Arabs Showdown: UAE Says Arab World Won't Be Led by Tehran or Ankara

[Fluffernutter]

Regarding the term "Blockade"

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1113701

From the article:

Although the boycott affects Doha financially, morally and politically, it is not a blockade so long as its ships and aircraft are able to travel and trade with the world.

Qatar is by no means under a ruthless blockade. Its airspace and sea corridors remain largely open, and it enjoys massive resources and a small population. It can import its needs from Europe’s and Australia’s most luxurious markets, and have them delivered to Doha via its giant air fleet. Trying to reproduce the underprivileged scenario found in Gaza, in the hope of manufacturing Arab and global sympathy, does not fit Qatar’s prosperous image.


There was a quote in I believe "The National" (State newspaper of UAE) last week that stated the term Blockade is incorrect since Qatar can still use its airspace and ports, it just can't use the airspace and waters off the coast of its neighbors.

Has the UN responded defined the actions as a blockade yet? One would think that particular term would create an international response.

 

[SouthoftheAndes]

Hilarious : Saudi Defense Minister says 'Pakistani are our slaves'

Odds are this is fake news . A respected Pakistani journalist for a mainstream English language Pakistani paper broke the news.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...tanis-are-our-slaves/articleshow/59146021.cms

This context is the Saudi vs. Qatari spat. Pakistan is being asked to take sides by the Saudis. Allegedly the Saudi Defense Minister said in a letter "Pakistani are our slaves".

Critics are saying it is fake news and pointed to an Iranian time zone stamp.

Allegedly the letter from the Saudi goes on about how all South Asian Muslims are 'Hindu-Muslim' and thus converts and thus inferior to Arabs.

https://www.thequint.com/news/2017/06/13/fake-news-saudi-arabia-calls-pakistan-slave-country

http://postcard.news/saudi-defence-minister-insults-pakistan-calls-slave-country/

-------

Very likely this is trolling by the Iranians BUT the contents of the letter are true nonetheless , because Arabs do view and treat South Asians Muslims as untermenschen .

It also extends to ISIS.

If the Gulf States main ideology is Salfaism/Wahhabism which is under Hanbali Islam 'doctrine'. And if that is the ideology of ISIS then it is likely that ISIS (at the upper echelons) the command structure adopts the same racial beliefs/theories that the Saudi's do.


The way I see it is that all non-Arabs Muslims are good 'foot soldiers' for the global Islamic conquest with the lowest status being reserved for Black/dark skinned Muslims. Because Muhammad was racist and the Saudi's and their religious clerics do view themselves (and do find religious justification) for their superiority over the 'dark raced' ones. This also extends into an inherent bias for 'ethnic/racial Arab's and those who speak Arabic as a first language and are the descendant of Arabs (excluding slaves of Arabs).

Therefore it would not shock me in the slightest to read or hear that ISIS's top leadership is Arab and derived from Gulf states and that the suicide killers/foot soldier 'pawns' are primarily non-Arabs.

In any case Arabs assuming the highest status in 'Muslim world domination' or Muslim heaven could make sense. As it stands Muslim heaven does not have non-Caucasoid women.



^^ I have posted this before. But this racist isn't just some nobody he is high up in Saudi religious circles and is of Syrian extraction (if my memory serves me right). And is on Saudi TV broadcasted to their client states.

 

[Offended]

^^ I have posted this before. But this racist isn't just some nobody he is high up in Saudi religious circles and is of Syrian extraction (if my memory serves me right). And is on Saudi TV broadcasted to their client states.

what ever they are on i want to try, that drug could replace oil for them.

 

[MicroBrew]

It also extends to ISIS.

If the Gulf States main ideology is Salfaism/Wahhabism which is under Hanbali Islam 'doctrine'. And if that is the ideology of ISIS then it is likely that ISIS (at the upper echelons) the command structure adopts the same racial beliefs/theories that the Saudi's do.


The way I see it is that all non-Arabs Muslims are good 'foot soldiers' for the global Islamic conquest with the lowest status being reserved for Black/dark skinned Muslims. Because Muhammad was racist and the Saudi's and their religious clerics do view themselves (and do find religious justification) for their superiority over the 'dark raced' ones. This also extends into an inherent bias for 'ethnic/racial Arab's and those who speak Arabic as a first language and are the descendant of Arabs (excluding slaves of Arabs).

