I am talking about the free plane that Qatar ‘donated’ to Trump to be used as the new Air Force One….now we see just how free it truly was…..is that $1 billion?

The cost to renovate a “free” Air Force One gifted by Qatar remains a tightly kept secret, with the White House classifying the price tag. But a $934 million budget transfer, quietly moved from the ballooning nuclear missile modernization program, is widely believed to be funding the overhaul, the New York Times reports, noting Air Force officials have privately admitted pulling from that total. President Trump has defended accepting the lavish “gift,” arguing it’s a win for taxpayers. However, some lawmakers and watchdogs are uneasy, pointing to ethical quandaries and the unusual use of funds earmarked for nuclear defense.

The aircraft, currently decked out with gold trim and slated for high-end security upgrades, will be transformed at a Texas facility that specializes in secretive projects. The renovations include advanced communications, anti-missile defenses, and a thorough sweep for any potential Qatari-planted bugs. The true cost remains a guessing game. While the Air Force’s top official has floated estimates under $400 million, skeptics doubt the project will come in that low, and the classified status makes it impossible to verify. That comes as Trump loudly criticizes other government upgrades, including a $2.5 billion renovation of Federal Reserve headquarters, the Times notes.

That was so kind of Qatar to ‘donate’ the plane….but to what end?

Qatar has seem to replace the US as the diplomatic dynamo…..being the intermediaries to numerous conflicts.

As evidenced by its busy diplomacy during the Iran-Israel-US dispute earlier this year, tiny Qatar has transformed itself “into the diplomatic capital of the world,” writes Nesrine Malik at the Guardian. Malik’s deep dive into the subject, based on interviews with more than two dozen diplomats and academics over the past year, seeks to explain how and why. The “why” part is straightforward. Qatar may be incredibly rich, but it’s also small and sandwiched among giant powers. For the 54-year-old nation, then, diplomacy is “existential.” The “how” part is more complicated, but it begins with the discovery of the world’s largest natural gas field in the 1990s, a discovery that fueled the country’s wealth. Then came a palace coup in 1995 that brought the reform-minded Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to power.

Unlike his father, al-Thani decided that Qatar would no longer be subservient to Saudi Arabia. On that front, the nation launched the Al Jazeera media network, which “took Arab political discourse out of the street and on to the airwaves, challenging orthodoxies, poking at sectarian tensions and antagonizing other Arab governments.” All told, the country has leveraged the network, high-profile investments, and the spectacle of hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup to become an influential yet neutral interlocutor in international affairs. At this point, Qatar finds that “there is more appetite for its services than it can handle,” writes Malik. It received three mediation requests alone in June.

(Read the full story.)

Is Qatar truly trying to be the world’s diplomats?

I have my doubts.

But I guess someone had to take up the mantle of diplomacy…..since the idiots Donny has put in charge are doing nothing to help the country or the world.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”