Ruling Tunisia by remote control

Tunisia has a new caliph: the emir of Qatar. Although a year has passed since the inspiring Jasmine Revolution, and dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is no longer in power - Tunisia's democracy is still in danger. Now the problem seems to be the emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who many perceive as a threat to Tunisia's sovereignty.

Ruling Tunisia by remote control

Iraq makes sanctions against Iran ineffective

The US and EU have announced new sanctions in the hope of persuading Iran to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons programme, though how effective these will be is questionable. China, India, Russia, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea have already refused to go along with the new measures. Iran also has the means to evade the sanctions – through its proximity to Iraq. Iran has often been singled out as the main beneficiary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, as well as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability in the post-Saddam era. Iran's uninterrupted support for Shia militia groups in southern Iraq, particularly the Mahdi army, is seen as one indication of its involvement in Iraqi politics and its ability to cause problems for adversaries. And yet Iran's key interest in Iraq is less about realpolitik than about trade. Iran is one of Iraq's most important regional economic partners, with an annual trade volume between the two sides standing at $8bn to $10bn (£5bn to £6.4bn). However, it is Iraq's 910-mile border with Iran, and therefore its geographical suitability as a smuggling hub for sanctioned goods, which is of paramount importance to Iran at present.

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Syria: Watch the weather forecast

Ankhar Kochneva, writer and sole foreign journalist permanently living in Syria, tells RT what is really up in the country, who funds the opposition, how international media fake images of unrest and why it is so important to watch weather forecasts.

Syria: Watch the weather forecast

Let's talk about Qatar

The rise of Qatar has been one of the most remarkable developments in the recent history of the Middle East. How this small, oil-rich Gulf state built Al Jazeera and parleyed the TV station's influence into a diplomatic role across the region is an insufficiently explored issue. The list of the monarchy's achievements is impressive, even putting aside how they secured the football World Cup for 2022. Qatari diplomats have mediated in Lebanon, helped rejuvenate the Arab League, led condemnation of Bashir al-Assad and joined the fight against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. In a way, Qatar has become one of the region's lynchpins, second only to Saudi Arabia as the West's go-to country. The Prime Minister is said to speak regularly to his Qatari counterpart as part of a relationship that may now have surpassed the considerable UK-Omani link.

Let's talk about Qatar

Is Libya Sliding Toward Civil War?

Correspondents report that Tripoli today is a patchwork of fiefdoms held by rival militias that arrived in the capital months ago to chase out Qaddafi and have since refused to leave. Each of the militias appears to believe that its power to influence the future course of Libyan politics depends on maintaining an armed presence in Tripoli. Two of the militias are homegrown groups from Tripoli itself. One is led by Abdel Hakim Belhadj, an Islamist who spent time in Taliban camps and is the NTC-backed military council commander in the capital. The other is led by Abdullah Naker, a former electronics engineer who is openly critical of Belhadj. But there also militias from outside. There is one from Misurata, east of Tripoli; another from Zintan, southwest of the capital; another from the east of Libya; and another representing the country's Berber minority. All maintain territories and checkpoints, with their presence increasing after nightfall. Correspondents say the fighting usually breaks out when members of one militia try to cross through territory of another while refusing to disarm. It is just that kind of dispute that is believed to have led to this week's fighting, when fighters from Belhadj's military council detained a member of the Misurata militia.

Is Libya Sliding Toward Civil War?

Secretary Clinton on Qatar-US collaboration

SECRETARY CLINTON: Qatar is and remains a very valuable American partner. As we look back on the year just finished, I’m not sure there was any one like it. It was an extraordinary time, and during it, our partnership evolved to address new challenges and take advantage of new opportunities, including the unprecedented joint operations with NATO over the skies of Libya.

Secretary of State Clinton Remarks With Qatari Prime Minister After Their Meeting

Exxon's Partner In Giant Qatar Project To Help Exporting U.S. Shale Gas

Golden Pass (which is owned 70% by Qatar, 17.6% by Exxon and 12.4% by ConocoPhillips) would be just one of a handful of LNG export terminals on the gulf coast. Cheniere Energy, which was among the earliest to build an LNG import terminal at Sabine Pass, has already had its plans approved by the feds, and expects to begin exporting U.S. gas in 2015. In addition to the gulf coast export plans, ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips have been working on plans to export gas stranded in Alaska to the Asian market. This is all a huge change from just a few years ago, when the big players assumed the U.S. would need gas from the rest of the world. “People used to say that shale gas couldn’t compete with natural gas,” al Attiyah reportedly said. “In my 40 years in the industry, I have learned one thing: don’t believe in forecasts.”

