Some believe the Saudis secured Mr Trump's unequivocal support through flattery

With stunning apparent ignorance of the geopolitics of the Middle East, Donald Trump has welcomed a regional blockade of a country his own military relies on to host 11,000 American soldiers.

In an unprecedented ostracisation, Qatar's neighbours have isolated the emirate diplomatically and economically.

Previous US presidents have chosen a balanced approach to regional rivalries.

Not this one. President Trump tweeted the following: "During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!"

He was not only welcoming the move, it seems, but apparently taking some credit for it.


Never mind that economic shockwaves are spreading across the region - leaving oil markets reeling.

Image: Qatar has long been out of line with the regional consensus

Never mind that Al Udeid military base hosts the biggest concentration of American military power in the region.

Never mind that President Trump's tweet is the direct opposite of his administration's declared intention to "deescalate the situation".

Qatar has always been the odd one out in the Gulf. It is wedged between giant rival powers: Saudi Arabia and Iran. Small and geographically exposed, it has long sought to make a virtue out of that potential weakness.

Image: Economic shockwaves are spreading throughout the region

Other neighbours have toed the line laid down by Saudi Arabia, against Iran and Iran's Shia allies.

The Qataris have been far more ambivalent, keeping channels open with the Iranians and its proxies including Hezbollah and hosting Hamas, the Palestinian militant organisation, despite its links with the Muslim Brotherhood despised in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The Qataris have presented themselves as conduits and go-betweens. That has had its advantages for outside powers seeking such back channels, too. The US has resisted Saudi calls to make Qatar pull back into line.

But Donald Trump has given up the even-handedness of his predecessors and came down squarely on the side of Saudi Arabia in his recent tour of the region.

Trump in Saudi: 'Tremendous progress tackling IS'

Rightly or wrongly, the impression left by that trip in the minds of many is that Saudis secured Mr Trump's unequivocal support with shameless flattery and a lavish reception.

While Qatar had its uses for previous US administrations, Mr Trump appears happy to leave it twisting in the wind.

But his attitude has more profound implications. He has no patience for a country that can play the role of middle man.

Trump waves blade in Saudi sword dance

In his view of the world there can be only winners and losers, the strong and the weak. That philosophy leads more towards confrontation and potentially conflict and less towards conciliation in the volatile regional politics of the Middle East.

It also exposes Mr Trump to accusations he has been played for a sucker by the Saudis.

And in the Middle East, that perception about the world's only superpower is in itself fraught with danger.