After the first year of the siege of Qatar, led by Saudi Arabia, the cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) is almost dead.
This Union was created by the king of Saudi Arabia Khalid in may 1981 during the Iran-Iraq war, to provide a force of unity for the monarchs of the Persian Gulf; the United States was their assistant in this. However, despite the fact that the Union was not strong, so the Alliance was a useful tool for policy coordination and strengthen the influence of Saudi Arabia and the other five monarchies.
The decision, announced on 5 June, 2017 Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to break off relations with Qatar and the imposition of the ban on trade in the Emirates, took place shortly after the visit of Donald trump to Riyadh last year, his first foreign visit as President. Today it is unclear how many Saudis told the Americans about the plan of attack on Qatar and how the team of the trump understood what they said.
The Saudis opened the card simple way: on may 28, 2017, 200 Saudis (descendants of Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab, the founder of the Islamic sect, named after him) published a letter to the Saudi newspaper. Placed on the first page the letter was addressed to the Emir of an unnamed Gulf countries, which accused him of failing to follow the path of truth al-Wahhab and demanded that the name of the main mosque in the Emirate has been changed. Only one state in the Persian Gulf there is such a mosque, as Qatar is the world’s only Wahhabi country.
In fact, it was the removal from the Church of the Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani. This religious exile contributed to the political disintegration in a week’s time. Always much harder to resolve the issue of faith and religion than a political dispute. Policy pliable, religion is doctrine.
This spring, one of the descendants of Wahhab Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman al-Sheikh has been Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs. The Ministry defines the content of the prayers in the mosques of the state, which is important for the Church’s institutions of the Wahhabis. Abdullatif is a protege and ally of the Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman.
Prince-the heir – the architect of the siege of Qatar and is probably the key initiator of writing the letter. Political squabbling between Saudis and Qatar for decades. Riyadh has long resented the intention of Doha to pursue an independent foreign policy with a tendency to “stick a finger in Saudi eyes”. Ambassadors were withdrawn, but disagreements remained. The quarrel did not affect the work of the Council and meetings at a high level.
Tensions in the Council showed the inequality of power among its members. The Saudis have always believed that the Council is more like the Warsaw Pact than in NATO: the Alliance is managed by a single capital, not a set of equal. The smaller Persian Gulf States knew this, and resisted steps greater unity with regards to military issues or the single currency, because they feared that Saudi dominance will be inevitable. Cooperation and consultation, but not integration.
Prince Mohammed destroyed the old way of doing things this way in the Council. Instead, now, in monarchies, there are many camps. There’s a camp in Saudi Arabia. UAE firmly fight to punish its political and economic rival Qatar.
Abu Dhabi- a strong critic of “al Jazeera”, which is located in Doha. Bahrain is an even more active member because he has a long-standing border disputes with Qatar, some of which are now resumed. The government of the Shiite majority with the ruling family of the minorities-Sunnis in Bahrain depends on the Armed forces of Saudi Arabia, who came into the country of the Arab spring, 2011, for its stability.
Kuwait is a member of the partial embargo. He didn’t ruin relations with Qatar last year, and quietly sought a dispute, sometimes with the support of America. But Kuwait is heavily dependent on Saudi Arabia, especially after the Iraqi invasion in 1990 They follow the advice of Saudi Arabia in almost all matters, given the deep concerns about the Iraqi irredentism and Iranian interference with its large Shiite population. Kuwait followed Saudi Arabia in the agreement for a five-year economic aid to Jordan at the recent summit in Makkah, organized by king Salman bin Abdul-Aziz al Saud, to strengthen the position of other Arab monarch in the middle East.
Qatar itself. Because it is the largest and certainly the most important American military base in the region, the headquarters of the Central command, Qatar has a special relationship with Washington. He’s very aggressive lobbying their interests in the United States.
The blockade caused a reaction in the tiny country. Apparently, Qatari citizens rallied for the Emir. Qatari nationalism became more pronounced than before.
Oman stands apart from the quarrels of his fellow monarchs. Sultan Qaboos has always been a distant figure and seldom was present at the Council summits. His Sultanate is looking at South Asia as closely as in the middle East. Muscat refused to join the war, headed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, three years ago, when the rest of the Alliance joined the Saudi coalition against Hutis. Oman maintains good relations with Iran and is helping Qatar to cope with the blockade.
Thus, the Council destroyed today as ever. The administration of the tramp are unable to make a clear message. More importantly, it was ignored. Two secretaries of state tried to eradicate the schism, but to no avail. This extraordinary manifestation of American weakness and impotence.
It also means that a United Islamic front against Iran, which trump welcomed last year in Riyadh, broken on the front lines in the Persian Gulf. Given the American violations of the plan of action and isolation of the United States from the P5+1 in accordance with the nuclear agreement is necessary to deter Iran, fragmented at both the regional and global levels.
The Secretariat of the cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf still exists in Riyadh. The inter-Arab cold war never permanent, but alliances are built on trust. NATO survived the stupid war of George Bush in Iraq because of confidence in America.
