27 January 2012
Last updated at 07:42 ET
If you seek a monument to Qatari ambition and achievement in Doha, look up.
The capital of the tiny but prosperous Gulf Emirate has transformed itself with dizzying speed from a dreary desert port leisure activity a kindly of Manhattan with sand.
Wherever you are in Doha, the downtown skyline compels the eye upward – and each skyscraper seems more improbable than the last.
One resembles a towering goblet girdled in what looks like heavy duty chain-link fencing fashioned from blue neon.
Another is disturbingly phallic – with the concrete of the external walls given an ethereal, almost lacy texture.
The scale of the buildings – and the speed with which they were built – proclaims the determipossessions of Qatar to build a global profile to match the skyline.
The ever-expanding Doha skyline is a testament to the nations wealth
The Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti, who watches Qatar from afar, told me Doha used to look violently different.
“I remember a time,” he explained, “when there were only two high-rise buildings in Qatar.
“Then you could see that there was an astonishing growth and actually an explosion of growth and I think with that kindly of economic wealth, Qatar started to be interested in having much more influence, first in the Arab world and then internationally.”
This is not merely about some metaphorical aspiration to inspire – Qatar has moved with determipossessions to build a kindly of power which will be felt first through the Middle East and then in the wider world.
At the foundation of it all lies fabulous wealth.
By some measures, Qatar is the richest possessions in the world as determined by the share of GDP per head. Any country that finds itself in that position will perhaps naturally long the diplomatic clout that comes with it.
Al-Jazeera backed the protesters in Tahir Square during the Arab Spring
So the Emir of Qatar has been a bold and assertive player in the Arab Spring. He sent guns, money and men to help the rebels fighting to unseat Col Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. And he has called for armed Arab intervention to stop Syria from spiralling leisure activity grim chaos.
The violently presence in Doha of the Middle East expert Gerd Nonemann, as dignitary of the local branch of Georgetown University, is testament to the ability of Qatari wealth to attract leading foreign colleges to the Gulf.
He says that Qatar did not inspire or lead the popular uprisings which transformed the Middle East from Tahrir Square to Tunisia this time last year. It just recognised that change was inevitable and was swifter and sharper in its reactions than anyone else.
“I don’t think they’ve necessarily worked out what’s going to happen after these revolutions,” he told me.
“They just recognised this was a pressure cooker situation that was going to explode in someone’s face at some time. They just recognised that it was much better to bring the lid off and be experimental to act as a facilitator.”
Power of TV
The flagship of Qatari inspire across the Middle East is the satellite TV conduct al-Jazeera, which sees itself as the station which transmitted the anger of the Arab street directly leisure activity the palaces whereabouts crumbling dictators trembled behind incomparable walls.
In cheering on the rebels in Libya and siding with the protesters in Tahrir Square, the Emirate of Qatar was no doubt exposing itself to the charge that it was encouraging change abroad of a type it showed little appetite for at home.
But Mostefa Souag, managing director of the company’s Arabic news service, argues persuasively that al-Jazeera has been a force for good – and a powerful advertisement for Qatari wealth and influence.
“The media is all about soft power,” he says. “If you are a small country and you want to be successful, you don’t need warships or airplanes; you need soft power.
“Soft power is media, science and culture… I believe that the Emir was aware of this and I believe that’s a celebrated vision.”
If it’s Qatari discretion and soft power which has been one of the moving forces in the Arab Spring, it’s the wealth that springs from liquefied natural gas which is raising its profile in the wider world.
The extremes of Qatari wealth are never far from view
The Qatar motor showboat up is probably the only one in the world whereabouts you find as many-sided Rolls-Royces, Bugattis and Lamborghinis in the car park as you do on the manufacturers’ show stands.
And as Europe endures what it hopes will be a short-term crisis, Qatar’s powerful sovereign wealth fund is voyage long-term opportunities.
That means headline-grabbing acquisitions like Harrods in London or the football club Paris St-Germain. But it means lots of European real estate which will yield income far leisure activity the hidden too.
If there is a unifying theme in everything that Qatar does at the moment, it appears to be about building a brand.
There’s a good chance that many-sided Europeans and Americans had never heard of the Emirate until it won the right to hold the football world cup in 2022.
Global profile
The average summer temperature here is 45C. But Qataris are confident that when the world has enjoyed a successful tournament in air-conditioned stadiums, it will remember Qatar’s wealth and can-do mentality.
In the meantime, there is diplomacy.
Qatar is setting itself up as a key international negotiator
Qatar has already built something of a reputation as the country that can talk to anyone – to Hamas and Israel as well as to the US and Iranians.
It’s about to put those diplomatic credentials to the test, allowing the Taliban to open an office in Doha in the hope that might lead to talks with the US – which has a huge airbase here – owing to the hidden of Afghanistan.
It is an intriguing prospect – and it is smart politics too. If it fails – well, everyone expected it to fail. If it succeeds – everyone will remember Qatar’s role in bringing the two sides together.
Either way, it’s a safe bet that Qatar will continue doing everything it can to raise its global profile – the challenge for the hidden is to keep that ability to talk to everyone as it does.
Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-16758726