Therefore it would not shock me in the slightest to read or hear that ISIS's top leadership is Arab and derived from Gulf states and that the suicide killers/foot soldier 'pawns' are primarily non-Arabs.

ISIS are racist but my perception is they are not as much as the rank and file Saudi. I say this because ISIS received thousands of non-Arab to come to their nascent khalifate and settle down, while also killing some Sunni Arab tribes who opposed them. I think if they were as racist as the average Saudi, they wouldn't encourage soo many non-Arabs to come settle down in Iraq and Syria,

BUT then again I could be totally wrong because ISIS may have only encouraged these non-Arab Muslims to come because they need foot soldiers/canon fodder and they killed some of those Sunni Tribesman because they posed a threat. It could be the same as the US using Blacks during WW2 to kill Germans.

I did read that ISIS favors Saudis and allows Saudi suicide bombers to jump the line for those waiting to do martydom missions. ISIS genocides and rapes of non-Arabs easily pens them as racist.

Abu Bakr claims he is eligible to be Caliph because he is from the same tribe as Muhammed. The Quran stipulates the Mahdi can only be from Muhammed's tribe. The Quran is obviously racist for giving chosen status to a particular tribe , so when Muslims claim Islam is anti-racist, it is a load of bullshit to win over Black and dark skinned converts.

 

[SouthoftheAndes]

ISIS are racist but my perception is they are not as much as the rank and file Saudi. I say this because ISIS received thousands of non-Arab to come to their nascent khalifate and settle down, while also killing some Sunni Arab tribes who opposed them. I think if they were as racist as the average Saudi, they wouldn't encourage soo many non-Arabs to come settle down in Iraq and Syria,

BUT then again I could be totally wrong because ISIS may have only encouraged these non-Arab Muslims to come because they need foot soldiers/canon fodder and they killed some of those Sunni Tribesman because they posed a threat. It could be the same as the US using Blacks during WW2 to kill Germans.

I did read that ISIS favors Saudis and allows Saudi suicide bombers to jump the line for those waiting to do martydom missions. ISIS genocides and rapes of non-Arabs easily pens them as racist.

Abu Bakr claims he is eligible to be Caliph because he is from the same tribe as Muhammed. The Quran stipulates the Mahdi can only be from Muhammed's tribe. The Quran is obviously racist for giving chosen status to a particular tribe , so when Muslims claim Islam is anti-racist, it is a load of bullshit to win over Black and dark skinned converts.

The way I see it is that the racism of the Gulf Arabs isn't technically 'wrong' given the fact that they do find legitimate texts and 'Islamic evidence' to support their beliefs. It is only wrong to us in the western world or secular world. But technically for them it is not wrong and is evidence backed. Black supremacist Muslims are just delusional. It makes more sense for them to be Christians honestly.

And I always figured what they were doing was yes similar to the US using blacks against the Germans. A temporary means for a current objective but not to be long lasting. The U.S. Government at that time had no intention of ever letting blacks be equal to whites. I see ISIS actions as sort of similar.

Also, consider that ISIS cannot openly be as 'racist' as the Gulf states can since ISIS is trying to get recruits from all over the world. They NEED to be 'inclusive' even if in truth their religion at its core does not call for that and does not call for pure equality between the races.

 

[Arkain2K]

State Department issues unusual public warning to Saudi Arabia and UAE over Qatar rift

By Anne Gearan and Karen DeYoung | June 20, 2017

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has made the Qatar crisis his main priority and cleared his travel schedule this week.​

The State Department issued an unusual public warning to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday over a diplomatic rift with fellow U.S. ally Qatar, and suggested that the Saudis may have provoked a crisis and drawn in the United States on false pretenses.

Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the administration was “mystified” that — two weeks after announcing a diplomatic and economic embargo against Qatar over alleged support for terrorism — Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not publicly detailed their complaints.

“The more that time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” Nauert said.

“At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns about Qatar’s alleged support for terrorism, or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries?”

All three nations are part of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, a loose diplomatic confederation of mostly wealthy Persian Gulf states. Of them, Saudi Arabia is the most powerful.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, along with Egypt, severed diplomatic ties with Qatar this month and blocked trade and passenger traffic through their territory and airspace in protest of what the three said was Qatar’s backing of extremist Islamist organizations, as well as its ties to Iran.

The diplomatic crisis has been a test of the new U.S. administration’s pull with Arab allies, and has pitted President Trump’s public support for the Saudi-led action against Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s preference for quiet, backroom diplomacy. Tillerson has had more than 20 calls and meetings devoted to helping resolve the crisis, Nauert said, but now sees little further room for U.S. mediation.

