re: #46 Jay C

Maybe. Daniel Larison at TAC linked to a couple of analyses last Friday, though I don’t think he (or anybody) expected a diplomatic crisis to blow up this quickly. It’s complex (like most things in the Arab world), but the short version seems to be:

1. The Saudis are flexing their political/military muscles
2. They are making Iran the Designated Enemy
3. Some of KSA’s regional partners (like Qatar, and, more importantly, Pakistan) aren’t thrilled with pushing item 2.
4. Qatar is first in line to get pushback re item 3.

Oh, and a subtext here (at least AFAICT) is that the US isn’t going to be of any serious help here, as they think Trump is an idiot. An easily-played idiot. And an easily-played idiot who will swallow any BS line about the Great Persian Boogeyman.

Fun times.

I wonder how Turkey will react.