Bridge the gulf

US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Riyadh set the tone and the stage, as it were, for the diplomatic crisis in the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates severed all diplomatic links with Qatar on the ground of its alleged support to terrorism. To aggravate the crisis further, the Saudi-led bloc presented a list of 13 demands to the Qatar regime to be met by it to a deadline. Among them were the shutdown of the Al Jazeera news network, snapping ties with Iran and ending military cooperation with Turkey. Launched as an “alternative voice” in the Arab world with openness to “all narratives”, but generally opposed to authoritarian regimes, Al Jazeera has got on the wrong side of the Arab states opposed to Qatar. A cursory glance at the demands would show that they, if acceded to, would limit Qatar’s sovereignty and impinge on its right to have its own foreign policy. But then they were only meant to be a bargaining chip to gain more regional power. Doha has dismissed them as “not actionable”. Iran and Turkey have rallied to Qatar’s support and cushioned the targeted country from the worst effects of the economic blockade imposed by the key members of the Gulf Corporation Council. 

Washington tries to keep a foot in both camps; on the one hand it holds that Qatar is a strategic ally in the fight against terror and on the other hand it lends its weight to the Saudi-led bloc. It finetunes its foreign policy based on arms sales. Even as it sees the crisis as no more than a “family feud”, it encourages the Emir of Kuwait to mediate to resolve the crisis. We have a stake in the developments as over 8 million of our compatriots work in these countries in addition to our dependence on oil supplies from them. Efforts to heal the rift between Qatar and its fraternal neighbours must succeed in the interests of stability and peace in the region and the world. 

G David Milton, Maruthancode

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