But, she said, he wants “results,” and is now saying: “Let’s finish this. Let’s get this going.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...294a58-55e9-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html

 

[Fluffernutter]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...tar-include-unfriend-iran-shut-down-al-jazeer

 

[Fluffernutter]

1. Qatar must reduce diplomatic representation with Iran
2. Qatar must immoderately shut down the Turkish military base that is being established
3. Qatar must announce severance of ties with terrorist, ideological & sectarian orgs: MB, ISIS, AQ, HTS, Hizbollah
4. Qatar must cease any funding activities to extremist and terrorist individuals
5. Qatar must hand over all designated terrorists
6. Qatar must shut down Al Jazeera and all affiliated channels
7. Qatar must stop interference in these countries' domestic andforeign affairs; stop naturalisation of their citizens; extradite such citizens
8. Qatar must provide reparations to these countries for any opportunity costs incurred over the past few years because of Qatari policies.
9. Qatar must become in sync with its Gulf and Arab neighbourhood on all levels, and to activate Riyadh Agreement 2013/2014
10. Qatar must provide all databases related to oppositionists that it provided support to & clarify what help was provided.
11. Qatar must all media outlets backed by it directly or indirectly, like Arabi21, Rasd, New Arab, Middle East Eye, Mkamlin, Sharq etc
12. These demands must be agreed within 10 days, otherwise they would be invalidated.
13. Agreement will involve clear goals and mechanism, monthly report this year, every the months next year, then annually the next ten years.

(This list is from the article)

 

[Arkain2K]

1. Qatar must reduce diplomatic representation with Iran
2. Qatar must immoderately shut down the Turkish military base that is being established
3. Qatar must announce severance of ties with terrorist, ideological & sectarian orgs: MB, ISIS, AQ, HTS, Hizbollah
4. Qatar must cease any funding activities to extremist and terrorist individuals
5. Qatar must hand over all designated terrorists
6. Qatar must shut down Al Jazeera and all affiliated channels
7. Qatar must stop interference in these countries' domestic andforeign affairs; stop naturalisation of their citizens; extradite such citizens
8. Qatar must provide reparations to these countries for any opportunity costs incurred over the past few years because of Qatari policies.
9. Qatar must become in sync with its Gulf and Arab neighbourhood on all levels, and to activate Riyadh Agreement 2013/2014
10. Qatar must provide all databases related to oppositionists that it provided support to & clarify what help was provided.
11. Qatar must all media outlets backed by it directly or indirectly, like Arabi21, Rasd, New Arab, Middle East Eye, Mkamlin, Sharq etc
12. These demands must be agreed within 10 days, otherwise they would be invalidated.
13. Agreement will involve clear goals and mechanism, monthly report this year, every the months next year, then annually the next ten years.

(This list is from the article)

Wars have been waged over much lesser demands than that list.

 

[Arkain2K]

Qatar Wins 48-hour Extension of Deadline Set by Saudis, Other Arab States
July 03, 2017

Saudi Arabia and its allies involved in a prolonged diplomatic dispute with Qatar said Monday they would extend by 48 hours a deadline for Qatar to comply with their demands.

Kuwait, which has been trying to negotiate a peaceful end to the Gulf Arab states' blockade of Qatar, asked for the deadline extension Sunday, shortly before time for Qatar's reply to the Saudi-led coalition was due to expire.

A coordinated statement released early Monday by the state news agencies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia confirmed the deadline had been extended until the end of Monday.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and commercial links with Qatar on June 5, accusing the government in Doha of supporting terrorism in an alliance with Iran.

Qatar has denied the accusations and said such charges are baseless. The small Gulf state's foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, has said the demands by the Saudis and their partners — including the withdrawal of Turkish troops in Qatar, closure of the Qatari-state-owned Al Jazeera news group and a downgrading of Qatar's relations with Iran — are impossible to meet without sacrificing Qatar's sovereignty.

Although al-Thani signaled the Saudis' demands were virtually certain to be rejected, Qatar has not yet formally responded to the Arab group. Kuwait's KUNA news agency and Al Jazeera said al-Thani was in Kuwait on Monday.

Egypt said on Sunday the foreign ministers from the four boycotting countries would discuss the situation with Qatar in Cairo on Wednesday.

