So yesterday I gave my reasons to support what I think happened in Qatar, and now we have the why of the matter, and why Trump was so eager to do this. Remember what I said Monday?
Of course, the larger issue goes back to Qatar being the largest producer of natural gas. Qatar has long wanted a pipeline through Syria to sell its product in Europe. The war in Syria has made that pipeline impossible for years. And guess who's currently the biggest natural gas dealer to Europe right now?
Our friend Vlad. So what if wrecking the Qatari ambition for a pipeline becomes the price Doha has to pay to get back in the Gulf States country club?
Guess what we found out late yesterday?
US investigators believe Russian hackers breached Qatar's state news agency and planted a fake news report that contributed to a crisis among the US' closest Gulf allies, according to US officials briefed on the investigation.
The FBI recently sent a team of investigators to Doha to help the Qatari government investigate the alleged hacking incident, Qatari and US government officials say.
Intelligence gathered by the US security agencies indicates that Russian hackers were behind the intrusion first reported by the Qatari government two weeks ago, US officials say. Qatar hosts one of the largest US military bases in the region.
The alleged involvement of Russian hackers intensifies concerns by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies that Russia continues to try some of the same cyber-hacking measures on US allies that intelligence agencies believe it used to meddle in the 2016 elections.
US officials say the Russian goal appears to be to cause rifts among the US and its allies. In recent months, suspected Russian cyber activities, including the use of fake news stories, have turned up amid elections in France, Germany and other countries.
It's not yet clear whether the US has tracked the hackers in the Qatar incident to Russian criminal organizations or to the Russian security services blamed for the US election hacks. One official noted that based on past intelligence, "not much happens in that country without the blessing of the government."
The FBI and CIA declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Qatari embassy in Washington said the investigation is ongoing and its results would be released publicly soon.
Man it does not end with these guys.
Final piece of the puzzle falls into place. Forget wrecking the pipeline like I said before, what if the aim is to put Qatar's LNG out of business and corner the market?
Trump's more than ready to destroy the US relationship with Qatar because Russia wants him to, and Russia provided the cover to do so. Maybe Trump is a dupe and was fed this fake report, maybe he went along with it willingly, but the point is he did Russia's bidding.
Think about that.
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