Politics

Saudi Arabia Has Handed the Emir of Qatar an Opportunity to Redirect History

Paul Craig Roberts

In the event you have noticed the hullabaloo about Qatar and wonder what it is about, it is about Al Jazeera, a news organization, established by the Emir who rules the oil and gas sheikdom on the Persian Gulf. Al Jezeera is far more professional than any news organization in the West. Al Jazeera’s problem is that it covers the actual news and tells the truth. This is unacceptable to the Saudis, the United Arab Emirates, and to Washington.

For about a week now, Benjamin Wittes, the Brookings Institution senior fellow and noted ally of former FBI Director James Comey, has been taunting the Trump administration with tweets suggesting that another 'bombshell' story, presumably related to the Russia investigation, was in the works and set to drop any minute (we covered it all here: "Tick, Tick, Tick" Comey Ally Scrambles To Explain Why "Next Trump Bombshell" Didn't Arrive Today). 

Authored by Darius Shahtahmasebi via TheAntiMedia.org,

Late last week, Saudi Arabia and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that are involved in attempting to isolate Qatar sent the tiny Gulf nation a list of 13 demands. They are insisting that Qatar meet these demands within ten days or face unspecified further action.

With Illinois facing a Friday night deadline by which it has to come up with its first fiscal budget in three years or face a downgrade to junk resulting in what a policymaker called a "death spiral", another mini drama is taking place in Connecticut, which is also facing big budget problems as wealthy residents, hedge funds and major corporations flee the state's high taxes and its fiscal future gets murkier by the day.

Just one day after John Podesta appeared before a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee to offer his thoughts on "Russian meddling", CNN's anonymous sources are apparently telling them that Obama's former National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, will also appear before a closed session of the committee next month.  Here is more from CNN: