Al-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 29
Last week, Qatar demanded that the English Premier League block the Saudi takeover of the Newcastle United football club, citing Riyadh’s alleged involvement in “television privacy.” Sadly, it seems as if neither the Sheikh of Qatar nor his father, the head of the snake, have learned anything from the boycott imposed on their country. What’s particularly interesting is that investments in sports clubs have become extremely popular in recent decades, especially by sovereign wealth funds in Gulf countries. Why, then, is Qatar objecting the Saudi-British deal? The reason is, of course, to undermine the kingdom’s political interests. Doha is hoping to lift the siege Riyadh imposed upon it by spoiling the latter’s deal in the UK. The Saudi siege, which has entered its third year, has cost Qatar significant economic, political and social losses. The Qatari people feel a sense of anger toward their government because of this prolonged boycott, which continues to worsen. They’ve lost any glimmer of hope, especially after talks between the two states collapsed. Instead of pressuring their government to cease its aggressive policies, the people of Qatar are still arrogant and drunk with power. Qatar is nothing more than a wealthy state deriving its strength from the incubation and financing of terrorism. It refuses to understand that it’s nothing more than a minuscule state that can only be seen on the world map with a microscope, and whose strength lies only in its ability to bring harm and to spread conspiracy theories about other countries. Qatar will not get out of this predicament until it comes to terms with the limits of its power and recognizes that no matter how much money it spends to undermine its neighbors, it will forever be surrounded from all sides by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As for the Qatari attempt to sabotage the investment deal in Newcastle, it was, in every sense of the words, a stupid, naive and despicable attempt. Hopefully, this desperate and miserable Qatari effort serves as a wake-up call to nations around the world that this small political entity is a harmful country that has not learned its lesson despite the fatal isolation under which it lives. – Muhammad Al-Sheikh (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)