Will not bar Qatar from Arab summit in Riyadh, says Saudi crown prince

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman says Qatar will not be barred from the Arab summit in Riyadh later this month but predicted the standoff with Doha could last a long time.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman's comments were made to local editors during a visit to Egypt this week and published today in the independent Al-Shorouk newspaper.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar in June, accusing the tiny but super-rich Gulf state of supporting militant groups and forging close ties with Shiite Iran.
The prince described Iran, Turkey and militant groups as the "contemporary triangle of evil." He said Saudi Arabia was seeking to end the close relations between Iran on the one hand and Russia and Syria on the other.

Amid Gulf crisis, US approves $1 billion Qatar arms deal

The United States government has approved a USD 1.1 billion deal to service Qatar's F-15 fighter jets despite the diplomatic stand-off between the Gulf emirate and its neighbours.

Qatar, home to one of the largest US military bases in the Middle East, is locked in a bitter dispute with Washington's other Arab allies in the region, led by Saudi Arabia.

US President Donald Trump took Riyadh's side in June when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

But Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has taken a more cautious line, attempting to broker an agreement to cool ties and build a regional front against Iranian influence and extremism.

Yesterday, the State Department announced it had approved a USD 1.1 billion contract to service Qatar's F-15QA jets and build them ground facilities and hardened bunkers.

"Qatar is an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Persian Gulf region," the department said, in a note from its Defence Security Cooperation Agency.

"Our mutual defence interests anchor our relationship and the Qatar Emiri Air Force plays a predominant role in Qatar's defence."

The new maintenance and training facilities will also come with improved "cyber security services, mission critical computer resources, support services, force protection services."

Tillerson visited both Riyadh and the Qatari capital Doha last month in an effort to curb Iran's influence in the region and urge the Arab monarchies to negotiate away their differences.
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Arab states' sanctions boost food prices, hurt real estate in Qatar in July

Sanctions imposed by other Arab states are continuing to push up food prices in Qatar while hurting the real estate market, but not to the point of damaging the economy severely, according to inflation figures released by the government on Tuesday.

The annual inflation rate fell back sharply to 0.2 per cent in July. It had spiked to 0.8 per cent in June from 0.1 per cent in May after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.

By closing Qatar's land border with Saudi Arabia and disrupting maritime shipping routes, the sanctions slashed Qatari imports by more than a third in June, pushed up prices of some basic goods and hurt business sentiment in Doha.

There were fresh signs of that damage in the July inflation numbers. Food and beverage prices climbed 4.5 per cent from a year earlier - their fastest rate of increase since at least 2014, and accelerating from a rise of 2.4 per cent in June.
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Why some Arab countries want to shutter Al Jazeera

I’ve been studying and writing about Al Jazeera since its early years, sometimes with concern, sometimes with appreciation. My 2008 book “The Al Jazeera Effect” explored the political significance of regional satellite television news networks in the Arab world and beyond.

Although the politics of Al Jazeera remain controversial, I believe shutting down any news organization weakens the viability of a free press – particularly in a region where democracy has so much difficulty gaining traction.

A critical eye

When Al Jazeera launched in 1996, it shook the Arab media landscape.

At the time, stodgy, government-controlled television newscasts were the norm. They featured uncontroversial reporting with low production standards. Suddenly, there was a channel that offered relatively uncensored coverage of the region’s politics with the sleek look of Western news programs like those on BBC and CNN.

Most importantly, when there was a big story within the Arab World – such as the Second Intifada, the 2000 Palestinian uprising against Israel – Arab audiences no longer had to turn to Western broadcasters to get analysis about what was happening. Instead, they saw Arab reporters covering the news with a pro-Arab slant. Al Jazeera English, which was founded in 2006, prides itself on covering more stories and perspectives from the “Global South” than other news organizations.

More broadly, the channel became controversial because of its coverage of the American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The George W. Bush administration considered its coverage inflammatory for highlighting civilian casualties in those conflicts, with government officials charging that Al Jazeera was stirring up opposition to U.S. efforts in the region.

Yet Al Jazeera’s free-wheeling, pan-Arab approach has also been a source of ire for Middle Eastern rulers who prefer to control the news that reaches their citizens. Al Jazeera has reported critically about these governments, especially those that are now acting against Qatar. Its talk shows have debated topics such as religion and women’s issues in ways that have redefined the concept of “free speech” in the Arab world.

