.
Qatar Losing Mideast Ground to Saudi Diplomacy, Say Experts
(Naharnet/France24) – The wealthy Gulf state had transformed itself into a key regional player but began to retreat as heavyweight Saudi Arabia re-entered the political arena after lagging behind in the immediate period following the eruption of the Arab Spring uprisings in December 2010.
The ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last week by the army and the election by the Syrian opposition of Saudi-linked Ahmad Assi Jarba as new leader stripped Qatar of strong influence in both countries.
« click
Poster of Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, an Israeli flag and a logo of the Al Jazeera channel with the words reading: "Down Hamad" - 18 feb. 2011 (Photo: Reuters - Amr Abdallah Dalsh)“Qatar had tried to take a leading role in the region but overstepped its limits by openly backing the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Syria, and other Arab Spring states,” said Kuwaiti political analyst Ayed al-Manna .
Jonathan Eyal, head of international relations at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, argued that Qatar’s regional politics have failed.
“Qatar’s Middle Eastern diplomacy now lies in ruins: it failed to produce dividends in Libya, backfired in Syria and has now collapsed in Egypt,” local Emirati daily The National quoted him on Tuesday as saying.
Is Syria-Qatar rift a ‘shrewdly calculated divorce’
(France24) Aug. 2, 2011 – The diplomatic rift between Syria and Qatar has been simmering as the so-called “Arab spring” spred across the Middle East, with anti-government protest movements rocking countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen. But the tension between the two countries is now at its boiling point and may contribute to Syria’s growing isolation on the international stage.
“Qatar’s move looks more like a shrewdly calculated divorce from the Syrian regime than a fleeting spat,” explained Karim Sader, an independent political scientist who specialises in the Gulf nations. According to Sader, Qatar “cynically concluded that it is no longer necessary to support the Syria of Bashar al-Assad, because this Syria no longer has the same strategic influence ever since the recent Arab revolts started shifting the power dynamics in the region”.
Already weakened by internal political conflict as well as pressure from the international community in the wake of the Syrian regime’s violent repression of protests, Syria has seen its influence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict decline. Since the reconciliation in late April between Hamas – which Qatar supports financially – and Fatah, Syria’s input on the matter has been less frequently solicited. “The reopening of the Rafah border crossing following the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also loosened the stranglehold on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip,” Sader said. “That development, combined with the reconciliation of rival Palestinian factions, makes it so that Qatar can now do without the Syrian go-between when dealing with Palestinians.”
Qatar’s mood swings: Pro-Iran or pro-West?
(JPost) Feb. 2, 2009 – There’s the side firmly with the United States and (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas, and the others backing Hamas and, by extension, seen as moving toward Iran,” said Nadim Shehadi, a Mideast affairs specialist at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. “And, like with a cold war, no side is willing to push it too hard because the risks are so great,” he added. Nearly every high-stakes question in the Middle East these days somehow draws in Qatar, which is the just half the size of Belgium but strives for a place alongside Arab heavyweights such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
It is rich in oil and gas reserves, has wide influence in the Muslim world as the patron of the Al-Jazeera TV network, and has proved adroit at maneuvering between rivals. “You sometimes get the feeling that Qatar has multiple personalities,” said Mustafa Alani, director of national security and terrorism studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. “It’s hard to say which one will show up.”
.
Juan Cole busts al Jazeera report that US backed anti-Morsi coup. However, Cole doesn’t put it within the context of Qatar’s regional aspirations in supporting the MB in Egypt. Such a blatantly propagandist piece in al Jazeera sort of rips the cover off its purported independence from its funding source.
.
Joshua Landis has changed optics on the Syria uprising, he is now reporting the downside of the rebels fighting an insurgency along sectarian lines. Russia’s Lavrov has provided the UN with a report which proves the Syrian rebels used sarin gas in a projectile fired at Khan al-Assal, near Aleppo in March 2013. Obama doesn’t know whether to call the popular revolt a coup, but sends the four F-16’s to the Egypt military anyway, So I have a suspicion the $1.5nb aid package will follow.
.
.
Of course it was by definition a coup d’etat, however President Obama and US Congress may struggle with the judicial consequences for [US]aid.
.
The new emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, 33, was educated at the English public schools Harrow and Sherborne before graduating from the Sandhurst military academy.
Sheikh Hamad made no mention of the public face of Qatar’s assertive foreign policy, prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, a veteran politician who had been expected also to step down. The FM not only lost his job as influential minister, he also lost his position as head of the Qatar Investment Authority.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani: Meet the man who bought London