Qatar is the most politically liberal of the Gulf states (admittedly a low bar). It hosts Al Jazeera TV and the Doha Debates. You can drink in its hotels and women can walk around uncovered, drive cars, and associate comparatively freely. Its universities are western in feel and appearance. There are of course many things to criticise, above all the treatment, conditions and lack of rights of migrant workers, lack of women’s and LGBT rights and freedom of speech, and the absence of meaningful democracy. But Saudi Arabia it isn’t.
For Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Co-operation Council states to claim Qatar is the main sponsor of state terrorism, and put it under potentially crippling blockade, is the most monstrous example of the pot calling the kettle black. Qatar has indeed financed violent groups in the Middle East and participated in the war in Yemen, but in both cases on a far less grand scale than Saudi Arabia.
What is really behind this blockade against Qatar is an attack on another aspect of its liberalism. Qatar is unenthusiastic about the USA/Israel/Saudi de facto alliance, which has already been in evidence for a couple of years, and which the Trump mission to the Middle East looked to turbocharge. Qatar refused to endorse the overthrow of Egypt’s democratically elected President by the CIA-backed military coup of General Sisi. Qatar also has deep reservations about the Saudi Wahhabist mission to spread sectarian war against the Shia across the Middle East. Qatar further deserves praise because the plight of the Palestinians is a far higher priority for Doha than it is for Riyadh. The Saudis have no problem with selling out the Palestinians completely to secure their own standing with the Western elites and further their rivalry with Iran.
The extent to which Qatar has been able to act upon its different instincts to its much larger and more powerful neighbour has been limited, and by and large it has been obliged to go along with the Saudis in the Gulf Cooperation Council without expressing too much dissent. It is Trump’s visit and the desire of the Saudis to increase the security coordination with the USA and Israel which has forced the Qatari Royal Family to take a stand of principle, which sadly they are unlikely to be unable to maintain in the face of the blockade.
It is a straw in the wind that a figure like me was able to be invited two months ago to be the guest speaker at Al Jazeera’s gala dinner. My pro-Palestinian views are very well known as are my criticisms of both the United States and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, they can be the only possible reason I was invited to go and sit at a table with members of the Qatari royal family and give a very public speech.
I have been challenged to produce a recording of that speech, and some commenters have suggested I am hiding something. The truth is I never write my speeches, as anyone who has seen me speak will know, and that I understand it was broadcast live with only the Arabic interpreter as sound, but I have been unable to find a recording anywhere. However I recall my closing sentence fairly accurately, and it was aimed very squarely at the Saudis.
“If you find yourself in an alliance, even a de facto alliance, with a state which is conducting a slow genocide against people of your own race and your own religion, then you may be motivated by self-interest, but you have in fact mistaken your own self-interest.”
Thanks for this interesting thread. I will have a think before I post on this intriguing topic.
“Saudi Arabia Lavishes Conservative U.K. Officials With Gifts, Travel, And Plum Consultancies”
https://theintercept.com/2017/06/04/tory-uk-saudi-arabia-gifts-money/
“Some of the the Saudi kingdom’s largesse came in the form of gifts. Then-Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, now the Chancellor of the Exchequer who has come under fire for defending a mass execution in Saudi Arabia that included a nonviolent government critic, accepted a watch from the Saudi ambassador worth £1,950 ($2,514). Tory MP Charlotte Leslie, who has presided over parliamentary debate regarding foreign policy in the Middle East, received a food basket from the Saudi Embassy with an estimated value of £500 ($644).
The Saudi Arabian government has also picked up the tab for four expense-paid junkets taken by Tory lawmakers to visit the kingdom since the Yemen war began. The costs for accommodation, travel, and meals for the lawmakers range from £2,888 ($3,724) to £6,722 ($8,668). At least 18 conservative lawmakers have participated in the trips, according to the register of financial interests.
Tory Rehman Chishti, one of the participants in a Saudi junket last year, was also paid £2,000 ($2,579) per month as an adviser to the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, a state-backed think tank in Saudi Arabia. The arrangement began in February 2016.”
