• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and others cutting diplomatic ties to Qatar

M

MastaKilla

Member
Qvoth said:
is this a shia vs shiite muslim thing?
Click to expand...

1. A Shia Muslim is an adherent of Shiite Islam so that question doesn't actually make sense. I think you're trying to ask if it's a Sunni vs Shiite thing.

2. Qatr is a Sunni country. Saudi is Sunni. Bahrain is Shia. So no, it's more a GCC issue and Saudi trying to flex their regional muscle because they know they're in a position of leverage with trump in office.
 
S

Sorral

Member
Machina said:
DBi1APaXoAApFCm.jpg:large


Sourced from Twitter, so take it however you wish.

Hold on to your butts
Click to expand...


It is mainly because the Saudi land border to Qatar us now closed: https://dohanews.co/qatar-residents-rush-to-stock-up-on-food-after-border-closed/
C4-2.jpg
Click to expand...
 
S

siddx

Magnificent Eager Mighty Brilliantly Erect Registereduser
MastaKilla said:
1. A Shia Muslim is an adherent of Shiite Islam so that question doesn't actually make sense. I think you're trying to ask if it's a Sunni vs Shiite thing.

2. Qatr is a Sunni country. Saudi is Sunni. Bahrain is Shia. So no, it's more a GCC issue and Saudi trying to flex their regional muscle because they know they're in a position of leverage with trump in office.
Click to expand...

Bahrain is Shia majority but they are ruled by a royal family who are Sunni.

It's always a Sunni and Shia thing at the core.
 
C

CTLance

Member
MastaKilla said:
Unfortunately no, because after WW1, European powers, hungry for oil and geo-strategic outposts, carved up and subdivided the Middle East like poker chips and it's never been the same since.
Click to expand...
Only after WW1? Nah. We've been fucking with "the Arabs" since forever. The entire world has been playing (and horribly failing at) n-dimensional chess with the whole region for ages now. Those lucrative weapon deals! Plus, cheap oil and gas! Who could withstand the temptation? Decent human beings, that's who. Sadly, those are in short supply all around the world, apparently.
 
V

Vivalaraza

Member
MastaKilla said:
1. A Shia Muslim is an adherent of Shiite Islam so that question doesn't actually make sense. I think you're trying to ask if it's a Sunni vs Shiite thing.

2. Qatr is a Sunni country. Saudi is Sunni. Bahrain is Shia. So no, it's more a GCC issue and Saudi trying to flex their regional muscle because they know they're in a position of leverage with trump in office.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you meant this, but just to clarify - Bahrain is majority shia population, but Sunni govt/monarchy.
 
S

Syriel

Member
Lastgengamer said:
Does this have something to do with Trump and the travel ban?
Click to expand...

Not anything to so with Trump's travel ban, but it will mess with travel.

Almost all the US/EU to Qatar flights use a path that goes over the Mediterranean, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, before landing in Doha.

Now those flights will have to cross over Iraq, or go even further around to Iran if there are security concerns. Ain't no one that wants to fly over Syria.

All that extra distance adds time. JFK <-> Doha is already just over 12 hours, and that's with the old, more direct route. Flying around and thru Iran is easily going to add to that.
 
S

Salvadora

Member
Purkake4 said:
It will. This is not just going to blow over in a few weeks.

Contact Qatar airways or your travel agent.
Click to expand...
I'm going to although I doubt they have a response right now.

It's a tight connecting flight of under 2 hours so even diverting to Iran could cause a knock on effect.
 
S

Syriel

Member
Salvadora said:
I'm going to although I doubt they have a response right now.

It's a tight connecting flight of under 2 hours so even diverting to Iran could cause a knock on effect.
Click to expand...

Doha is an easy airport to transit through, but it's also huge. Can easily take 20-25 minutes just to walk to the immigration checkpoint if you land at a far gate.

Switch to an earlier flight out if you can. Better to end up with a longer layover and spend the time waiting in the lounge than to miss the connecting flight.
 
GHG

GHG

Member
Full statement from the UAE:

Here’s the full statement just released by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs on breaking off diplomatic ties with Qatar:

"The UAE affirms its complete commitment and support to the Gulf Cooperation Council and to the security and stability of the GCC States. Within this framework, and based on the insistence of the State of Qatar to continue to undermine the security and stability of the region and its failure to honour international commitments and agreements, it has been decided to take the following measures that are necessary for safeguarding the interests of the GCC States in general and those of the brotherly Qatari people in particular:


1 In support of the statements issued by the sisterly Kingdom of Bahrain and sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates severs all relations with the State of Qatar, including breaking off diplomatic relations, and gives Qatari diplomats 48 hours to leave the UAE.

