Originally Posted by
Lonewolf_50
As an American, I am keen to see just what response our political sorts will have to this set of demands:
1. close al-Jazeera,
2. cut back diplomatic ties to Iran
3. sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.
My opinion: (I wonder how Tillerson will respond ...)
(a) absolutely no to #1. Plenty of news organizations all over the world are a pain in a variety of backsides, but I see no reason to shut them down either. Consider the source. I have my own dislike of Al Jazeera, but I quite frankly find this demand to be unreasonable. (Not meeting Tillerson's criteria).
(b) I find that unreasonable. (I do understand why that demand is being made). Any sovereign nations gets to determine who it will or won't have embassies to and with.
(c) While I support that, how the heck do you enforce/measure compliance? Let's just say I see some "pot/kettle" stuff going on here. 0 for 3 in achieving Tillerson's criteria ... wonder if he'll read it the same way I do.
Analysis:
It seems (on the surface at least) that the Saudis are trying to drive Qatar into Iran's arms. While there is doubtless a variety of stuff going on under the table, this looks like a piece of Saudi over-reach.
We'll see.
OBTW: three words, for our dear Saudi friends: Al Freakin' Udeid. Do you really think we are going to just toss that into the trash can?
Oh these demands were never going to be met, shove as much unreasonable stuff in as possible and this is just the Prelude before the attack.