CNN Quietly Erases National Security "Expert's" Qatar Ties

It's not the collusion, it's the cover-up.

Well, actually, it's also the collusion.

CNN quietly edited a national security analyst’s biography Wednesday after a report revealed she was a board member of a Qatari-funded organization.

The Conservative Review’s Jordan Schachtel reported Tuesday that several CNN contributors and guests have undisclosed ties to the Qatari government, which could influence their on-air coverage of Middle Eastern affairs. Juliette Kayemm, a national security analyst who is on contract with CNN, was listed by the network as of Wednesday as a board member of the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS).

CSS president Mohammed Hanzab said in 2016 that the group is “70% funded by the Qatar government,” a regime that is accused of funding terror and violating basic human rights.

Despite the fact that CNN’s biography for Kayyem on its website called her a “board member of … the International Centre for Sport Security,” a CNN source reached out to The Daily Caller to dispute that characterization.

Jordan Schachtel uncovered this; his tweets about it follow.

As well as another story about the Qatari Influence Operation, this one involving... the McCain Institute.

Meanwhile, Qatar keeps spreading its huge piles of influence-ops money around liberal and NeverTrump groups.

Because Trump has (as any Republican President would) sided with the Israel-Egypt-Jordan-Saudi Arabia-Bahrain-UAE bloc in the Cool War against the Turkey-Iran-Qatar axis.

So Qatar is, naturally, siding with Trump's enemies.

Understandable -- but as we live in an age of paranoia about Foreign Collusion, it's about time that some of these people's connections to Islamism-promoting regimes get a little sunlight.

Cindy McCain, the widow of deceased Republican Sen. John McCain, and the McCain Institute have continued to cozy up to two shadowy front groups that work to advance the interests of a theocratic Middle Eastern regime.

Over the past few years, Mrs. McCain and the McCain Institute have ramped up partnerships on many fronts with the Sports Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA), which describes itself as an "independent coalition aiming to reform the integrity and governance of sport," and its founder, the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), which claims to have similar goals.

Whistleblowers, however, have shown that while SIGA and ICSS claim to be sports-oriented organizations, they merely act as a front for more nefarious purposes. SIGA, which was formed by ICSS, a group that is entirely controlled by the nation of Qatar, has created tremendous inroads in the United States thanks to the support of the McCain family. Since SIGA's 2017 founding, Cindy McCain and the McCain Institute have offered SIGA the legitimacy it needs to pursue further partnerships and collaboration with international brands such as Mastercard and Deloitte and high-profile international organizations like UNESCO.

Qatar's continuing investments in the sports world hardly have anything to do with sports. As The New York Times explained in a seminal piece Thursday, sports is a key function of Qatar's soft power strategy.

"Qatar's investments -- especially in luxury, sports and the arts -- aren't just about prestige and profits," Giorgio Cafiero, who heads Washington-based consultancy Gulf State Analytics, tells the Times. "They are also about hearts and minds, and anchored in forging deep alliances that give outside players a greater stake in the continuation of Qatar as an independent state."

posted by Ace of Spades at 04:09 PM

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