I am always reminded of Qatars incredible role. Hosting the Muslim Brotherhood, the only Israeli embassy in the Gulf, US allied element of the Taliban, Hezbollah and Hamas, and very close ties to Iran, all of whom Qatar supported. That array of pretend enemies (all really projects of the West and Israel) added a bit of clarity to the outside observer. And of course Qatar hosts an immense US military base. But strangely, a decade ago, before Qatar became so bold or open about their machinations, Col. Muamar Gaddafi of Libya and former Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar got together to discuss a plot to kill King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia. It was likely idle talk by Gaddafi who publicly was never one to be careful with words, and the conversation with al Thani was a private one. The Qatari leader recorded and promptly released the information to the Saudis. Iran, whom Gaddafi trusted at the time, also released the information. Qatar avoided Saudi suspicion by putting the plot, which it instigated, out in the open. in 2004 at an Arab League meeting, Abdallah called Gaddafi a liar and stooge of the MI-6, referring to his training at Sandhurst, the British military academy and his time living in London when he was a totally unknown junior officer from a poor tribe. The coincidence of his rise to leader of Libya in the paranoid Arab world was not unknown to anyone in the room but there was nothing (from my perspective) in Gaddafis policies that would justify any conclusion but a coincidence. Six years later Gaddafi would repeat the same charges about Saudis, who take pride in 600 years of their familys dynasty in several parts of the Saudi peninsula and Egypt. Though the British did indeed aid them in putting down the Ikhwan, a fundamentalist movement, the assistance was negligible. In fact the Saudis shortly after turned on the British, who they felt were too close to Jewish power, particularly on the attempts to create Israel, and signed an agreement with the US to prevent Israel from being created by the British. The Saudis cultivated a relationship Arabists, energy companies, and Israel hostile Republicans (like Eisenhower and Nixon and George H. Bush) for as long as that lasted as a part of the U.S. power structure. Saudi Arabia deeply opposed the Arab Spring, including in Libya, jailing or expelling members of the underground Muslim Brotherhood clergy who called for Gaddafis downfall who it had silenced for some time but could never fully rid itself of. Saudi Arabia is generally deeply opposed to upset in the region unless they have their own deep personal issues involved in it. Syria (who laid the diplomatic ground with their Lebanese proxy who was in the UN), and much more directly, Qatar, and Iran (and their proxy Hezbollah) were, on the other hand, deeply involved in the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya, and were very public about their position. Gaddafi stated so himself before he met his end. It was only a short time later that Qatar would take part in the effort to overthrow the Syrian government. Syria for its part had what the Saudis felt were a series of betrayals from the Assads, going back particularly to the 1970s in Taef and a large amount of funding by the Saudis to the Syrians in an attempt to create a united front against Israel that would serve the Arab world to pressure Israel, thus securing Arab collective security. Assads Syria, after a brief war with Iran and Hezbollah decided to turn on Saudi Arabia and cooperate with Iran instead. A more recent issue was Syrias supposed siding with Iran in the Second Gulf War and its hostility toward Saudi influence in Lebanon, after the Saudis and Assads had reached an agreement in 2005. The Saudis did not care about Gaddafis fate personally but they were angered that Syria was helping the West stir up unrest in North Africa with the Arab Spring, and thus affecting regional stability. By 2010, the Saudis had long been aware that Qatar was pulling many strings, attempting to overthrow their Saudis with connivance of the West, and were in league with all of their enemies and rivals. The Saudis attempted various ways to undercut Qatar but Qatar was protected by the U.S. and had its array of allies, Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc. to threaten the Saudis with. The Saudis for their part upped their assistance from 2002 to the present, for a large range of Salafist groups from the West Bank to the borders of Iran and the increased aid for the deposed Iraqi Baathists under al Douri, who they had been aiding since the fall of Iraq to the U.S. The Saudis and UAE also supported Egypt even more (after it got rid of the Muslim Brotherhood), and former Gaddafi military, with UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt taking part in the fight against the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya, even as the U.S. supported the Muslim Brotherhood. In the Gulf itself, it was only this year, after Iran became more active in Yemen and Qatar begin to fear that all of its various guests the Muslim Brotherhood and allies such as Iran would boot the Qatari royal family out of their own kingdom did it began to reconcile with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and other Gulf nations. And this is why Israel is not crazy. It is evil in its actions, and it has no right to occupy Palestine but it is not crazy. They are in the craziest neighborhood of the entire region. Everything in the region or having to do with the region depends on dishonesty and deception, and that is enough to drive anyone insane. Fortunately for Israel, most of the Arab and Muslim craziness is turned on each other.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 05:01:03 +0000
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