{"id":179976,"date":"2017-08-24T18:26:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T23:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2017\/08\/24\/fail-2\/"},"modified":"2017-08-24T18:26:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T23:26:00","slug":"fail-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2017\/08\/24\/fail-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In response to threats and a blockade led by the House of Saud, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/middle_east\/qatar-restores-diplomatic-ties-with-iran-despite-demands-by-arab-neighbors\/2017\/08\/24\/9288e05c-6666-492f-8f32-bc68541c3867_story.html\">Qatar has reopened full diplomatic relations with Iran<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: blue;\">Qatar said Thursday that it has restored diplomatic relations with Iran, marking a further break with Arab nations that have closed ranks against Qatar for its links to Islamist groups and others perceived as regional threats.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">The decision ignores demands by Qatar\u2019s neighbors \u2014 led by Saudi Arabia \u2014 to limit ties with Tehran and threatens to deepen the region\u2019s worst diplomatic crisis in decades, which has complicated Washington\u2019s policies in the Middle East.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Qatar hosts U.S. warplanes at a major air base and serves as a logistical hub for Pentagon operations.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">\u201cThe State of Qatar expressed its aspiration to strengthen bilateral relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in all fields,\u201d Qatar\u2019s foreign ministry said in a statement.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">The brief statement made no mention of the tensions that have roiled the Persian Gulf region since June, when Saudi Arabia and three other Arab nations severed ties with Qatar. The Arab bloc shut down borders, airspace and shipping lanes after accusing the tiny, energy-rich nation of backing terrorism because of ties with groups such as Egypt\u2019s Muslim Brotherhood.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Qatar also has come under pressure to close down the powerful pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera, which is based in the Qatari capital, Doha.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Qatar has denied the allegations and has weathered the boycott, not least by turning to Iran and Turkey for economic and military assistance.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: blue;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: blue;\">Qatar recalled its ambassador from Tehran in early 2016 to show solidarity with Saudi Arabia after protesters ransacked the kingdom\u2019s embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the city of Mashhad. The attacks were triggered by Riyadh\u2019s execution of a well-known Shiite Muslim cleric, and prompted Saudi Arabia to sever ties with Iran after accusing it of not protecting its missions.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When you look at the Saudi initiatives that have come to the fore since Mohammed bin Salman first rose to prominence in the House of Saud, the pointless and self-destructive confrontation with Qatar is only the latest clusterf%$#, it has been a very inauspicious start for the youngster.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve always said that the House of Saud would fall sooner rather than later, and that the only choice was whether they fell like the House of Windsor (British Royals), or like the House of Romanov (the Russian Czars).<\/p>\n<p>They seem determined to going the Romanov route.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to threats and a blockade led by the House of Saud, Qatar has reopened full diplomatic relations with Iran: Qatar said Thursday that it has restored diplomatic relations with Iran, marking a further break with Arab nations that have closed ranks against Qatar for its links to Islamist groups and others perceived as &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[588,394,509,411,378],"class_list":["post-179976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-fail","tag-foreign-relations","tag-house-of-saud","tag-iran","tag-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}