Who's winning in the Middle East turmoil? QATAR.

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There’s hardly any media coverage about this country, but it could very well be one of the most powerful and influential nations on Earth right now.

Qatar is a tiny emirate in the Persian Gulf smaller than Connecticut. It has the highest per capita income in the world. It sits atop vast natural gas resources, and wades in riches beyond imagination.

Al Jazeera is based out of Qatar, which is ruled by the al-Thani family. Like the other countries in the region it is an autocracy, but there have been no incidences of protests or unrest. A free democracy it may not be, but the standard of living is so high for everybody in this welfare state, why would there be dissent? It doesn’t have the issues of poverty and unemployment that Yemen or Egypt have.

Al Jazeera has been a vital component of the revolutions going on in the Middle East, especially Libya. It’s not quite the voice of freedom it’s made out to be—it’s a propaganda machine of the state of Qatar, directly controlled by the al-Thanis, and Qatar has much to gain from the revolutions.

Qatar was the first Arab country to send its military to help Libyan rebels. And… Qatari oil companies are reportedly making business deals with Libyan rebels who have seized oil fields. All of these falling dominos equal more cash for companies in Doha, and the al-Thani family.

So just how powerful could Qatar really be? Really powerful, I say. Yet most folks around the world, even those who pay attention to the news, have probably never even heard of it. Kinda interesting when you think about it…

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Interesting thoughts. The Libya information it the kind of stuff that gets overlooked in our own news medias' reporting.

Another indication of its disproportionate power is that Qatar has been awarded the Football (soccer) World Cup Finals for 2022,one of the most prestigious events in the world.
The honour of hosting the comptetion is voted for by all the other countries and Qatar got the most votes (beating larger,established
footballing nations such as England,USA and Australia) despite
a) being one of the smallest countries in the world
b) having no history of footballing prowess
c) having a summer climate that is far too hot and unsuitable for playing sports

There was media coverage in Europe last year,but that was indeed probably the first that most people had heard of Qatar !

You are not taking into account FIFA corruption in that vote. They hate the United States, which is obvious from a referee calling a foul on an American being thrown to the ground and never explaining what the call was.

Many countries as well as USA feel that FIFA have an agenda against them.England had a goal disallowed v Germany,despite the fact that everyone apart from the referee had seen the ball clearly crossed the goal-line.They then got only one vote to hold the next World Cup,after several countries reneged on promises to back them.Who knows what FIFA's agenda may be for backing Qatar

Going off topic but...isn't it ironic that the country responsible for the sport of football/soccer has developed such an apparently problematic relationship with the sport's governing body?

Back on topic...money talks and oil is money right now. It's no surprise that Qatar is seeking to benefit from the demise of others, it is 'just business' as the Corleones would say.

So far, Qatar has managed to escape bad press.

Geez... I try to start a thoughtful political discussion and it turns into debate on sports... just like real life! LOL

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In this case I think sport and politics have overlapped. The awarding of the World Cup to such a small country is incredible
and unprecedented.It was obviously a political decision manipulated behind the scenes,rather than having anything to do with sport.It proves that Qatar has enormous influence beyond its size.

Qatar appears to be very active politically, an article on Wikipedia states that they have been very involved in peace negotiations in Lebanon, Sudan and Palestinian territories.
Qatar foreign relations

Speaking of sports again, Qatar also hosted the 2006 Asian games, possibly another inexplicable victory in sporting event hosting:
2006 Asian Games

For such a small country it does have big pull. A big part is related to oil and money obviously, one more reason to move away from oil is the disproportionate power such resources give to the possessing states. I think another part of Qatar's ascendancy is its ability to play the game of politics well also - it aggressively seeks involvement in areas where others stay on the sidelines and it skillfully operates within larger political spheres.

Well it's good to see that SOME people on here have heard of Qatar...

The interesting factor that comes into play is the relationship between Qatar and Iran. They share custody over a big natural gas field-- Qatar has one half, Iran has the other. Qatar has to keep Iran happy or else...

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Interesting.

I gave up cable TV a month ago to save money.
Expected my TV set to revert to the pre cable seventies and get all of the major old broadcasting networks,and nothing but the major networks ( abc, NBC. CBS PBS).

Instead I get an odd bunch of stations NBC and Local Fox but not CBS, nor ABC.
Got some ethnic stations and..

Another station I get is -of all things -AL Jazeera. I watch it all of the time now.
The biggest drama right now is in the mideast so its an engaging chanel to watch.

Needless to Al Jazeera is not biased in the same ways as American news is on many world issues. They dont bend over backwards to present the Isreali side of arab-Isreli stories.

But suprisingly - when they cover LIbya - they are totally pro rebel and totally anti khadaffi.Biased the same way as the US government and Nato! Youd think they were american reportes.
.

What you're saying goes a long way to explain that bias.
(Im not pro kaddaffi but I wouldnt assuma an arab news outlet would be biased against him).

They are big cheerleaders for all of the arab revolts

Though Egypt and Syria are quite different than Qatar there are also revolts in Bahrain. And Bahrain is kinda similar to Qater in being a small persian gult oil sheikdom..

Going tangential, I've been wondering if the OBL action was made more urgent in the face of rising Middle East tensions through these 'Arab Spring Revolts'. What effect has the clamor of certain ultra-conservative Muslim groups (especially in countries like Egypt), had on the decision to get that specific job wrapped up? Was it intended to remove a potential focus for such groups? Was it meant to send a message?

What you call "Arab Spring" is very likely a prelude to a seizure of government by radical Islamist, pro-Sharia Jihadists. Their goal is to establish a Muslim Calphate throughout the middle East.

ruveyn

Right.
The intended message is "mess with the USA and you get a ten year vacation in a big resort villa with six wives!"

This will cause the Jihadist world wide to laugh so hard they drop their Ak47's.

THEN- we get the drop on 'em!

Makes sense to me!

My opinion on the subject obl is not too favored here...but I really think with US doing worldwide satelite survielance and OBL being right next to the pakistani version of west point...that the US lawmakers had to know where he was, however Obama decided to take OBL ou at the begining of campain season so he could get reelected concidering how poor he was doing in public opinion.

As far as Qatar goes, I never heard of all that. The US news outlets that I have access to have not mentioned anything about Qatar, but does make alot of sense in why the middle east has suddenly erupted with revolutions. Thank you for informing me though. Of course, I hate that we got involved in the middle east cause my history teacher in college said since the begining of mesopotamia, there has been only 200 years of peace in that region. These years were not under democracies but under very strict rulers. Democracy cant just be planted somewhere, social conditions have to be favorable to it, however the middle east is too conflicted to have democracy at this point...or anyttime soon
As I hate to say it, they need to be ruled with an iron hand to keep them from killing each other all the time.