Current Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani [Image Source] |
It's penned by Mohamed Fahmy whose Wikipedia page describes him as an Egyptian-born, award-winning Canadian journalist, war correspondent and author who has worked extensively in the Middle East and North Africa for CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera English.
Fahmy became head of Al Jazeera English's International Bureau in Egypt in September 2013 and was arrested and imprisoned soon afterwards by the Egyptian authorities on terrorism charges. Arising from this, he is now said to be suing Al Jazeera which, it ought to be pointed out, is "owned by the Qatari state".
So a couple of paragraphs from "Qatar behind state-sponsorship of terrorism", [Toronto Star, April 11, 2017]
It may be time to include the little oil-rich Arab state of Qatar on the top of the [state sponsors of terror] list since it continues to house and protect wanted financiers of Al Qaeda, Daesh, Al Nusra Front, Taliban, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups designated as terrorists by many countries and the United Nations... At one point in 2013 Qatar opened an office for Taliban... Right then and there the Al Thani ruling family of Qatar gave legitimacy to murderers who committed horrific massacres in Afghanistan for decades, staged targeted killings and kidnappings of diplomats and civilians... [T]he Qatari leadership maintains policies of duplicity, using an unprecedented flaunting of cash to keep the international community from taking a tougher stance against it. You will not see the United Kingdom, for example, taking a punitive position against Qatar. Why? The Telegraph newspaper summed it up recently: “Qatari investors own more property in the capital than the Mayor of London’s office and three times more than the Queen.”Fahmy goes on to point out that
“You have to ask, who is arming, who is financing ISIS troops?,” German Development minister Gerd Muller asked during an interview with the German public broadcaster. “The keyword there is Qatar — and how do we deal with these people and states politically?” [More]
- The Al Thani clan, who own the family business called Qatar (that's our description, not his) are known for generously donating $100 million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina one day, and then giving $31 million to pay Hamas terrorist salaries the next. They also provide safe haven - have done for years - for the senior leadership team of the Hamas terror group. Note how a tremendous proportion of the senior public officials in Qatar share the same surname: Al Thani.
- Hillary Clinton, quoted on a leaked Podesta email last year, said Qatar finances the Islamist savages of ISIS. He then notes laconically how Qatar donated $1 million to the Clinton Foundation.
- Hamza, the youngest son of Osama bin Laden and a designated terrorist in his own right whom the United States is pursuing, currently lives safe, sound and unmolested in Qatar.
Several million dollars worth of illegally-parked super-luxury cars are clamped by British traffic wardens outside Harrods (also owned by the Qataris) in London [Image Source] [Video] |
Nonetheless, with Qatar reliably reported [here, here, here and in many other places] to be spending upwards of two hundred billion dollars to ensure it achieves its goals, the show evidently will go on.
Still, almost everything we read about Qatar - by far the highest per capita income in the world according to a February 2017 ranking - and the things its owners do convinces us that Qatar's goals ought to be getting more attention than they currently do.
Here's some additional background on Qatar from some of our previous posts:
- 11-Dec-15: The price of the Shalit Deal and the countries that help it keep rising
- 10-Nov-15: Qalqilya where the strings are pulled by Hamas and Qatar
- 21-May-15: Why is this man still free? Human rights, the Qataris, dignity and football
- 18-May-15: Peeking behind Qatar's genteel, manicured and increasingly disastrous public relations
- 18-May-15: As the Qatari thug says, Disneyland it's not
- 07-Dec-14: World's richest country again reminds us what that means in practice
- 15-Sep-14: Like a horse and carriage: Qatari money and terror
- 30-Jul-14: Is Qatar's stupendous wealth connected with Hamas' ongoing terrorism?
- 22-Jul-14: Polite suggestion to Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson: Some background on those very generous Qataris
- 11-Jul-13: Football and barefaced hypocrisy
No comments:
Post a Comment