Saudis waging war against uk democracy close to the shard sending a message to quatar but giving their game away. Manchester and london their gift to the tories, they dont want the report into saudi financed and organised terrorism in the UK in c orbyns hands and they are willing to kill corbyn of it comes to it. Spread
Leave won on 52% of the vote but there has been no, unless I missed it, kick back from leading Leavers about the Jo Cox event that is still being progressed, including a non-trial, show trial at Old Baily, see Nicholas Kollerstrum. Now we have two events in quick succession during a General Election, the second more ludicrous than the first, but still no leading politicians claiming foul play, even in code. The fact the polls are allegedly narrowing is a sign the public are sceptical and a promise by Corbyn to hold an investigation into the secret services for, failing, to stop the events should clinch it for him.
Craig
Here is a rather imperfect translation of the transcript of your speech from Arabic taken from Al Jazeera Arabic website. After the translation I enclose the arabic version and the webpage for your reference.
In his special address at a gala dinner at the end of the first day of the 11th edition of Al Jazeera Forum on “The State Crisis and the Future of the Regional System in the Middle East”, Doha, 15-16 April 2017, British historian Craig Murray, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of the former in Uzbekistan, the state’s approach aspects of the nationalist crisis from diplomatic experience, kicking off his speech by expressing hope that Scotland ‘s independence from the United Kingdom .
Murray pointed to some of the stations in his career; where he worked in the British Foreign Office, in 1994, during the outbreak of the Second Gulf War; he was responsible for a center to monitor Iraq’s armament program. He talked about the tasks assumed in Poland as well as in other countries, and then as ambassador in Uzbekistan that share borders with Afghanistan, where there is a US military base as well as a German one, and this state (Uzbekistan) contributed to the war on Afghanistan in coordination with America and Britain. “We were receiving information from British MI6 on the existence of torture in Uzbekistan,” Murray said, adding that later it was found that the CIA had been sending prisoners to be tortured there ” I have protested against these practices, and the Uzbek regime, as well as the Western countries, have been exaggerating the al-Qaeda force based on intelligence information taken from prisoners under torture, and I have questioned officials about this false information, and I know that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction, “saying that the invasion of Iraq by George Bush and Tony Blair to search for weapons of mass destruction was a lie,” as there were no weapons of mass destruction. ”
“I left the State Department and a portion of my personal life was leaked to the yellow papers (?tabloids),” Murray said. “After that, I was interested in history and wrote a historical book about Alexander Burns, an interesting person who died in the Afghan war of 1841 during the British war in Afghanistan. That in 1837, before the first invasion of Afghanistan, the British were manipulating the Sunni-Shiite divide, which is done today: The methods used by imperialist powers to divide entities are not new; they aim to break up different groups based on divide and rule, what France did in Algeria, what Britain and France have practiced in many parts of the world, Murray adds, Russia has also practiced in Dagestan, Chechnya and Tatarstan, which is still part of Russia, and much of Russia is a land of Muslims colonized in the same period as British India. Western colonialism was in Britain and France used the ships to reach the colonies, Russia did not protest ships that colonized land is adjacent to it.
The former British ambassador spoke of the Palestinian cause, stressing that there is no torn country like Palestine, where the West Bank is separated from Gaza, which has become a sector for the extermination of the Palestinians. The situation in Palestine is worsening year after year, and there is no solution on the horizon.
Murray explained that the colonial invasion leaves a great human legacy, stressing that millions of people died due to colonial intervention and large numbers of these are women and children.
في كلمته الخاصة التي ألقاها خلال حفل عشاء بنهاية اليوم الأول لمنتدى الجزيرة في نسخته الحادية عشرة التي تناقش “أزمة الدولة ومستقبل النظام الإقليمي في الشرق الأوسط”، بالعاصمة القطرية الدوحة، في 15-16 أبريل/نيسان 2017، اختار المؤرِّخ البريطاني، كريغ موراي، سفير المملكة المتحدة السابق في أوزبكستان، مقاربة مظاهر أزمة الدولة الوطنيةة انطلاقًا من تجربته الدبلوماسية، مستهلًّا حديثه بالتعبير عن أمله في استقلال بلاده أسكتلندا عن المملكة المتحدة.
