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Iraq still has Qatari money sent to free ruling family members: PM

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baghdad,qatar,moneyBAGHDAD,— Iraq still has hundreds of millions of dollars sent by Qatar to secure the release in April of members of the Qatari ruling family abducted in 2015, Iraq’s prime minister said on Sunday.

Press reports had suggested some of the money had ended up in Iran, angering Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab neighbors of Qatar and contributing to their decision to severe ties with Doha.

However, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in comments broadcast on state TV on Sunday that the money was in the central bank in Baghdad, pending a decision on what to do with it.

“Not one dollar, or euro (…) was spent; they are still in their crates, supervised by a committee, and two representatives of the Qatari government came to check when they were deposited under the trusteeship of the central bank,” he said.

The decision on how to dispose of the money “has a political aspect and has a legal aspect, it will be taken in conformity with Iraqi law,” he said, without elaborating.

The prime minister said in April authorities had seized suitcases containing hundreds of millions of dollars on a private Qatari jet that landed in Baghdad. He suggested the funds were part of a deal to free the Qatari hostages without Baghdad’s approval.

The 26 hostages, including members of Qatar’s ruling royal family, were abducted during a hunting trip in southern Iraq in 2015. It is unclear how their release was negotiated.

No one claimed responsibility for the abductions, which took place near a Saudi border area dominated by Shi’ite militias close to Iran.

Iran exporting Armenian meat products and live cattle to Qatar

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Armenian meat products and live cattle to QatarIran is exporting Armenian meat and cattle stock to Qatar, Iranian Mehr Agency reported on Saturday. According to the source, the exported meat is of high quality and obtained at affordable price from number of neighboring countries, including Georgia and Armenia, then is exported to Qatar.
“Meat products from Armenia and Georgia are relatively cheap and profitable for the export,” the source added.

Meanwhile, Iranian Tasnim Agency reported one of Armenia-based companies plan to facilitate the export of Ecuadorian bananas form Armenia to Iran.

 

Source Panorama.am

UAE: Qatar seeking protection from two non-Arab states Turkey and Iran is tragic

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UAE: Qatar seeking protection The UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Bin Mohammad Gargash, tweeted on Thursday that Qatar’s seeking protection from two non-Arab states – Turkey and Iran – is tragic and comical.

Gargash lambasted Qatar for seeking protection from abroad and said it was not a “solution,” adding that he “wished” the Qatari leadership would have resorted to “wisdom” and “not escalation.”

“Again, we call on [Qatar] to exercise its rationality, wisdom and get rid of its arrogance and stubbornness. Escalation won’t be beneficial, and feeling empowered due to outside support does not represent a solution, and the exit is a new discourse that is transparent and honest,” he said.

The minister said the “strangest” part is seeing the type of countries a “brother” takes sides with.

“An Iranian, Turkish, Hamas, revolutionary, political ideologue, Muslim Brotherhood, and we the Arab Gulf tries to change course of its brother.”

The minister also criticized how Qatar who is seeking protection from abroad, rejects interference in his country’s foreign policy and sovereignty,

Qatar’s foreign minister said on Thursday that “no one has the right to intervene in our foreign policy.”

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told AFP “we are an independent country with sovereignty.”

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is continuing to talk  with all partners in the Middle East to de-escalate tensions amid an ongoing diplomatic crisis between Qatar and other Arab powers, a White House spokeswoman said on Thursday, but gave no other details.

Ankara’s paranoia spikes as Qatar shunned

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Ankara, QatarThe dramatic decision by five Arab countries to sever ties with Qatar over its alleged coddling of the Muslim Brotherhood and its flirtation with their archenemy Iran has caught the pugnacious emirate’s closest regional ally, Turkey, off balance and wondering whether it too may be targeted.

Turkey’s initial reaction to the announcement by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen that they were suspending diplomatic ties as well as air and sea travel to and from Qatar was a call for dialogue. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference, “We see the stability in the Gulf region as our own unity and solidarity.” He went on, “Countries may of course have some issues, but dialogue must continue … for problems to be resolved peacefully. We are saddened by the current picture and will give any support for its normalization.”

