© Yuri Kochetkov / Reuters
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, January 18, 2016.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, January 18, 2016.
The footage, dating back from Monday, and broadcast by the Arabic-language channel Al Dawri, shows the Emir smiling as he confidently holds the hunting bird, with Vladimir Putin and other officials looking on.
© ana yemeni / YouTube
The Emir visited the Russian capital primarily to discuss the ongoing Syrian crisis, where Moscow and Doha have backed opposing factions since 2011, and the falling energy prices, which have hit both states.
"Russia has a decisive role to play in establishing stability in the region," Al Thani said, as he left Moscow, after talks both sides described as "constructive."
The 18th century sword from Bengal that belonged to the Najafi Dynasty, gifted to me by President Putin. pic.twitter.com/LfP5szD503
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 24, 2015Vladimir Putin has made symbolic gift diplomacy something of a trademark since first coming to power in 2000. Last year, he gave Egyptian President Abdel El-Sisi a vintage Kalashnikov, perhaps a reminder of the arms trade history between Moscow and Cairo during Soviet times, given as the two parties negotiated new deals. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was offered a replica of the sword of Simon de Bolivar, the South American liberator, when he came to the Russian capital a year ago. Indian Prime Minister received another sword - an 18th century Bengal one - from the Russian leader, but also, a page from the diary of Mahatma Gandhi .
I was wondering what was going on with these meetings. Russian media ran a few stories but as of Jan. 21 those stories have all but vanished, this SOTT article being one of the few remaining out there. Thanks to an article written last year by Eric Zuesse I now understand that Qatar sees the writing on the wall in Syria and the Thani family realize they will not get their pipeline through Syria if they continue to support the U.S./al Saud forces.
"Qatar being the fundamentalist Sunni chief financial backer of the fundamentalist Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, and also one of the two chief funders of the jihadist groups that are trying to take over the non-sectarian but mainly Shiite-ruled Syrian government. The Thani family that own Qatar want to run a pipeline through Syria, but they can’t do that unless a fundamentalist Sunni government takes over Syria." [Link]
I would love to know what went down in the meetings between Mr. Putin and Mr. al Thani but it would be safe to assume that Russia promised to aid in getting the pipeline run in exchange for the support of Qatar and the end of Qatari financing of ISIL.