Not the perfect match off. Even though this ongoing delicate situation in the Arabian peninsula is hardly the biggest concern right now. In the south, the war in Yemen continues, cholera is spreading and prospects look grim. Yemen seems to have become Saudi Arabia's equivalent for Soviet campaign in Afghanistan – going awfully wrong whilst costing too much for comfort.
I've been thinking about the motivations behind the latest high tensions with Qatar. As campaigns in Syria are dwindling, the removal of Assad was a failure. We can see the Saudi outreach of foreign policy in the Middle East fail, whereas their grip on global terrorism exports and bribing Western politicians is as strong as ever. Saudis are making a terrible mistake if they think they can force Qatar to join them. If this is merely a ploy to prop up oil prices, they may prolong the inevitable. The Saudi model, as seen in Venezuela with stricken oil revenue, is not viable. Buying high priced assets on foreign soil is not going to cut it. We can witness China being at it, while propping up their home economy with creative bookkeeping and collecting assets abroad. Alas, at least China is dynamic in their view of building infrastructure which will be more concrete than empty paper promises.
Qatar and Iran on friendly terms since Syria plans bust?
Qatar is in many ways similar to Saudi Arabia, but fortunately they have smaller population and therefore more sustainable economy. At the moment, this latest escalation seems to have forced the Qatari to look for new global partners as the bullying neighbor tries to force them to join them. They can trust Turkey, with Muslim brotherhood connections. Iran can use the soft approach as can Russia to appease the situation. US has military base in Qatar and most likely wish that this will be the case in the future although they have many bases in the region.
It is probable that this whole move against terrorism loving Qatar will only embarrass everyone in the conflict. Saudis can afford buying up their way to UN human right council leader seat and women's right council while at it, so buying EU and US politicians to agree with their arguments to confront Qatar, Iran, NATO rogue Turkey and most of BRICS nations won't be an issue. It must be said at this point that for the most part BRICS countries have weakened and that SCO and Silk Road cooperation have strengthened. Countries like Brazil and South African are grimed with political problems that truly affect this partnership.
However the global situation is now more dynamic than ever. The blocks are moving nicely and aligning to accommodate new partnerships. Big alliances are quiet loose and whereas bilateral relationships can work on per issue basis. Monarchies seem not be dynamic enough to brainchild a move to more stable and productive society. We can already witness places like Europe descending back towards feudal society.
Old west in decline & demographic end of the line – Nihilism and solipsism pave way to nonexistence
In essence, we lack faith. That has become our cultural heritage. The lack of over generations bigger than life tradition. How can the western tradition overcome future obstacles in the now? Old ways of thinking won't suffice. From top to bottom approach will not work anymore. Passive obeisance will not cut it to get handouts from the state. It is more likely that the old power in high places won't see change and more so won't be acknowledging it until it hits them where it hurts. I wonder if the obeisance in exchange of compensation is the reason these wealthy monarchies can lobby their ways into our ways of life.
These are all good questions. Spreading awareness and people putting their skin-in-the-game will be the only change we can hope for. Let's spread the word and reform this shared society of information. Energy is in constant change.
What can we do about it? How can we contribute to a positive change? Politics seems inundated with trivial matters. All I can see is bickering and political deadlocks above which the superstate conducts all the business as usual.
Oh boy, what a shot! The other day I was listening to Activist Post contributor Vin Armani's show on Periscope and he had on his show the most interesting guest G. Edward Griffin who is well known for his historical documentation on the birth of onerous central banking entity Federal Reserve - The Creature From Jekyll Island. According to Griffin, instead of focusing on different groups or collectives, we should prop up and support individualism and free inalienable human rights aka the Natural law presented by the likes of Mark Passio. Griffin is indeed part of the older guard of pioneering intellectuals who promote anti-globalization and totalitarianism. Even though these days he is not as prominent as he used to be on the scene, Griffin makes something appearances in video interview and alt-media documentaries. Here is he on James Corbett's YouTube channel dismantling alt media lore on JFK.
However, framing the whole political dichotomy as a battle between the individual rights and collectivist rights is a difficult task for various reasons. First of all, few people know about the concept of collectivism in the first place. Secondly, people think they what individualism means, but in this context it's not about consumerism. It is more or less about depicting a structure of society one could call as anarchism or volunteerism where as some would call it the ultimate free market capitalism for all social interaction based on consent. This would inevitably throw a monkey wrench in the discussion, since there is a lot room for misunderstanding. For some individuals, it seems that anarchy and free markets don't mix, at least not inside their cramped minds. Unfortunately, for many, anarchists seem to equate with Antifa hooligans and rabble. That is the sorry state or the frame from which the fruitful discussion should begin.
