Okay, every topic that has even remotely to do with the middle east keeps getting more general news put into it which removes focus from the original topic.
As such, I'm creating this thread as a general middle east and north africa topic. That means anything to do with the Arab Spring, Israel or Palestine should be kept to those threads and anything to do with more generic news (for example, new Saudi regulations on the number of foreign workers or the Lebanese elections next year, etc.) should be posted here.
I hope the mods will find this a clear enough statement of intent to open the thread.
Mod edit: The Israel and Palestine thread
has been locked since October 2023. Discussion about Palestine and/or Israel remains off-topic for this thread.
Edited by Mrph1 on May 11th 2024 at 2:19:57 PM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I think the guy who is now one heartbeat away from the Palm Throne in Riyadh might qualify, by influence if not exactly by reputation....
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Breaking news: Terrorist plot to bomb the Grand Mosque in Mecca foiled by Saudi Arabian security just this morning.
The terrorist tasked with the actual attack was cornered in an apartment building he was residing in. Shots were exchanged, then he blew up himself and the building. Six people were injured, along with a handful of security personnel. Collaborators were also arrested in both Mecca and Jeddah.
Names of the terrorists have been withheld for security reasons pertaining to ongoing investigations.
edited 23rd Jun '17 7:16:48 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Holy shit. Glad they cornered them before they made it to the target. That would have been horrendous.
Who watches the watchmen?
Qatar says list of demands by Arab states not realistic
To put it mildly....
I do wonder what the quartet tries next though. They can't actually invade Qatar, given the presence of both Turkey and the US. But....
Kicking them out of the GCC is the next logical move, followed by long term isolation. Which just throws them into Iran's arms.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Or they might try for a military invasion.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
That might trigger an Iranian-Gulf war, with Turkey and Russia offering support to Tehran and the US being in a very awkward position (probably trying to get its carrier group the heck out of dodge). Saudis and friends can barely handle a bunch of Yemeni rebels, Iran would be impossible to take down.
On the bright side, it would certainly cause the price of oil to skyrocket. That's what they want, right?
I don't see Iran going to the mat for Qatar. But Turkey....given Erdogan's neo-Ottoman proclivities, I could see a Turkish-Arab war....
Cause that's exactly what the region needs right now....
I would think that Iran would certainly send assistance, "volunteers" and diplomatic interference (mostly from Russia) to them though. And they could keep riling up the Shia in the Gulf.
Omani foreign policy just keeps looking wiser.
edited 24th Jun '17 12:07:15 PM by Rationalinsanity
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Oman in general has the cultural advantage of being Ibadi, not Sunni or Shia.
Hum. That is another sub-group of Islam? And it existed in Northwestern Africa? Interesting...
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Older than the Sunni/Shia split. In other words they really don't see the entire thing as their business, unless it directly impacts them.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Indeed.
Qatar though, is solidly Sunni, unlike Bahrain. Iran would send humanitarian help, but the risk beyond that is not worth it to them.
United Earth
I'm confused: what's the deal with Qatar?
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
No one is entirely sure, just that posters here just woke up one morning to discover that the Gulf states were really, really angry with Qatar for some reason.
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
A procrastination in of itself
Qatar has long been a more independent actor amongst the Gulf States, between supporting the Muslim Brotherhood (the closest Egypt has to an opposition and a banned group in other countries) and allowing al jazeera to broadcast messages and information that could undermine the authoritarian regimes of the Gulf they've been making enemies for a while.
Why everything came to a head so suddenly and so explosively I don't know, something possibly happened behind the scenes (maybe connected to Iran) but the excuse being used that Qatar is supporting terrorism is a false reason (now Qatar does have issues with connections to terrorism, but that's not something the Saudis actually have an issue with).
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Hopefully Qatar doesn't become another Yemen. One warzone between the Saudis and Iranians in the Gulf is enough, thank you very much.
edited 25th Jun '17 1:28:13 PM by FireCrawler2002
Oh, bother.
Yeesh, what is this, the decade of proverbial straws breaking proverbial backs?
Disgusted, but not surprised
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
From what I gathered, Qatar started being a consistent thorn in the side of the other Gulf States ever since this guy deposed his father in a bloodless coup d'etat back in 1995. Aljazeera was founded by a royal decree during his reign, which was was also marked by moderate liberalization, something that is probably seen as a negatively radical phenomenon by the standards of the typically conservative Gulf States' absolute monarchies.
That being said, I find it very suspicious that this crisis happened so soon after POS-POTUS Trumpo el Dunce-o visited Saudi Arabia. I've seen speculation that his meeting with Saudi Arabian and other Gulf State leaders during said visit gave them the impression that he would support this move (though he probably didn't know anything about it at the time), and thus were emboldened enough to do it.
They wouldn't dare take on both Iran and Turkey (the latter has sent some of its troops to Qatar a few days after this spat began).
edited 25th Jun '17 6:32:32 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Oh, bother.
I can't help but be reminded of the boneheaded overconfident gamble Taiwan's current shitty leader Tsai Ing-wen pulled with that phone call and later subsequent demands for the USA to sell them F-35s. She actually thought Trump would support Taiwan over China <facepalm>. There's a reason China is being increasingly hardline with Taiwan these days.
Turkey's purges have clearly impacted their capabilities (their performance in Syria is a shit show) and Iran is losing manpower in its forces meant for expeditionary missions. Although I sincerely doubt they've calculated that far.
edited 25th Jun '17 10:45:21 PM by TerminusEst
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
And yet Saudi Arabia — the overwhelmingly stronger member of the Gulf States in military terms — has made a mockery of itself in its intervention in Yemen against a bunch of tribal guerillas holed up in a bunch of mountains. It did nothing more than demonstrate that the armies of the Arab world's dictatorships suck at anything other than suppression of domestic threats to the status quo; they're just glorified SWAT forces on steroids at best.
Then factor in the fact that the Eastern Province has been sucking up a lot of our security forces' attention in recent years due to Iran's subservise hatemongering among the resident Shia population.
edited 26th Jun '17 5:33:48 AM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
By all accounts, the UAE's military is better. Mostly a modern Foreign Legion of sorts, but even locals are better than their Saudi counterparts.
We're just missing Hötzendorf.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele