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”