Stabilizing Middle East Network Alliances
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/blockade-qatar-opens-door-competition
Recently, a new series of Middle Eastern Alliances has begun to form in response to former deteriorating alliances and new civil wars. Overall, many proxy wars are currently being fought primarily between Saudi Arabia and Iran forcing neighboring countries to take sides. For example, in Yemen, Iran has been backing Houthi rebels while Saudi Arabia has been backing the incumbent government. Arabic speaking countries have tended to support Saudi Arabia while non-Arab countries like Turkey have supported Iran economically militarily in their proxy wars.
Contrary to the expected alliance patterns, Qatar, a strong ally of Saudi Arabia, has maintained a weak link with Saudi Arabia’s rival, Iran creating an unstable relationship triangle with two foes. In response to this mediocre relationship, Saudi Arabia has teamed up with many of its neighbors to suddenly cut its ties with Qatar and diminish its positive relationship with the country.
In response to Saudi Arabia’s decision, a new network of alliances has begun to form between countries like Turkey and Qatar to stabilize the relationship pyramid. As conflicts in the middle east progress, countries are generally tending to stabilize and chose one of the two proxy sides forming graphs that support the structural balance property.
Another abnormality in these relationships is the United States former close ties with both Saudi Arabia and Turkey, one of Iran’s closest allies. This former relationship has created an unbalanced graph between the three countries. Recently however, the Trump Administration has begun instilling heavy tariffs on products imported from Turkey to sanction their government for political reasons. These actions have further stabilized Turkey’s relationship with Iran and the Trump administration’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and its allies creating another structurally balanced network in the region.