The tiny oil-rich country of Qatar has been left isolated as several countries have broken off diplomatic and commercial ties with accusations that it supported terrorism in the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have closed their airspace to Qatari planes. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have given Qatari nationals two weeks to leave, and banned their own citizens from travelling to Qatar. For a country 40% of whose food is imported largely from Saudi Arabia it’ll be a crippling blow. Trump’s recent visit to the Middle East supporting Saudi Arabia and condemning Iran appears to be one factor. The FT also reports that Gulf allies were angry that Qatar paid a one billion dollar ransom to jihadists and Iranian security officials after Qatari nationals on a hunting party were kidnapped in Iraq and Syria.
Qatar declared independence on 1 September 1971. They certainly look in troubled times with their Solar Arc Mars opposing Pluto in late 2018 and in effect beforehand, grinding them to a halt in a scarily trapped scenario, and stuck later this year with tr Saturn square Pluto. They may bounce up in 2019 with Solar Arc Uranus conjunct their Jupiter.
Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, home to 11,000 troops; and the command and control of US air power throughout Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and 17 other nations. And Qatari investors own more property in London than the Mayor’s office and three times more than the Queen. So the repercussions won’t just be confined to the Middle East.
Worth reading Robert Fisk in the Independent today: ‘This is the real story behind the economic crisis unfolding in Qatar.
Only Shakespeare’s plays could come close to describing such treachery – the comedies, that is.’
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