Flirting with Islamist groups has a long history in the Middle East. Time and time again, regimes and leaders have wrongly assumed that it is easy and cost-free to use Islamists as a cheap tool to fulfill their goals and ambitions. Time and time again, this assumption has proven to be very costly and bloody. Sadat in Egypt released many Islamists from prison in a tactical move in his fight against Nasserism. Then they later turned against him and assassinated him in 1981. Recently, Arab Gulf States like Qatar and Saudi Arabia saw the Arab Spring as an opportunity to remove hostile regimes like Assad in Syria. They naively assumed that funding radical Jihadists would finish Assad. It did not work, because the Gulf Sheiks underestimated the depth of support that Iran and Hezbollah were willing to give to the Assad regime. Instead of defeating Assad, Qatar and others helped creating radical monsters such as ISIS. Kobani is just one of many tragic repercussions of the endemic political myopia that deluded autocrats into playing with the fire of radicalism. The role of Qatar is now exposed, but the young Emir of Qatar is fortunate, he is still enjoying his luxurious palace in Doha, unlike poor Syrians (Kurds and Arabs) sleeping in rough tents as refugees in Turkey, which is a result of his reckless decisions.
Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News 