2 Preventing Qatari nationals from entering the UAE or crossing its points of entry, giving Qatari residents and visitors in the UAE 14 days to leave the country for precautionary security reasons. The UAE nationals are likewise banned from traveling to or staying in Qatar or transiting through its territories.


3 Closure of UAE airspace and seaports for all Qataris in 24 hours and banning all Qatari means of transportation, coming to or leaving the UAE, from crossing, entering or leaving the UAE territories, and taking all legal measures in collaboration with friendly countries and international companies with regards to Qataris using the UAE airspace and territorial waters, from and to Qatar, for national security considerations.


The UAE is taking these decisive measures as a result of the Qatari authorities’ failure to abide by the Riyadh Agreement on returning GCC diplomats to Doha and its Complementary Arrangement in 2014, and Qatar’s continued support, funding and hosting of terror groups, primarily Islamic Brotherhood, and its sustained endeavours to promote the ideologies of Daesh and Al Qaeda across its direct and indirect media in addition to Qatar’s violation of the statement issued at the US-Islamic Summit in Riyadh on May 21st, 2017 on countering terrorism in the region and considering Iran a state sponsor of terrorism. The UAE measures are taken as well based on Qatari authorities’ hosting of terrorist elements and meddling in the affairs of other countries as well as their support of terror groups – policies which are likely to push the region into a stage of unpredictable consequences.


While regretting the policies taken by the State of Qatar that sow seeds of sedition and discord among the region’s countries, the UAE affirms its full respect and appreciation for the brotherly Qatari people on account of the profound historical, religious and fraternal ties and kin relations binding UAE and Qatari peoples."
Click to expand...

http://www.thenational.ae/world/mid...reign-affairs-on-cutting-qatar-ties-statement
 
RoadHazard

RoadHazard

Gold Member
The hypocrisy and double standards on display from at least SA here is astounding. Not defending Qatar here, they're pretty shady too. All countries involved in this shit need to be sanctioned to hell and back and stop being treated like "allies".
 
S

Steel

Banned
RoadHazard said:
The hypocrisy and double standards on display from at least SA here is astounding. Not defending Qatar here, they're pretty shady too. All countries involved in this shit need to be sanctioned to hell and back and stop being treated like "allies".
Click to expand...

The problem is, if all these countries are strictly sanctioned and cut off, sooner or later they'll just end up like Syria. At best they'll just be like North Korea. Probably go running to China.
 
Z

Z3K

Member
I've been monitoring this for the past 2 weeks, but this latest escalation is rather unexpected.
Also just to add, I believe that the US is fully aware of what KSA and UAE are doing and must have given its blessings for this blockade as they have been frustrated lately by what Qatar is doing.
 
1

1st Course

Member
darkinstinct said:
Saudi-Arabia cutting ties with Qatar because of terror financing. The world we live in deserves Trump.
Click to expand...

Difference is that Qatar have been very open about supporting Islamist groups.

They openly support Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and used to have a Taliban office. There have been also strong evidences of Qatar financing Jabhat Al-Nusra in Syria.
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
I wonder if this is because Qatar has struck a deal with Iran over exporting the world's largest gas reserves in the Persian Gulf that the two countries share (north and south Pars fields). Saudi Arabia and Iran are enemies, largely because of their different sects of Islam.

Qatar had a moratorium on exporting the gas for the last decade while Iran has been extracting it.

Saudi Arabia wanted it to go through them and Syria (US backed). Iran wanted to pump it out straight down the middle of Iraq and through Syria to Europe, with Russian backing.

Maybe this is preemptive move on the Saudi's part to control its borders better - they did just go after Yemen. I guess Qatar wasn't as trustworthy to them, even though they are Sunni.
Or they want more control over negotiations on future pipelines. Maybe Qatar is allowing millitants from Iran to cross into SA and train Shia there, seems a bit farfetched though.

RoadHazard said:
The hypocrisy and double standards on display from at least SA here is astounding. Not defending Qatar here, they're pretty shady too. All countries involved in this shit need to be sanctioned to hell and back and stop being treated like "allies".
Click to expand...

