It’s A “Geopolitical Earthquake”: A Stunned World Responds After Saudi Alliance Cuts All Ties With Qatar

Virtually nobody saw it coming.
Late on Sunday night, the Saudi-led alliance of Gulf Arab states including Egypt, shocked the world when they announced 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” and what Bloomberg dubbed “an unprecedented move designed to punish one of the region’s financial superpowers for its ties with Iran and Islamist groups in the region.”
***
As we noted first last night, 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.
Saudi Arabia cited Qatar’s support of ‘terrorist groups aiming to destabilize the region,’ including the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State and al-Qaeda. It accused Qatar of supporting ‘Iranian-backed terrorist groups’ operating in the kingdom’s eastern province as well as Bahrain. Saudi Arabia, along with Bahrain and the U. A. E., gave Qatari diplomats 48 hours to leave.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jun 5, 2017.