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Diplomatic breakdown in the Gulf: Is Trump the only one to be blamed?
Global Village Space |
Nasir Azeem |
The diplomatic and political rifts between the Arab nations is nothing new. The Gulf States have been fighting over a variety of issues for many years and it seems they would continue doing so for decades to come. But one new thing in the current Gulf crisis is the “Trump factor”.
No one was expecting the squabble between the GCC members after the very formation of Arab NATO and identifying the common regional target (Iran). What went wrong in the recent past that led to such diplomatic sanctions must be understood. Qatar’s rebellious foreign policy approach and defiance of Saudi dominance are the obvious reasons behind this Gulf madness.
Read more: Gulf crisis: Is Saudi Arabia the only bad guy here?
The gulf between the Gulf States
With Uncle Sam’s backing, the Sudi-led group decided to teach Qatar a lesson openly and turn it into another Bahrain whose foreign policy is dictated from Riyadh.
The Middle East is the region of absolute monarchies where freedom of speech is generally not tolerated. Any kind of political opposition is put down with iron hands. The young ambitious Qatari Emir, though, after replacing his father in 2013, adopted the policy of openness and dialogue with traditional Arab rival Iran. Moreover, he pursues a policy which promotes freedom of expression mainly through his dream project Al-Jazeera channel.
This simply doesn’t fit into the rigid orthodoxy. His fellow monarchs and autocrats from the Gulf to Egypt see things differently and consider these ingredients of openness as a direct threat to their respective power structures. These fear factors forced them to tend to Qatar, as well, along with Iran. According to diplomatic norms, generally reservations of these nature are discussed behind closed doors but this time with Uncle Sam’s backing, the Sudi-led group decided to teach Qatar a lesson openly and turn it into another Bahrain whose foreign policy is dictated from Riyadh.
Turkish and Kuwaiti response
Kuwaiti Emir emerged as a peacemaker within GCC, trying to find out the middle way to resolve the issue.
Turkish President Erdogan came out to be a true Qatari friend. While trying to diffuse the misunderstandings between the Arabs, he also announced that Turkey would deploy its army to safeguard the sovereignty of the tiny nation and wouldn’t leave it isolated. This timely response would help to prevent any purposed military invasion. Any such action or attempt of regime change would create a power vacuum in Qatar which could possibly turn it into another Libya or Iraq. The regime-change approach, if applied, would lead the region to further instability.
Read more: Turkish troops march for Qatar’s support: Escalation in the Gulf crisis?
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Emir emerged as a peacemaker within GCC, trying to find out the middle way to resolve the issue. The real players, though, are staying behind the scenes, maintaining a high temperature for quite some time unless Qatar shows some willingness to learn essential strategic lessons.
Trumpification of relations
Analysts and experts on the Middle Eastern affairs were busy in finding out the real culprits behind this mess, but tweets from President Trump made it quite clear that his “Chanakya strategy” is to blame for present unrest.
Pakistan has a close economic and strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia, which is leading the calls for the blockade and severing of ties.
Read full article:
Diplomatic breakdown in the Gulf: Is Trump the only one to be blamed?
Global Village Space |
Nasir Azeem |
The diplomatic and political rifts between the Arab nations is nothing new. The Gulf States have been fighting over a variety of issues for many years and it seems they would continue doing so for decades to come. But one new thing in the current Gulf crisis is the “Trump factor”.
No one was expecting the squabble between the GCC members after the very formation of Arab NATO and identifying the common regional target (Iran). What went wrong in the recent past that led to such diplomatic sanctions must be understood. Qatar’s rebellious foreign policy approach and defiance of Saudi dominance are the obvious reasons behind this Gulf madness.
Read more: Gulf crisis: Is Saudi Arabia the only bad guy here?
The gulf between the Gulf States
With Uncle Sam’s backing, the Sudi-led group decided to teach Qatar a lesson openly and turn it into another Bahrain whose foreign policy is dictated from Riyadh.
The Middle East is the region of absolute monarchies where freedom of speech is generally not tolerated. Any kind of political opposition is put down with iron hands. The young ambitious Qatari Emir, though, after replacing his father in 2013, adopted the policy of openness and dialogue with traditional Arab rival Iran. Moreover, he pursues a policy which promotes freedom of expression mainly through his dream project Al-Jazeera channel.
This simply doesn’t fit into the rigid orthodoxy. His fellow monarchs and autocrats from the Gulf to Egypt see things differently and consider these ingredients of openness as a direct threat to their respective power structures. These fear factors forced them to tend to Qatar, as well, along with Iran. According to diplomatic norms, generally reservations of these nature are discussed behind closed doors but this time with Uncle Sam’s backing, the Sudi-led group decided to teach Qatar a lesson openly and turn it into another Bahrain whose foreign policy is dictated from Riyadh.
Turkish and Kuwaiti response
Kuwaiti Emir emerged as a peacemaker within GCC, trying to find out the middle way to resolve the issue.
Turkish President Erdogan came out to be a true Qatari friend. While trying to diffuse the misunderstandings between the Arabs, he also announced that Turkey would deploy its army to safeguard the sovereignty of the tiny nation and wouldn’t leave it isolated. This timely response would help to prevent any purposed military invasion. Any such action or attempt of regime change would create a power vacuum in Qatar which could possibly turn it into another Libya or Iraq. The regime-change approach, if applied, would lead the region to further instability.
Read more: Turkish troops march for Qatar’s support: Escalation in the Gulf crisis?
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Emir emerged as a peacemaker within GCC, trying to find out the middle way to resolve the issue. The real players, though, are staying behind the scenes, maintaining a high temperature for quite some time unless Qatar shows some willingness to learn essential strategic lessons.
Trumpification of relations
Analysts and experts on the Middle Eastern affairs were busy in finding out the real culprits behind this mess, but tweets from President Trump made it quite clear that his “Chanakya strategy” is to blame for present unrest.
Pakistan has a close economic and strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia, which is leading the calls for the blockade and severing of ties.
Read full article:
Diplomatic breakdown in the Gulf: Is Trump the only one to be blamed?
