Qatar Will Pull Out Of OPEC, As Rift With Saudi Arabia Deepens

Qatar's Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said the small Persian Gulf country will leave OPEC because it wants to focus on natural gas — a sector in which Qatar is a world leader. But the move also draws another line of division with Saudi Arabia, the only country with which Qatar shares a land border.

It seems like a very bold move givin that they share the only land border. My hope is that saudi can get new leadership that can bridge the divide cause in the long run this only escalates instability in the region. The usa seems to be caught in the middle givin the relationship with the two countries and the war former potus led shows that we have a vested interest in the country.

Over the nearly 60 years of OPEC's existence, three member countries have either suspended or terminated their membership, but none of those countries were Arab Gulf states, and two of them — Ecuador and Gabon — later resumed their ties. The third country is Indonesia, a net importer of oil, which froze its membership in 2016.

This says alot as to the importance opec has provided. Perhaps there may be some type of new agreements in the works.Either was the pressure is now on and the usa is closer to having to make some serious choices givin that we rely on the two countries as a big part of our mideast strategy. It seems like yeman is becoming more and more cut off from the rest of the world at a time when they have the greatest humanitarian crisis currently.

www.npr.org...

Insight from ats members is valued

a reply to: TheOne7

Sounds like Qatar and Yemen are about to have quite a bit in common.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when creating them"

a reply to: TheOne7

Once Syria's civil war started, Hezbollah moved their headquarters from Syria to Qatar. So, now that we have Qatar supporting Hezbollah along with Iran, we all should have known that it was only going to get uglier in the Middle East between the Sunnis and the Shiites.

August 2018

Keep a close watch over Iran, Qatar and Hezbollah, urges US Congressman

english.alarabiya.net...

Iran, Qatar, Hezbollah behind terror in region

gulfnews.com...

Here's an article from August 2017 with a better explanation of what's happening in the Middle East with Hezbollah...

Iran Out to Remake Mideast With Arab Enforcer: Hezbollah

www.nytimes.com...

originally posted by: Deetermined
a reply to: TheOne7

Once Syria's civil war started, Hezbollah moved their headquarters from Syria to Qatar. So, now that we have Qatar supporting Hezbollah along with Iran, we all should have known that it was only going to get uglier in the Middle East between the Sunnis and the Shiites.

August 2018

Keep a close watch over Iran, Qatar and Hezbollah, urges US Congressman

english.alarabiya.net...

Iran, Qatar, Hezbollah behind terror in region

gulfnews.com...

Here's an article from August 2017 with a better explanation of what's happening in the Middle East with Hezbollah...

Iran Out to Remake Mideast With Arab Enforcer: Hezbollah

www.nytimes.com...

Would Hezbollah be in Qatar? Qatar is mainly Sunni Muslim, with large Christian and Hindu minorities (due to Qatar importing large numbers of foreign workers). Shia Muslims are only a tiny minority.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Would Hezbollah be in Qatar? Qatar is mainly Sunni Muslim, with large Christian and Hindu minorities (due to Qatar importing large numbers of foreign workers). Shia Muslims are only a tiny minority.

You are absolutely right. I confused Hezbollah with Hamas for a moment. Hamas is the one who moved their headquarters to Qatar when civil war started in Syria. I keep forgetting that Hamas is Sunni since Iran spends so much money backing them too. However, there is a relationship developing between Hezbollah and Qatar in order to build better relations with Iran. The two countries will play both sides of the fence when it suits them.

ANALYSIS: Hezbollah and Qatar – a story of forbidden love?

english.alarabiya.net...

a reply to: Deetermined
OK, that makes more sense. Hezbollah is one of the Syrian government's major allies. I'm not sure how they regard Hamas.

The "Rebel" groups are an ad-mixture of al-Qaida affiliates and proxy groups of various foreign powers (Turkey for sure, probably Israel, the UK, and US as well), and they spend as much time fighting each other as they do the Syrians.