...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...'s neighbours plus Egypt severed ties with the Gulf state, cut off exports, expelled their citizens and banned Qatari flights from using their airports and airspace.
The tiny country has weathered the storm by drawing from its substantial cash reserves, deepening alliances with
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
and Iran, and using its strategic location in the Persian Gulf as the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas to continue shipments to major world powers.
Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt launched the blockade on June 5 last year to pressure Qatar to change its policies. The group, angered by Doha's support for opposition groups and its ties with Iran, accused the Gulf state of working to destabilize the region and of harbouring and supporting terrorists. They made sweeping demands that Qatar change course, shutter its flagship Al Jazeera Arabic news channel and kick out
Qatar has rejected the accusations and the demands, calling the blockade a politically motivated attempt to undermine its illusory sovereignty.
When the diplomatic standoff erupted, worried residents rushed to grocery stores in the capital, Doha, emptying out shelves of milk and other food items that had come from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. At the onset of the diplomatic rift, about one-sixth of Qatar's imports were produced in countries that imposed the trade sanctions, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Saudi Arabia sealed shut Qatar's only land border and the UAE blocked shipments from its ports to Qatar, but the government in Doha quickly moved to reroute supplies through ports in Oman and India. Rather than rely on imports from its Arab neighbors, Qatar looked to Iran and Turkey to plug the gaps. Qatari flights were rerouted over Iranian airspace. Turkey boosted its military presence in Qatar.
Within a day, shelves were restocked. Qatar also air-lifted thousands of cows into the country to ramp up local production of milk and dairy.
The government's quick response was hailed by citizens and some of the country's nearly 2 million foreign residents.
"There's really no shortage in daily life at all," said Gerd Nonneman, a resident of Qatar and professor of International Relations and Gulf Studies at the Qatar branch of Georgetown University.