US concerned

U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the situation by phone in separate calls Sunday with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

A White House statement said Trump addressed his concerns about the dispute, and also stressed the importance of regional unity, stopping terrorist financing and discrediting extremist ideology.

The United States has supported Kuwait's attempt to mediate the Gulf Arabs' dispute. Washington has strong ties to both sides: the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet is berthed in Bahrain and a land base in Qatar is the largest U.S. military facility in the region.

https://www.voanews.com/a/qatar-win...-set-by-saudis-other-arab-states/3925730.html

 

[VivaRevolution]

State Department issues unusual public warning to Saudi Arabia and UAE over Qatar rift

By Anne Gearan and Karen DeYoung | June 20, 2017

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has made the Qatar crisis his main priority and cleared his travel schedule this week.​

The State Department issued an unusual public warning to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday over a diplomatic rift with fellow U.S. ally Qatar, and suggested that the Saudis may have provoked a crisis and drawn in the United States on false pretenses.

Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the administration was “mystified” that — two weeks after announcing a diplomatic and economic embargo against Qatar over alleged support for terrorism — Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not publicly detailed their complaints.

“The more that time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” Nauert said.

“At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns about Qatar’s alleged support for terrorism, or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries?”

All three nations are part of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, a loose diplomatic confederation of mostly wealthy Persian Gulf states. Of them, Saudi Arabia is the most powerful.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, along with Egypt, severed diplomatic ties with Qatar this month and blocked trade and passenger traffic through their territory and airspace in protest of what the three said was Qatar’s backing of extremist Islamist organizations, as well as its ties to Iran.

The diplomatic crisis has been a test of the new U.S. administration’s pull with Arab allies, and has pitted President Trump’s public support for the Saudi-led action against Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s preference for quiet, backroom diplomacy. Tillerson has had more than 20 calls and meetings devoted to helping resolve the crisis, Nauert said, but now sees little further room for U.S. mediation.

But, she said, he wants “results,” and is now saying: “Let’s finish this. Let’s get this going.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...294a58-55e9-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html

 

[VivaRevolution]

1. Qatar must reduce diplomatic representation with Iran
2. Qatar must immoderately shut down the Turkish military base that is being established
3. Qatar must announce severance of ties with terrorist, ideological & sectarian orgs: MB, ISIS, AQ, HTS, Hizbollah
4. Qatar must cease any funding activities to extremist and terrorist individuals
5. Qatar must hand over all designated terrorists
6. Qatar must shut down Al Jazeera and all affiliated channels
7. Qatar must stop interference in these countries' domestic andforeign affairs; stop naturalisation of their citizens; extradite such citizens
8. Qatar must provide reparations to these countries for any opportunity costs incurred over the past few years because of Qatari policies.
9. Qatar must become in sync with its Gulf and Arab neighbourhood on all levels, and to activate Riyadh Agreement 2013/2014
10. Qatar must provide all databases related to oppositionists that it provided support to & clarify what help was provided.
11. Qatar must all media outlets backed by it directly or indirectly, like Arabi21, Rasd, New Arab, Middle East Eye, Mkamlin, Sharq etc
12. These demands must be agreed within 10 days, otherwise they would be invalidated.
13. Agreement will involve clear goals and mechanism, monthly report this year, every the months next year, then annually the next ten years.

(This list is from the article)

 

[Arkain2K]

U.S. Says Dispute Between Qatar and Neighbors at Impasse
By GARDINER HARRIS | JULY 6, 2017

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration warned on Thursday that a festering dispute between Qatar and its fellow Arab neighbors is at an impasse.

“We believe that this could potentially drag on for weeks. It could drag on for months. It could possibly even intensify,” said Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for the State Department. And in a joint statement, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain said Qatar “has worked to thwart the efforts and diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.”

The dispute among the mostly Sunni Muslim nations puts a host of top United States priorities at risk, including the effort to defeat the Islamic State and rebuild portions of Iraq and Syria that have been devastated by three years of fighting.

Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Manama last month announced an embargo against Qatar to punish Doha for what the four capitals called its support for terrorism. It was largely the work of the Saudi defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman, who was elevated several weeks later to become Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince, and revealed fissures within the Trump administration.

Initially, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson largely sided with Qataris but did not give specific recommendations for resolving the crisis. President Trump, by contrast, has sided with the Saudis, and accused Qatar of being a “funder of terrorism at a very high level.”

At odds with his own president, Mr. Tillerson has largely washed his hands of the impasse, saying the nations should work out a resolution on their own.