وأشار موراي إلى بعض المحطات في مساره المهني؛ حيث عمل في وزارة الخارجية البريطانية، سنة 1994، خلال اندلاع حرب الخليج الثانية؛ إذ كان مسؤولًا عن مركز يُعنى بمراقبة برنامج العراق التسليحي. وتحدث عن المهام التي تولاها في بولندا وكذلك في دول أخرى، ثم تعيينه سفيرًا في أوزبكستان التي تشترك في حدود مع أفغانستان، حيث توجد فيي أوزبكستان قاعدة عسكرية أميركية وأخرى ألمانية، وكانت هذه الدولة تسهم في الحرب على أفغانستان وتنسق كثيرًا مع أميركا وبريطانيا. وأشار مواري إلى أن نظام أوزبكستان كانن نظامًا ديكتاتوريًّا يمارس التعذيب وقد زَجَّ بعشرات الآلاف من السجناء في زنازين لا حصر لها “وكنا نحصل عن طريق مكتب الاستخبارات البريطاني MI6 على معلومات تؤكد وجود التعذيب في أوزبكستان. وبعد مرحلة تبين أن وكالة المخابرات المركزية (CIA) كانت ترسل سجناء لأوزبكستان ليتم تعذيبهم. لقد احتجَجْتُ على هذه الممارسات، وكان النظامم الأوزبكي وكذلك الدول الغربية يبالغون في قوة القاعدة اعتمادًا على معلومات استخباراتية تؤخذ من مساجين تحت التعذيب. وحاججت المسؤولين في بلادي حول هذه المعلوماتت الكاذبة، وكنت أعلم أن العراق ليس به أي أسلحة دمار شامل”، معتبرًا أن غزو العراق من طرف جورج بوش الابن وتوني بلير للبحث عن أسلحة دمار شامل إنما كان فِرية، “فلمم تكن هناك أي أسلحة دمار شامل”.
وفي هذه المرحلة، يؤكد موراي، “تركتُ وزارة الخارجية وتم تسريب جزء من حياتي الشخصية للصحف الصفراء، وبعد ذلك اهتممت بالتاريخ وألَّفت كتابًا تاريخيًّا يتعلق بألكساندر بيرنز، وهو شخص مثير مات في الحرب الأفغانية، 1841، أثناء حرب بريطانيا في أفغانستان. ومما أذهلني اليوم أنه في سنة 1837 قبل الغزو الأول لأفغانستان كان البريطانيون يتلاعبون بالانقسامات ما بين السنَّة والشيعة وهو ما يتم اليوم. إن الطرق التي تستخدمها القوى الإمبريالية في تقسيم الكيانات ليست جديدة؛ إذ تهدف إلى إحداث قطيعة بينن مجموعات مختلفة معتمدة على قاعدة “فرِّقْ تَسُد”، وهو نفس ما فعلته فرنسا في الجزائر، وما مارسته بريطانيا وفرنسا في مناطق كثيرة من العالم، يضيف موراي، مارسته أيضًا روسيا في داغستان والشيشان وتتارستان التي لا تزال جزءًا من روسيا. فالكثير من أراضي روسيا هي أراضي مسلمين تم استعمارهم في نفس الفترة التي استعمرت فيها بريطانياا الهند. وإذا كان الاستعمار الغربي في بريطانيا وفرنسا استعمل السفن للوصول إلى المستعمرات فإن روسيا لم تحتج للسفن فالأرض التي استعمرتها ملاصقة لها.
وتحدث السفير البريطاني السابق عن القضية الفلسطينية، مؤكدًا أنه ليس هناك وطن ممزق مثلما هي فلسطين؛ حيث تنفصل الضفة الغربية عن غزة التي أصبحت قطاعًا لإبادة الفلسطينيين. كما أن الوضع في فلسطين يتفاقم سنة بعد أخرى، ولا حل في الأفق.
وفي ختام كلمته، أوضح موراي أن الغزو الاستعماري يخلِّف تركة إنسانية كبيرة، مؤكدًا أن ملايين الأشخاص ماتوا بسبب التدخل الاستعماري وأعداد كبيرة من هؤلاء هم من الأطفال والنساء.
http://forum.aljazeera.net/node/2765
Best wishes
Sadly your closing comment seems to have been doctored out of this transcript, for obvious reasons.
A great many thanks, though it is a summary rather than a transcript.
