Monday 10 July 2017

The crises in the Gulf and the shadow of Trump

Photo culled from Aljazeera.com
The current crises in the Gulf, which has seen the state of Qatar isolated by its neighbors, including fellow countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, is put in perspective.

It is perhaps not insignificant that the Saudi- led coalition against Qatar mobilized  shortly after President Donald Trump's visit to the region.

So much was made of the success of that visit by the Trump administration, and it was not lost on the world that much of the region, including Saudi Arabia, shared that sentiment.

It has become increasingly clear that it was a visit that was good for business and something else.


A long simmering resentment of Qatar by its neighbors has been given vent, and the manner of the move to isolate Qatar has been as uncompromising as it is sweeping.

Included in the list of demands made to Qatar- seen by it as an attack on its sovereignty-  is to shutter the network it owns and funds (Aljazeera). If this were to happen, it  will amount to a severe curtailing of press freedom, the significance of which cannot be over-estimated.

 Mr Trump's role thus far, has been to be fairly explicit about his support for the idea that Qatar is indeed acting in a manner that is destabilizing for the region it is situated in and the wider world, including funding terrorism. And he has done so without concrete evidence, and without making any comment whatsoever, about the possible complicity of the nations around it, including Saudi Arabia, in doing same.

There is reason to believe that the current crises in the gulf will be viewed by history as a microcosm of the wider impact of a Trump presidency that at best, has shown a lack of nuance of the complexities of world affairs. And at worst, is allowing for an impunity that sees might as right.

There is reason to believe that this crises will be seen as significant proof of the abrogation of a leadership the world has thus far taken as a given, by an unsuited American president.