The severing of diplomatic ties with Doha by a number of Arab and Muslim countries most notably fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE is not something that should be taken lightly; nor should it be assumed that such a tough measure was sudden or came out of the blue.

In fact, anyone who has monitored the recent heated exchange of angry editorials which has been going on for over two weeks between the Arabic-language media outlets of Qatar and those of Saudi Arabia and the UAE would have easily predicted that relations were heading rapidly toward this unfortunate point.

However, the only party that seems to have ignored the clear signals of where things were headed was the government of Qatar. This is surreal, given that it has the most to lose.