Qatar feud risks Gulf instability

On the surface, the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Qatar has much in common with Saudi Arabia and the other monarchies of the Arabian peninsula. Hydro-carbons have made it enormously wealthy, and it’s conservative Muslim nation ruled by a hereditary monarchy.

That’s made the decision by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to launch a surprise economic and diplomatic blockade against Qatar this month all the more surprising.

On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at the diplomatic conflict between Qatar and its neighbors over funding of militant Islamic groups, the Al-Jazeera news network and relations with Iran.

Joining the program:

• Aya Batrawi, a Dubai-based correspondent for the Associated Press.
• Bessma Momani, a professor of political science at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
• Jon Gambrell, a senior Gulf correspondent for the Associated Press based in Dubai.
• Amalendu Misra, a senior lecturer in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at the University of Lancaster in the U.K.