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Silence the Voice



The reason for the sudden sanctions on Qatar by Saudi led group of Gulf countries is now getting clearer. Earlier, we were led to believe that it was the alleged closeness to Iran, the rival to the Saudi dominance of the Muslim world, and the alleged support for the Islamic fundamentalists in the Arab world. It is this and more.
The most fundamental reason being the independent foreign policy by Qatar as opposed to the other smaller Arab Gulf nations that go along with the Saudi dictate. When the Jasmine revolution swept the Arab nations of North Africa, Qatar through its most visible arm Al-Jazeera was seen to be supporting the people’s movement against the entrenched, often brutal and unpopular regimes. When the Muslim Brotherhood party came to power in the country’s first ever free and fair elections, the Saudis got rattled and did everything possible to topple the democratic government of Mohammad Morsi. And finally, it succeeded with the Egyptian army taking back control from the civilian government. Saudi, America and the West in general were relieved that a pro-Western regime was back in place in Egypt.
Saudi Arabia has always been behind funding, arming and exporting extremist elements in near and far off places. The US, time and again looked the other way despite the Saudi complexity in the 9/11 attacks. Today, Saudis are again asserting their power by targeting a tiny but prosperous neighbour Qatar.
Al-Jazeera came into being in 1995 and gave the mostly dynastic regimes in the Arab world a nightmare. The independent, pro-Arab (people) stance of the channel from Qatar was seen by many, including the
Saudis, as a danger to their totalitarian hold over their people. The fact that America has from day one of the Al-Jazeera launch been wary of an alternative voice for the Arab populace helped sealed the deal. President Trump is no great admirer of independent media, in America or elsewhere. So, all this adds up to the 10- day ultimatum given by the Saudi-led group to Qatar to close down Al-Jazeera.
All the posturing over the last two weeks, with overt support by President Trump, was a prelude to the actual reason behind the Saudi action, to get Qatar to silence the only voice of reason in the region- Al-Jazeera.

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