Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, which includes UAE, Bahrain and Egypt and others, to lift its blockade of Qatar, saying that the cutoff is hindering the fight against the (Qatar-funded) Islamic State. Tillerson also said the blockade had led to food shortages and forced families to uproot themselves and pull their children from school.
“We believe there are unintended consequences, especially during this holy month of Ramadan but they can be addressed immediately,” Tillerson said.
MOMENTS AGO: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson makes statement on Qatar. pic.twitter.com/XUev0Byeod
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 9, 2017
The secretary of state said the Emir of Qatar has made progress in countering terrorism but needs to do more. He added that after speaking to Gulf nations, he believes the countries involved in the dispute – all U.S. allies – are stronger together, and “the elements of a solution are available.” Even so, he said, Qatar must do more to combat extremism.
The Qatar crisis – the result of Saudi Arabia and its Atab allies severing diplomatic ties as well as land, sea and air travel with Qatar – has thrust the U.S. into a delicate position, because of its alliances with all sides, and because Qatar hosts the nerve center for U.S. air operations in the Middle East, including the fight against Islamic State. Making this more awkward is the widespread knowledge that both Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the biggest sponsors of terrorism in the region.
Separately Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that sanctions imposed upon his country violate international law, calling the moves by Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations an “unjust siege.”
speaking in the German town of Wolfenbuettel on Friday alongside German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also said that his nation’s hope was for diplomacy and dialogue.
He asked: “What crime did Qatar commit to deserve such a punishment that violates international law?”
Well, funding and supporting terrorism for once.
Gabriel said it was important to prevent any “further escalation” and that Germany was willing to help with any negotiations, noting that other diplomatic efforts were already being made by the U.S., Kuwait and others, and that he was “optimistic” they would be able to organize talks.
Cloggie on Sat, 10th Jun 2017 1:57 pm
@GoSpeedRacer – the forum software can’t handle long strings, unless there is a hyphen in the string, which is interpreted as a word wrap opportunity.
But if somebody presses 200 times on the under score character (or any other character) the forum software does not apply word wrap and the entire thread is kaput.
So you can post long URLs, provided there are hyphens in the URL. If not, use tinyurl.com.
yoshua on Sat, 10th Jun 2017 2:28 pm
Qatar seems to have flipped sides from the Gulf States to seek support from Iran, Turkey and Russia.
India and Pakistan have just joined the Shanghai Pact. So soon they will announce their support to Qatar as well? Saudi Arabia claims that Pakistan already supports Qatar.
The US and the Gulf States will soon be confronting the entire Eurasian continent (minus Europe?) in this conflict.
Cloggie on Sat, 10th Jun 2017 2:43 pm
Turkey, Qatar and Iran want to get rid of the “House of Saud” and give KSA “back to the people” and get rid of the West while they are at it.
Davy on Sat, 10th Jun 2017 8:27 pm
“The US and the Gulf States will soon be confronting the entire Eurasian continent (minus Europe?) in this conflict.”
Yea, sure, I can see it now the whole Eurasian continent holding hands in defiance. The world is now faced with intractable predicaments and the worst are on the Eurasian Continent. This will not be very conducive to cooperation of any sort. More likely they will all be at each other’s throat before long. Not to say the US will be anything more than the black ball. Few nations respect the US anymore. It is now all about fear of being friends or being enemies.
yoshua on Sun, 11th Jun 2017 7:19 am
Trumps sword dance in Saudi Arabia with his head chopping friends was a bad omen.
The seance around the glowing ball was a bad omen.
No one will win this war. No one wants to go down without a spectacular fireworks either though.
There is talk about that the Gulf States will withdraw they money from Qatari banks which might cause a financial meltdown.
Cloggie on Sun, 11th Jun 2017 7:35 am
No one will win this war.
If it would bring down the “House of Saud” there would be a lot of parties considering themselves winners: Qatar, Turkey, Iran, large parts of the populations of KSA and Egypt.
This essentially is a battle between US vassal regimes and “Arabian masses” who would love to have a larger piece of the oil pie.
Tillerson understands that. Rumors are that Trump didn’t even realize that the US has a large military base in Qatar.
rockman on Sun, 11th Jun 2017 8:47 am
A little history lesson about Qatar seems appropriate:
Qatar achieved full independence from the United Kingdom on 3 September 1971. Arab states were among the first to recognize Qatar, and the country gained admittance to the United Nations and the Arab League in the same year. Qatar established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and Communist China in 1988. The country was an early member of OPEC and a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Over the past two decades, Qatar has grown its international profile and punched above its weight in international affairs. The country is a member of numerous international organizations and maintains bilateral relations around the globe.
Qatar also uses its massive wealth to purchase influence abroad; its state-funded news media company Al Jazeera serves as an international soft power for the country. Qatar buys influence in Western countries through investments and donations. For example, the country has made large donations to the prominent Washington-based think tank, the Brookings Institution, purchased British retailer Harrods, and donated $1 million to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state.
Bahrain-Qatar relations – The territorial dispute with Bahrain over the Hawar Islands and the maritime boundary dispute with Bahrain were solved by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. In the 2001 decision, Bahrain kept the Hawar Islands and Qit’at Jaradah but dropped claims to Janan Island and Zubarah on mainland Qatar, while Qatar retained significant maritime areas and their resources.
On 5 March 2014, Bahrain withdrew its ambassadors from Qatar to protest Qatar’s non-compliance with a November 2013 agreement not to “interfere” in countries’ internal affairs. The widely accepted cause for this move was Qatar’s support for the organization, the Muslim Brotherhood.
On 3 June 2017, the Twitter account of Bahraini foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa was hacked in a Qatari cyberattack.
Two days later, on 5 June, Bahrain announced that it would cut ties with Qatar.
Qatar and Iran have close ties. Both are members of OPEC, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Unlike fellow GCC member states Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar generally refrains from criticizing Iran’s domestic and foreign activities. Qatar has also held several high-level meetings with Iranian officials to discuss security and economic agreements.
Iran and Qatar have a close economic relationship, particularly in the oil and gas industries. Iran and Qatar jointly control the world’s largest gas field. In addition to ties in the oil and natural gas arena, Iran and Qatar also cooperate in the shipping sector.
yoshua on Sun, 11th Jun 2017 10:40 am
Rockman
Thanks for the history lesson. Life is always more complicated than what one initially thinks.
The Gulf States are nervous after the Arab Spring, especially today after the collapse of their oil revenues. Qatar’s support to the popular Muslim Brotherhood among the poor in the region and Al Jazeera’s populism is seen as destabilizing factor in the region among Gulf State leaders. No one wants to turn into the next Syria, Yemen or Libya.
The Gulf States have been running huge fiscal deficits since the collapse of the oil price to maintain stability in their nations.