There are, however, limits to Al Jazeera’s journalistic doggedness. Despite Al Jazeera’s eagerness to question the ruling classes of most Arab countries, the Qatari royal family isn’t covered with the same level of scrutiny. Rather, the channel has been seen as a de facto part of Qatar’s foreign policy apparatus.
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Qatar blockade is a warning to desert countries that rely on imported food

The wealthiest nation on the planet is facing a sudden experience of what poverty might be like, if relationships with its neighbours are not restored. Though Qatar has an extraordinary per capita income of $130,000, compared with around $57,000 in the US, it has a glaring weakness – the small desert peninsula imports around 90% of its food.

This has come to a head as a result of the blockade placed around Qatar by neighbouring members of the Gulf Co-operation Council, who accuse it of supporting militants. It furiously denies the claim. Because most of Qatar’s food had previously arrived across its only land border with Saudi Arabia, the blockade created the potential for imminent shortages, food inflation and unrest. Severe food shortages have only been averted thanks to urgent new deals with Iran and Turkey, which are flying and shipping food in.

Qatar is an important example of a nation potentially made complacent by its wealth. Why cultivate your own food when you can simply buy it in? The country also has a major food waste problem exacerbated by a regional culture of social extravagance. It appears to have given little attention to securing resilience within its food supply chains.

The blockades have exposed Qatar’s lack of domestic food production. Its hot, dry climate means most land is unsuitable for agriculture, and costs are high. The local food industry therefore does not have the knowledge, expertise or infrastructure to compete with cheaper, sometimes “loss leader” ranges of food imports that are seeking to create an anchor presence in anticipation of other food ranges to follow. Huge economic inequality also plays a role: wealthy, status-conscious Qataris prefer higher quality imported food, while at the other extreme a cost-conscious imported workforce cannot afford to be choosy.
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Qatar-Gulf crisis: The worst is behind us, says US

Progress has been made towards resolving the crisis between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours after senior US officials met leading players in the standoff, the State Department has said.

"I would characterise the mood and approach as hopeful, which believes that the worst is behind us," spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Tuesday.

Earlier, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, whose government accused Qatar of sponsoring extremist groups and had closed its border.

Tillerson and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have been working the telephones attempting to de-escalate the crisis between Riyadh and Qatar, which hosts a huge US airbase.

Nauert refused to say whether Washington regards Qatar as a sponsor of terror or whether the closure of the border and ban on Qatari flights in Saudi airspace amount to a "blockade."

"Let's keep in mind that everyone has agreed or these parties are working toward an agreement on combating terrorism, and that is the main focus," she said.

"And let's not get bogged down in all the details about who's calling what when. This is trending in a positive direction. And let's stay focused on that so that we can continue to fight the war on terror."

Earlier, appearing alongside Tillerson - who last week had urged that the "blockade" be eased - Jubeir had insisted: "It's not a blockade."
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Qatar hires ex-US AG to audit its efforts at stopping terror funding

Qatar has paid $2.5 million to the law firm of a former attorney general under US President George W Bush to audit its efforts at stopping terrorism funding, a matter at the heart of the Gulf diplomatic crisis that erupted last week.

John Ashcroft personally will lead his Washington-based firm's efforts "to evaluate, verify and as necessary, strengthen the client's anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing" compliance, according to documents filed to the US Justice Department.

Qatar hiring Ashcroft, who was attorney general during the September 11 attacks and then helped push through the Patriot Act, appeared aimed at appeasing the Gulf nations now trying to isolate it.

Officials in Qatar, home to a major US military base, and Ashcroft's firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and cut off land, sea and air routes to the tiny peninsular nation that relies on food imports. Its long-haul carrier Qatar Airways has also been affected.

At the heart of the dispute are the long-standing allegations linking Qatar to regional Islamist and militant groups.

Qatar denies supporting terrorist organisations, but Western officials regularly have accused Qatar's government of allowing or even encouraging the funding of some Sunni extremists.

Qatar also has hosted a leader of Hamas, the militant Islamic group ruling the Gaza Strip, as well as members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group that Gulf nations consider a threat to their hereditary rule.
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Saudi Arabia cuts all diplomatic ties to Qatar citing threat of 'terrorism'

Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic relations and all land, sea and air contacts with fellow Gulf Arab state Qatar on Monday, saying the move was necessary to protect the kingdom from what it described as terrorism and extremism.

The official state news agency, citing an official source, said Saudi Arabia had decided to sever diplomatic and consular relations with Qatar "proceeding from the exercise of its sovereign right guaranteed by international law and the protection of national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism".

Saudi Arabia cut all land, air and sea contacts with Qatar "and urges all brotherly countries and companies to do the same".
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