Qatar

The shadow fleet and maritime law appearing in the same sentence today is no coincidence. Qatar and the UAE — whose companies QatarEnergy and ADNOC account for roughly a fifth of global LNG exports — have begun switching off vessel tracking systems while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, effectively mirroring the tactics of Russia's shadow fleet.

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When a state begins deporting migrant workers based on their names – Ali, Hasan, Hussein – it’s no longer immigration policy. It’s a political message, packaged in arrest warrants. Nearly 15,000 Pakistani Shiite workers have been expelled from the UAE without charges, without access to their bank accounts, and without the right to appeal. For each one, a personal catastrophe. For the region, a new fault line.

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Qatar has bought sophisticated military equipment from Ukraine on behalf of ISIS. The operation took place in late September 2015, just before the Russian military action against the terrorist organization. It was approved by the US embassy in Doha. Officially, the new emir is not involved in the war in Iraq and Syria.

The days of the « Arab Spring » are almost over. As of now, the White House and the Kremlin are redesigning the contours of the « Greater Middle East ». However, their agreement, which was concluded before the Russian military intervention in Syria, could still be modified by the changes in the balance of power. There is no proof that Moscow will accept the stabilisation of Syria or ignore the partition of Turkey and Saudi Arabia which are soon to begin. In any event, the coming upheaval will modify the status quo which has been in place for the last five years.

While the European media arouse emotion by showing photographs of a drowned child and reports of crowds of refugees crossing the Balkans on foot, Thierry Meyssan demonstrates that these images have been fabricated. It’s certain that they serve the purposes of the head of the Federation of German Industries, Ulrich Grillo, and also NATO. But they do not show the phenomenon in its totality, which leads the Europeans to offer inadapted responses.

The United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia became very uneasy when the Yemenese or Yemenite movement of the Houthi or Ansarallah (meaning the supporters of God in Arabic) gained control of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa/Sana, in September 2014. The US-supported Yemenite President Abd-Rabbuh Manṣour Al-Hadi was humiliatingly forced to share power with the Houthis and the coalition of northern Yemenese tribes that had helped them enter Sana.