Qatar should stop its smear campaigns

On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt severed relations with Qatar over allegations that the small Persian Gulf state financed extremism. Those nations complained that Qatari largesse supported Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups, including some engaged in terrorism. The subsequent blockade and diplomatic cold war lasted five years.

Today, Qatar has reconciled with its Arab neighbors, but the reverberations of Qatar’s strategy remain. Relations with Americans do not switch on and off as easily as with Arab brothers. Dishonesty has a cost.