Clearly, Qatar’s predicament will have a ripple effect in Turkey. Turkey’s flourishing political, military and business ties with Qatar have been described and analyzed in exhaustive detail by fellow Al-Monitor columnists Metin Gurcan, Mustafa Sonmez and Fehim Tastekin. As Sonmez pointed out, the Turkish construction giants who are driving the Turkish economy are pinning their hopes on winning contracts in Qatar. While relatively small compared to Qatar’s investments elsewhere, injections of Qatari money has brought some relief to Turkey’s faltering finances. Qatar has also helped bankroll Turkey’s Sunni Arab rebel proxies in Syria and piggy-backed on Turkey’s geostrategic clout to amplify its own in the region.

But above all, the increasingly conspiratorial and paranoid mindset in Ankara has some worrying that Turkey may somehow be in the line of fire.

A Turkish source with access to the country’s senior leadership who asked to not be identified by name told Al-Monitor, “They see parallels between [former Egyptian President] Mohammed Morsi’s ouster and what’s happening to Qatar now. They see it as part of a concerted campaign orchestrated by Israel and the United States against the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies with whom they feel an ideological affinity and they are connecting the dots to the July 15 coup.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the most vocal critics of current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after the former general ejected and jailed Morsi in 2013. Erdogan called Sisi a “putschist” who had murdered thousands of his own people in an interview with the Qatari news channel Al Jazeera. For Erdogan, Sisi is no different from the Turkish generals who waged an unsuccessful campaign to unseat him. And while he blames the July coup attempt on the Pennsylvania-based Turkish imam Fethullah Gulen, the source said, “Erdogan believes that Gulen could not have acted without America and Israel’s support and that they may try to go after him again, and going after Qatar is like going after Turkey.”

As Erdogan himself frequently acknowledges, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was the first international leader to call him on the night of the coup. The emir was rumored to have offered the Turkish president an airplane, protection and sanctuary if need be.

The UAE, which is spearheading Qatar’s isolation, has been accused by the pro-government Turkish media of transferring funds to Gulen operatives weeks before the coup attempt. Some of the accusations are based on the hacked emails of the UAE ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba.

As of the time of publication, Erdogan had yet to publicly rise to Qatar’s defense. But pro-government accounts on Twitter have already done so in force with the hashtag #TurkeyWithQatar trending in Turkey. Echoing the prevailing mood, an account called @fireoftheturk tweeted a picture of Thani shaking hands with Erdogan captioned, “We are with you [Q]atar, don’t worry” and “Allah too [has] a plan.”

Amberin Zaman is a journalist who has covered Turkey, the Kurds and Armenia for The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The Los Angeles Times and the Voice of America. She served as The Economist’s Turkey correspondent between 1999 and 2016. She was a columnist for the liberal daily Taraf and the mainstream daily Haberturk before switching to the independent Turkish online news portal Diken in 2015. She is currently a public policy scholar at The Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, where she is focusing on Kurdish issues. On Twitter: @amberinzaman

4 Arab countries sever diplomatic ties with Qatar

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4 Arab countries sever diplomatic ties with QatarBahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates on Monday decided to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar.

Bahrain was the first state to make a respective announcement, reported RIA Novosti news agency of Russia. According to the official statement published by the Bahrain News Agency, Manama’s move has been motivated by Doha’s persisting attempts to destabilize situation in Bahrain.

Bahrain gave Qatari diplomats 48 hours to leave the territory of the kingdom. Also, Manama suspended air and sea communication with Doha and banned Qatari citizens from visiting Bahrain, and prohibited its citizens from living and visiting Qatar.

Minutes later, Riyadh, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi made similar statements while Saudi Arabia and Egypt also suspended air and sea communication with Qatar.

The conflict between Qatar and its neighbors occurred one week after the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, when the Qatari news agency posted a speech on behalf of the country’s emir in support of building relations with Iran.

Later, the official representative of the Qatari Foreign Ministry said that the agency’s site was hacked, and the speech on behalf of the emir was published by hackers and has nothing to do with the Qatari leader.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, however, considered this refutation to be unconvincing.