Exxon's Partner In Giant Qatar Project Says It Wants To Reverse LNG Terminal To Export U.S. Shale Gas

Terrorists target international journalists in Syria

A Mistaken Case For Syrian Regime Change

Al-Jazeera has, and continues, [18] to provide technical support, equipment, hosting and "credibility" to Syrian opposition activists and organizations. Reports show that as early as March 2011, al-Jazeera was providing messaging and technical support to exiled Syrian opposition activists [19] , who even by January 2010 were co-ordinating their messaging activities from Doha. Nearly 10 months on, however, and despite the daily international media onslaught, the project isn't exactly going to plan: a YouGov poll commissioned by the Qatar Foundation [20] showed last week that 55% of Syrians do not want Assad to resign and 68% of Syrians disapprove of the Arab League sanctions imposed on their country. According to the poll, Assad's support has effectively increased since the onset of current events - 46% of Syrians felt Assad was a "good" president for Syria prior to current events in the country - something that certainly doesn't fit with the false narrative being peddled. As if trumpeting the success of their own propaganda campaign, the poll summary concludes: The majority of Arabs believe Syria's President Basher al-Assad should resign in the wake of the regime's brutal treatment of protesters ... 81% of Arabs [want] President Assad to step down. They believe Syria would be better off if free democratic elections were held under the supervision of a transitional government. [21] One is left wondering who exactly is Assad accountable to - the Syrian people or the Arab public? A blurring of lines that might perhaps be useful as two main Syrian opposition groups have just announced [22] that while they are against foreign military intervention, they do not consider "Arab intervention" to be foreign. Unsurprisingly, not a single mainstream major newspaper or news outlet reported the YouGov poll results - it doesn't fit their narrative.

A Mistaken Case For Syrian Regime Change

In the Arab Spring, Watch Turkey

Landlocked Iraqi Kurdistan also needs a conduit to export its oil to the West. The only country that can fulfill both roles is Turkey. That is why K.R.G. officials, instead of supporting their ethnic brethren inside Turkey, have often sided with Ankara against the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K. All this explains why the bombing on Dec. 28, in which the Turks killed 35 Kurdish smugglers whom they mistook for terrorists, provoked little outrage in Iraqi Kurdistan. On the streets of Erbil there are no signs of protests against Turkey. Instead, one notices Turkey’s ubiquitous presence in the form of construction, investment, consumer goods and tourists. Should more pipelines leading from Iraqi Kurdistan to the Mediterranean via Turkey be built, the result will be the de facto creation of an Iraqi-Kurdish buffer state. Dependent on Turkey for its survival, such a state would also form a barrier to Iranian (or American, or P.K.K.) interference in Turkish affairs. In the southern part of Iraq, the situation is just the opposite. There, a Shiite Arab buffer state, buttressed by Iran as a bulwark against Turkish, American or Saudi encroachments, is being created. The last two weeks’ events have removed any doubt that Maliki is “Iran’s man” in Baghdad. Yet despite this de facto partitioning of Iraq over the last month, Turkey and Iran are not challenging each other’s spheres of influence.

In the Arab Spring, Watch Turkey

Deadly suicide bomb attack rocks Damascus

Muslim Brotherhood Strongest Contender In Libya’s Coming Elections

“The Brotherhood are different from how Libyans view Islam,” and “They represent outsiders and interference in our country” , “Our revolution was not about replacing one autocratic regime with another.” That said, the Muslim Brotherhood is odds-on favorite to win the June elections, in the view of many observers here in Libya. The reason the MB is in such a relatively strong position is that is has the support of Qatar, assistance from the well-established MB organizations in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and Turkey. The flights arriving in Tripoli from Egypt are always full and some of the passengers are MB operatives according to Professor “Dr. Ali”, a pro-Gadafi political scientist who has so far managed to keep his teaching post.

