Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and UAE cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.

[MEL_Traveller]

A big non issue and the press have moved on.

It's a pretty big issue if you're being made to wait until the t-72 hour window to have your flights changed Yeah I know QR works it out and gets you alternative arrangements, but still cutting it down to the wire for prospective pax made to wait with the accompanying uncertainty.

 

[Berlin]

A big non issue

Yes, that's how it seems.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Saudi Moves Forward With Plan to Turn Qatar Into Island - Bloomberg

 

[rock86]

Saudi Moves Forward With Plan to Turn Qatar Into Island - Bloomberg

What a joke! Actually the whole premise behind the current situation is a joke.

 

[burmans]

What a joke! Actually the whole premise behind the current situation is a joke.

An interesting way to spend/waste your money. I guess its their money to waste but they have clearly failed to capture public opinion on this (at least in the west and Al Jazeera seems to be winning the media battle in the local area).

 

[Scarlett]

Saudi Moves Forward With Plan to Turn Qatar Into Island - Bloomberg

“...media reported that the channel would be 60 kilometers (37.5 miles) long and 200 meters (219 yards) wide, running the entire length of the strip of Saudi territory that borders Qatar. Part of the canal zone would be set aside for a planned nuclear waste facility, Al Riyadh newspaper reported...”

So they’re going to build a canal along the border with Qatar and store nuclear waste in the same area. That’s some ‘screw you Qatar’ message. What’s next: “sharks with friggin laser beams attached to their heads” swimming in the canal?

 

[Isochronous]

Rather bemusing story.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

What’s next

Apparently hotels/resorts, privates beaches, marinas and housing.

That'll go nicely with the nuclear waste dump, military base and potentially hostile border.

Rather bemusing story.

It's something ...

Saudi media says kingdom could turn Qatar — its neighbor and rival — into an island - The Washington Post

Despite the reports that the plan is gathering steam, the Saudi government has offered no public confirmation. The Saudi Embassy in Washington and the Riyadh-based Center for International Communication did not respond to requests for comment.

However, several analysts doubt that such a canal will ever be dug. Ali Shihabi, founder of the Washington-based Arabia Foundation, said the Salwa Channel reports were probably psychological warfare. Even if the canal were built, he said, it would make little sense. “If you create a canal, you do Qatar a favor because you create a 'moat' to protect them when now their land borders are fully exposed to Saudi Arabia,” Shihabi said.

In an email, Bruce Riedel, director of the intelligence project at the Brookings Institution and author of the recent book “Kings and Presidents,” also suggested that the aim of the reports was to psychologically manipulate Qataris. The tactic was “failing,” he added.

Andreas Krieg, an assistant professor in defense studies at King's College, London, wrote Tuesday on Twitter that the idea of building a canal had been proposed before by Qatar itself but abandoned because of the high costs entailed. Describing Saudi Arabia as “financially struggling,” Krieg expressed surprise that it would want to “spend that money on a PR stunt.”

 

[Scarlett]

When I mentioned this story to my Saudi colleague today he laughed and said it’s a joke. “Never going to happen”.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

What does he think about Qatar?

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Some opinions:-

From Qatar’s blockade, a bold, unexpected new vision is emerging - The Guardian

Qatar Won the Saudi Blockade - Foreign Policy

The ICJ case started on Wednesday:-

Qatar's case against Gulf states over blockade begins - CBC

Aviation related:-

The dispute has hurt Doha-based Qatar Airways. Qatar has sent complaints to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN body, about the boycotting countries closing off their airspace, as well as violating the country's airspace. The UAE has sent its own complaints as well, accusing Qatari military aircraft of flying dangerously close to Emirati planes.

Early Wednesday, the four Arab nations said they'd take their own case to the ICJ over their opinion that the ICAO "was not competent to consider that dispute."

"The appeals and hearings of the International Court of Justice are expected to take a long time ... and accordingly the four states will continue to close their regional airspace to Qatari aircraft in order to preserve their national security and sovereign rights," the nations said in a statement.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

'Billion dollar ransom': Did Qatar pay record sum? - BBC News

Whether the blockade of Qatar continues will depend on who wins the argument over "terrorist financing".

Partly, this is a fight over whom to believe about how a kidnapping in the Iraqi desert was ended.

 

[rock86]

'Billion dollar ransom': Did Qatar pay record sum? - BBC News

So they're using this situation as the basis of continual 'terrorist funding', not hard to see past the whole charade - it's about which Shiekh's economy is to prosper and be bigger then the others in the Emirate - the less competition, the better,

 

[Nisho]

It seems we could have been hours away from QR being grounded and Qatar literally being occupied:

Saudi Arabia INVASION of Qatar CALLED OFF at last minute - shock WAR avoided

The last thing the region needed was yet another war.

 

[OZDUCK]

It seems we could have been hours away from QR being grounded and Qatar literally being occupied:

Saudi Arabia INVASION of Qatar CALLED OFF at last minute - shock WAR avoided

The last thing the region needed was yet another war.

We are spending 2 nights in Doha in October - hopefully I wont have the opportunity to post a TR from a war zone.

 

[clifford]

We are spending 2 nights in Doha in October - hopefully I wont have the opportunity to post a TR from a war zone.

Maybe the Saudis were slightly dissuaded by the fact that the USA has its largest Middle East military base in Qatar.

 

[drron]

Maybe the Saudis were slightly dissuaded by the fact that the USA has its largest Middle East military base in Qatar.

Which is what general Mattis told the Saudis when the US found out about the plans.

 

[Nisho]

Maybe the Saudis were slightly dissuaded by the fact that the USA has its largest Middle East military base in Qatar.

Apparently this Saudi alliance had plans to go around the US base. Ofcourse they had to let the Yanks know what was going on first hence the frantic calls from the US State Department.

 

[drron]

Apparently this Saudi alliance had plans to go around the US base. Ofcourse they had to let the Yanks know what was going on first hence the frantic calls from the US State Department.

Actually Qatar intercepted Saudi reports and notified the US.

 

[rock86]

Actually Qatar intercepted Saudi reports and notified the US.

As more and more information leaks on this blockade, it is ever more evident to the world (which I think a lot of people thought from the start anyhow), that this blockade has absolutely nothing to do with 'funding terrorism' and all to do with each of these middle east nations wanting to be the only dominant player in that region into the future.