Biden To Designate Qatar A Major Non-NATO Ally Amid Efforts To Blunt Putin’s ‘Energy Weapon’

On Monday we learn that “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” will extend to include formally designated “major” allies all the way in the Persian Gulf…

“US President Joe Biden said on Monday he plans to designate Qatar as a major non-Nato ally, granting a special status to the Middle East partner,” the UAE-based The National reports. The announcement was made while Biden hosted Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in the Oval Office. Biden stressed he’s soon to notify Congress of the designation “to reflect the importance of our relationship.” The State Department says the designation “provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation.”

Crucially this special relationship was solidified in recent years, it should be recalled, during the Syrian proxy war in which intelligence services from both countries teamed up in an attempt to overthrow the Assad government. Qatar even hosted US training camps in the desert for fanatical jihadists “secular freedom fighters”. 

And the tiny oil and gas rich monarchy had for years been widely accused of seeking to destabilize Syria while eyeing energy transit opportunities, as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote in a 2016 lengthy Politico piece: 

While the compliant American press parrots the narrative that our military support for the Syrian insurgency is purely humanitarian, many Arabs see the present crisis as just another proxy war over pipelines and geopolitics. Before rushing deeper into the conflagration, it would be wise for us to consider the abundant facts supporting that perspective.

In their view, our war against Bashar Assad did not begin with the peaceful civil protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. Instead it began in 2000, when Qatar proposed to construct a $10 billion, 1,500 kilometer pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.

It should also be recalled that Qatar was among the first Arab gulf states to essentially confess that it supported al-Qaeda during the height of the Syria conflict. 

We detailed in our 2017 analysis of a rare “confession” by Qatar’s former top intelligence official…

In an interview with Qatari TV Wednesday, bin Jaber al-Thani revealed that his country, alongside Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States, began shipping weapons to jihadists from the very moment events “first started” (in 2011).

Al-Thani even likened the covert operation to “hunting prey” – the prey being President Assad and his supporters – “prey” which he admits got away (as Assad is still in power; he used a Gulf Arabic dialect word, “al-sayda”, which implies hunting animals or prey for sport). Though Thani denied credible allegations of support for ISIS, the former prime minister’s words implied direct Gulf and US support for al-Qaeda in Syria (al-Nusra Front) from the earliest years of the war, and even said Qatar has “full documents” and records proving that the war was planned to effect regime change.

In large part al-Thani was at the time seeking to throw the Saudis under the bus for spearheading the whole sordid Syrian regime change saga on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council (during the years of the GCC schism and Saudi-Qatar diplomatic war).

More than this, Hillary’s emails would confirm the gulf allies funded and supported the rise of ISIS.

#Qatar‘s ex PM says that Qatari support for jihadists including Nusra in #Syria was in coordination w/ KSA, Turkey & the US via @BBassem7 pic.twitter.com/tu8IMRI7IP

— Ibn Walid (@walid970721) October 27, 2017

So congrats to Joe Biden’s newest declared major non-Nato ally of Qatar, with a confirmed history of supporting ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other terrorists across the region… (though to be fair the same can be said of NATO member Turkey and the US itself)…

Citing Western intelligence, Clinton email acknowledges US-backed regimes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar supported ISIS https://t.co/f7lNytahd2 pic.twitter.com/4BWV3Sti5v

— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) October 11, 2016

The Pentagon is optimistic about the opportunities presented with deeper security ties: “It opens up a whole new range of opportunities — essential relationships — not just with the United States bilaterally but with other allies,” spokesman John Kirby said Monday about Qatar’s impending status.

But Syria and so-called ‘Arab Spring’ conflicts aside, the new geopolitical standoff which appears to be driving the Biden administration’s deepening energy and security relationship with Qatar is seen in the following:

Now, with about 100,000 Russian troops massed at the Ukraine border, experts say Qatar — the world’s second-biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, or LNG — is eager to help Mr Biden again but might only be able to offer limited assistance if Russia further disrupts the flow of energy supplies to Europe.

Qatar is already producing at full capacity, with much of its supply under contract to Asia. Even if some Pacific allies of the US — including India, Japan and South Korea — are persuaded to divert some contracted LNG orders to Europe, it will only slightly soften the blow, energy analysts say.

The initiative appears part of broader attempts of team Biden to reach out to countries and energy firms in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa as the administration preps potential far-reaching sanctions against Moscow in the event of an offensive against Ukraine. 

The expectation is that Putin would use Russia’s ‘energy weapon’ and leverage over Europe – simply he’d “turn off the gas” – as a natural response to any hard-hitting Western sanctions. Washington is now scrambling to put in place plans to mitigate the inevitable extreme natural gas supply crunch that would result, hoping countries like Qatar could be part of contingency plans for assisting Europe in such a nightmare scenario.