Tag Archives: qatar

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

White Horse & World War 3: China may be moving away from Iran. Making deals with pro-U.S. Saudi Arabia, Qatar & UAE. Cuts oil imports from Iran

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

The Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, is visiting several Arab Peninsula countries, signing major oil deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.  

Saudi Arabia is already China’s biggest supplier of oil.  The new deals include building a 400,000 barrel per day refinery just for China, and Chinese companies expanding the infrastructure of the Arabian Peninsula countries.

This comes after China announced it would cut oil imports from Iran, blaming contractual issues (not pressure from the U.S.).

However, Premier Wen said China and Saudi Arabia needed to deepen their cooperation “…in the face of changeable and complicated regional and international trends.”

International, U.S.

World War 3: Afghan & Pakistan Taliban joining forces, will jointly attack U.S./NATO forces

Despite reports from Reuters, stating that the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban are “at each other’s throats”, Japanese media are reporting that various ‘taliban’ groups have agreed to put aside differences to jointly target U.S. led forces.

Over the weekend representatives from Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s Pashtun dominated Taliban (Mujahideen) groups met.  Japan’s NHK claims they talked with Mujahideen officials and were told they have decided to put aside their differences, and focus on fighting the U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistani Mujahideen agreed to back off of attacking Pakistani government forces, and, beginning in March, will help their Afghan cousins focus their fight against the U.S.

They’ve established a 5 member council to help co-ordinate their efforts.  This news comes after reports that the Afghan Taliban have accepted an offer from U.S. President Obama, and the government of pro-U.S. Qatar, to open a diplomatic office in Qatar.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Russia Qatar Incident update

Russia now says two Russian diplomats were also injured by Qatari security forces, when Russian Ambassador to Qatar, Vladimir Titorenko, was assaulted upon his return from Jordan.  Titorenko is currently in the hospital.

On November 30, Russia “…demanded that the Qatari side immediately offer a formal apology and take all necessary measures to establish and strictly punish those responsible for what happened and to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.”

There was no response from Qatar, and on December 4 “…the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov held a telephone conversation with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hamad Bin Jassim and informed him of the decision to downgrade relations with Qatar until the complete satisfaction of our demands.”

So far still no response from the leaders of Qatar.  Qatar is a pro-U.S./U.K. Arabian Peninsula country.  In fact many companies in Qatar are controlled by the Commonwealth (British Empire).  Harrods of London is owned by a Qatari company.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Arabian country, Qatar, attacks Russian Ambassador, U.S. involved

“The U.S. is probably playing its diplomatic angle to put pressure on Qatar to wield its power in the Arab League in a way it is beneficial to the Anglo-American interests.”-James Corbett, independent journalist

Russian Ambassador to Qatar, Vladimir Titorenko, was attacked by Qatari customs officers at the Doha International Airport on November 29. He was returning from a trip to Jordan. Russia is suspending relations with Qatar, after their demands for an explanation were ignored.

Ambassador Titorenko told Russian media, from a hospital, that he was hoping it was due to incompetence (just like our wonderful TSA).

Interestingly, the attack came the same day Russian officials accused Qatar of violating international law by wantonly shipping weapons to Libyan rebels, despite a UN arms embargo: “We know how the arms embargo was applied in Libya. It was used only in respect of the Libyan army, while the opposition got their arms. France and Qatar publicly spoke of such shipments. There were also open mentions of the work of special forces from several European countries. Having adopted the UN Security Council resolution banning the supply of arms, some nations, in fact, boasted that they were in breach of it. We will treat the call for an embargo on arms supplies to Syria in light of the Libya experience, and the behavior of some of our partners. Right now, the most important thing is to stop acting by means of ultimatums and try to move toward political dialogue.”–Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia

Qatar is also doing the same thing in Syria.  Ambassador Titorenko was in Jordan trying to get support for a Russian diplomatic plan to stop any attacks by the U.S. and European countries against Syria.

Pro-U.S. Qatar is the current head of the Arab League. Qatar has received at least U.S.$70 billion in investments from the United States (while our economy goes down the toilet).

International, U.S.

Sign that the U.S. realizes it can’t defeat Afghan Taliban, U.S. to officially recognize Taliban diplomatic office in Qatar

September 12, according to Australian media, the Taliban have opened a diplomatic office in Qatar, and will soon be recognized by the United States as an legitimate political organization.

Qatar is also the biggest Arab supporter of the U.S., U.K. and French backed Libyan rebels.  Qatar is also being implicated, along with Saudi Arabia, of instigating armed uprisings in Syria.

Foreign media tried to get reaction from White House officials, but declined comment.  Reports say this is a step towards peace talks between the Taliban and the United States.  Such peace talks would recognize the Taliban as the de facto rulers of Afghanistan.

Earlier in the year there were reports that Turkey would allow a Taliban embassy, but now it looks like Qatar has become the location of choice by U.S. officials.

The Taliban are seeking assurances that its representatives in Doha, the Qatari capital, would be free from harassment or arrest.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

Qatar helping to bomb Libya because of Bribes?

Qatar is the only Arab League country that will take part in the attacks on Libya (so far), even after the Arab League changed their mind on supporting UNSCR 1973.  Is this because of the $1 billion Qatar beggared from U.S. and European companies back in 2008?

Reuters says it’s gotten hold of leaked diplomatic documents (thanks to WikiLeaks), that show U.S. and European companies were shocked when Qatar hit them up for $1 billion to help build a state of the art hospital (gee it’d be nice if U.S. companies would spend that much on health care here in the U.S.).  The shock was due to the fact that Qatar is supposed to be rich, and in fact the Qatar Foundation is funding the hospital to a tune of $7.9 billion, the most for any hospital in the world. Sidra Medical Center is set to open in 2012.

Reuters says each company doing business in Qatar was hit up for anywhere from $80 million to $240 million.  “The IOCs (international oil companies) are shocked and angered by the request. None of the U.S. IOCs are considering donations … and they are aware the perception of a quid pro quo could be construed as violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”  -leaked document

Reuters says a few companies did not donate. Others say they are still in discussions over the donations (more than 2 years later?), but most, like several oil companies and even Microsoft, are declining comment.  Mmmm, have payments been made, and is Qatar’s involvement with UNSCR 1973 quid pro quo, or just international political ambition?

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Gaddafi right, Rebelion came from outside

A Wall Street Journal article suggests that Libyan rebels getting help from Egypt, Qatar and other Arab countries, all with U.S. approval.

Libyan rebels have praised Qatar from day one for their help.

Egypt is supposedly sending the rebels weapons (I wondered where the rebels got all those new looking heavy guns and missiles).  Hani Souflakis, a Libyan businessman in Cairo said “We know the Egyptian military council is helping us, but they can’t be so visible.”  Souflakis is a Libyan rebel liaison with the Egyptian government since the uprising began.

Libyan rebels admit they have been armed from the outside, but will not say who is arming them.  Also, the Wall Street journal reports that, all of a sudden, the rebels are using aircraft to launch air strikes against Libyan government troops (when the hell did they get aircraft?).  Some sources say the rebels are using captured Libyan aircraft, but that the rebels had to get spare parts, and trained air & ground crews from out side the country.

The Arab League actually drafted the UN Security Council’s declaration of  a no fly zone.

All this is proving that crazy sounding Gaddafi (Gadhafi, Kaddafi, Qaddafi, they all work) might be right when he claims that this whole “revolution” is a foreign act of war to get total control of Libya’s oil.