Many thanks to FouseSquawk for translating this article from Linkiesta. It’s from a year ago, but still relevant:
International traffic
April 4, 2019
Qatar Finances the Muslim Brotherhood in Italy. And in Return They Buy Our Arms
The book Qatar Papers, written by the French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, reveals the funding given by Doha in 2014 to mosques and Islamic centers in Europe: €72 million, of which €22 million went to Italy alone. The currency of exchange? The arsenal made in Italy.
The Italian press struggles to make the connections. Either it is not capable, or it is because it is in bad faith. That is demonstrated by the articles in Qatar Papers, the book written by the French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, which reveals the funding from Doha to mosques and Islamic centers in Europe in 2014: €72 million, of which €22 million went to Italy alone. This sounds the alarm of the newspapers on the links of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood. None of them recall our furnishing of arms to the Emir Al Thani: In a little more than a year, €9 billion in ships and helicopters. Perhaps that way explains to us better how things are, right? Qatar, for Italy, is a small Sparta in the Gulf. We are arming the emirate to the teeth, which is under embargo by Saudi Arabia and their allies in the Gulf, who accuse Doha, along with Turkey, of protecting the Muslim Brothers and their leader, Yusuf al Qaradawi, with their political Islam considered a lethal trap for the absolute monarchies of the region.
In little more than one year we have sold Doha 7 Fincantieri warships for €4 billion, 28 NH 90 (formerly Agusta Westland) helicopters for €3 billion; in addition, an agreement has been signed for 24 Typhoon fighters from the Europefighter consortium, of which Leonardo-Finmeccanica has a share of 36%. Planes, more than anything else, have also been sold to Saudi Arabia after a visit to London by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon, who according to the CIA ordered the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Here are some of the many motives: the tensions in the Gulf and Libya, for the emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who for us has a relevant weight. We are a strategic ally. The emirate is a large producer of gas, in partnership with Iran — under American sanctions — and one of the largest foreign investors in Italy, where the Qataris have acquired fashion brands (Valentino), real estate, large hotels, and the Air Italy company, formerly Meridiana, of the Agha Khan.
The Qatar Investment Authority (Qia) is a colossus, whose assets are estimated at €335 billion. Italy certainly cannot be presumed to have treated it badly. Here it wants to proselytize among Muslims at the expense of the Saudis and other monarchies of the Gulf. It cannot shock; therefore, if, in the book by Malbrunot, a colleague and friend, kidnapped in Iraq in 2004 while we were together in Baghdad, a letter from Yusuf al Qaradawi is cited, in which the sheikh praises the Caim (Coordination of Islamic Associations of Milan) Monza and Brianza, and exhorts its recipients to donate generously to their representatives, Yassine Baradei and Davide Piccardo, noted promoters of Islam in Lombardy, to support their project to construct a large new Islamic center in Milan with a mosque and several educational centers.
Our relations with Qatar are not only economic but also political. With Doha and Erdogan’s Turkey, Italy supports the Sarraj government of Tripoli, which is opposed to the Cirenaica (Eastern Libya) general Khalifa Haftar, ally of Egypt, France, Russia and the Saudis, who is also the worst enemy of the Muslim Brothers of Tripoli. For Italy, it is also a brain-teaser: Rome supports a government held hostage by Salafist militias who have the Muslim Brothers as a political point of reference in the government and in the institutions. It is necessary to be frank. With the Emir of Qatar, while he was financing mosques, Islamic centers, hospitals and universities, buying our businesses, our brands, our arms, our managers, Italy puts itself happily in the cash box, closing an eye, and perhaps two, to the Muslim Brothers.
God help us
If only the West had someone as vigorous and talented in rooting out Islamists as Joe McCarthy was at rooting Communists. Who could even say we won the Cold War anyhow. Against Russia? Sure, but against Communism? They are now behind the helm in one form or another here, we might just be finished as a society…
If there was a way to get them to buy weapons without accepting infiltration by their islamists; perhaps sell high tech weapons to their adversaries or the Israelis to motivate weapon sales in response minus the islamist baggage… I don’t really have a problem with muslim governments buying advanced weapons or aircraft from western countries; after all, it isn’t as if they are capable or motivated at using them. Such purchases though do increase employment at the defense companies, shipyards, and aerospace industries in the west that manufacture them.
Of course two can play at the same game. Islamic governments infiltrate western nations with salafists and islamists, we should of course try to ban or cordon off those groups to minimize their influence while infiltrating their societies in return by supporting groups antithetical to islam. And there are certainly plenty of those. Feminist organizations, gay rights groups, other islamic sects such as Shia to increase the pressure and split the focus of ruling Sunni. Heck, even encourage the creation or importation of Soro’s Open Society NGOs in all of the Lands of the Pedophile.
Encouraging the proliferation of western culture and bad habits should also be a part of the western response to islamist infiltration. Western movies, tv shows, commercials for western products such as alcohol and scantily clad models doing western leisure activities should be aggressively targeted at all muslim nations. All helpfully professionally translated into Arabic of course! Most of these countries have very young adult populations that deeply resent the hardline islamist restrictions, and this is yet again one more fault line to be exploited.
I wish them joy with their Typhoon fighter aircraft; they’re pretty ineffective at high altitudes- just one more weapons system that we Brits developed either with our European partners, or on our own, rather than buy a better and cheaper alternative from the US.
A bit of aviation trivia which some may enjoy: when the Eurofghter Typhoon was under development, the Germans initially objected to the name, as British Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers slaughtered the Panzers in 1944-5. The latest European fighter project is the Tempest- same name as Hawker’s successor to the Typhoon, which was the fastest non-jet powered, single engined fighter of WW2. Brittania rules the skies! (or at least we used to).
I love aviation trivia. I have always liked the look of the WWII era Typhoon, especially with the massive four-bladed prop. I didn’t realize it was so effective in the ground-attack role; liquid cooled engines and ground-attack just don’t go together.
For Arab nations, modern fighter aircraft seem to be more of a status symhol rather than something that they are capable of using effectively; playthings for wealthy arab wanna-be top guns. The Israelis play for keeps and would still eat their lunch regardless of the level of technology that arabs purchase with their unearned oil money.
The original Typhoon did suffer a high attrition rate, for the reason you mention; the US equivalents in NW Europe were the P-47 Thunderbolt (air-cooled engine, so less vulnerable to groundfire) and P-38 Lightning (liquid-cooled, but it had two and could fly on one).
The late film designer Ken Adam (1921-2016), responsible for many of the wonderful James Bond sets, flew Typhoons. He came from a German Jewish family who moved here in the 1930s, and was one of only three Germans to serve in the RAF in WW2; his comrades called him “Hymie the tankbuster”. Now that’s the kind of immigrant we can all live with!