While the announced Trump Organization’s deal with dodgy foreign interests might be legal, it seems unseemly …

What is being sold is the Trump “brand” and little else.

America’s False Friends: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE Are Not the Allies We Pretend They Are

The Middle East remains one of the most volatile and strategically important regions in the world. While the United States continues to maintain close ties with countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the reality is that these nations routinely act in ways that undermine American interests, fund extremism, and destabilize their neighbors—often with impunity.

It’s time to face a difficult truth: these are not loyal allies. They are power players who wear the mask of partnership while fueling the very chaos the U.S. claims to be fighting.

1. Qatar: Terror Financing, Diplomatic Games, and Soft Power Manipulation

• Qatar has long played a duplicitous game. While hosting the largest U.S. airbase in the region—Al Udeid—it simultaneously finances groups that are openly hostile to the United States and its allies.
• Qatar has been accused of supporting Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and jihadist militias in Syria and Libya.
• Khalifa al-Subaiy, a Qatari national sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for funding al-Qaeda, has remained free and active inside Qatar.
• Qatar’s lavish payments to free hostages held by extremist groups have helped finance terrorism under the radar.
• Its state-funded media network, Al Jazeera, frequently gives voice to radical clerics and promotes anti-American narratives across the Arab-speaking world.

2. Saudi Arabia: A Ruthless Regime Behind a Strategic Alliance

• Saudi Arabia is often treated as a cornerstone of U.S. policy in the region, yet the alliance is built on oil and arms, not shared values or trust.
• Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals. While the Saudi government has long denied direct involvement, lingering questions remain about financial and ideological links.
• The kingdom has spent billions exporting Wahhabism, a hardline Islamist ideology that has inspired extremism worldwide.
• The 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, by Saudi agents in Istanbul demonstrated the regime’s brazen disregard for international law and human rights.
• Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s brutal intervention in Yemen—backed by U.S. weapons and logistical support—has resulted in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with thousands of civilian deaths and widespread famine.

3. United Arab Emirates: Authoritarianism, Mercenaries, and Influence Operations

• The UAE brands itself as a modern, tolerant, business-friendly Gulf state—but behind the façade lies a highly repressive regime deeply involved in shadow wars and foreign meddling.
• The UAE has backed warlords and militias in Libya and Yemen, including some accused of war crimes.
• It has been implicated in hiring mercenaries and foreign intelligence operatives to carry out assassinations and cyber-espionage campaigns.
• Domestically, it tolerates zero dissent, with human rights organizations reporting widespread arrests of journalists, critics, and peaceful activists.
• Like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the UAE uses money and soft power—including influence over Western think tanks and sports partnerships—to whitewash its image and avoid accountability.

4. All Three: Allies in Name, Adversaries in Practice

• What unites Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE is a shared pattern of behavior: playing both sides. They claim to fight terrorism, yet fund ideologies and actors that breed it. They call for regional stability, yet interfere relentlessly in the politics of weaker neighbors. They condemn extremism, while silencing liberal reformers and civil society voices.
• These countries:
  • Spend billions lobbying in Washington to maintain favorable relations.
  • Use U.S.-made weapons to wage proxy wars and suppress dissent.
  • Engage in cyberwarfare, disinformation, and surveillance—often targeting Americans or their allies.

Bottom line…

If America is serious about promoting democracy, fighting extremism, and securing long-term stability in the Middle East, it must stop turning a blind eye to the actions of its so-called allies. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have all shown they are willing to work with the U.S. only when it suits them, and against it when it doesn't.

It’s time for a strategic recalibration. These are not partners. They are transactional regimes whose interests diverge sharply from ours, playing a transactional President and his family appendages.

America should demand accountability, transparency, and reform, not just oil deals and military contracts.

We are so screwed.

-- Steve