Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Saudi-Led Bloc Caves on Qatar Demands

The Qatari crisis appears to be moving toward a resolution. Back in June, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt severed ties and announced sanctions including a land blockade against Qatar to force the sultanate to accept 13 demands within 10 days. Qatar rejected them out of hand. The Saudi-led bloc withdrew their demands today replacing them with 6 broad principles. These should be relatively easy for Qatar to accept while maintaining that its policies have always been in alignment with the principles. Standing up to bullies does work.

Among the 13 demands were "the closure of Al-Jazeera, the Qatari-owned Arabic language broadcaster that they see as an avenue for dissidents from across the region; the severing of links with Iran; the closure of a Turkish military base in Qatar; and the severing of links with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar rejected those demands," according to The Atlantic.

The magazine further explains, "Abdallah al-Mouallimi, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the UN, said Tuesday at the United Nations that the six principles included combating extremism and terrorism; suspending provocations and incitement; and not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries .... He said Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, the four countries that severed links last month with Qatar, wanted Doha to negotiate a plan to implement the six steps. Qatar has not yet responded to the demands."

Two explanations, which are not mutually exclusive, exist for this change of heart. US diplomacy under the aegis of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been successful in toning down the disputes among America's allies in the region, despite appearances of failure . The other is that hackers, perhaps Russian, under contract from the United Arab Emirate posted false information on the Qatari state news website and in social media accounts. If true, a face-saving climb-down is in order, and that appears to be what the change of heart represents.

The New York Times says, "the four countries have united around what they called six broad principles, built upon the themes of combating terrorism and extremism, denying financing and safe havens to terrorist groups, stopping incitement to hatred and violence and refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries."

Qatar can accept all of these without changing its policies one iota. No nation officially supports terrorism ("we have freedom fighters") and extremism ("nothing extreme, but a moderate demand for change"). Terrorists get no financing nor safe haven because, as stated, no one supports terrorists. No nation officially incites hatred and violence. And of course, no one admits to interfering in the internal affairs of others.

What remains is for Qatar to accept the principles as a basis of a final declaration that spells out in broad terms what these principles actually mean in practice. Everyone can sign the document and quickly forget all about it.

The status quo ante may not officially wind up endorsed, but that is where this dispute is headed. This was a mountain made from a mole hill, and the Middle East has enough mountains without further construction.

© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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