Saudi Arabia has reportedly issued 13 demands to Qatar in order to remove their recently imposed blockade. Although largely under-reported in the West, the ban on Qatar threatens to evolve into military conflict. These demands, of which details have recently been leaked, seem to be insisting that Qatar essentially cede all sovereignty - and do so in 10 days.
One of these demands is to close down all media organisations directly or indirectly funded by Qatar. The prime target for this demand is of course Al Jazeera - the biggest and most open media organisation in the Middle East.
Al Jazeera have a record of pissing off nations. They've been criticised by just about everyone including the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt and on and on. They're widely regarded as straight shooters who go after left and right, muslim and non-muslim alike. They've had more journalists imprisoned and murdered in recent decades than anyone else.
When the ban first occurred, many predicted this was the real reason behind the Saudi led move to bring Qatar to its knees. Al Jazeera has become enemy number one because of it's sustained criticism of the totalitarian states throughout the region - it directly threats their hold on power. If you don't believe me look at this story about how Saudi Arabia banned all Al Jazeera in hotels.
The whole situation is made more dangerous because Qatar are close allies with the Turks - indeed one of the demands issued is to close down a Turkish Military base. A claim already rejected by the Turks - who insist they are a guarantor of peace in the gulf region.
The image above from Reuters shows the recent arrival of Turkish forces into Doha, Qatar.
Anyway how is the presence of a turkish base related to links to terrorism? Funnily enough Qatar has a U.S. base located there too.
The Middle East is closer to major multi-nation-state conflict than it has been in some time. A situation is emerging that could see a major conflict between Saudi Arabia and Turkey - hosted in Qatar and with weapons supplied by the usual suspects.
Luckily Saudi Arabia just signed that deal to purchase U.S. weapons for the forseeable future - that should fuel a decent war or two for some time.