Saudi Arabia reduced demands last week, and Qatar’s Emir talked up opening a dialogue over the weekend, but so far there is little sign of any progress being made on an actual deal, with Egypt’s leader Abdul-Fattah El-Sisi vowing to see the blockade continue no matter what.
Sisi has been among the leading proponents of the anti-Qatar push, centering on Qatar’s past support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which led the elected government Sisi’s junta overthrew in a 2013 coup. Since then, Egypt’s junta has insisted the elected government was “terrorists,” and that Qatar is backing terrorists by being sympathetic to them.
Still, with some hope of a deal being at least plausible, Turkey’s President Erdogan made the rounds in the Persian Gulf over the weekend, trying to mediate some sort of deal. He returned to Turkey, apparently in failure, with no signs anything really got worked out.
That’s been a recurring problem for anyone trying to mediate this crisis, as everyone seems to be comfortable with the status quo continuing indefinitely, and it’s increasingly unclear if the hints at concessions are sincere, or just a single official trying to present his side as more reasonable than the other.
Maybe those in the region really are cool with this becoming the status quo. Maybe the US will find it increasingly difficult to have allies who are enemies. Will the Saudis share intel with the US? Will Qatar? So much for “gulf cooperation” and the council of fighting sheiks who thought they could dominate the gulf, suppress their people while teaching Islam, expand sectarian conflict, and still be talked about in world media as if they’re the good guys.