Saudi Arabia and US Put Pressure On Qatar Over Natural Gas

by Tesseract
Last month, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE all decided to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar. The surprise foreign policy move was said to be in response to Qatar’s support of muslim extremist groups affiliated with Iran. Qatar’s economy is reeling from the loss of trading partners, and Saudi Arabia’s US-backed military poses a serious threat to the security of Qatar. Things are not looking good right now for this tiny country.

President Trump took credit for the isolation of Qatar with a tweet right after it was announced:

During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

The media, and even the president himself, will have you believe that the group of Arab countries — led by Saudi Arabia — are doing us a favor by pointing out a terrorist supporting country. They are actually doing themselves a favor by trying to secure their access to the vast amounts of natural gas that Qatar owns.
Saudi Arabia accusing anyone of supporting terrorism is the epidemy of the pot calling the kettle black. Saudi terrorists were responsible for 9/11. They admit that most ISIS fighters are from Saudi Arabia. They not only do nothing to stop their citizens from joining ISIS, they withhold intel about it from US authorities. Furthermore, some of the most damning evidence that Saudi Arabia supports terrorism may come from Hillary’s leaked emails.
So, if the Saudis are as guilty as anyone of supporting terrorism, where do they get off isolating another country over supporting terrorism? And why is the US supporting this decision?
Like most major foreign policy decisions, the reason boils down to control over natural resources and trade routes. Qatar has the third largest proven natural gas reserves behind Russia and Iran. Because Russia and Iran are close allies and have conflicting strategies with the US, the US – Saudi regime wants to stake its claim on Qatar’s natural gas reserves.
Many of you have probably seen the image below of the Russia vs US natural gas pipeline strategy. The US-backed pipeline ultimately goes through Syria, which is the main reason the US is trying to overthrow the Assad regime there. But look at where the pipeline begins. The overall success of the project depends on Qatar’s supply of natural gas. Because Qatar was getting too friendly with the Russia – Iran alliance, the US – Saudi alliance is putting immense pressure on Qatar to keep control of its natural gas.

The US-backed pipeline has come across even more problems in the past few months as their relationship with Turkey has begun to sour.
How far is the US willing to go to ensure that their pipeline is established over the Russian pipeline? The US’s struggle to maintain its power over the Middle-East could lead to a massive war between many nations. We should all hope that the US chooses diplomacy over war.