the Middle East and for what reason exactly is not a question that many political leaders want to answer. The bottom line here is that as the world is getting more materialistic and audacious, principles and ideologies grow increasingly marginalized, and the struggle for power is becoming more transparent. Admittedly, this struggle is as ancient as ancient Rome and beyond, but today’s society is meant to be developed and civilised. Humanity has formed the United Nations with international law to supposedly be the watchdog for the activities of nations who breach its charter on human rights and world peace issues, but it has sadly become a ploy in the hands of big powers.

Ancient Romans did what was good for Rome, without having to apologize about it. Trump has gone the full circle in his “America first” doctrine, but he shamelessly declares war on terror from the financial capital of terror; Riyadh.

Qatar is definitely no angel. The small young state which is much closer to being a big corporation, an outpost more than being a nation, seems to have run its course towards self-destruction. It played big, and with fire, and the fire it lit is now turning back to burn it.

But neither the whole of Saudi Arabia nor the young ambitious prince MBS seem to be learning. With all the upheaval around them, the rise and fall of Arab leaders, the conspiracies they have played with their American partners against other Arab and Muslim leaders, the Saudis are totally oblivious to the scenario of an impending premonition that they themselves could be next when their chips are down. If anything, it is a question of time.

Fact remains that Qatar and its former allies and growing number of enemies are like Sinbad’s infamous forty thieves; they are all partners in crime. And just like the former “Anti-Syrian Cocktail” was predicted to crumble and crash, and it did, so will the forty thieves. Even FIFA seems now to be reconsidering its decision for Qatar to host the World Cup in 2020! Since when, we must ask, did FIFA respond in such manner to political squabbles and Saudi statements and accusations of other states? And if FIFA’s concern is principled, then why didn’t FIFA act responsibly when rumours of corruption were raised regarding the manner in which Qatar won the World Cup bid?

But unlike the few green bottles standing on the wall that fall one after another, the forty thieves can sometimes rebirth themselves and wear a different hat, or in this case a different Koufia and headband, but just like La Fontaine’s donkey, there is nothing that Qatar can do to get off the hook. A decision seems to have already been made that the royal Qatari headband will soon bite the dust, but not many tears will be shed.

The Essential Saker: from the trenches of the emerging multipolar world

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