The political left and right, liberal and conservative are mere distractions in this fight. My group versus your group. That is how the primitive mind likes us to associate. Therefore, we must stay cautious and be weary not fool yourselves into the numerous ideological and cognitive pitfalls in our path.
Democracies are for the most part collectivist states. Statists see people's right deriving from the state entity itself and therefore it can take away or grant privilege to certain parties. This is the way many countries around the world work even though they pledge to protect the UN human rights. Individualists see human rights as a priori in nature or god given rights, yet there is obviously some room for interpretation. The Natural Law principles as depicted in many works such as the Bible would include the inverted golden rule: Don't do to others what you wouldn't want to be done unto you and so forth. This is depicted in libertarian thinking as well for instance in the non-aggression principle. However, one must not be fooled by labels and titles, since many people calling themselves libertarian are nothing but opportunists. The collectivist thinking likes to label people and treat them as members of the group. Whereas this is very much understandable is does not compute to imbue these group traits or profiles onto individuals and give them moral value. Saying things like men are bad because they are men, or whites are racist because of white privilege is just straightforward stupid. Gross generalization always leads us astray.
It is more or less about the philosophical constitution of a society that the question of individualism versus collectivism touches. We have come to think ourselves as members of certain groups and in group members do get preferential treatment. This is of course natural when we think about our tribal ancestry. Calls for more segregation are a throwback towards a more primitive society.
Saudis eyeing military intervention to thwart Qatar
I can think many reasons why. The terrorism reason is a bogus one in the sense that other Gulf states sponsor Sunni terror as well. Maybe the levity towards Iran is the main reason. However this move might have other motives behind it. For instance, bullying Qatar and a brief military confrontation would inevitably raise oil and gas prices. In the long run, Saudis think they might be able to extort Qatar to relinquish any positive plans towards Shi'a Iran.
It is either us or the terrorists. Your favorite collectivist choice.
Saudi Arabia could also conquer the nation and annex their natural resources, although it goes without saying that this plan would be extremely high risk and could endanger the West's support to the cruel regime. In that sense, I think the Saudi can afford to go morally broke because it's not like they care to get their hands dirty as long as oil revenue is secured. Nevertheless, a military conflict would risk global economy and a risk of contagion to neighboring regions. I can already see pivot towards Iran.
Qatar 2022 World Cup host duty on the line
Now it seems, according to CNN, that Russian hackers are to blame. MSM is going for broke. Let no crisis go to waste. CNN's track record after London Bridge fabrication is not improving at all.
CNN: Russian false story behind Qatar crisis! Are Russians also behind the fake Omran story & thousands of fake Syria stories as well?! pic.twitter.com/dLCGiA0Ndr
One academician told the local news here that Saudis want Qatar to choose between them and Iran. I can see that this is indeed the case. It will be difficult though to put terror genie in the bottle and for this reason I expect that Saudi et al have to make a decisive and symbolic move to cut one head of this Hydra as a litmus test to prove they are serious about quelling terrorism.
If Brazil was a miss, Russia and Qatar might be even worse
This will also be seen as a litmus test for the markets. I'm anticipating a noticeable reaction. This could, if escalated, prevent the Fed from making the anticipated June rate hike. Companies investing in Qatar might take a hit if the 2022 World Cup is relocated. I wonder what will happen to FIFA bribes. The future looks uncertain.
When surrounding nations cut ties to Qatar, the single Gulf nation is without support in the region. This dilemma among others things is directly reflected in oil and gas prices and speculation runs wild what will happen to this nation now accused of supporting terrorism.
Another interesting fact is that with Qatar's fall from grace both upcoming FIFA World Cup hosts are facing a moral setback. Russia on the one hand is frowned upon because issues like Crimea, purported gay abuse in Chechnya and vehement collusion into US and Europe's internal affairs, Qatar on the other hand, dubiously chosen as the host for 2022 world cup, is taking a beating from the neighbouring countries who accuse the nation of supporting terrorism and, what is even worse, Iran.
I personally have hard time understanding why people think this accusation should be taken seriously. For the time being, Saudi-Arabia where notorious president Trump recently visited, is the main sponsor of Wahhabi terrorism in the world. No doubt about it. Yet Western leaders pander to Saudi assets. Theresa May wants to withhold the 'sensitive' report that is set to condemn UK weapons deals to extremists funding Arab theocracy. And not surprisingly, in the aftermath of Manchester 22 and the recent London Bridge terror attacks, this sensitive information would jeopardize the Tory re-election stunt June 8th.
First of all, let me set the record strait. The objective of this Qatar affair is in Iran. That is the main purpose by all means. Trump talked the talk and now both sunni nations and Israel will expect him to walk the walk. This indeed will please many neocons around the globe and would indubitably lead to a global conflict.
