Qatar Crisis : Mending the Rift
The international community must push for a resolution of the Qatar crisis
The fact that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have handed over a list of demands to the Qatari regime should, on the face of it, indicate some progress in the impasse created after they cut ties with Qatar. The list has not been officially released, but is reported to include demands that Qatar snap all but trade ties with Iran, end military cooperation with Turkey and shut down the Al Jazeera news network. It may be that many of the demands are only meant to be bargaining counters — even U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has been running the backroom negotiation along with the Emir of Kuwait, said they are “very difficult for Qatar to meet”. In any case, such demands on the list may be more understandable if these countries complied with them as well. For example, in asking Qatar to disown ties with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE cannot ignore their own role in building up Sunni extremist groups across West Asia, sometimes in partnership with Qatar. The UAE has a thriving business relationship with Iran. And while the Saudi-led bloc may object to “negative narratives” and the platform given to their dissidents on Al Jazeera and the other news outlets named, it is unlikely that they will lean too much on the internationally recognised news networks to close shop. The bulk of the demands, however, focusses on asking Qatar to enforce its own commitments from the 2014 Riyadh declaration of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on ceasing support to extremist and terrorist groups. This indicates that a path is being cleared for a resolution to the current crisis. The next few days will be crucial in ensuring the outcome.
There are implications of this crisis that India and the international community cannot afford to ignore. While the action against Qatar is mainly political and nowhere close to the Saudi-led action on Yemen, where more than 10,000 people have already been killed, in both cases the muscle power of the regional bullies has been allowed to prevail over a weaker nation. The treatment of Qatar could well become the playbook for future diplomacy, which would lead to a further weakening of the international order, the rule of law and the UN system of conflict resolution. There are also signs that this may be the precursor to a larger conflict with Iran. This is a troubling scenario for the world, and for India in particular with its commitment to build connectivity and shore up oil reserves. The impact of any conflict in the Gulf cannot be over-estimated, given India’s dependence on oil supplies and remittances from some eight million Indians based there. For New Delhi to continue to be as sanguine about the Qatar crisis as it appeared to be a few weeks ago, when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called it an “internal matter” of the GCC. Source:THE HINDU
IMPORTANT WORDS FROM ARTICLE & THEIR MEANING
1) Sanguine (आशावादी) - Saen-gwin
Meaning - someone who is optimistic that everything's going to work out fine.(adjective)
Synonyms - Hopeful ,Self-assured , Positive
Antonyms - Pessimistic ,,depressed , gloomy
Example - Narendra Modi is sanguine about prospects for the global economy.
2) Dissident (मतभेद करनेवाला) - dis-si-dent
Meaning -a person who create disputes , a person opposes the current political structure, group or laws (Noun)
Synonyms - disputant ,objector, protester
Antonyms - conformist ,agreeing
Example - A dissident mentality was quickly spreading throughout the floundering faction.
3) Rift (विवाद , दरार , मतभेद) - Ri-f-t
Meaning - a circumstance in which an amiable relationship has been broken (noun)
Synonyms - disagreement, dispute, conflict.
Antonyms - Continuation , Agreement , harmony
Example - Because of the rift between the two countries, everyone is waiting to see who will break the truce first.
4) Precursor (अग्रगामी , संकेत) -pre-cur-sar
Meaning - a person or thing that comes before somebody/something similar and that leads to its development , Indication (noun)
Synonyms - Sign , signal , Preview , Forgoer
Antonyms - Successor ,Inheritor ,byproduct
Example -A movie preview is a standard precursor before the presentation of a feature film.
5)Shore up ( मजबूत करना) - So-or-up
Meaning -support, strengthen (phrasal verb)
Synonyms -assist, buttress
Antonyms -Let down , discourage
Example - The measures were aimed at shoring up the economy.
6) Bloc (गठबंधन ,गुट) - Bl-o-k
Meaning - alliance ,federation. (noun)
Synonyms - group , union
Antonyms -Isolation , Disunion
Example - A number of athletes from the communist bloc defected to Canada after the Montreal Olympics.
7) Mend (सुधार) -Men-d
Meaning - To rectify or improve something. (verb)
Synonyms - correct, amend
Antonyms - Injure , Break , damage
Example - Even a small act of kindliness can go a long way when trying to mend a relationship.
8) Disown (परित्याग करना , अस्वीकार करना) - Di-s-own
Meaning - to refuse to acknowledge any connection with something (Verb)
Synonyms - renounce, reject, deny
Antonyms - Own , Accept , affirm
Example - When his daughter ran off to get married, the angry father decided to disown her and never spoke to her again.
9)Thriving (उन्नति करना , फलना फूलना ) - Thraiv-ing
Meaning - growing , getting better from the present condition (adjective)
Synonyms - Booming ,prosperous , flourishing
Antonyms- Declining , falling
Example - The once thriving local market has fallen into steep decline since the new mall was built at the same place.
10) Counterpart (Noun) (प्रतिरूप) - Caun-ter-partMeaning - a person or thing that corresponds to or has the same function as another person or thing in a different place or situation
Synonyms - peer, equal, equivalent, fellow, parallel
Antonyms - converse, opposite, reverse
Example (English) - PM Narendra Modi got a bicycle as gift from his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.
Example (Hindi) - प्रधान मंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने अपने डच प्रतिरूप मार्क रूट से उपहार के रूप में एक साइकिल प्राप्त की।
Now considering the article above as a Reading Comprehension question, try to answer the following -
- The bulk of the demands from Arabic nations focusses on asking which issue mainly?
- The UAE has a thriving business relationship with which country ?
Given below are some words to check your vocabulary you can make sentences with those words in the comment section which will be reviewed by us.
- Regime
- Cease
- Implication
- Prevail