Armenia, Qatar discuss possible visa liberalization

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Armenia, Qatar discuss possible visa liberalization President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday, May 15 discussed the possibility of visa liberalization between Armenia and Qatar with the State’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

At a meeting with the Emir, Sargsyan said Armenia is interested in strengthening high-level political dialogue with Qatar and deepening cooperation in various sectors.

The Armenian side proposed several investment projects for consideration, highlighting the country’s role as a transit zone for establishing communication with the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.

In this context, the Emir of Qatar instructed the state’s economy minister to organize a meeting with his Armenian counterpart to discuss prospects of developing bilateral trade and economic relations.

World’s longest flight lands in New Zealand

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The world’s longest commercial flight, from Qatar to New Zealand, has touched down in Auckland for the first time. The Qatar Airways Boeing 777-200 crossed 14,535 kilometers and 10 time zones on its epic journey.

The Qatar Airways flight was greeted with a celebratory water cannon salute as it taxied down the runway at Auckland airport on Monday.

“We’ve officially landed in New Zealand, the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud,'” the airline tweeted.

he 16-hour, 23-minute flight from Doha covered a distance of 14,535 kilometers (9,030 miles), crossing 10 time zones and five countries. Qatar Airways said the flight was operated by four pilots and 15 cabin crew.

New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay welcomed the inaugural flight, saying the estimated economic impact of the new daily service “will be well in excess” of NZ$50 million ($36 million/33 million euros).

“This increased freight capacity will support New Zealand exporters getting their fresh product to the Middle East and beyond,” he said. According to the airline, the daily service provides a weekly freight capacity equivalent to 1,162 sheep.

Longest flight in the world

In March, Emirates launched a 14,200-kilometer Dubai-Auckland service, at the time considered the world’s longest nonstop commercial flight.

Air India also claims to offer the world’s longest flight with its Delhi to San Francisco service, spanning 15,300 kilometers. That flying distance is indeed greater because the Air India planes add 1,400 kilometers to use favorable tailwinds, but Doha and Auckland are geographically further apart.

Singapore Airlines plans to resume its 15,344-kilometer, 18.5-hour nonstop flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Singapore in 2018.

nm/tj (AFP, dpa)

Julian Assange: Isis and Clinton Foundation are both funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar

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assange-clinton-foundation‘This is the most significant email in the whole collection’

By Gabriel Samuels,

Wealthy officials from Qatar and Saudi Arabia who donated money to Hillary Clinton’s charitable foundation also provided financial support to Isis, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has claimed.

In an extended interview at the Ecuadorian embassy in London with documentary maker John Pilger for RT, Mr Assange said the same Saudi and Qatari officials could be seen to be supporting both the Clinton Foundation – founded by Mrs Clinton’s husband Bill – and funding the activities of Isis.

Mr Pilger asked if Mr Assange believed that “this notorious jihadist group, called Isil or Isis, is created largely with money from people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation?”

“Yes”, Mr Assange replied.

The WikiLeaks founder pointed to an email exchange between presidential hopeful Ms Clinton and her campaign manager John Podesta, leaked by his organisation last month, which he believes “is the most significant email in the whole collection”.

In the email sent on August 17 2014, Ms Clinton asked Mr Podesta, who at that time worked under president Barack Obama, to help put “pressure” on Qatar and Saudi Arabia regarding the countries’ alleged support for the terrorist group Isis.

https://youtu.be/k9xbokQO4M0

“We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region,” Ms Clinton wrote.

Mr Assange noted the US government had never acknowledged governments of Middle East nations had financially supported Isis, instead arguing such support was isolated to “some rogue princes using their cut of the oil money to do whatever they like, although the government disapproves”, according to the WikiLeaks founder.

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The portion of an email from August 17, which Mr Assange believes is “most significant” (WikiLeaks)

According to the Clinton Foundation, the Saudi Arabian government has donated between $10 million and $25million since the foundation was set up in 1997. Last month it was reported the government of Qatar offered to donate $1 million to the foundation in celebration of Bill Clinton’s birthday.