UK would be set to support this plan no doubt. They need first to survive the elections, thwart peacenicks like Corbyn and set aim for more tyranny first by 'creating safe spaces online' and quelling dissent and hate speech. And the bombings and terror incidents won't stop believe me.
Secondly, there is also no speck of a doubt that Qatar is harbouring terrorists and funding sunni jihadi insurgency in places like Libya, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. I hope you can remember the time when Qatar gave shelter to infamous Abdelhakim Belhadj, now leader to Islamic state in Maghreb. In defense of him, I should say that during his stay in Qatar, he was deemed by the West as an asset, since he would leave Qatar to fight for NATO in Libya in 2011. Later he was heralded as the hero of Libya by even more notorious neocon senators Richard Blumenthal, John McCain and Lindsay Graham.
During the Libyan war, Belhadj, who had been living in Qatar, returned
to Libya, courtesy of the Qatari Emir, and commanded the operations on
the ground in league with NATO. On 28 July 2011, he organised the
assassination of General Abdul Fatah Younis who claimed to have joined
the ‘rebels’, but who Belhadj accused of overseeing the struggle against
the LIFG during the 1990s.
There we have it. I would be pleased to be given the purported information pointing to collusion with Iran. Let's feast our eyes in this picture of competing pipelines. Let's focus on the rivalry between Qatar and Iran, and the obvious role of Syria in all this.
This plan is obviously one of the reasons for toppling Assad who chose the red option. Unfortunately the project to remove Assad is failing rapidly and now there seems to be a rush for apply a plan B for the region, as Daesh and other jihadis in the Iraq and Syria are being cornered. We can already witness the redeployment of jihadi assets towards new battlefields. One of the focal points is Europe through conventional air travel through Turkey, as the case of Salman Abedi, the assailant of Manchester arena bombing, has tangibly proven. Other node of travel is through Libya. Then again undercover extremists have also infiltrated the masses of immigrants from Turkey to Greece and from Libya to Italy.
Other battlefields where jihadis are needed in the global war on terror include Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and now most recently Southern-Philippines.
OPEC's future on the extra time?
As alliances in the Middle East are reorganizing rapidly, the situation remains very tense. We can expect some instability when it comes to oil prices. This uncertainty would boost the prices, thus alleviating the economies of nations such as Norway, Venezuela, Saudi-Arabia and Russia. It is, however, too early to categorize this latest move as a stunt to bolster the last stages of carbon emitting assets such as natural gas, oil and shale. The peak of myth is also being kept in life support even though new sources of raw material is found each year.
It is worth considering that the stalling of the implementation of the Paris Climate Accord as seen in Trump's thumb down move for the global greenhouse gas reduction and tax scheme agenda plays into this concoction of economic jousting. Nobody can really tell, whether combustible energy sources have any role this next 20 years. In energy production, we can expect them to remain as a stable yet somewhat polluting source of energy.
Deep State Sleight of Hand
Is remains to be seen if the Deep State befuddled its own crises can trick the Trump team to jump the gun when it comes to Iran. Certainly we can expect the military industrial complex McMaster and AIPAC backed Kushner to silver tongue the president into unexpected action. However the internal crisis in Washington, chasing the Russian ghost protocol influence and ever exceeding Pedogate investigations are prone to emerge as the achilles heel of the United States political theater.
I'm willing to bet there needs to be a string of distraction when the push comes to shove. MSM is clearly suffering and being openly ridiculed. Deep State is losing the fear effect of terrorism. Despite all this, it is evident that the divide and conquer strategy is working on some levels where people and groups are being maneuvered to bash one anothers' beliefs. This can be attributed as 'culture wars' and battles can be seen social media such as Twitter every waking hour of every single day. The power to sway public opinion and appear more confident is by no means indication of righteousness these days. The most riveting and vocal demagogues can gather such strength in the field of public opinion and this is something every government is fighting against. I'm not really cheering for bigots to sow the seeds of hate even though at times they are clearly in the right and have the better arguments. It is indeed hard to be inclusive and engage people during these times of extreme divisiveness and opinionated fools.
Could this be the coveted orb of ISIS from the Simpsons?
In the scale of things and all things considered, this Qatar affair is a joke. The Saudis are clearly the biggest supporters of sunni Wahhabi radicals and blaming Iran or Qatar won't change that fact. Many Western nations are willing to kowtow Saudi brutality and human rights abuses in places like Yemen. There is no excuse. Dumb and excited public will most likely fall for it, like it does for other ploys of the deep state. However Qatar is no prize either. They could improve their own human rights situation and correct the record for foreign slave labor and horrific working conditions in the World Cup construction sites.
