American Herald Tribune | Thomas C. Mountain: Saudi Arabia, with the bellicose support of President Trump, has�launched a diplomatic and partial economic offensive against the�ridiculously small state of Qatar and is dragging its allies, the�United Arab Emirates in particular, into a potential major headache.

You see the de facto capital of the Emirates is Abu Dhabi which uses�Qatari natural gas to generate half of its electricity via the�Qatar-Abu Dhabi-Oman pipeline. So if Qatar really felt threatened it�would pull the plug, and at least for a month or so, challenge the�very survival of Abu Dhabi, for how many Emiratis let alone expats
would be able to last +40c/105f temperatures without electricity?

The Emirates capital city would have to import Liquified Natural Gas�(LNG) which it doesn't have the infrastructure prepared for as well as�convert its electrical generators to LNG from natural gas, something�that could take over a month to get up and running, no matter the�$Billions the Emirates have to throw at the problem.

So the Saudis picking a fight with their long time villains, the�Qatari's, could crash the Emirates economy and put a serious strain on�the so called �coalition of the willing�, that is those still�committed to the quagmire in Yemen and its assorted crimes, another�source of strain between the two allies.

The Emirates hate the Qatari's, not without reason, and we know that�the Emirates foreign legion has been concocting nasty plans against�them in league with a pro-Israel PR Hit Squad in the USA. Still, the�Emirates are dependent on Qatari gas so the shit could really hit the�fan if the young newly crowned Saudi Prince and de facto commander in�chief steps over the line and provokes a Qatari response.

Qatar and Iran, the �snake� that the Saudi�s so infamously wanted the�CIA to cut the head off of, share the Pars natural gas field under the�Persian gulf waters, the 3rd largest such in the world whose�exploitation of has made Qatar the worlds largest natural gas�exporter. If Qatar gets into a serious fight with Iran, which is what�the Saudis are demanding, than the Qatari economy could hit the skids�for Qatar only exports 600k barrels of oil a day, not nearly enough to�sustain its international and domestic commitments.

Reality is the Emirates have much more serious trade relations with�Iran than Qatar. Oman on the other hand, has even closer economic and�political ties with its ancient fraternal brothers and sisters in the�land of the Persians and the Saudi�s aren�t attacking the Omanis, so�why the pissing match with Qatar?

Like I said, this animosity is nothing new just the latest flare up,�for back in 2014 the Saudis led a break in diplomatic ties that lasted�8 months, and are now led by a much more hotheaded royal, in his early�thirties and up until Trump, it seemed that the USA had abandoned the�Saudis in favor of the nuclear deal with Iran, taking regime change�off the table and leaving the Arabs on their own.

These have been scary times for the Arabian peninsula tribes, leading�to amongst other actions, the Emirates giving the UN Security Council�and its sanctions against Eritrea, in other words the USA, the finger�by building its new navy base and airfield in Assab, Eritrea.

Qatar and the royal family of Saud, both installed by the British�after WW1, have been at each others throats for many years now. We�know thanks to Wikileaks the Qatari's were pushing the Americans to�engineer a coup against the Saudis while the house of Saud was trying�to restore the grandfather of the present Emir, whose father deposed
his own father in a palace coup and who was forced to abdicate to his�son by the Saudis.

The Saudis can�t militarily attack Qatar, not with the largest US�military installation in west Asia and everyone knows it. The so�called �economic blockade� of Qatar has failed so far with Turkey�stepping in to provide everything Qatar needs.

True, the�Al Jazeera�satelite television channel has been a finger in�the eye of the Saudis and Emirates but AJ�s main viewer base in�Africa, west and south Asia, over a billion people, is via the two�main satellite channels, Arabsat and Nilesat. These free channels can�be accessed by anyone for as little as $40 for a satellite dish and�receiver and a television. Arabsat is owned by the Saudis and Nilesat�by Egypt. They kicked the Iranian Arabic channel off just like the�Europeans kicked off Iran�s PressTV from their satellite systems. So�why is the anti-Qatar lot allowing Al Jazeera to continue to spew its�attacks on them via the big two satellite channels they own?

Why? Its a pissing contest, really, and other than pissing and moaning�little of anything in the way of real conflict is going on. Maybe this�will change in time but its hard to see the major powers�internationally allowing this to get out of hand. The Saudis�eventually will to try some face saving �compromise� and Qatar might�have to eat some crow, but when all is said and done all of it will�amount to little more than a urine stain on the political fabric on�the Arabian�Peninsula.