When Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani goes to the White House on July 9, it will likely be with a sense of triumph. The Qatari leader has survived more than two years of diplomatic and economic isolation by his immediate neighbors, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. And with its giant al-Udeid airbase, Qatar is now central to U.S. contingency planning for coping with the developing crisis caused by Iran’s recent nuclear program violations and its attacks on oil tankers and pipelines.
Meanwhile, President Trump, who initially endorsed the Gulf blockade on Qatar—deemed to be “a funder of terrorism, …read more
Source:: The Washington Institute
