There is one thing in common with all of the foreign countries that Tucker Carlson likes to visit and compliment. They are enemies of the United States of America. Russia, especially under Vladimir Putin, is not an ally. They are a threat. Yet Tucker Carlson has no problem at all waxing poetic about how wonderful Russia is and has been. A short time after his famous visit to the Kremlin and Putin, Russia invaded Ukraine and began a war that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. So much for trying to whitewash the truth about the new and improved version of Mother Russia. Now, he is doing the same thing – but in Qatar.
Qatar is indeed more complex than Russia. On the one hand, Qatar is indeed a country that does not pose a threat to it’s neighbors. It is not building up a military complex in Qatar that will threaten it’s neighbors. But Qatar is also an extremely wealthy country that wields enormous influence in the Middle East and across the entire world. So they cannot be ignored.
Qatar is a country that also is one of the chief backers of Islamic terrorism in Israel and across the Western world. But they also do a great job of whitewashing their reputation of funding terror networks by very publicly funding international soccer leagues, and other humanitarian causes. So Qatar is generally viewed as a benevolent Muslim country that has ties with terror networks, but perhaps can serve as a moderating influence in confronting the more radical Arab countries. Perhaps, but perhaps not.
The problem is that the Tucker Carlsons of the world are not willing to call a spade a spade. Al Jazeera, the Qatar funded news agency has normalized anti-Israel reporting and supports Hamas. The Hamas leadership is housed in posh hotels in Qatar, and the funding for the Hamas terror tunnel network in Gaza came from Qatar along with Iran. The facts are tough to accept, but Tucker’s obfuscations will not change any of that. Tucker’s recent change of heart is hard to accept, which leads many to assume that he must be Qatar funded. Too early to know, but nobody would be surprised if that becomes revealed.
First it was Russia, then Qatar. Who will be next on the Tucker whitewash list? China? North Korea? Venezuela? Isolationism is not at all America First. It is America only. It is a minset that makes believe that all America needs is a strong navy to defend against attacks from the other side of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
In an age of interballistic missiles and airplanes, this is dangerously short-sighted. The Twin Towers and the Pentagon were attacked by Islamic militants who were based in the Middle East who joined forces with homegrown terrorists on US soil. Today, the threats are tenfold of what they were on 9-11 nearly 25 years ago. Qatar may have a massive US Army base that serves the strategic interests of the United States, but it also is on the wrong side of the battle against Islamic extremist terrorism. Qatar is 80% enemy and 20% ally.