The Qatar crisis proves two things: the continued infantilisation of the Arab states, and the total collapse of the Sunni Muslim unity supposedly created by Donald Trump’s preposterous attendance at the Saudi summit two weeks ago.
Duration of Diplomatic Dispute is Key to Qatar Impact
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on their official. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
Behind the bluster, bombast, tweetstorms, and general atmosphere of comic opera, is the Trump administration reverting to the successful Middle East grand strategy that both Democratic and Republican presidents followed during the Cold War?
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a group photograph of the SCO Member States at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, in Astana, Kazakhstan on June 09, 2017.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for closer cooperation between the two countries. Faced with profound and complex changes of the international situation, China and India, as the world’s two largest developing countries, should pay more attention to cooperation and go ahead with each other as partners, so as to instil more momentum into each other’s development and contribute to world peace, stability and common development, said the Chinese president.
Fired FBI Director James Comey levelled a series of damaging accusations against the president of the United States, testifying that Donald Trump pressured him to close a probe into a top former aide, fired him in an attempt to change the course of the larger Russia probe, and then launched a campaign of “lies” to discredit him.
A delegation of the Leaders of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Countries are seen Sunday, May 21, 2017, at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as they prepare to present an agreement of understanding to the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
The anti-Qatar action is a clumsy demonstration of the kingdom’s desire to challenge Iran for regional hegemony. What makes the Saudi boycott even more puzzling is the fact that, in addition to Qatar, two GCC member states—Kuwait and Oman—maintain working relations with Iran and have not severed relations with Qatar.
Sarajevo 1914, Doha 2017? We could be at a historic moment akin to the assassination of the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which resulted in what became known as the Great War. This time, though, the possible clash is between a Saudi-United Arab Emirates force and Iran. Washington is going to have to act quickly to stop the march to war, rather than wait for the carnage to begin.
The ability to influence events outside its borders through proxy groups is both the central factor of Iran’s alienation and its most vital strategic asset. Solving that paradox would require a shift in the Islamic Republic’s overarching political and ideological agenda.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain say they are severing diplomatic relations with Qatar. The Saudi kingdom said it was cutting ties to its neighbour and has pulled all Qatari troops from the ongoing war in Yemen.
Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia. Photo Courtesy: White House
Trump was seemingly determined during his recently concluded visit to bring new vigour to the dragging war on jihadism and the West’s unsettling relationship with Iran by offering a different tact: Unite with Washington behind a common mission to eradicate a barbaric strand of Islamist extremism and, in return, Uncle Sam will mind his own business when it comes to the region’s domestic affairs.
The VIP list at Beijing’s glittering launch party for its massive Silk Road trade plan was worth scrutinising not for the luminaries who were on it, but those who weren’t. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who irritates Beijing by standing up to its bullying in the South China Sea, was notably missing; he didn’t get an invitation. European government heads were welcome, but mostly stayed away, as did leaders from India and Japan. The no-shows reflect a broad disquiet: To skeptics, what President Xi Jinping calls the “Project of the Century” is, at heart, an imperial venture.
