The Saudis surprised the world when they cut ties with Qatar for their connections to Iran and support for Islamic terrorist groups. The Saudi-led Gulf Arab Alliance states, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, as well as Bahrain and Egypt, set off what has been called a Geopolitical Earthquake by closing their borders with Qatar.
Bloomberg commented in the split, calling it; “an unprecedented move designed to punish one of the region’s financial superpowers for its ties with Iran and Islamist groups in the region.”
In the days following President Donald Trump’s visit to the region where he gave a groundbreaking (read: ballsy) speech to major Saudi leaders denouncing Islamic Terror, the Saudi government parted ways with Qatar. Members of the UAE, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Bahrain, and Egypt all followed suit and cut ties with Qatar for, in their words; supporting Iran and “spreading chaos” by funding terrorist groups in that country.
Leaders from these nations and groups have declared that they will cut all diplomatic ties and stop all travel to Qatar. Saudi Arabia has also said that it will shut off land access to Qatar to deprive the emirate of all imports, severing its only access route through Saudi territory.
It is not entirely clear when these measures will be taken. The Saudis told Washington that it would, “begin immediate legal measures with friendly, sisterly countries and international companies to implement that measure as quickly as possible for all types of transit from and to the state of Qatar.”
Saudi leaders spoke of Qatar’s support for “terrorist groups aiming to destabilize the region, and Iranian-backed terrorist groups.” They gave Qatari representatives 48 hours to vacate Saudi Arabia.
Qatar calls the move unjustified and baseless. The Qatari Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani criticized Saudi leaders immediately following the announcement. The criticisms were quickly reported as hostile and inflammatory, at which point Qatar blamed a hacker for the comments and deleted them.
International criticism of the move by this coalition of Arab powers could be read as a criticism of Trump’s tour of the Middle East. But this would be premature since we do not yet know the real intentions of the Saudi government. On one hand, it may be that Qatar is, as they say, responsible for the terrorism that Trump called for unified action against. It could be that the nations of the region are taking Trump’s call to action seriously.
It could also be the case that the nations and groups of this region are simply feigning compliance with Trump’s agenda by abandoning a low-level ally.
In the first scenario, should it prove true, the world will become a safer place- with more Arab nations showing an interest in peaceful relations with the rest of the world. It really could be the beginning of peace in our time in the Middle East.
In the second scenario, should it prove true, Saudi Arabia would be confirmed as the world-class state sponsor of terrorism that we believe it to be. Not only that, but it would prove their dedication to that role.
However, at the moment- the counter evidence to the second scenario is the harsh and redacted comments of Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani against the Saudis. While such a media event could be staged, it would be a new thing to see that level of nuance from the intelligence agencies of the region.
It seems likely that the reality of the situation is Donald Trump has shown leaders of Saudi Arabia that they have a role in the world- a profitable role- where they do not need to act as antagonists to the West. This could be the dawning of a time of peace and a world culture of cooperation that unties the tangled web woven by the events following September the 11th, 2001.
This, of course, is optimistic view- and it is the one that we hope is the case. It could mean the end of centuries of war and political backbiting. It could mean the end of the massive Jihadist wave that has been sweeping the globe for over a decade.
To be fair, it would be naïve to think that there is no political maneuvering behind this move. Certainly, opportunism is a factor as Trump makes room for Middle Eastern allies in the war against extremism. But perhaps we should not look on that as a bad thing.
Whatever may have transpired in the past, we want our allies to prosper, and we wish our friends well. That is the American way- and it could just be that Saudi Arabia is beginning to appreciate that.
~ American Liberty Report
