Something brewing in the M.E.? 'Qatar flight ban begins as Gulf crisis grows'

[Tibs]

Also, before you start raining bombs on Qatar, you may want to let these companies know so they can get their 15,000 employees out.

1. Chevron
2. ExxonMobil
3. Conoco Phillips
4. Occidental Petroleum Corporation
5. Allen & Shariff
6. Boeing
7. Booz Allen Hamilton
8. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co
9. Brown Lloyd James
10. Fluor Corporation
11. Herzog Contracting Corporation
12. Honeywell International Inc.
13. IBM
14. Green World Water
15. Latham & Watkins
16. Oliver Wyman
17. Parsons Engineering
18. Raytheon
19. SAH Global

 

[Confluence]

Bomb our own military bases in Qatar? Now that sounds like a plan.



U.S. Military Base Locations, Qatar Region

Wow, that is a decidely stupid artistic rendering of a concept that exists only in your head. You should probably post this on FB for the rest of the world to share delight in. Cuz it makes so much sense.

 

[Tibs]

Wow, that is a decidely stupid artistic rendering of a concept that exists only in your head. You should probably post this on FB for the rest of the world to share delight in. Cuz it makes so much sense.

Clearly reading comprehension is not your strong suit.

If Qatar is too terrorist for all those other terrorist countries, that should be a green light to bomb the **** out of them.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

Clearly reading comprehension is not your strong suit.

This coming from the jackass who couldn't comprehend the following statement I wrote - "should we decide to attack - via bomb or whatever other means"

Your belligerent, contrarian *** will only focus on 'bombing.' That isn't what I said is it? ::face palm::

I'm quite confident in our US military to decide upon the best course of attack, should it come to that. I'm quite sure our military won't be targeting the skyscrapers in Doha, as an example, because that isn't where they are going to find the terrorists most likely. Most likely if they are a terrorist state as claimed, they'll have camps, maybe training facilities. They may be in smaller towns. Doubt they are holed up in the 13th floor of The Pearl-Qatar.

Sure Qatar is small, but so is your mind. CT is still a big enough state to hold battles and to be bombed. Ever bothered to actually consider (if we decided to bomb) the radius of damage of said bombs as compared to say the square footage of space in said country?

Small minds, big pictures:

 

[Tibs]

Mind you, this is Qatar we're talking about.

Here is President Trump speaking a few short weeks ago of this newfound, 'happened-so-fast-you-couldn't-blink' Terrorist State:

While on his World Embarrassment Tour, Donald Trump dropped in on the Emir and, according to the press pool report, made him a nice offer.

[Trump] said the two nations have "been friends now for a long time," and previewed the "very serious discussions" they would have. "One of the things that we will discuss is the purchase of lots of beautiful military equipment because nobody makes it like the United States. And for us that means jobs and it also means frankly great security back here, which we want."

He told the emir it was an honor to be with him. They shook hands but the emir did not speak.​

​

So Saudi Arabia suddenly points a finger at Qatar and Trump gobbles it up, head over heel. The irony is too thick on this one.

Grossing as much as $40 million or more over the past two years, ISIS has accepted funding from government or private sources in the oil-rich nations of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait—and a large network of private donors, including Persian Gulf royalty, businessmen and wealthy families.

It's a damn shame we have a President who's willing to risk the lives of our servicemen with his mindless, frivolous behaviour. Each passing day it seems this presidency cannot possibly sink any lower. Yet Trump manages to pull it off, time and time again.

 

[Tibs]

Tim, if you had any idea of what you were talking about, you'd probably want to bomb the skyscrapers instead of a bunch of camels in the desert. If anything, the issue with Qatar over the years has been the illicit funding they've provided terrorist groups. Funding, that would probably require offices, computer gear, online connections and the like. If it's a bunch of towelheads crouching in the desert you're looking for, you won't find many of them in Qatar. The ISIS fighters and training camps are in Iran-Iraq-Syria-Afghanistan. But please, continue enlightening us on the topic.

The point of contention here is that Saudi Arabia - the gall! - is now pointing fingers at Qatar for supporting terrorists. They'd be well served to look around in their own backyard. The fact Trump took the bait, hook line and sinker tells you everything you need to know how unprepared - and mentally unstable - he is to hold office.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

Tim, if you had any idea of what you were talking about, you'd probably want to bomb the skyscrapers instead of a bunch of camels in the desert. If anything, the issue with Qatar over the years has been the illicit funding they've provided terrorist groups. Funding, that would probably require offices, computer gear, online connections and the like. If it's a bunch of towelheads crouching in the desert you're looking for, you won't find many of them in Qatar. The ISIS fighters and training camps are in Iran-Iraq-Syria-Afghanistan. But please, continue enlightening us on the topic.