Sorry , yes indeed it is a summary.
We all know that football fans come from all over the globe, the price for an air ticket and global football PR for clubs everywhere has made this possible.
Now, if we can’t control sponsored Saudi/Qatari terror here and today’s announcement of strained relations, with the smallest of states, off course, very likely due to pressure from blighty, then how can we expect that country’s worsening relations with its neighbours and the world be a safe place for footballers and fans?
I know that they are consulted and pay for expensive mercenaries to keep their own forces ready, but I fear age old rivalries between tribes will come to the fore and want to be aired internationally. We know what Wahabi’s sponsor now, here in the west and in the ME, so why would FIFA be so stupid and allow backhanders to endanger the life’s of teams and fans alike?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/workers-preparing-for-2022-world-cup-treated-poorly-in-doha-a-974470.html
treated poorly is a euphemism for bad management, confiscated passports, month of no pay and slave labour wages, as well as poor H&S has made this a diamond show in the sand a inhumanity.
relocate the 2022 to any country with ready stadia in place that is prepared to safeguard the public and teams. Hundreds of life’s already lost in this massive undertaking, compensated with a pittance, should not go unnoticed.
I also hasten to add that Qatar played a very major role in ousting Gaddafi in Libya with supplies of weapons and with egging the Arab league to support actions in Libya. Later all of these were also transported to Syria. In fact it may well be that Qatar has played the major role in destabilizing Syria than any other nation.
Much of the chaos in Libya is due to Qatar with UK support trying to bring in a Muslim Brotherhood government, which 90% of Libyans loathe.
And France?
“The email identifies French President Nicholas Sarkozy as leading the attack on Libya with five specific purposes in mind: to obtain Libyan oil, ensure French influence in the region, increase Sarkozy’s reputation domestically, assert French military power, and to prevent Gaddafi’s influence in what is considered “Francophone Africa.”
Most astounding is the lengthy section delineating the huge threat that Gaddafi’s gold and silver reserves, estimated at “143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver,” posed to the French franc (CFA) circulating as a prime African currency. In place of the noble sounding “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) doctrine fed to the public, there is this “confidential” explanation of what was really driving the war [emphasis mine]:
This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French franc (CFA).
(Source Comment: According to knowledgeable individuals this quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7 billion. French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to commit France to the attack on Libya.)
Though this internal email aims to summarize the motivating factors driving France’s (and by implication NATO’s) intervention in Libya, it is interesting to note that saving civilian lives is conspicuously absent from the briefing.”
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/01/06/new-hillary-emails-reveal-true-motive-for-libya-intervention/
Of course due recognition also to Hillary’s well known role which probably was also a factor in her losing the elections.
Thanks for putting that into context, Craig. But , while it looks as if Qatar’s being scapegoated for Saudi and UAE actions, is it completely blameless?
https://www.ft.com/content/f2d9bbc8-bdbc-11e2-890a-00144feab7de
Disquiet about our relations with Saudi has been bubbling under for some time, and I was glad to see this:
https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/871451490199756800
Craig,
You do yourself no favours by writing an article about Qatar without mentioning their financial and military support via arms to jihadis groups for the Muslim Brotherhood and the so called Arab spring.
Qatar supported the destruction of Libya. Which has now had open slave markets, and persecution of the black African Libyans who are viewed as inferior.
They are still active in Libya doing god knows what.
They along with Turkey sponsored the jihadis in Syria. Their conduct has been destructive and sectarian.
They did not support the coup that brought to power Sisi – because the Muslim brotherhood were in power!
The Muslim brotherhood has a long terrible history. Which is easy to research!
Also your speech if reported correctly stating Russia has “Muslim land” – really does you no credit either – but I bet it pleased your audience to prevent the complex history in that way.
This is the bare truth of what is going on. And that is why Sisi’s egypt, Saudis and the Emirates detest Qatar and ban Aljazeera.