Representatives from the Clinton Foundation have repeatedly denied accusations Ms Clinton has solicited funds and used donations to boost her campaign. There were no donations from Saudi Arabia while she was acting as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013.

Mr Assange also used the interview to dismiss the prospect of a Donald Trump victory in next week’s election, which the polls show will be close.

“My analysis is that Trump will not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he has had every establishment against him. Trump does not have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment.

“Banks, intelligence, arms companies, foreign money, etc. are all united behind Hillary Clinton. And the media as well. Media owners, and the journalists themselves.”

In October, Ecuador’s government confirmed it had “temporarily restricted” Mr Assange’s internet access at its London embassy, to prevent him “meddling in the election process” in the US.

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/julian-assange-clinton-foundation-isis-same-money-saudi-arabia-qatar-funding-a7397211.html

Senator Richard Black speaks of Middle East’s true ‘axis of evil’ Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

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richard-blackRepublican member of the Virginia State Senate Richard Hayden Black talks to Press TV about ties between Washington and Daesh, further exposing the true “axis of evil” in the Middle East.

The American official said in a Tuesday interview that the war in Syria would have been over by now if the US had put an end to its intervention when Russia entered the war-ravaged country.

“If the United States had just stayed out of it at that point, the war would be over by now; people would be rebuilding, refugees would be returning back to Syria, but the United States rushed anti-Tank missiles, and we used these so-called moderate rebels as a conduit to supply al-Nusra, which is al-Qaeda in Syria,” he noted.

“If we were not supporting the war in Syria, I believe that the Syrians, combined with their allied forces from Iran, Lebanon and Russia… would move very steadily and restore the borders of Syria.”

Moderates vs. Takfiris

The senate member refused to distinguish between the so-called moderate rebels and the Takfiri terrorists fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, saying, the two are “thoroughly integrated.”

“They really are one and the same; they’re part of the same army,” he said, citing a US defense intelligence agency’s investigation in 2013, which showed Washington’s ties with the Takfiris.

The outspoken state senator referred to plans by the CIA to transfer arms from Libya to Turkey and from there to Syria to supply the moderate rebels, noting that the move “evolved into an indiscriminate program of supplying all rebels, including specifically ISIS (Daesh) and al-Qaeda.”

“We do it indirectly because it’s unlawful to do it directly,” he said, adding that the US keeps “extremely violent organizations… off the terrorist watch list because these are the agents that take our weapons and then distribute them to ISIS (Daesh) and al-Qaeda.”

Syria’s fall threat to US

In response to a question by Press TV host Kaveh Taghvai on why Iran and Russia are portrayed as the “bad guys,” while they are the ones really fighting terrorism there, as put recently by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, Black said the Republican candidate has a “clear understanding of what’s happening over there.”

“Sometimes, his rhetoric has to match the political mood of the moment… but I know a number of his advisers and they believe that our determination to topple the government in Syria is suicidal, that it threatens not only the entire Middle East but literally the entire world.”

He further warned that the US itself could be “threatened,” arguing that, “if Syria falls, it will be dominated by some al-Qaeda-related organization; Lebanon will fall; Jordan will fall and the entire area will be destabilized.”

Turkey threatens the West

The Vietnam war veteran also elaborated on his personal definition of the Middle East “axis of evil,” naming Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and “particularly” Turkey over their support for terrorism.

“Probably, three quarters of the rebels are not Syrian at all; they are mercenaries recruited by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” he asserted, describing the three countries as “the primary force behind the terrorist movement.”

“Turkey has invaded Iraq and Syria with heavy military forces. Turkey has really become a rogue nation,” he added, referring to a 1923 treaty that set the border between Turkey and Greece, saying that was even being questioned by President Rececp Tayyip Erdogan.

“And now you see this emerging threat against Western Europe by Turkey,” he noted, further adding that Erdogan “has made it clear that he looks to resurrection of the Ottoman Empire.”

“He has become more and more aggressive; he’s crushed the military, the free press; every powerful institution of the Turkish government has come under his iron fist and he’s now a total dictator. He’s a man who has said that he wants the constitution amended so that he will have power similar to those of Adolf Hilter… This is our great ally; we’re allied with a man who would be Hitler.”