The point of contention here is that Saudi Arabia - the gall! - is now pointing fingers at Qatar for supporting terrorists. They'd be well served to look around in their own backyard. The fact Trump took the bait, hook line and sinker tells you everything you need to know how unprepared - and mentally unstable - he is to hold office.

I'm quite aware the predominance of their involvement has likely been financial. That's why I pointed out attack "by whatever means" - bombing, SEAL raids, financial. Stop attributing your misapplied labels. You're the one that said we just wanted to turn the place into a parking lot and took Indy's euphemism (sorry for the big word) literally.

Whatever the terrorist involvement is, I again trust our military to figure it out. Camps, training centers, financiers.

Now please, go back to explaining to us all how there's no way to attack Qatar and "should we decide to bomb" there are no places to bomb, just skyscrapers? That was particularly entertaining.

You're welcome for the educational big pictures you can use to show us how there is simply no place to bomb, because, well Connecticut.

 

[Tibs]

Camps, training centers...

There are no camps. There are no training centers.

Now please, go back to explaining to us all how there's no way to attack Qatar and "should we decide to bomb" there are no places to bomb, just skyscrapers? That was particularly entertaining. You're welcome for the educational big pictures you can use to show us how there is simply no place to bomb, because, well Connecticut.

Bomb away Tim, bomb away. Nothing like dropping bombs with no tactical merit. Great use of taxpayers' money.

Plus, why would you want to bomb Trump's friends and business partners?

Trump has stakes in four companies that appear to be tied in business in the desert nation. The country’s state-owned carrier, Qatar Airways, has leased an office in Manhattan’s Trump Tower since 2008. Ivanka Trump told Hotelier Middle East in 2015 that the Trump Hotel Collection was eyeing opportunities in Qatar.

 

[Superman]

wait ... we're not safe? my angry brown friends aren't coming over?

 

[Tibs]

More Trump bluster. So predictable.

It turns out that the $110 billion Saudi arms is actually fake news
http://www.businessinsider.com/it-t...tm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer-bi

It turns out that the $110 billion Saudi Arabia arms deal that the Trump administration announced in May is actually "fake news," according to the Brookings Institution.

Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow and director of the Brookings Intelligence Project, writes that everyone with whom he has spoken in the defense industry and on Capitol Hill says that the supposed $110 billion deal is actually "a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts."

In fact, a lot of these proposals, which the Pentagon calls "intended sales," are just arms that defense contractors speculate that the Saudis might want at some point. Many were even proposed during the Obama era.

For example, the Pentagon proposed to sell the Saudis four frigates for $11.25 billion in 2015, but since then, no contracts have been signed.

Same thing with the THAAD systems. The Saudis have wanted missile defense systems for awhile, and Obama even approved such a sale in 2015, but nothing has been signed.

Riedel suggests that the Saudis probably can't even afford such a huge deal at this point, since they are struggling with low oil prices and trying to pay for the war in Yemen.

He also said that one way to glean that the "deal is real" is when Israel wants a deal of their own, since the Israelis will want to keep their edge over their Arab neighbors. When former Defense Secretary Bob Gates closed a $112 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia in 2012, he also had to negotiate a separate one with Israel to get it through Congress.

 

[Superman]

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/brookings-institute/

 

[Tibs]

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/brookings-institute/

Instead of doing that, why don't you find some substantial information on all these new Saudi arms deals that are supposedly rolling in? Make sure you get back to us in a jiffy. The number you're looking for is $110 billion in new arms contracts with the Saudis.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

There are no camps. There are no training centers.

Bomb away Tim, bomb away. Nothing like dropping bombs with no tactical merit. Great use of taxpayers' money.

Plus, why would you want to bomb Trump's friends and business partners?

This began with Indy saying "that should be a green light to bomb the **** out of them."

Your retort: "Bomb our own military bases in Qatar? Now that sounds like a plan." The insinuation is that there is no way to bomb Qatar without hitting our military. Wrong.

Your next retort: "Yes, let's bomb a country smaller than Conneticut, where we have 11,000 troops currently stationed." The insinuation is that one couldn't bomb a country the size of CT for fear of hitting our troops. Again, wrong. We could if warranted.