Sharmine Narwani from 1st June. “After Riyadh summit, Sunni unity crumbles”
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/390453-trump-saudi-orb-arab-summit/
Such state of affairs when Saudi accuses Qatar of funding terrorists… it would be hilarious if the whole dark and dirty situation wasn’t so dangerous.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar were leading members of the coalition to overthrow Assad in Syria. to facilitate a gas pipeline thru’ to the West. This gas pipeline would have undermined Russian near monopoly on European supply. This of course would have undermined the Russian economy and suited Washington in its long term proxy war on Russia;
The parcel of rogues involved in the Syrian debacle all have different agendas, Turkey ,wishes to suppress its Kurds and grab the land corridoor to oil rich Mosul. Israel wishes to further its Oded Yinon Plan and break up Syria into controllable areas and grab land, plus establish long term annexation of the Golan Heights oil rich area. The fracturing of the Shia cresecent from Iran to Lebanon also disrupts supplies to Hezbollah.
Washington seeks to impose its hegemony on Syria and then move on to Iran, the gateway to Central Asia. This will allow them to disrupt and control the New Silk Road and preserve the dollar as reserve currency.
The UK and NATO are there as puppets of Washington.
All these plans are as dust, since Russia moved to support Assad militarIly.
Qatar has retreated from this failed plan and has looked to export its gas from its South Parrs field via Iranian pipelines. They share the same geological field in the mid Gulf. Irans is the North Dome.
This is the main reason,Qatar has been blackballed from the Gulf Council.
It is not allowed to co-operate with the Shia devils of Iran, the mortal enemies of Saudi.
Nation states.
Worse than organised religion.
Choice of date? Today being 50th anniversary is that coincidence? How could US tolerate this? Is US / Saudi alliance weaker than thought?
iSRAEL
Concise and informative analysis. Thanks
“This gas pipeline would have undermined Russian near monopoly on European supply. ”
_________________________
Interesting to see that there are people who appear to view with favour a Russian near monopoly of gas for the European market. Most thoughtful Europeans would surely be in favour of a diversification of supply for obvious reasons, including that of security of supply. Indeed, that is official EU policy.
In response to Habbabkuk.
Russia does not have a monopoly on oil to Europe
Russia’s market share is 30%
Oil comes from Qatar, Norway with statoil, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan amount others
LNG allows imports from the USA the gulf
The issue of Russian energy into Europe which went unremarked upon for decades – was politicised by the US primarily under George Bush2 who got the EU to buy into their long term plan to collapse post-soviet Russia.
The whole Ukraine debacle is part of this plan too.
The USA and its allies do not want a strong Russia that acts in its own interest they want a weak Russia with Yeltsin type leadership
Looking at a Bloomberg chart Russia seems to be the only country which doesn’t trade with Qatar and so may possibly have the least to lose from Qatar’s difficulties.
Habbabkuk, are you saying that nation states should attempt to overthrow each other in order to secure their energy supply? Maybe you’ve seen the film Mad Max.
Are you suggesting that ever escalating war over diminishing supplies is preferable to managed, mutual, long-term economic decline?
But probably not at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, surely….
I can’t I’ve ever come across anybody who favoured a Russian monopoly. Sounds like a strawman to me.
“I can’t [say] I’ve ever come across anybody who favoured a Russian monopoly.”
_______________________
Well, you have shown on a couple of occasions that your grasp of facts is somewhat tenuous.
Russia itself might favour a Russian monoply.
And you can work that one out without ever having “come across” a Russian (whatever that means).
Regime change rather than the destruction of Libya was the primary aim, but the destruction of Libya became necessary to achieve regime change. Initially on the back of the UN resolution to protect civilians from alleged massacre in Benghazi, the coalition of the willing tried to kill Gaddafi with a late night missile strike, but missed because he was outside feeding the goats. He then went to ground. US was heavily involved but Obama needed to achieve the decapitation within 6 months to avoid having to explain and get Congress consent for yet another military adventure. But the clock was ticking and they couldn’t find him. Therefore the military fronted a change in policy to attack all ‘command and control centres’. This was a euphemism for anywhere Gaddafi may be hiding. This resulted in the destruction of everywhere in the hope of getting lucky and killing him which happened just before the 6 months deadline.
And yet Libya was among the richest countries in Africa, which extensive social provision and helped halt rather than facilitate mass-immigration into Europe and Cameron, like Blair, claimed yet another disaster as a victory with plaudits in the neo-con media, with the outrage saved for ‘franchise terrorists’ who commit terrible acts against us.
