Here’s what the Guardian says.
This is far, far outside my field of expertise. What I’m seeing from experts on my Twitter feed is quite mixed.
1. Saudi-Qatar mess is exactly the kind of under the radar big issue where you need career professionals. Will admin bother to use them? https://t.co/mKDyl62kGx
â Ilan Goldenberg (@ilangoldenberg) June 5, 2017
Mattis and Tillerson are in Australia; very different time zone, hard to coordinate with Trump.
Trump MidEast policyâif we can call it thatâdeeply problematic. But folks quick to blame him for GCC split. Lets be clear, it’s not him!
â Ariane Tabatabai (@ArianeTabatabai) June 5, 2017
Tabatabai says the tensions were pre-existing.
@DEsfandiary & I have been writing about this for months: https://t.co/Kt1Rd8SFje; https://t.co/EBGAEz2yK1
â Ariane Tabatabai (@ArianeTabatabai) June 5, 2017
More than a sound bite. Trump may not be responsible but US encouragement opened the door to Saudi/UAE action. Not possible if US opposed.
â Gerald M. Feierstein (@j_feierstein) June 5, 2017
Trump’s diplomacy tends to be all-in with his friends. That’s not good diplomacy. Ambiguity is often helpful. A number of people are saying he went all-in with Saudi Arabia, so they thought he was giving them a green light to do what they wanted.
We’ll all be here in the morning. I’m turning in now.
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain break diplomatic ties with QatarPost + Comments (92)