Your follow on retort: "Which one of the skyscrapers are you guys gonna take out first?" The insinuation is that in order to bomb Qatar, one would have to bomb the cities. Again, wrong.

A country could target and bomb Qatar without hitting US bases, US Military personnel, or the skyscrapers in Dohar. You're wrong. They could be bombed.

The discussion wasn't a discussion about should they be bombed, at least from my viewpoint. I'm merely replying to your baseless claims that they couldn't be bombed. They could be strategically bombed. Remember Syria? Qatar is a haven for terrorists. A safe space. And they depend heavily on travel and their airport being a key hub. What impact would it have on Qatar and their financiers and their government, if say in addition to the ME sanctions, 60 cruise missiles obliterated Hamad International Airport?

And yes, they are a haven for their financiers. It's proven they back innumerable terrorist organizations around the globe and often terrorists go there. It's a haven and safe space for many heads of terrorist organizations around the globe.

Wealthy individuals in Qatar donate to terrorists. The Qatar government has given weapons and money to Islamic terrorists in Syria. Qatar is linked to the Nusra Front of al-Qa'ida. They back the Muslim Brotherhood. Abd al-Rahman bin Umayr al-Nuaymi is there and labeled as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He finances al-Qa'ida and its affiliates in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen. The Qatar Charitable Society (QCS)/Qatar Charity, was one of Bin Laden's main sources of funding. Khalifa Muhammad was allowed to live freely in Qatar. Qatar organizations have funded Chechnyan rebels and Ansar Dine. Qatar provided financial and material support - millions of dollars in aid, military training and more than 20,000 tons of weapons - to anti-Gaddafi rebels. The Qatar government and its citizens have sponsored large-scale fundraising campaigns to solicit support for the procurement of weapons, food and supplies for al-Nusra in Syria Abdul Karim al-Thani, a member of Qatar's royal family, ran a safe house for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor to ISIS. Al-Thani gave Qatari passports out and put $1 million into a bank account to finance AQI. More money flows from Qatar to Hamas than from any other country. They have harbored Khaled Meshal, Hamas' political head, as well as Saleh al-Arouri, the founder of Hamas' military wing, Husam Badran, and the former leader of a Hamas cell and the current media spokesperson for Hamas.

Now, considering all of that, and that is just an appetizer, should they be attacked? One could certainly make the case for that. For now, I'm glad that ME countries are banding together. 90% of Qatar's food comes from Saudi Arabia. Their citizens are currently ransacking groceries to stock up on food.

It's a start.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

Instead of doing that, why don't you find some substantial information on all these new Saudi arms deals that are supposedly rolling in? Make sure you get back to us in a jiffy. The number you're looking for is $110 billion in new arms contracts with the Saudis.

https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/us-approves-14-billion-sale-to-saudi-arabia/529257/

What are you blathering about now? On Monday, the first phase of the deal was signed and approved by the US State Department - $1.4Billion. You expect the whole $110Billion done overnight?

The U.S. State Department approved the sale of $1.4 billion in military training and equipment to Saudi Arabia as part of a larger arms deal signed by President Trump in May, the Pentagon announced Monday. Prior to his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia last month, Trump sanctioned a deal spearheaded by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, that would provide the nation with around $110 billion in defense items such as tanks, fighter planes, combat ships, and precision-guided bombs over the next ten years.

Monday’s approval by the State Department specifically pertains to two major sales: a training program for military forces like the Royal Saudi Air Force and a radar system to improve Saudi Arabia’s border security. According to the Pentagon, the radar system, which has the capacity to locate and protect against incoming rockets, mortars, and artillery, is part of a $662 million package that includes ammunition, trucks, and technical support. The remaining $750 million will finance a training program that provides military education and flight instruction, as well as English-language skills, to Saudi forces. With these tools, the Pentagon said, Saudi Arabia’s military will learn to reduce civilian casualties.

 

[Superman]

Instead of doing that, why don't you find some substantial information on all these new Saudi arms deals that are supposedly rolling in? Make sure you get back to us in a jiffy. The number you're looking for is $110 billion in new arms contracts with the Saudis.

why? i'm happy that we've finally exterminated all semblances of Islamic Terrorism and can now welcome my new angry brown friends into my home. I look forward to them teaching me the intricacies of the koran as taught by the holy pedophile, learning why I must be beheaded with a dull knife, why my woman should be their sex slave, and other useful items of their culture. It's going to be a beautiful learning process and I can only thank you - my friends on the left - for seeing through the reluctance of my friends on the right to let these poor, huddled masses into our little melting pot. all snackbars from here on out!

