In this web extra, we discuss the new leadership of Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and look at how the current Gulf crisis may shape future diplomatic relations.
"I think [Mohammed bin Salman] has miscalculated, once again," says Barbara Slavin, Director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council. "I think he has scored an own goal."
"[Mohammed bin Salman] is not going to have quick success everywhere and his biggest challenge, actually, is not in foreign policy, it’s in domestic policy, and in reforming and diversifying his economy, and that’s a huge undertaking," says Bernard Haykel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.
The panellists also discussed whether relations between Gulf countries will recover.
"I think it is absolutely possible," Haykel says.
"There will be concessions from both sides, but I think that Qatar, culturally and religiously, is an extension of Arabia."
"This has never been a cohesive group and now it may be fatally broken," Slavin says.
The foreign minister of Qatar outlined his country’s position and response to the accusations made and diplomatic measures taken against Doha by a number of countries including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
There's a week to go for Qatar to meet a list of 13 demands imposed on it by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. It includes shutting down the Al Jazeera network and aligning Qatar's foreign policy with that of the GCC among many other demands. Qatar has rejected the list, saying it violates its sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the US is calling on all sides to sit down and talk. A statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says while some of the measures will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution. So, is dialogue even possible?
Presenter: Hazem Sika | Guests: Abdulaziz Al-Horr - CEO of the Qatar Finance and Business Academy; Ahmed Al Burai - Lecturer at Istanbul Aydin University; Hillary Mann Leverett - Former White House official.
The foreign minister of Qatar is in Washington, seeking ways to resolve an ongoing diplomatic crisis. He met with the U.S. secretary of state, to discuss the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar.
There's a week to go for Qatar to meet a list of 13 demands imposed on it by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. It includes shutting down the Al Jazeera network and aligning Qatar's foreign policy with that of the GCC among many other demands. Qatar has rejected the list, saying it violates its sovereignty. Meanwhile, the US is calling on all sides to sit down and talk. A statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says while some of the measures will be very difficult for Qatar to meet, there are significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution. So, is dialogue even possible? | Presenter: Hazem Sika | Guests: Abdulaziz Al-Horr - CEO of the Qatar Finance and Business Academy; Ahmed Al Burai - Lecturer at Istanbul Aydin University; Hillary Mann Leverett - Former White House official.
Qatar has dismissed a list of demands submitted by four Arab countries, which have imposed a transport and economic embargo against their neighbour, as neither reasonable or actionable.
Authorities in Doha, however, say they are reviewing the demands and is preparing an official response after confirming the receipt of a document containing demands from the countries that cut ties with it and imposed a blockade against it earlier this month amid a major diplomatic crisis.
Unreasonable, unbalanced and not actionable. That's the Qatari government's reaction to the list of 13 demands from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies. The demands include closing down the Al Jazeera network.
It's often said that journalists should avoid becoming part of the story. But the story of this regional crisis is now putting journalism at the centre of it.
Al Jazeera says the ultimatum - which must be met within 10 days - would not affect daily business.
Fellow journalists and industry representatives are voicing their angry reactions. They see it as an attempt to silence freedom of expression and using the news organisation as a bargaining chip in political differences. | Presenter: Hazem Sika | Guests: Marwan Kabalan - Associate analyst at the Doha Institute, Arab Center for Research & Policy Studies; Philippe Leruth - President of the International Federation of Journalists; Rami Khouri - Professor of Journalism, American University of Beirut
The Arab states that have cut ties with Qatar have given the Gulf nation 10 days to comply with a series of demands, including the closure of the Al Jazeera satellite television channel.
Saudi Arabia and its allies' list of far-reaching demands for Qatar--including cutting ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, reducing cooperation with Iran, and closing news channel Al Jazeera--is "absurd," says CODEPINK's Medea Benjamin
"A violation of freedom of expression," - that's what Human Rights Watch has called the crackdown by three Gulf countries against people who criticise them on social media.
Bahrain has jailed one of its citizens for comments made on social media after it passed a controversial law criminalising sympathy with Qatar, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE have threatened similar punishments as the diplomatic crisis in the Gulf worsens.
Together with Egypt, the four countries severed diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 and imposed a land, sea, and air blockade.
Qatar's National Human Rights Committee says since then, more than 13,000 citizens from the three Gulf countries living in Qatar have been affected, with the rights group receiving 155 complaints from mixed families separated by the travel ban.
The committee also says it's received reports of at least 764 human rights violations.
So what's the human cost of the blockade against Qatar? And what will be the long-term impact?
Presenter: Jane Dutton | Guests: Saeed Al-Shehabi - Bahraini activist and leader of the Bahrain Free Movement; Khalil Jahshan - Executive director of the Arab Center of Washington; Saad Djebbar - International lawyer.
Qatar's Foreign Minister was in Moscow on Saturday for talks with his Russian counterpart. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said only dialogue will solve the dispute that's dividing the Gulf. But Washington's role as mediator is in question. Al Jazeera’s as Andrew Simmons explains.
