Squeezing Al Jazeera

Think the Saudis are getting bad press in the U.S.? It's nothing compared to the negative treatment they're getting from at least one source in the Arabic-speaking world -- Qatar's Al Jazeera. The satellite news service is now paying the price.

Al Jazeera is in a financial squeeze because Saudi Arabia has led a boycott against the news service that has cost it many of its commercial sponsors. The Saudis and other Gulf states are offended by Al Jazeera's disrepectful tone, or, as the KSA puts it, its ?deliberate and programmed assaults against the Kingdom and its leaders.?

Now, the Kingdom's effective ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, is refusing to show up in Doha, Qatar for a scheduled regional meeting that begins Saturday, because Qatar's emir (Sheik Hamad Bin) has refused to restrain the Doha-based news service. Several other heads of Gulf states have followed suit, turning the Al Jazeera boycott into a boycott of Qatar itself.

Both the Saudis and the Jordanians have recently recalled their ambassadors from Doha to protest Al Jazeera material.