4 ms·

The Al Jazeera thing always struck me as a canard: it's been in operation for the last 20 years, why did it suddenly become such a sticking point in 2017?

baybal2 9y ago
Few year prior, a Saudi King died at a surprisingly convenient moment
jessaustin 9y ago
ISTM it probably happened in 2011? The young prince wasn't in a position to do anything at that time, although one can imagine that Salman was bringing him around to listen to the various old dudes then, and the topic probably came up. He certainly hit the ground running in 2015.
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  Running is such an overstatement of what he's been up to though...
  - jessaustin 9y ago
    "Hit the ground running" is an English (well, actually American) idiom. It seems to have originated among the hobos, who judged it the best way to jump from a moving train. MbS might not physically be ready to run anywhere. Still, no one outside Saudi had heard of him four years ago. Since then, he seems to have been much more effective in pursuing his political goals than anyone else on the peninsula?
wahern 9y ago
I don't think there was anything sudden about it. From a 2003 BBC article Its rival, al-Jazeera, has ruffled feathers among governments in the West by screening videotapes from al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. And by giving a platform to exiled Middle East dissidents, al-Jazeera has upset Jordan, Kuwait, Algeria and the Palestinian Authority, among others. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3236654.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3236654.stm Here's a 2014 article about Al Jazeera journalists being criminally sentenced in Egypt for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/egypts-imprisoned-al-jazeera-journalists-sentenced-seven-years-prison-1453766 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/egypts-imprisoned-al-jazeera-journa... If you search Google News, you'll see that Al Jazeera has had local offices shuttered and journalists arrested on-and-off since its beginning in just about every Arab country. It's been outright banned at times in several countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and India.
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  Al Jazeera been a continuous thorn in the rest of the Arab world's side, yes, but what caused tensions to boil over in 2017? Their arabic language coverage wasn't really any more abrasive last year than it was in 2011, 2005 or 1999. Hearst's aphorism "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war" comes to mind. AJ was only a pretext for this mess.
  - wahern 9y ago
    Right. It's _not_ just Al Jazeera. But that doesn't make Al Jazeera a canard in their justifications. Al Jazeera needn't have done anything contemporaneous with the embargo for it to be legitimately part of Arab countries' grievances. It's obvious that what immediately precipitated the embargo was the rise of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, but what precipitates an event is rarely the only cause. If we accept that Al Jazeera has promoted narratives that materially threaten the power structures of some Arab countries (see my previous news links), and which support factions in Libya and Syria opposed by Arab-backed factions, to the extent that Al Jazeera is a tool of the Qatar state those narratives implicate Qatar and its leadership. The real question is to what extent is Al Jazeera a tool of Qatar foreign policy; specifically, to what extent has Qatar weaponized Al Jazeera? I don't know enough to have an informed opinion, but it seems clear to me that at the very least the answer is not simple. (FWIW, none of this is to say that I think there's anything wrong, objectively, with most Al Jazeera reporting or even of Qatari foreign policy generally.)

baybal2 9y ago

Few year prior, a Saudi King died at a surprisingly convenient moment

jessaustin 9y ago

ISTM it probably happened in 2011? The young prince wasn't in a position to do anything at that time, although one can imagine that Salman was bringing him around to listen to the various old dudes then, and the topic probably came up. He certainly hit the ground running in 2015.

kchoudhu 9y ago
Running is such an overstatement of what he's been up to though...
- jessaustin 9y ago
  "Hit the ground running" is an English (well, actually American) idiom. It seems to have originated among the hobos, who judged it the best way to jump from a moving train. MbS might not physically be ready to run anywhere. Still, no one outside Saudi had heard of him four years ago. Since then, he seems to have been much more effective in pursuing his political goals than anyone else on the peninsula?

wahern 9y ago

I don't think there was anything sudden about it. From a 2003 BBC article Its rival, al-Jazeera, has ruffled feathers among governments in the West by screening videotapes from al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. And by giving a platform to exiled Middle East dissidents, al-Jazeera has upset Jordan, Kuwait, Algeria and the Palestinian Authority, among others. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3236654.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3236654.stm Here's a 2014 article about Al Jazeera journalists being criminally sentenced in Egypt for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/egypts-imprisoned-al-jazeera-journalists-sentenced-seven-years-prison-1453766 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/egypts-imprisoned-al-jazeera-journa... If you search Google News, you'll see that Al Jazeera has had local offices shuttered and journalists arrested on-and-off since its beginning in just about every Arab country. It's been outright banned at times in several countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and India.

kchoudhu 9y ago
Al Jazeera been a continuous thorn in the rest of the Arab world's side, yes, but what caused tensions to boil over in 2017? Their arabic language coverage wasn't really any more abrasive last year than it was in 2011, 2005 or 1999. Hearst's aphorism "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war" comes to mind. AJ was only a pretext for this mess.
- wahern 9y ago
  Right. It's _not_ just Al Jazeera. But that doesn't make Al Jazeera a canard in their justifications. Al Jazeera needn't have done anything contemporaneous with the embargo for it to be legitimately part of Arab countries' grievances. It's obvious that what immediately precipitated the embargo was the rise of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, but what precipitates an event is rarely the only cause. If we accept that Al Jazeera has promoted narratives that materially threaten the power structures of some Arab countries (see my previous news links), and which support factions in Libya and Syria opposed by Arab-backed factions, to the extent that Al Jazeera is a tool of the Qatar state those narratives implicate Qatar and its leadership. The real question is to what extent is Al Jazeera a tool of Qatar foreign policy; specifically, to what extent has Qatar weaponized Al Jazeera? I don't know enough to have an informed opinion, but it seems clear to me that at the very least the answer is not simple. (FWIW, none of this is to say that I think there's anything wrong, objectively, with most Al Jazeera reporting or even of Qatari foreign policy generally.)