As a former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, Mr. Tillerson has extensive contacts in the Middle East but has been unable to use his experience to resolve the dispute.

The four countries have since created a list of demands for Qatar to meet before the embargo is lifted, including shuttering the news network Al Jazeera and abandoning ties with Islamist organizations. But few in the region believe Doha could accede to most of them.

The Saudis have shown few signs of relenting. But Senator Bob Corker, Republican from Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has pledged to delay arms sales to several of the countries — including Saudi Arabia, which agreed in May to buy to $110 billion in weapons — until the dispute is resolved.

In the meantime, Qatar’s relations with Shiite-led Iran have prospered, with Tehran providing the tiny Persian Gulf nation with fresh produce.

On Thursday, Ms. Nauert praised a Kuwaiti effort to mediate the dispute and said that Mr. Tillerson “has made himself available to all sides of this matter.”

“We believe that overall, the fight against terrorism is something that will bring all these countries together eventually, because we still have that shared fight. And I think all the nations recognize that,” Ms. Nauert said.

The State Department announced late Thursday night that Mr. Tillerson would travel next week to Kuwait, where negotiations between Qatar and the four Arab nations are ongoing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/...en-qatar-and-its-neighbors-is-at-impasse.html

 

[Arkain2K]

Qatar crisis raises questions about defining terrorism
Aya Batrawy | Jul 8, 2017

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A diplomatic standoff between Qatar and four other Arab nations that accuse it of sponsoring terrorism has turned a spotlight on an opaque network of charities and prominent figures freely operating in the tiny Gulf country.

It also raises questions about what constitutes a “terrorist” in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain have released a list of two dozen groups and nearly 60 individuals that they allege have been involved in financing terrorism and are linked to Qatar.

Qatar insists it condemns terrorism and that it does not support extremist groups.

The crisis began last month when the four Arab countries cut ties to Qatar. They demanded it end the alleged support of terrorism, and also that it cut its relations with Shiite power Iran and stop meddling in their affairs through support of Islamist opposition groups.

The energy rich nation is an important U.S. ally in a volatile region. It hosts about 10,000 U.S. troops at an air base used to launch coalition airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.

The list of the groups and individuals released by Qatar’s neighbors reflects longstanding concerns raised by U.S. officials. At the same time, it also includes political dissenters and opposition voices.

“The allegation that Qatar supports terrorism was clearly designed to generate anti-Qatar sentiment in the West,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Wednesday in a speech in London.

As he spoke, foreign ministers from the Arab quartet met in Cairo to review Qatar’s response to their demands. At the top of those demands is that Qatar end support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which briefly held power in Egypt and whose offshoots are active across the Middle East.

Though Qatar has cracked down on dissent at home, it views the Brotherhood as a legitimate political force. This has put it at odds with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, which have branded the Brotherhood a terrorist organization and see it as a threat to political stability and security.

In his speech, Al Thani said there is a danger in “labeling political opponents as terrorists merely to silence them.”

“Our neighbors see change — those advocating for it and those reporting on it — as a threat, and they are quick to label anyone who opposes their governments as a ‘terrorist,’” he said.

The Brotherhood’s spiritual guide, Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, was among those accused by Qatar’s neighbors of having ties with terrorism. The 90-year-old Egyptian cleric, who has lived in Qatar for decades, previously was embraced by Gulf leaders and was seen alongside Saudi Arabia’s top cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdelaziz Al Sheikh, and the UAE’s rulers.

In 2013, he joined a chorus of preachers in the Gulf urging young men to defend Sunni Muslims in Syria, calls that coincided with official backing of rebels fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Al-Qaradawi differed from other Gulf preachers in that he strongly criticized Egypt’s government when it ousted the Brotherhood from power. He also was critical of Gulf countries that backed the lethal crackdown.

Qatar’s support of the Brotherhood has made it an outlier, as has its unique role as a mediator in hostage negotiations, helping to free Western captives held by al-Qaida in Syria and Yemen.

Christopher Mellon, a researcher with the New America Foundation who co-authored a report about ransom payments, said these negotiations have often involved paying extremist groups. He said European governments have similarly gone to extreme lengths to keep these transactions private.

“They’re very deliberately nontransparent. They don’t want anyone to know that they’ve paid,” he said.

Reports emerged earlier this year that Qatar paid hundreds of millions of dollars to release members of its ruling family who were kidnapped in Iraq. Allegations were raised that the complex deal included Qatari payments to an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria, as well as to an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq.

