Saudi Allies Have Few Economic Weapons to Bring Qatar Into Line - Bloomberg

Saudi Allies Have Few Economic Weapons to Bring Qatar Into Line - Bloomberg:



"Saudi Arabia’s drive to make Qatar abandon its embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood may founder because of the limited leverage the Saudis and their allies can exercise over the world’s richest country.



Qatar traded more with Singapore in 2012 than it did with the three Gulf neighbors -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- that withdrew their ambassadors from Doha last week to protest the Brotherhood connection. With markets for its natural gas in the U.S. and Asia, and a portfolio of overseas investments that includes stakes in Volkswagen AG (VOW) and Barclays Plc, Qatar is well placed to resist the diplomatic pressure, though it’s vulnerable if Saudi Arabia were to close its land border.



“Direct economic leverage is of little impact,” said John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at MASIC in Saudi Arabia, in response to e-mailed questions. “Qatar could go it alone, as long as the world is in need of gas, and as long as they don’t get all their neighbors to be their enemies.”"



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