Defending Our Real Greatest Ally: The Scapegoating and Shakedown of Qatar...
Foreign influence, petropolitics and subversion in our Imperial City
The Emir of Qatar is coming to our Imperial City where he will be vetted and thanked. He has come bearing gifts.
On offer to the West? Gas, gas, and lots of it.
Qatar, for the uninitiated, is the largest gas producers in the world, and though she lacks much of a population, she plays the influence game very well.
Our naval base is there, so, too, is the CIA’s Afghanistan mission. There’s lots going on in Qatar and the desert kingdom has quickly established itself as a quiet diplomatic powerhouse.
Axios, in there ever so brief way, makes it clear that Kingdom of Qatar has come to help.
Why it matters: Europe's reliance on Russia for 40% of its natural gas is undermining Biden's attempts to coordinate "massive" sanctions to be imposed from both sides of the Atlantic if Russia invades. The White House wants Qatar to help ensure European countries can enforce tough sanctions without risking an energy crisis.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blather about the “Anglo-Saxon” alliance but he neglects to mention Qatar’s role. Why?
Could it be that this is all an elaborate show designed to reduce the dominance of the Ukrainian mafia state in our affairs? I wonder…
My sense is that President Zelensky is a tool of the Jewish-Ukrainian mob in much the same way that U.S. Senator Josh Mandel of Ohio is. Both of them are owned by Ihor Kolomoisky, a Jewish-Ukrainian oligarch who, until recently owned much of Cleveland. (He was recently sanctioned by the Department of Justice.) Mandel, who hails from Cleveland, is very much a part of this nexus. I’m told Trump won’t endorse him but their power base — Zionist Organization of America — suggests he may well.
Qatar’s international minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, has referred to as the United States “our most important ally.” But al-Thani is showing that Qatar is one of America’s most important allies, if not its most important ally, in the Middle East.
And yes, that does include Israel, which has slowly and sluggishly acknowledged that its own closeness with China is a real problem. Biden is forcing Israel’s new prime minister to choose if they really are our “greatest ally.” So far, so good.
Qatar’s new role as the key Middle Eastern ally of the United States assumes the role that Saudi Arabia once played in helping to bring the Russians to the negotiating table. The Qataris, though, are much more genteel than the Saudis, who butcher journalists. For the most part the Qataris operate within the international system and use the American and British courts for their redress.
Once upon a time Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev grumbled about the Reagan-Bush policy of driving down the price of oil worldwide. The oil price was $30 a barrel for crude in November 1985, and in March 1986, it fell to only $12. `
Who could blame Gorbachev for suing for peace? Petrostates like high oil prices which supports their adventurism. Low oil prices mean a weaker Russia and this is ultimately why Russia fears the turn toward electric cars and decarbonization. The Russian attempts to control Musk, who has his own family ties to Ukraine and the Russian state, give you an indication of what’s going on. So too do Musk’s rather favorable (and weird) comments about Russia and China.
Our Secretary of State Antony Blinken knows this geopolitical reality and he even wrote about the role that Soviet oil played in European affairs. Ever the striver Blinken interviewed great power middle man Henry Kissinger for his college thesis which ultimately became a book. As far as I know this is the one and only time a Secretary of State was interviewed by a future Secretary of State for his college thesis.
The key insight of the Biden-Blinken policy is the role of oil and energy. Republicans believe in sanctions which leads to smuggling; Democrats believe in engagement which leads to Russia having leverage.
The Democrats want the Russians to sell oil and shut down their meddling while the Republicans want to block their oil sales and turn a blind eye to the Russian espionage and crime.
But these policies lead to still more questions.
Sanctioning Iran has led the pariah state to sell its oil to China. China, in turn, backs the Likud Party through the late Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn, which continues to push for sanctions against Iran.
What would happen if Iran decided it would no longer sell to China but to Europe instead?
Bill Browder, who worked for Mossad agents like Edmond Safra and Robert Maxwell, pushes for sanctions against Russia. That is, while his son does business deals with their agents, like Masha Drokova, a sort of Charlie Kirk turned Joe Lonsdale for the Russian federation.
Every entrepreneur should take money from @DayOneVC and @mashadrokova. Each day I’m surprised by just how amazing they are.She even worked as publicist for Jeffrey Epstein. Naturally she hasn’t come back to America in awhile and has a “Swiss” fiancé.
If Russian oligarchs are so bad why not just track their assets everywhere rather than force them back into the dark?
We need to regularize Russian oil, not force it into a black market where it’ll be sold to China. We can ill afford China become Russia’s largest energy customer.
Indeed we need Russia’s help in cutting off Kazakh energy exports to China. When I visited Kazakhstan several years ago I toured a natural gas field the size of Arizona with a Chinese official. Thinking I was perhaps more sympathetic to the Chinese than I was, he confided in me that China “owned” Kazakhstan.
Everyone knows that the spat over Kazakhstan is really a question of who owns the gas there — China or Russia. The new dictator of Kazakhstan is Kassym-Jomart Tokayev who, in 1983, went to China where he learned Chinese. He was later posted to the Soviet embassy in Beijing where he served until 1991 as Second Secretary, First Secretary, and Counsellor. In other words: Tokayev is too Chinese for the Russians and for us.
Enter Qatar. Comparing Qatar to other US “allies” in the Middle East isn’t really fair — to Qatar. The United Arab Emirates has been a lousy friend as of late, cutting deals with the Chinese — even going so far as to help them build a secret military base! — whilst laundering money for the Russians. The UAE even takes laundered money and “invests” in tech funds like (not really a wünder nor really a kind) Joe Lonsdale’s fund or even with popstar Rihanna.
The rise of Qatar as an American ally is welcome news, and, if we are honest, it’s altogether surprising — if you believed any of the nonsense peddled by the influencers around President Trump.
It’s become my contention that most of the Trumpista influences were actually puppets of hostile actors. The craziest of this oeuvre was undoubtedly Blood Money which you can watch below.
My view is that films like this were designed for the purpose of extorting Qatar by the likes of Jared Kushner, who could pretend to play peacemaker in the Middle East while being paid off.
But the tide is turning. CIA Director William Burns helped protect Jordan from a Netanyahu-backed coup attempt and Israel, thankfully, is under new management.
Why is Israel under new management? Partly it’s due to the corruption around the Netanyahus who tried to sell off the gas rights of Israel while enriching his family.
My favorite part was when Yair Netanyahu tried to shakedown the son of an Israeli gas oligarch to pay for a prostitute.
According to reports in the Israeli press, Yair said to Ori Maimon: “Bro, my dad now arranged for you a $20 billion deal and you can’t spot me 400 shekels?”
Yair, Ori and others were leaving a strip club when they began arguing. Yair reportedly told his companion: “Bro, you got to spot me. My dad made an awesome deal for your dad. Bro, he fought, fought in the Knesset for this, bro.”
Petropolitics be pimping, bro.
How does your (sometimes) humble correspondent know so much about natural gas and its uses in stabilizing world affairs?
Well, I’ve got it in the blood.
My namesake and great grandfather, Charles C. Carlisle, was an engineer in Wyoming, and he patented the gas starter valve.
He who understands energy politics understands the past and predicts the future.
And if you think the petropolitics are going to be bad, just wait for the water ones.
"We can ill afford China become Russia’s largest energy customer."
The CCP signed a 30 year $400B natural gas contract with the Russians to supply 90% of their piped nat gas requirements.