Qatar said reports of ransom payments to these groups are false and that it provided Iraq’s government with financial aid to support the release of the Qataris.

The Arab quartet’s list names a number of Qatari nationals, including Khalifa al-Subaie, Saad bin Saad al-Kabi, Abdelrahman al-Nuaymi, Abdel-Latif al-Kuwari and Ibrahim al-Bakr. All have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department as material supporters of al-Qaida. Four of the five appear to be living in Qatar — their assets are frozen, they are under surveillance and are barred from traveling abroad — but they are not imprisoned.

The U.S. Treasury said in the case of al-Bakr, he was detained in Qatar in the early 2000s for his role in a jihadist network but that he was released from prison after promising not to conduct terrorist activity in Qatar. Treasury alleged that in 2006, he played a key role in a terrorist cell plotting to attack U.S. military bases in Qatar, and as of mid-2012 was serving as a link between Gulf-based al-Qaida financiers and Afghanistan. He is apparently now residing outside Qatar, according to experts closely monitoring these cases.

While some of those sanctioned by the U.S. have faced trial and may have been detained by Qatar at some point, there does not appear to be a single individual jailed in Qatar for terrorism financing, according to David Weinberg, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Weinberg, who has written extensively about terror financing in the Gulf, said Qatar has been “inexcusably negligent” when it comes to cracking down on such financiers.

“There’s been a longstanding debate within the U.S. government about whether Qatar’s lax enforcement is related to lack of capability or lack of will. My research leads me to believe it’s the latter: lack of will,” he said.

The Associated Press asked Qatari officials on Wednesday for information on the prosecution of individuals suspected of terrorism financing. The officials said they would look into the request but had not provided details by Thursday evening.

Also on the list is Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalid Al Thani, a senior member of Qatar’s royal family and a former interior minister. The quartet accused him of giving shelter to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the 1990s as he actively funded al-Qaida operations abroad, but before he became the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

The allegations leveled against Qatar cut both ways.

In Britain this week, a right wing think tank released a study alleging Saudi Arabia has spent nearly $87 billion to export its austere Wahhabi interpretation of Islam around the world. The report by the Henry Jackson Foundation has increased pressure on the British government to make public a study on Saudi Arabia’s role in inciting extremism in Britain. — (AP)

The quartet list also names Kuwaiti national Hajjaj al-Ajmi, who is sanctioned by the U.S. for allegedly raising funds that led to the procurement of weapons for al-Qaida-linked fighters in Syria. The UAE and its allies say he raised some of that money through a Qatar-based fundraising campaign, but he appears to be living in Kuwait.

http://www.phillytrib.com/news/qata...cle_29f6d256-b322-501a-9154-10ea9203e1f0.html

 

[Arkain2K]

Report: United Arab Emirates Hacked Qatar, Sparking Gulf Crisis
July 17, 201712:24 PM ET

The United Arab Emirates hacked web sites in nearby Qatar, prompting the feud among several Gulf states that's nearly two months old with no sign of a resolution, The Washington Post reported.

The newspaper report, published online Sunday evening, cited unnamed U.S. intelligence officials. The story said the Emirates orchestrated the hacks, though it said it wasn't clear whether the UAE carried out the cyber attack on its own, or contracted another party to do it.

The Emirates denied the report.

"I just want to say that the Post story is completely untrue," the Emirates' minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, told the BBC.

The crisis erupted May 24, when Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, was cited on government and news websites as praising Iran and the radical Palestinian group Hamas. Such statements are at odds with the prevailing sentiment in the Gulf.

Qatar said those reports were fabricated and posted by hackers, though it hasn't identified the source.

Still, four Arab states — the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain — cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar and issued a list of 13 demands.

The United States, which is allied with Qatar and its critics, has sought to broker a solution. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shuttled around the region last week, but but returned home without a breakthrough.

While the statements attributed to Qatar's emir sparked the current crisis, Qatar has been at odds with the other conservative monarchies in the Gulf for many years.

They say Qatar has supported many radical groups. Qatar says this is part of it's open-door policy, and the aim is to encourage dialogue, not to give backing to extremists.

