FILE PHOTO: Copies of Financial Times displayed for photograph in London. Reuters
Doha: In an editorial published on Thursday UK-based English newspaper Financial Times said that the continuing blockade of Qatar makes no sense and it is high time that Saudi Arabia and the UAE began a climb down.
The influential newspaper went on to state that the region does not need another crisis and blockading nations should tone down their propaganda campaign against Qatar and start to incrementally lift the blockade.
“The differences could have been resolved with diplomacy. The ambitious Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in concert with his counterpart in Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, chose instead to escalate the feud into another crisis that the Middle East does not need,” the editorial said.
Financial Times said that Qatar can afford to weather the storm. It is the richest nation per capita in the world. A sustained propaganda campaign has failed thus far to intimidate Qatar. Moreover, damage to the investment climate in the Gulf has been shared by all.
“Doha has resisted the temptation to retaliate. It is difficult to see what more it could do, beyond some gestures. Rather, the onus should be on the states that created this crisis to bring it to an end.”
“Given how far the royals in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have gone to whip up anti-Qatari sentiment, a sudden climb down is unlikely. But it is high time they moved in that direction. Toning down the rhetoric would be a start. Lifting the blockade incrementally should be the next,” FT wrote in the editorial.
“President Donald Trump initially stoked the fires by aligning himself overtly with Saudi Arabia. But Qatar is also an important US ally and hosts the country’s largest offshore air base. Trump seems now to be losing patience. He has offered to host a Camp David summit in September. The parties to this needless dispute should use the months before to start a thaw,” FT concluded.
