{"id":24111,"date":"2017-06-05T20:25:43","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T01:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=24111"},"modified":"2017-06-05T20:25:43","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T01:25:43","slug":"its-a-geopolitical-earthquake-a-stunned-world-responds-after-saudi-alliance-cuts-all-ties-with-qatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=24111","title":{"rendered":"It’s A “Geopolitical Earthquake”: A Stunned World Responds After Saudi Alliance Cuts All Ties With Qatar"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s A “Geopolitical Earthquake”: A Stunned World Responds After Saudi Alliance Cuts All Ties With Qatar<\/a><\/h3>\n
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Virtually nobody saw it coming.<\/p>\n

Late on Sunday night, the Saudi-led alliance of Gulf Arab states, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain including Egypt, shocked the world when they announced <\/a>they had severed ties and closed borders with one of the Gulf’s wealthiest, if smallest, neighbors Qatar, a (now former) member of the Gulf Cooperation Council in what we called a “geopolitical earthquake<\/a><\/strong>” and what Bloomberg dubbed <\/a>“an unprecedented move designed to punish one of the region\u2019s financial superpowers for its ties with Iran and Islamist groups in the region<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

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As we noted first last night<\/a>, just days after president Trump left the region, a “geopolitical earthquake” took place in the Middle East as the rift between Qatar and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council exploded with Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt cutting all diplomatic ties with Qatar accusing it of “spreading chaos,” by funding terrorism and supporting Iran. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt all said they will suspend air and sea travel to and from the Gulf emirate. Saudi Arabia will also shut land crossings with its neighbor, potentially depriving the emirate of imports through its only land border<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear when the proposed measures would be implemented. Saudi Arabia said it would “begin immediate legal measures with friendly, sisterly countries and international companies to implement that measure as quickly as possible for all types of transit from and to the state of Qatar.”