Qatar row: Just a blip...

In the foreseeable future, it is unlikely that the breaking of relations with Qatar by Saudi Arabia and some of its key partners, like the UAE and Egypt, will have a serious impact on the seven lakh Indians working in Qatar, or on Doha’s committed gas supplies to this country. Qatar is among the world’s largest gas repositories and supplies more than twothirds of India’s LNG needs.

Like others in the oil and gas-rich Gulf region, Qatar is an ally of the United States. Specifically like Saudi Arabia, the centre of Sunni Islam as it is the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, it supports a variety of political Islam in the Muslim Brotherhood, while the Saudis are synonymous with Wahhabism, the ideological fount of many Islamist terror groups.

Qatar-Saudi differences are hardly anything new. This is because Doha prefers a more moderate approach to Shia Iran, perhaps for reasons of geography, unlike Riyadh, which regards Tehran as the “head of the snake”. All the same, the differences have sharpened precipitously since US President Donald Trump’s May visit to Saudi Arabia, when a strongly anti-Iran strategic and ideological line was endorsed, supposedly on the common basis of fighting “terrorism”. Iran was singled out as a backer of terrorism.

This is conveniently selective. But, for now, deep schisms have emerged in West Asia and North African regional politics. Doha has been accused by Riyadh of supporting terrorism. The US stance on these matters has not been spelled out. It could have a bearing on the timespan of uncertainties.