Sunday, May 28, 2017

Desert tensions

Reuters --

A United Arab Emirates government minister on Sunday warned that an alliance of Gulf Arab states was facing a major crisis and he said there was an urgent need to rebuild trust. Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, made his comments on Twitter less than a week after Saudi Arabia and the UAE signaled frustration at Qatar. Its state media published purported remarks by Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani criticizing Gulf rhetoric against Iran and suggesting strains between the emir and U.S. President Donald Trump ...  Gulf countries have made no official comment on the rift, which emerged after Trump's first visit to Saudi Arabia and his meetings with Arab and Muslim heads of state since he took office. But a war of words had escalated between Qatari media on one side and Saudi and Emirati media on the other.

Remember, the Saudi Arabia part of Trump's overseas travels is the segment of the trip that's perceived as a success. But even there, he seems to have left dissension in his wake,by taking ill-thought out positions on disputes within the region.

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