Trump Takes ‘Credit’ for Arab Nations Cutting Ties With US Ally Qatar But Russian Hackers’ Fake News Story to Blame

• Russian Hackers Planted Story Labeling Qatar a Funder of Terror

• Qatar Long-Time US Ally 

• US Has 11,000 Troops in Qatar

Over the past 24 hours at least five Middle East nations cut ties or otherwise disrupted diplomatic relations with a key U.S. ally, the nation of Qatar. All five pointed to Qatar as a funder of terrorism. But as it turns out, according to a report just out from CNN, Russian hackers are responsible for planting a fake news story that led to their actions.

Shockingly, President Donald Trump joined the five countries Tuesday morning in their condemnation, and even took credit for sparking what he claimed would be the end of terrorism.

It is an international incident of grave importance, as the United States has 11,000 troops in Qatar, and that nation is home to the U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.

“On Monday, five countries in the region announced that they were forcing Qatar to choose: Its powerful neighbor Saudi Arabia, Egypt and at least three other Arab nations severed all ties with the country, escalating their accusations that the Qatari monarchy supported Sunni Islamist terrorism and Iranian designs on the region,” The New York Times reported Monday.

“Those Arab nations not only abruptly suspended diplomatic relations, as they have in the past, but also surprised many by cutting off land, air and sea travel to and from Qatar. All but Egypt, which has 250,000 people working there, ordered their citizens to leave Qatar.”

The move created an immediate crisis for Qatar, whose only land border is with Saudi Arabia and which imports about 40 percent of its food from the Saudis. Residents said that people were stocking up on food and cash. And Qatari diplomats and citizens were scrambling to meet a 48-hour deadline to leave some Persian Gulf countries where they had been posted.

Minutes ago CNN’s Evan Perez reports U.S. intelligence now believes Russian hackers were behind the fake news that drove five nations to break diplomatic relations with Qatar. He says the news report was designed to sow diplomatic and economic rifts, pushing Qatar closer to Iran, harming Mid-East peace and U.S. relations.

Rather than rely on diplomacy and expert investigations, the five nations and President Trump all fell for it.

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