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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