 

[Superman]

https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/us-approves-14-billion-sale-to-saudi-arabia/529257/

What are you blathering about now? On Monday, the first phase of the deal was signed and approved by the US State Department - $1.4Billion. You expect the whole $110Billion done overnight?

do you realize how much paper a cargo plane can carry? it's entirely feasible. even if you need to make 2-3 runs with multiple aircraft.

 

[deljzc]

Best article on the events in Qatar.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...ood-double-agent-war-terror-column/102525860/

Personally, I have no problem with this development. This is actually a good thing. Shows that maybe Muslim countries can/should start policing themselves when it comes to sponsored terrorism. It's certainly not enough (not close to it), but it exposes the double standard so many of our "Muslim Allies" in the region take when it comes to Islamism.

As far as our military base there (and in Saudi Arabia), it's one of the reason I've been a proponent and supporter of keeping troops in Iraq. I think Obama made a terrible mistake in withdrawing troops in Baghdad and Mosul. Instead we should have build huge military complexes smack dab along the Euphrates river. And we should have insisted Iraq adopt a secular constitution. Neither happened under the inadequacies of our last President and now the region has more violence, more human rights violations, more Islamism than before Obama-in-Charge.

Difficult for Trump to re-invent the complete cluster **** Obama/Clinton/Kerry left him.

I think he's headed in the right direction. And this little "blip" against Qatar is a good indication that's happening.

 

[Tibs]

This is INSANE. Many of you will continue to ignore what is happening. But the fact is, it's happening.

And mind you, this is coming from Trump's own governmental officials, not Hillary's, not Obama's or anyone else's. This is what happens when a president goes rogue and operates outside of the structure of government, in this case, the State Dept.

BREAKING: U.S. officials believe Russian hackers planted a fake news story in Qatar's state news agency that led Arab nations in the region to cut ties with the country, which President Trump took credit for in a series of tweets.

US suspects Russia planted fake news in Qatar: report
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/336638-us-suspects-russia-planted-fake-news-in-qatar-report

U.S. officials believe that Russian hackers planted a fake news story in Qatar's state news agency, contributing to divisions among key U.S. allies in the Gulf, CNN reported Tuesday citing U.S. officials.

The FBI sent investigators to Doha recently to aid the Qatari government in probing the reported incident, officials told CNN.

U.S. officials said that intelligence indicated Russian hackers were behind the intrusion that Qatar's government reported two weeks ago, according to the network.

The report comes amid continued scrutiny over Russia's cyber activities, including interference in last year's presidential election.

– This breaking news report will be updated

This adds up, as officials at the Defense Dept. were dumbfounded by Trump's tweets on Qatar this morning. This tells me factions within his own cabinet are in the dark as to what the president is doing or thinking.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

This is INSANE. Many of you will continue to ignore what is happening. But the fact is, it's happening.

And mind you, this is coming from Trump's own governmental officials, not Hillary's, not Obama's or anyone else's. This is what happens when a president goes rogue and operates outside of the structure of government, in this case, the State Dept.

BREAKING: U.S. officials believe Russian hackers planted a fake news story in Qatar's state news agency that led Arab nations in the region to cut ties with the country, which President Trump took credit for in a series of tweets.

US suspects Russia planted fake news in Qatar: report
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/336638-us-suspects-russia-planted-fake-news-in-qatar-report



This adds up, as officials at the Defense Dept. were dumbfounded by Trump's tweets on Qatar this morning. This tells me factions within his own cabinet are in the dark as to what the president is doing or thinking.

Yet another speculative theory thrown about. Yet another part of the witch hunt.

Folks, buckle your seat belts. This **** is going to happen for 8 years. It will be daily fabricated stories from scoops of ice cream, to dinners without the press corps invited, to well done steak, to Putin and Trump taking a jacuzzi together.

 

[Tibs]

Yet another speculative theory thrown about. Yet another part of the witch hunt.

That's not my take on it. It's yet another indication Russia continues to be incredibly active around the world with intrusive, subversive psy-ops. Perhaps this will be a lesson for Trump to tread more cautiously through the minefield that is the ME. His move to suddenly turn on Qatar - a supposed long-time ally and host of our largest ME military base - is point-blank reckless, at the minimum.

Here is a sober, reserved analysis of what this latest Russian hacking could mean, from The Atlantic.