I am not sure were you got this story from perhaps a reference is needed. As to what the intention was, ios a somewhat moot point especially when these regime changes have led to countries being worse off as in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and latest attempt, Syria. If it was a mistake you would think that this undesirable side effect would not keep being repeated, this is a statistical impossibility if it was chance alone. And by the way, was there a successful one?
I don’t think the intervention was to save civilian lives or help Libya, confirmed by the refusal to accept a cease fire when the immediate danger, real or imagined was over, but the widespread destruction in such a short period of time was due to the imperative to kill Gaddafi which had been a long term objective. Basically the rebels advanced and as soon as they met opposition the area in front of them was carpet bombed by the coalition of willing. The urgency was due to the 6 month deadline facing Obama.
No-one seems to be commenting on the fact that Europe has relied on North African states to stop sub-Saharan Africans migrating to Europe.
Who do you think is profiting from the people-smuggling out of Libya? Probably all the factions – but ISIS will certainly be one.
Craig
Your speech is on Youtube and you can make out (just) what you are saying if you can block out the arabic translator. You are introduced at 30:15 and finish at 42:55. Here is the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izdUixZek00
In fact the arabic translation is entirely on the right hand stereo channel so if you set the sound on your device to the left hand channel you get a perfectly clear recording of your speech – enjoy!
Yep, that works. Thanks!
Ah. It’s heavily edited and seems to speed through sections all the way through, losing most of the sense of the speech unfortunately.
This all comes shortly after the conclusion of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia and only a day after both Iran and Jeremy Corbyn directly cited Saudi Arabia as being funders of terrorism
Some seem to be hinting that Saudi Arabia may be acting so as to shift the focus of attention away from itself, by setting up Qatar as a patsy.
Is there a new alliance in the offing as between Trump, Corbyn and Iran? It is well known that there is no love lost as between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both Trump and Corbyn have a penchant for telling the truth as they see it, neither are stupid and so neither can possibly believe the fictitious narrative that the west spins itself regarding Saudi Arabia.
Would it not be ironic if Corbyn, by telling the truth, serves as a catalyst for yet more war and violence in the MENA region.
I have no idea if any of the foregoing is plausible or realistic and would be very interested in the thoughts of anyone with knowledge of such matters.
And Iran is a major funder of Jeremy Corbyn, he received £20,000 for his appearances on Press TV, some of it after they had been banned from operating in Britain for being complicit in torture.
In that case, how come David Miliband, Jack Straw, and Tony Blair aren’t been banned from operating Britain?
Because not being television stations they are not bound by OFCOM rules.
I wonder how much Craig gets from appearing on RT.
Less than Flynn no doubt.
It is a well known fact that KSA and Qatar have both been sponsoring extremist Jihadis in Libya and Syria:
http://markcurtis.info/2017/05/24/the-british-establishment-is-putting-our-lives-at-risk-our-states-key-ally-is-a-major-public-threat/
The fact that both Iran sna Corbyn are aware of this do not necessarily mean there is any connection or an ‘alliance’ as you put it. This is fake news. And do you really believe that Trump has a penchant for telling the truth? Really? And then you forget the slightly inconvenient truth that whilst Trump signed a deal to sell weapons to the Saudis for 430 Billion Dollars, Corbyn wants a moratorium on selling them weapons.
“a slow genocide ‘against people of your own race and your own religion'”
Why would imputed “racial” and “religious” characteristics influence someone’s natural revulsion against genocide? Disgusting things are disgusting because they are inhuman, not because of the looks or mentality of the human encountering them.
I read just a couple of days ago that Qatar complained about a seat on the UN given to Israel, then came the threats. First from Trump.
On Yahoo UK it says Rita Katz and SITE made claims about ISIS being responsible for the London attack, just as she claimed the same for Manchester. How does a Mossad-linked organization get to hear first? I think I know. Mossad did them. Just because we don’t have guns it wouldn’t stop terrorists from using them, and the fact neither event saw guns carried reeks of a badly thought-out UK psy-op.
