In a situation which could escalate to armed conflict at the absolute worst, Qatar has decided not to acquiescence to the demands of a group of nations led by Saudi Arabia which has already seen diplomatic ties to the smaller Gulf nation severed by the House of Saud and other nations. The demands by Saudi Arabia to Qatar include the shuttering of a Turkish military base, reducing ties with its regional rival Iran (the Iranian government led by President Hassan Rouhani has in turn responded by pledging more support to Qatar), and perhaps most insultingly from the perspective of western outsiders, demanded that media outlet Al-Jazeera be closed down, due to the unflattering coverage the network has given Saudi Arabia and the other members of the coalition.
Al-Jazeera however, despite its prominence in the conflict is not the starting point for the feud, which is more tied into what the al-Thani family has supported with its vast financial resources which has included various movements that were a part of the Arab Spring including the Muslim Brotherhood political party, although Qatar’s adversaries have insisted that this support has funded terrorists. This suspicion is also tied into the demand that Qatar willingly submit itself to audits from external states. The bizarre nature of these and the other demands would make it seem like the Saudi-led coalition is wasting it’s time trying to bully a smaller nation, but given that much of Qatar’s food and many other resources pass through its sole land border with Saudi Arabia and that this group of neighbors (which include Egypt,Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates) has disallowed Qatari flights through it’s airspace means that even if this conflict does not escalate into a full scale regional war means that life could be made tough for the small country. However Kuwait, the United Kingdom, as well as United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are working to try and ameliorate the tensions and hopefully allowing this crisis episode to pass without bloodshed.