Let's not pretend their Western allies have any less blood on their hands. Supplying SA for the Yemen invasion. Helping to fund and train the terrorist-linked rebels in Syria to overthrow Assad since 2009, after Iraq got too cushy with Iran and Russia (because of course they would, Iraq is majority Shia and Iran isn't going to be a friend of the US when US supports KSA). It enabled the civil war, as did the invasion of Iraq enable its civil war, all understood by the US and deemed worth it to have their own puppets. Neither of which has worked out. Now ISIS is a buffer between Shia spread between Iran, Iraq and Syria...no wonder it is taking so long to defeat them. They're useful.

Like you said, in a just world, all countries involved in this shit would be sanctioned to fucking hell and back, none are good guys. In fact, they're all fucking criminals. But some of those countries are super powers interested in a strategic and resource-rich location. To hell with the lives of everyone in the M-E, let's play games with SA, Iran and Russia.

Liha said:
SA will inevitable collapse on day x, Shia Muslims face serious discrimination and are a large minority in the Eastern Province and that's the province where all of SA oil is.
Click to expand...

You think US will let Iran do that?

I don't.
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
Goon said:
Qatar has been destabilising the region as well. No one in the region has no blood in their hands, but lets not pretend that Qatar hasn't been involved in supplying armed groups in Libya after the fall of gaddafi.
Click to expand...
I've never heard the sultanate of oman play a role in any of it. Even the arab spring was like 1 misguided demo, considering the sultan has been democratizing the country throughout his reign.
 
O

Oersted

Member
Z3K said:
I've been monitoring this for the past 2 weeks, but this latest escalation is rather unexpected.
Also just to add, I believe that the US is fully aware of what KSA and UAE are doing and must have given its blessings for this blockade as they have been frustrated lately by what Qatar is doing.
Click to expand...

Trump singled out Iran in his speech and explicitly stated they are free to do whatever they want.

I would see that as blessings too.
 
S

SuperBanana

Banned
Why does Qatar support these terrorist factions anyway? They're super rich, they want world events in their country, they're pushing for tourism. Wouldn't a more stabilized area benefit them?
 
L

Liha

Banned
A

ASIS

Member
Liha said:
They are second-class citizen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam_in_Saudi_Arabia#Suppression_of_religious_practice
Click to expand...
There are a lot of inaccuracies in here, as far as I know they are allowed to practice Ashura as they see fit and no one can say otherwise, they may not teach Shia principles in school but that's hardly calling them second class scitizens. As far as work force goes, a lot of them have some extremely high positions in the private sector.

It is more complicated than it seems. They aren't second class citizens per se - there are Shia in the western part of Saudi Arabia but you don't hear about them at all- but they are treated like one for two reasons, the first is the stigma around the Shia practices, second is the fact that they are known to cause riots and kill any official they lay their eyes on.

Suffice to say, Saudi won't crumble because of these practices.
 
S

Sorral

Member
ASIS said:
There are a lot of inaccuracies in here, as far as I know they are allowed to practice Ashura as they see fit and no one can say otherwise, they may not teach Shia principles in school but that's hardly calling them second class scitizens. As far as work force goes, a lot of them have some extremely high positions in the private sector.

It is more complicated than it seems. They aren't second class citizens per se - there are Shia in the western part of Saudi Arabia but you don't hear about them at all- but they are treated like one for two reasons, the first is the stigma around the Shia practices, second is the fact that they are known to cause riots and kill any official they lay their eyes on.

Suffice to say, Saudi won't crumble because of these practices.
Click to expand...


The hell at the bolded. This is bullshit.

And because working in the private sector is the same as working in the military, government positions, judicial branches, etc. /s
 
A

ASIS

Member
Sorral said:
The hell at the bolded. This is bullshit.

And because working in the private sector is the same as working in the military, government positions, judicial branches, etc. /s
Click to expand...
Is it bullshit when you hear the news about the riots every other day?

And where did I say it's the same thing? For what it's worth they do get to work in the military, have governmental positions, and yes even work in the judicial branches.
 
G

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
Don't like Qatar, they follow the same wahabbi/salafi doctrine as SA and also support terrorist groups around the world just like SA. That said, SA is a cancer on this world and the fact that we probably won't see peace on earth until the Saudi regime is wiped off the face of the earth, I'm going to side with Qatar here.