Mercenaries of Wahhabism

He also blasted Washington’s alliance with Saudi Arabia, “where women are not allowed to walk out in the front yard to pick up the newspaper without a man’s permission; they can’t drive a car!”

“Somehow, this is part of the liberalization that we seek to impose on the Middle East,” he said ironically, calling it “bizarre.”

He also praised the resistance against the Saudi aggression by the people of Yemen, saying, “God bless them! The Yemenis are giving the Saudis a bloody nose,” despite being a “tiny little, poor nation.”

Source: http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/10/26/490707/Senator-exposes-USISIL-ties-Nusra-Qaeda-Syria-Assad

New Clinton email reveals direct support for ISIS from two powerful Western allies

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clinton-saudiBy (The canary)

A new Hillary Clinton email published by WikiLeaks as part of the ongoing release of hacked campaign files confirms that Daesh (Isis/Isil) has state backing. And from powerful Western allies, no less.

Anti-terrorism analysts have long seen Daesh as a non-state-affiliated actor which grew out of an al-Qaeda insurgency in Iraq (and later Syria). But the email sent by Clinton herself (dated 27 September 2014) shows there’s much more to the story.

Secret support for Daesh

The lengthy email contains a summary assessment of proposed US policy plans in Iraq and Syria. This is based on what the email internally describes as Western and US intelligence sources. Most of the document lays out strategies for pushing Daesh back in the Middle East.

But one section bluntly describes Western allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar as direct supporters of Daesh (“ISIL” in this email):

We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region… The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious U.S. pressure. [emphasis added]

Intelligence authorship

Clinton herself sent the 2014 email directly from her personal account to campaign chairman John Podesta. But the intelligence content has the look and style of Sidney Blumenthal’s authorship. Blumenthal is a long-time top Clinton advisor who has provided many such sensitive intelligence briefings to Clinton, even when she was Secretary of State.

It appears that Clinton either copied or forwarded the intelligence briefing which was the basis for the short exchange with Podesta.

Both the arsonists and firefighters

The New York Times recently described Saudi Arabia as both “the arsonists and firefighters” in the Middle East. This is because the controversial kingdom clamps down on terrorism at home, while promoting its version of Wahhabi ultra-conservatism abroad.

Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Britain and the US goes back decades, as the oil-rich nation entered into an ‘oil for security‘ pact with the West which can be traced to the US Carter administration, and even to Franklin D. Roosevelt. As such, it has spanned both Republican and Democratic administrations in the USA. And it has meant that the West has routinely looked the other way as the Saudi regime exports extremism, funding a large number of radical mosques and organisations around the world.

Beginning in 1979, the West actively sponsored the rise of a mujahideen army in central Asia in partnership with the Saudis to fight against Soviet troops. Historians view the current US/UK-Saudi covert intervention in Syria as a parallel situation to that of Afghanistan in the 1980s. More recently, the Gulf kingdom has negotiated record-breaking weapons deals with the UK.

Clinton email confirms claims by other intelligence sources

In Syria, the West and Saudi Arabia have supported a jihadist insurgency which seeks to topple the Assad government. Leaked documents provided to The Washington Post by Edward Snowden confirmed a CIA covert Syria programme which costs $1bn per year. The secret programme, given the name Timber Sycamore, has involved close coordination with the Saudis and other Gulf regimes like Qatar.

Moreover, a 2012 Pentagon intelligence report (declassified in 2015) predicted that “an Islamic state” would arise out of the Western/Gulf covert program which sought to overthrow the Syrian government. The White House allegedly knew about the secret report. And it was widely circulated within the intelligence community. It specifically names “the West” and “Gulf Countries” as the prime movers backing the jihadist insurgency in Syria.

In short, analysts have long acknowledged indirect Saudi support of Daesh. But Clinton’s email is the first known intelligence memo which spells out direct Saudi support of the Wahhabi terror group.

This leaked email alone should cause the media and Western governments to demand a radical reevaluation of the West’s priorities in the Middle East.

Read More on: http://www.thecanary.co/2016/10/11/new-clinton-email-reveals-direct-support-for-isis-from-two-powerful-western-allies/