SITE Intelligence group (director: Israeli Rita Katz) is the conduit for many of ISIS’ announcements. They used to have a monopoly on the announcements of al-Qa’ida in the time of Bin Ladin, including Bin Ladin’s videos. I have been trying to figure out whether they are the only source for A’maq, the supposed ISIS “news agency”. They certainly are a major transmitter to the MSM of ISIS news. Googling Amaq generally gives SITE as the transmitter. The question is whether they are the only one these days.
One of those ‘cute’ ironies of modern grief.
Despite being aware of the list of suspected funders of the atrocity in Manchester, the stadium used for the Ariana Grande concert is known as “Emirates Old Trafford” their advert hoardings were all over the TV screens.
The concert, broadcast to the world, made this a case of ‘no publicity is bad publicity…_
Erdogan to the rescue!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-04/saudi-arabia-egypt-uae-bahrain-cut-diplomatic-ties-block-all-borders-qatar
On a personal level I have little sympathy with Qatar beyond my belief blockades and economic sanctions are crimes against humanity because it is always the population that suffers not leaders or governments and they rarely have the desired coercive effect of changing government stance. They are a form of collective punishment and often used to weaken countries and force or encourage citizens turn against their government in countries targeted for ‘regime change’.
Qatar has been a solid supporter of the Palestinian cause and that is to be applauded, so have many pundits, journalists and campaigners in the west but for me they have shown their hypocrisy in almost unanimous support for the proxy ‘regime change’ terrorists attacking Syria and the dire situation of economic sanctions which along with the looting of Aleppo’s industrial area crashed the economy causing much hardship, poverty and even deaths due to lack of medicines, medical equipment and food. The crashed economy was also a recruiter for extreme groups who paid relatively well… feed your family by joining extreme groups or be at risk of hunger and poverty, One or two prominent journalists have changed their stance on Syria such as Blumenthal which is good to observe but I remain guarded as to their motives. In my view, you are a political humanitarian if you support one so called ‘humanitarian’ horror being committed against a population and turn against others undergoing similar. Syrians who support their government (the majority) and their country as a secular state have been made voiceless and shadows in western MSM, that to me is unforgivable. Few Syrians (many safe in the west) appear to have wanted their country, society, culture and lives destroyed for political and constitutional changes which were slowly happening and be subjected to an externally imposed vicious, repressive regime of Salafi/Wahhabism and attempted land grab by various other entities apparently trying to balkanize Syria.
The Saudis are funding jihadi groups in the UK. Theresa May wants it kept quiet, because she doesn’t want to have to do anything about it, despite saying ‘enough is enough’..
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/05/theresa-may-urged-not-to-suppress-report-into-funding-of-jihadi-groups
Slight point going missing/ignored/overlooked;
The Kabul green zone bombing that killed and maimed around 500 people, was detonated in front of the Qatari embassy. Although arguably in the same stretch there are the CIA , and ISAF offices too. but they are located behind the said embassy.
This is the MO of the al saud pederasts that first unleash their proxies on their targets, and they openly threaten hell fire and brimstones, and have been on record warning their victims of the terrorist threats. However, this little explosion seems to not have doused enough the ire of the al saud pederasts, hence their secondary retaliatory recourse in cutting off diplomatic and commercial relationships with the Qataris.
Meanwhile ever the opportunist little sheikhs the UAE bunch are busy stealing away the US base from Qatar too. playing all sides into the middle the charade goes on.
on the other side of the road is the German embassy, but I think it was a non specific attack on all.
Nevermind the green zone in Kabul akin to its name sake in Baghdad is (was) an impenetrable fortress to smuggle in a tanker load of explosives and then detonating it. This needed a lot more resources than the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence (Pakistan)) could have mustered, ie the funds and the personnel etc. It needed serious bribes with ship loads of money. In addition the al saud have been pissed off with the Qataris for a while which now it has come to a head.
What is puzzling is what was the Qatari response for the al saud to have suddenly snapped as in this fashion? Interestingly enough Pakistan has been put under pressure to send the Qataris to Coventry too, but they have not complied, which is another indicator that the Kabul Green Zone bombing was without their knowledge too.
Reading the runes in the Mid East is a pretty difficult occupation. Wheels within wheels etc. However the gung-ho attitude of the al sauds increasingly secure in the knowledge that they have bought the US administration and their attack dogs aka “the only democracy in the mid east and universe etc.” is making the readings of the runes a tad easier.
