Provocative at Best
The Kingdom of Qatar, under its Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, seems quite the anomaly in many ways. An oil-rich sheikdom, it is said to be the wealthiest per-capita country in the world. Unlike so much of the Middle East, it has a zero unemployment rate, and no one, whether Qataris or its million-and-a-half foreign workers, lives under a poverty line.It is a tiny geography, ruled by the same family since the mid-1800s, albeit as a British protectorate for generations, until 1971.
Its indigenous population is well under a million people, and most labour is performed by a large imported work force, far outnumbering the Qataris themselves. Per capita income is twice that of the United States, at $84,000. It is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.
The Emir attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, west of London, graduating in the year of Qatar's independence and concurrently when the first gas field was discovered.
His father became emir in 1972, and preferred to live extravagantly, on the French Riviera,leaving it to Sheik Hamad to oversee the development of the country's oil and gas industry, developing an economy that would become the envy of the Middle East. Qataris can depend on free education, free health care, housing and utilities. And they pay no taxes whatever.
Foreign universities were invited to establish campuses in Qatar where the country had invested $100-billion in an Education Campus in Doha. There is no elected parliament, it is left to the Emir to decide the disposition of the country's sovereign wealth fund of between $70-billion to $100-billion which has made the country a power to be reckoned with.
Huge sums have been invested in car manufacturing in Europe, the Agricultural Bank of China, Chinese oil refineries, French fashion, Brazilian banking, British department stores. One of the most notable investments made by the Emir though, was the encouragement and lavish funding of a free press, almost unheard of in the Muslim Middle East.
Al Jazeera, known the world 'round, has become a broadcaster of note for its mostly neutral world news coverage with its special emphasis on the Middle East. As though mimicking the purported neutrality of Qatari-funded-and-established Al Jazeera, the Emir maintains good relations with all Qatar's neighbours in the region, as well as globally.
Sheikh Hamad seems to be trying to achieve a balance of justice and fairness in his relations with other countries. He enrolled the Qatar military with NATO forces during the campaign to protect Libyan rebels, and he has been front and centre in the Arab League struggles to contain the damage that Syrian President Bashar al Assad is foisting on his beleaguered country.
So does this man's ascension on the regional and global scene promise some significant changes for the better in the Middle East? Seems far too much to hope for. Despite his wealth and his influence, his Western education and international connections, allied with regional respect, no one man however powerful, is capable of altering engrained tribal and religious customs.
Particularly when the region has always been a cauldron of boiling animosities and resentments, ready to spill over into violence at any provocation. And of late, there has been one provocation after another...unending.
Labels: Middle East, Particularities/Peculiarities
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, February 26, 2012
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