The Emirates' ambassador to the U.S., Yousef al-Otaiba, denied The Washington Post report, and then went on to say in a statement:

"What is true is Qatar's behavior. Funding, supporting, and enabling extremists from the Taliban to Hamas and Gadhafi. Inciting violence, encouraging radicalization, and undermining the stability of its neighbors."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ab-emirates-hacked-qatar-sparking-gulf-crisis

 

[Arkain2K]

UAE strongly denies hacking Qatari sites
Such an accusation was “purely not true”, says Dr Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
By Samir Salama | July 17, 2017​

​

The UAE has strongly denied reports that it was responsible for an alleged hack of Qatari websites earlier this year.

Speaking to reporters following a Chatham House speech in London, Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said such an accusation was “purely not true”.

The UAE was not responsible for the alleged hack of Qatari websites, Gargash said. “The Washington Post story today that we actually hacked the Qataris is also not true,” Gargash told the London-based think-tank.







Earlier, in a statement released in Washington, Yousuf Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US, said the Washington Post story was “false”.

“The UAE had no role whatsoever in the alleged hacking described in the article,” Al Otaiba said.

“What is true is Qatar's behavior. Funding, supporting, and enabling extremists from the Taliban to Hamas and Qadafi. Inciting violence, encouraging radicalization, and undermining the stability of its neighbors,” he said in the statement.

In a series of tweets, the UAE Embassy in Washington said the UAE “had no role whatsoever in the alleged hacking described in the article” in Washington Post.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed sanctions on Qatar on June 5, cutting diplomatic and transport ties with the country due to its support for and financing of terrorism.

However, Gargash told the forum in London that the UAE would not escalate its boycott by asking companies to choose between doing business with it or with Qatar.

Fabricated

Dr Ebtisam Al Kitbi, chairwoman of Emirates Policy Centre, questioned the credibility of the report published by the Washington Post and slammed it as “mere fabrications”.

“The report is fake. It used unnamed sources which are fraught with ethical and legal perils for journalists, their employers and their sources,” Dr Al Kitbi said.

“Nothing has been reported from the CIA or FBI and the unreliable report only quotes unnamed sources," Dr Al Kitbi said.

Dr Al Kitbi cited instances when journalists have regretted relying on confidential sources, including the media’s systemic failure to question the Bush administration’s leaks about Saddam Hussain’s alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.

The authenticity of the report is also questioned when readers know that the report only repeated rumours originally published by the Al Jazeerah television station and its offshot media outlets, funded by Qatar.

Dr Al Kitbi said this media campaign is funded by Qatar and meant to divert the attention from its support and funding of terrorist and terrorism.

'Groundless'

Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, a leading political analyst, branded the Washington Post’s report “groundless allegations”.

“These frail allegations fit nowhere, but to support terrorism. If there is any motive for this type of a report, it will be a party in the US administration who wishes to put more pressure on the four Arab countries boycotting Qatar to give up their policy or stop any further escalation,” Dr Abdullah said.

Dr Abdullah stressed that the decision of the Gulf countries is clear and in their hands — and not in the hands of Washington or any other party.

“The Gulf countries will never back down on the Qatar issue and these allegations will have no impact whatsoever,” Dr Abdullah said.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/qatar/qatar-crisis/uae-strongly-denies-hacking-qatari-sites-1.2060133

 

[Arkain2K]

Qatar terms UAE's alleged involvement in hacking its news website 'unfortunate'
Jul 18, 2017​

Qatar, the tiny Gulf state being isolated by its neighbors, said Monday the reported involvement of the United Arab Emirates in hacking its government news site in May is "unfortunate" and a breach of agreements among the Gulf countries.

The Washington Post, quoting unnamed US intelligence officials, reported Sunday that the UAE orchestrated the hacking and planted a false story that was used as a pretext for the crisis between Qatar and four Arab countries.

The report said senior members of the Emirati government discussed the hacking plan a day before a story appeared on the official Qatar News Agency quoting Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, allegedly praising Iran and saying Qatar has a good relationship with Israel.

The UAE has denied involvement, calling the Post report "false" and insisting that the UAE "had no role whatsoever" in the alleged hacking.

The UAE along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties and severed air, land and sea links with Qatar in early June over allegations that it supports extremist ideology — a charge Qatar denied. The crisis has dragged on for more than a month with neither side showing signs of backing down.

Qatar maintained from the beginning that the quotes attributed to its ruler were the result of a hacking. It said in a statement Monday that the Post report "unequivocally proves that this hacking crime took place."

Sheikh Saif bin Ahmad Al Thani, the head of Qatar's government communications office, said "it is especially unfortunate that this shameful act of cyber terrorism is being attributed to a fellow member of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

"This criminal act represents a clear violation and breach of international law and of the bilateral and collective agreements signed between the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as collective agreements with the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the United Nations," he said.

