AlJ has an article saying that the crisis over Qatar has been averted.
rump said there is still funding of radical groups by some nations, but added multiple countries are responsible. "There is massive funding of terrorism by certain countries," he said.
Al Jazeera's Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said Trump's tone had changed after previously sending mixed signals.
"What is significant is the US president is now no longer singling out Qatar. He made a phone call to the emir of Qatar immediately following his press conference to provide further assurances," she said.
That is good news for the Philippines, which has quite a few OFW in Qatar (not to mention those in the US military there).
and it probably didn't hurt that Qatar sent 30 million dollars to help Houston (they have a lot of ties via the oil business,) LINK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Qatar is donating $30 million to help people in Texas recover from Harvey, its ambassador said Thursday, as the Persian Gulf nation works to show it's a constructive global player amid a diplomatic crisis with its neighbors.
The contribution appears to be the largest from a foreign government to assist with the hurricane that devastated stretches of the Texas coast.
It came the same day that the United Arab Emirates, one of Qatar's opponents in the Persian Gulf dispute, announced its own $10 million to help Harvey victims.
Both donations were announced as the leader of Kuwait, which has been mediating the Qatar crisis, was in Washington discussing the dispute with President Donald Trump and other American officials.
In the past, most of the Middle east news in the USA was filtered in an echochamber that saw big money oil paranoia and/or terrorism.
But for those in the oil business, (or for those in the Philippines who have relatives over there) we see the news filtered through a business filter.
Arab trading in this area goes back to the Bronze age, and the Prophet himself was a businessman.
and of course, giving to charity is mandated by Islam.
(the main problem behind the kerfuffle was that Qatar wanted to keep trading ties with Iran, and also the problem of many rich Arabs in the Middle East giving oodles of money to Islamic charities, often without realizing that it was being funneled to terrorism directly or indirectly, as in Madrasses that teach a form of Islam that encourages terrorism instead of teaching subjects that would allow their students to make money in business.)
We face these problems in Mindanao: charity helps the people, including their desire for their own state (with militants) but some oozes over into very nasty terrorism against the Christians (and against Muslims who belong to a different clan than the militants).
