Global Dispatches -- Conversations On Foreign Policy And World Affairs

There is yet another crisis in the middle east. This week, Saudi Arabia and its close allies in the region moved against Qatar, cutting off sea and air travel and moving to isolate their fellow sunni Gulf country.  Like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional group of erstwhile allies that coordinate security policies against Iran and other common threats. But tensions have been brewing for many years between Qatar and other countries on the Arabian Peninsula and these tensions have apparently come to a head in the wake of Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia.   Qatar is home to both Al Jazeera and the region's largest US military airbase -- which is currently the strategic nerve center of the US air campaign against ISIS. This fact did not apparently stop President Trump for issuing statements, on Twitter of course, in support of Saudi allegations that Qatar is a nemesis that supports terrorist groups.   On the line with me to unpack this situa