The 48 hour extension should be up beginning Wednesday. The extension was not offered for Qatar or the Saudi led coalition time to reconsider the list of demands. It had nothing to do with negotiations, because there really are none.
The blockade isn’t going as the Saudi’s thought it would. This is the real reason for the 48 hour delay. The Saudi’s and allies need more time in considering their next step. How far do they push the blockade before other friendly countries condemn it?
The US is not backing the Saudi’s actions, nor condemning it. Trump is still talking about how the Arab countries need to stop funding terrorism, while Tillerson’s position is to urge all parties to negotiate.
The three blocks have emerged. The Saudi group, includes Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and the UAE. Also, the Tobruk government of Libya and a number of other states support the Saudi’s. Then there’s the opposition group, which includes including Qatar, Turkey, Iran and Russia. Finally, the neutral group of the GCC, Oman and Kuwait.
This isn’t beneficial to any group. It certainly weakens an concerted effort to combat terrorist groups. Iran and Turkey may eventually emerge as the winners in the conflict, for standing up for little Qatar, unfairly isolated by the Saudi’s and GCC allies.
Stay tuned,
Dave