Sorral said:
The hell at the bolded. This is bullshit.

And because working in the private sector is the same as working in the military, government positions, judicial branches, etc. /s
Click to expand...

Seriously, what a ridiculous post. Talk about looking at a situation with rose tinted glasses.
 
A

ASIS

Member
GSG Flash said:
Don't like Qatar, they follow the same wahabbi/salafi doctrine as SA and also support terrorist groups around the world just like SA. That said, SA is a cancer on this world and the fact that we probably won't see peace on earth until the Saudi regime is wiped off the face of the earth, I'm going to side with Qatar here.



Seriously, what a ridiculous post. Talk about looking at a situation with rose tinted glasses.
Click to expand...
Living in the situation is looking at it from rose tinted glasses. Lol.
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
Liha said:
Shia Muslims are second-class citizen in SA and all the oil is in their province, they are better of if they become independent. The world community will put heavy sanctions on SA if the regime tries to kill aproximently 15% of it's own population.
Click to expand...

US have veto power on sanctions. They just allowed (and supported) SA to invade Yemen and that went terribly, yet it's business as usual. Squashing a rebellion in their own country? Possibly hitting back at Iran too? They'd love it.

If Iran gets SA's oil and gas access, and all access to the Persian Gulf that strengthens Iran and Russia significantly. SA has very strong ties with US and UK. They buy a lot of weapons, have influence on the region (after fucking up Iraq, they're keeping Iran's Shia spread in check - with bloody ISIS), and have bases there. They won't let that happen. [----Actually, who knows with Trump, though that would benefit China who needs a lot of gas, and Trump hates China so probably not]

Sunni are second class-citizens in Iraq, Iran, Syria, involving death squads that torture and kill. When it's convenient to ignore, it doesn't appear to matter.
 
E

emag

Member
SuperBanana said:
Why does Qatar support these terrorist factions anyway? They're super rich, they want world events in their country, they're pushing for tourism. Wouldn't a more stabilized area benefit them?
Click to expand...

Reporting on the bloody coup instigated by the Egyptian military against the democratically elected government, portraying Iran as a rational actor instead of an evil supervillain, admitting that Gulf states have good relations with Israel, etc., is being equated to support for terrorist factions. Saudi/Egypt/UAE have long been pissed that Qatar hasn't towed the party line.

Liha said:
Shia Muslims are second-class citizen in SA and all the oil is in their province, they are better of if they become independent. The world community will put heavy sanctions on SA if the regime tries to kill aproximently 15% of it's own population.
Click to expand...

The US agreed to support Saudi Arabia's murder of Shia dissadents as part of the 1979 alliance against Iran/USSR. The US would veto any action taken against Saudi for anything but the most egregious genocidal actions, even today.
 
S

Sorral

Member
ASIS said:
Is it bullshit when you hear the news about the riots every other day?

And where did I say it's the same thing? For what it's worth they do get to work in the military, have governmental positions, and yes even work in the judicial branches.
Click to expand...

It is bullshit when it is one little tiny town when over 99% of them do NOT do what you are saying.

Yes, you can live there and still look at everything through rose tinted glasses.
 
T

TheRealTalker

Banned
There was always tensions with Qatar when it comes to things like the Muslim Brotherhood which Qatar supports while the GCC didn't, Egypt, etc...


Seeing that the Saudis are getting serious with the Iran stuff lately, it likely created a environment were you are either on the same playing field with us or you will need to have to change.

Plus the fact that both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have two young individuals that are basically gaining more power in the country who are overly ambitious as well as close friends with each other.


I find this interesting since everyone expected some scenario like this to happen with Oman but Oman became closer with the GCC while Qatar did not.


This is just a game of hegemony and playing your cards right so that you get a good piece of the pie. Qatar is a small country but it has a ton of influence and wealth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Saudi Arabia trims stake in Nintendo
16
1K
daxgame replied
What actually happened to Warren Ellis?
14
1K
CGNoire replied
Embracer CEO says its principles won’t change following $1 billion Saudi investment
Opinion Business Game Dev
10
1K
Dr. Kitty Muffins replied
All Major PlayStation Franchises And Their Current Status
|OT| News Platform
44
4K
dorkimoe replied
  • Locked
IGN: Ubisoft Montreal is currently in Turmoil
Game Dev 2 3 4 5 6
295
23K
Sintoid replied
Top Bottom