Taking the CNN report at face value, the story raises a number of issues: First, why would Russian hackers target the Qataris? The answer, CNN noted, “appears to be to cause rifts among the US and its allies.” U.S. intelligence agencies say Russian hackers interfered with the U.S. election to favor Trump—though they say there’s no evidence to suggest the hacking succeeded. Russia is also accused of using fake news to target elections in the U.S., France, Netherlands, and elsewhere.<section id="article-section-3">
Second, even if the purported Qatari news report was fake, how much did it deviate from official Qatari policy? As David Roberts, a professor of defense studies at King’s College, wrote for the BBC Monday: “The key problem was that these comments simply voiced out loud what many have long understood as Qatar’s true policy positions. [P]articularly under the leadership of the former Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Qatar sought to carve out a unique niche for itself and its policies, such as augmenting relations with Israel or Iran, and rejecting the wider consensus of the regional group of the monarchies, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).”

Third, it’s unclear what impact the purported Qatari report had. Gulf countries, primarily Saudi Arabia, have long been annoyed by Qatar and its policies. The purported report may merely have been the tipping point. “I think what we’re witnessing is a growing list of some irritants in the region that have been there for some time,” Tillerson said in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, “and obviously they have now bubbled up to a level that countries decided they needed to take action in an effort to have those differences addressed.”

Finally, even if the Russian hackers are shown to have placed fake news on Qatari websites, it’s unclear if that will immediately change the minds of Saudi Arabia and its allies about Qatar’s role in the region. That’s likely to be a bigger challenge for the U.S. to overcome in the days and weeks ahead.

</section>

 

[Tibs]

This is alarming, when the President and the Defense Department seem not be on the same page.

Trump Just Attacked a Key Ally. The Pentagon Responds.
http://resistancereport.com/world/pentagon-trump-qatar/

The Pentagon was left speechless following President Trump’s remarks on Twitter earlier Tuesday morning about the country allegedly funding terror.

Despite Qatar being host to a military base that houses 10,000 American troops (the largest U.S. base in the Middle East), Trump nonetheless pointed the finger at the Gulf Arab nation for supposedly being the key sponsor of radical Islamic terrorist groups. The tweets brought a noncommital statement from Department of Defense (DoD) officials, who refused to corroborate the claims made by the Commander-in-Chief.

“I can’t help you with that,” DoD spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters, when asked about Trump’s tweets being a change in U.S. policy toward Qatar. “I will only tell you that we have, with regard to our bases there, continued presence in our operations.”

On Tuesday morning, Trump took credit for Gulf Arab nations distancing themselves from Qatar, saying the move was a result of his meeting with Saudi King Salman during his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia late last month.

“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!” Trump tweeted.

“So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off,” Trump said over two separate tweets. “They said they would take a hard line on funding …. extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!

Trump’s tweets — in addition to ruffling the feathers of a key ally in the region — are also incorrect, as Saudi Arabia has been proven to be the world’s leading sponsor of radical Wahhabist ideology, which is the same ideology subscribed to by ISIS. In India alone, The Week reports that Saudi Arabia spent a quarter of a billion dollars spreading Wahhabism over a two-year period.

​

Saudi Wahhabism has even reached the U.S., as 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the 9/11 attacks were from Saudi Arabia. Even Trump himself accused the Saudis of funding 9/11 while campaigning for the presidency.

 

[Superman]

so, banner up or down?

 

[deljzc]

Tibs,

You make is sound like this issue with Qatar went from 0-60 mph overnight based on this "one" very flimsy statement by Qatari rulers about Iran & Shia Muslims (which is only PARTLY being linked to Russia by again unnamed sources and unnamed agencies). This whole issue between Qatar and the other Gulf states goes way back, long before this stupid CNN report.

Qatar has a long history of being a bit "soft" on Islamism. So does Saudi Arabia and many of our other allies.

Inter-conflict between OPEC nations is as old as the organization itself. I can't believe this is such a big story here in the U.S. Let these "kings" work it out. Christ, what the hell do you think is going to happen, Saudi Arabia is going to invade Qatar? Jesus.... what a mountain out of a mole hill the left has decided to run with this week in it's quest against everything America and everything Donald Trump.

 

[hamster]

This is alarming, when the President and the Defense Department seem not be on the same page.

Trump Just Attacked a Key Ally. The Pentagon Responds.
http://resistancereport.com/world/pentagon-trump-qatar/

The Resistance Report? Really? Really?

 

[Turd Ferguson]

CNN and reported Russian interference.....sigh.