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Monday, June 26, 2017

MEDIA MONDAY / EXACTLY WHAT DID QATAR DO WRONG?





The Council on Foreign Relations in its daily blog “Daily News Brief” for June 23, 2017 reported from various news sources its take on what the Qataris did to miff its Gulf neighbors.  Now we know:

Saudi-Led Bloc Presents Qatar With List of Demands

A Saudi-led bloc of Arab states presented Qatar with a list of demands (AP) that include reducing ties with Iran, severing relationships with Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood, closing a Turkish military base in the country, and shuttering state broadcaster Al Jazeera and several news outlets. The group of countries has given Qatar ten days to comply with the demands (WSJ) before they become "invalidated." Turkey, which has maintained support for Qatar, deployed an additional two dozen military personnel (VOA) and sent a cargo ship of foodstuffs to the Gulf nation. The list of demands comes three weeks after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (FT) cut ties with Qatar, accusing the country of supporting terrorism.

ANALYSIS

"The diplomatic crisis coincides with a period of deep political change in Saudi Arabia, the region's richest economy and an aspiring leader of a bloc of Muslim countries," Nicolas Parasie and Summer Said write for the Wall Street Journal.

"The U.S. could have been the ideal mediator between Qatar and the other Gulf states. Tillerson, the former chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, has close personal ties to the emirate," writes CFR's Meghan L. O'Sullivan for Bloomberg View.

"Such is the nature of the Middle East that while it is entirely true that the Qataris are difficult partners and pursue unsavory policies, that does not make them all that different from any of Washington's other Middle Eastern allies," CFR's Steven A. Cook writes for Salon.

Sources for CFR Daily Brief:
VOA: Voice of America
FT: Financial Times
AP:  Associated Press

WSJ: Wall Street Journal

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