Bitter Differences in the Gulf

Summary: Qatari foreign policy has been incautious and provocative and Qatar is reaping what it sowed, although it can accurately describe its enemies as hypocrites. Hard to see anything but regime change satisfying Abu Dhabi, though Saudi Arabia would be content to compromise.

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1 thought on “Bitter Differences in the Gulf”

  1. An illustration of just how bitter this dispute has become can be seen in Hamad Al Mazroui’s Twitter account. https://twitter.com/uae_3G
    Al Mazroui is widely regarded as MBZ’s right hand man and is a key player in the UAE’s foreign intelligence / outreach operations, although he is hampered by the fact he does not speak English. He is said to control 47 media outlets worldwide and lives next door to MBZ’s Al Bahar palace in Abu Dhabi. Their houses are connected by an underground tunnel.
    Since the crisis started Al Mazroui has been posting personal photographs of Qatari royal family members on his Twitter account. The photos, which have been hacked from royal family member phones, are of a highly personal nature – see here https://twitter.com/uae_3G/media and include lots of pictures of Sheikha Mozah as well as inter alia a picture of the Emir on Hajj showing his bare chest, apparently obtained by hacking the Emir’s wife’s phone.
    In June Al Mazroui was the first person to tweet congratulations to MBS as the new Crown Prince – three days before MbN was removed.
    Three months before the Qatar crisis started Al Mazroui reportedly distributed invitations for New Year’s Eve celebrations to celebrate a new regime in Doha.
    Don’t forget the crisis started by someone – likely agents of the UAE – hacking into the Qatar News Agency and posting fake news about the Emir making a pro-Iran speech.

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