In conclusion the German embassy was the unintended collateral damage, unless you believe Trump could have ordered such an operation?
It will be very interesting to see how Pakistan responds to the pressure it’ll undoubtedly face. Not that I understand a thing about this covfefe.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch:
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/06/04/scottish-muslim-preacher-on-manchester-why-should-we-care-when-the-table-turns/
Some may ask why the man in the article is free to espouse his views while a fellow Scot has been arrested under the 2003 Communications Act for posting a video in which he teaches a dog to react to words and phrases associated with the Nazi’s..
The Daily Mail is running a set of photographs showing one of the London Bridge/Borough Market attackers proudly unfurling an ISIS flag in Regents Park sometime prior to his act of cultural enrichment. Some may wonder why he was left unmolested by the security services to go about his business.
Still I guess Nazi dogs are the real threat to social cohesion and I look forward to all politicians standing for election explaining to the injured and bereaved exactly why Nazi dogs are a much greater threat to the UK that suicide bombers and knife wielding lunatics.
they are British fascists who espouse their like minded 1930’s idols, also known as trash.
Unfurling a nazi flag in Germany will send you to jail, equally if you give the Nazi salute or if you sing Nazi songs such as the Horst Wessel song and or the first forbidden verse , now re written of the German national anthem.
What happens here? You get police protection on a march through a Muslim area.
Who are British fascists? the people or the dogs?
This could be a serious problem – the country could be overrun by fascist dogs – Golden retrievers turning on black labrador’s. How do I contact Antifa with regard to the plague of fascist dogs?
@ 11.40 Linking to a right wing racist website like Breitbart is quite telling.
Confirming that the video of you speaking was on the website for that gathering. It was on the top on the right hand of the page.
Another outrage that the gangsters-in-charge are acting in this way.
I saw you on Renegade on RT this am.
There was a very good article from Sharmine Narwani in RT which explained a lot.
Saudi were furious that Qatar aren’t as gung ho about demonising Iran as everyone else appears to be. It’s not in Qatar’s interests because they share the world’s largest gas reserve.
Saudi take offence too easily, being the authoritarian bullies they are and inbred fanatics of low intelligence.
Still, I suppose it’s good that there’s one less country in the world who wants war with Iran.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/390494-saudi-qatar-mideast-politics/
Theresa May is ‘responsible’ for London terror attack and must resign says top David Cameron aide – May also under pressure to release a suppressed report Home Office report into the international funding of terror groups in the UK:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/theresa-may-blamed-for-london-bridge-terror-attack-by-top-cameron-aide-steve-hilton-2017-6
Reasonable attempt at pointing out the delicate situation Qatar finds itself in.
But incorrect in one respect (an understandable error, since there has been a lot of deliberate obfuscation over recent Egyptian domestic ructions). It is Morsi who was CIA’s “man”. Yes, he who was “democratically elected”. The coup severed the MB knot being tightened by USA-UK-French interests. It is Sisi who is ever-so-carefully levering his country out of the USA grasp and its Israel stupor and towards a non-aligned stance, opening up some interesting channels (brics dialogue, for instance) and contributing constructively towards a resolution of the USA-caused catastrophe in neighbouring Libya. Besides the said obfuscations by the Western interests, Mr Murray’s well-known russophobia sometimes clouds his otherwise sensible outlook and has no doubt contributed to his misunderstanding about the Mubarak-Morsi-Sisi dynamics.
BBC buries Corbyn’s Saudi comments and the need to publish UK Gov’s report into terrorist funding.
Yet again, the BBC shows us that, when the status quo is threatened, it is nothing more than an arm of the state.
Saudi cutting links with Qatar because of the latter’s links with terrorism is like Hitler pointing at Himmler and shouting: “He’s the Nazi!”
The petrodollar puppeteers are rattled, though. No question.
Corbyn, Farron, Sturgeon and Lucas should all repeatedly mention this Saudi funding of UK jihadis and police cuts in the next couple of days. It destroys the myth of Tory strength on security and crime.
Why no mention of the Mediterranean Dialogue and its progress?
Poor Nepalis pay recruiters and migrant worker died at a rate of one every two days in 2014 in Qatar ..Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome