ALWAYS BET ON THE dEEP sTATE:

A year ago Tuesday, a coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia imposed a historic land, maritime, and air blockade on Qatar. The measures were designed to strong-arm Doha to comply with a list of demands that involved alleged support for Islamic extremists throughout the Middle East, including within the four countries -- Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia -- that later became known as the anti-Qatar quartet.

The quartet received added momentum one day after the start of the blockade from U.S. President Donald Trump, who tweeted: "So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding ... extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!"

A year on, however, Qatar has not only weathered the storm -- it also appears to have emerged as the main winner of the conflict.

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