Sunday, September 20, 2020

The changing allegiances in the Middle East.


Despite this week's "shock" Trump administration announcement that Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera must now register in the United States as a 'foreign agent', Washington ties with the tiny oil and gas rich monarchy continues to warm, especially given the vital role Qatar plays in hosting US forces.

Reuters now reports that "The United States hopes to move forward with naming Qatar as a major non-NATO ally, a status that provides foreign nations with benefits in defense trade and security cooperation, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday."

US deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Gulf affairs Timothy Lenderking told reporters at the end of this week, “We’re going to move ahead, we hope, with designating Qatar a major non-NATO ally.”


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