Qatar: No wins for shuttle diplomacy

Diplomatic endeavours have not stopped – from Kuwait, Turkey, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and others – but would-be mediators can point to little by way of success. The US State Department in late July said efforts to resolve the crisis are “at a standstill” having previously described it as “at an impasse”. There is the risk that serious escalation could follow – a good reason why, on 1 August, Tillerson appointed a special envoy with genuine Middle East credentials, 73-year-old retired former Central Command chief General Anthony Zinni, to add to the mediation effort.