The GCC is a six-member bloc that includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Kuwait has been serving as a mediator in trying to resolve the current Gulf crisis.

Sheikh Saif said a Qatari government investigation into the hacking is ongoing and that prosecutors will "take all necessary legal measures to bring to justice the perpetrators and instigators of this crime."

http://www.firstpost.com/world/gulf...ing-its-news-website-unfortunate-3826843.html

 

[Arkain2K]

Qatar, neighbors trade barbs at Arab League over boycott
September 12, 2017

CAIRO (Reuters) - Diplomats from Qatar and the four states boycotting it exchanged heated words at an Arab League meeting on Tuesday.

Tensions flared after Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi discussed the boycott in his opening speech despite the Gulf dispute not being on the agenda.

He called the Gulf monarchy’s critics “rabid dogs”.

“Even the animals were not spared, you sent them out savagely,” Muraikhi said, referring to the thousands of camels left stranded on the border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia after borders were closed.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar on June 5, suspending air and shipping routes with the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, which is home to the region’s biggest U.S. military base.

The nations say Doha supports regional foe Iran and Islamists. Qatar denies the charges and calls the economic boycott a “siege” aimed at neutering an independent foreign policy it says promotes peaceful regional reform and fighting terrorism.

Kuwait has been trying to mediate in the dispute.

During his speech, Muraikhi referred to Iran as an “honourable country” and said ties had warmed with its neighbor since the blockade.

In response, Ahmed al-Qattan, Saudi Arabia’s envoy to the Arab League, said: “Congratulations to Iran and soon, God willing, you will regret it.”

The exchange descended into a row during which Muraikhi and Qattan each told the other to be quiet.

Muraikhi said Saudi Arabia was looking to depose the Emir of Qatar and replace him with Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who helped negotiate the entry of Qatari pilgrims attending the annual haj pilgrimage into Saudi Arabia.

“This is an improper thing to say because the kingdom of Saudi Arabia will never resort to such cheap methods and we don’t want to change the regime, but you must also know that the kingdom can do anything it wants, God willing,” Qattan said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Muraikhi’s comments were unacceptable.

“We all know Qatar’s historic support for terrorism and what has been provided for extremist factions, and money in Syria, Yemen, Libya and Egypt that have lead to the death of many of Egypt’s sons,” Shoukry said.

Qatar backed a Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt before it was overthrown by the military in 2013. The Arab states have demanded Qatar sever any links with the Brotherhood and other groups they deem to be terrorist, ideological or sectarian.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...rbs-at-arab-league-over-boycott-idUSKCN1BN2J7

 

[Arkain2K]

 

[Arkain2K]

Tweet Over Legendary Turkish Officer Stirs Erdogan-U.A.E. Feud
By Onur Ant | December 20, 2017

It’s been more than a century since Arabs revolted against the rule of the Ottoman Empire. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thrust himself into the center of that World War I confrontation Wednesday to defend the honor of a legendary Turkish officer slighted in the U.A.E.

Erdogan lashed out at United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan for sharing a Twitter post accusing Fahreddin Pasha of thievery, kidnapping other crimes against the local population. “These are Erdogan’s ancestors and their history with Arabs and Muslims,” the post said.



The Turkish president was not going to take that jab at him and the fabled Ottoman governor lying down: Pasha is revered in Turkey for trying to prevent Arab forces backed by T.E. Lawrence from capturing Medina, one of Islam’s holiest cities and now part of Saudi Arabia.

“Hey, the pathetic person who is slandering us: Where were your forefathers when Fahreddin Pasha was defending Medina?” he told a meeting of village and neighborhood officials at the presidential palace in Ankara. “Arab people are our brothers. That said, the enmity of some leaders in Arab countries is meant to hide their own incompetence and even treason.”
He didn’t mention the foreign minister by name.

Erdogan may see some shared history with the historic figure to whose defense he rallied. Like Pasha, he, too, sometimes finds himself jousting with fellow Muslims. Gulf Arabs, for example, abhor his decision to draw closer to the Iranian-Russian alliance supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in.

He also has adopted the role of defender of Islam. Most recently, he’s taken the lead in denouncing President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, convening the Muslim world’s largest political bloc, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, for a high-profile extraordinary session in Istanbul.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...d-won-t-be-led-by-tehran-or-ankara-u-a-e-says