Muslim Brotherhood Strongest Contender In Libya’s Coming Elections

Qatar, Unveiling Tensions, Suspends Sale of Alcohol

The alcohol ban has raised questions over how easily Qatar can bridge the two worlds. Qatar, where the strict strand of Wahhabi Islam is predominantly observed, wants to retain a conservative Arab culture rooted in Islamic traditions where women are often veiled and arranged marriages are common. Muslims are prohibited by Islamic law from consuming alcohol or pork. Last month, restaurants on the Pearl were instructed to suspend alcohol sales until further notice, according to a person familiar with the matter at Doha-based United Development Company, the real-estate developer that built the island. No reason was given, and it isn't clear how long the ban will be enforced.

Qatar, Unveiling Tensions, Suspends Sale of Alcohol

Lebanon joins volatile Med gas scramble

Lebanon has raised the stakes in the high-octane poker game under way in the natural gas-rich eastern Mediterranean by approving a law to administer offshore exploration and drilling, joining Israel, Cyprus and Turkey in a potentially explosive race for energy riches. The Beirut government laid down the regulations for the emerging energy industry Wednesday. "If all goes as scheduled," said Cesar Abi Khalil, an Energy Ministry adviser, "the licensing round will be held this year. "The companies will have six months to bid and then the winners will be chosen and exploration will begin." Energy expert Roudi Baroudi estimates that Lebanon's reserves total three times those of Libya's 54 trillion cubic feet. That's probably a major overestimate. But it's certain to heighten tension in the region triggered by Israel's discovery of major gas fields off its coast, a drive by nearby Cyprus to follow suit and Turkey's threat to send in its navy to stop the other two from joining forces to exploit the region's energy riches.

Lebanon joins volatile Med gas scramble

Russian warships heading for Syria

The Russian Navy's warships patrolling the eastern Mediterranean Sea were heading for a Syrian port, the state-owned Itar-Tass news agency reported on Friday. The warships were scheduled to arrive in Tartus, a point of logistics supplies of the Russian navy on Saturday, according to preliminary information. "It is planned that the port of Tartus will be visited by a big anti-submarine ship of the Northern Fleet 'Admiral Chabanenko' and an escort ship 'Yaroslav Mudry'," Itar-Tass quoted a source with the Russian Navy as saying. "Our ships are supposed to stay in Syria for several days," the source said, without giving more details about the warships' mission in the country. Russian Navy dispatched their warships to the Mediterranean sea in November, and claimed the move was part of scheduled exercises and had no connection with the situation in Syria. The warships, led by "Admiral Kuznetsov", the country's only aircraft carrier, have started their patrol missions in the Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea since Dec. 6 to "ensure the security of the sea navigation and other Russian maritime economic activities," according to Russian Navy.

Russian warships heading for Syria

What exactly is The Syrian Free Army (SFA) ?

SFA is an umbrella name for armed groups and opposition militia in Syria. It serves as a pretext under which smuggling weapons and arming civilians can be justified (civilians would be called “volunteers”, as mentioned clearly by Captain Ibraheem Majbour in his Alarbiya interview above, or even claim to be army defectors like the school teacher in the video above). But the more important role SFA plays is providing a pretext for imposing foreign military intervention in Syria, whether in the form of a no-fly zone (as requested by SFA leader himself), or other scenarios that have been proposed by other parties, such as the Alain Juppe’s infamous “humanitarian corridor”.

What exactly is The Syrian Free Army (SFA)?

Taliban strike deal with Qatar on liaison office

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the liaison office will conduct negotiations with the international community. He did not say when it would open.

"Right now, having a strong presence in Afghanistan, we still want to have a political office for negotiations," said Mujahid. "In this regard, we have started preliminary talks and we have reached a preliminary understanding with relevant sides, including the government of Qatar, to have a political office for negotiations with the international community." Mujahid's emailed statement also said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan— the name of Afghanistan under Taliban rule — , has "requested for the exchange of prisoners from Guantanamo." He was referring to a Taliban demand that the U.S. military release about five Afghan prisoners believed to be affiliated with the Taliban from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Taliban strike deal with Qatar on liaison office