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Weekly UpdatesThe Qataris have made the generation leap under their new Emir, Shaikh Hamad, with the political situation having stabilised. As a result, Qatar is one of the most attractive countries for foreign investors in the Middle East, with the state's decision making mechanism having improved.
However, Qatar embraces many contradictions. The emirate hoists several different flags, which together describe the bizarre combination of its policies:
That of Qatar, a tiny state squeezed by two regional powers - Iran to the east and Saudi Arabia to the west.
That of the six GCC states, of which it is the most rebellious member despite the fact that the GCC's Riyadh-based secretary-general is a Qatari. The other five states are part of a US-led alliance (news9SaudiIraqAug27-07).
That of the US, Qatar being the regional HQ for the American Central Command (CentCom) which is in charge of much of the GME and the Horn of Africa.
That of Israel, however, is no longer on show. But the US and the Jewish state are hoping that Israeli offices in Doha, once very busy despite objections from neighbours, could be re-opened if and when Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing/ultra-nationalist and religious government agrees to freeze the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Until Israel had wars with Hizbullah in Lebanon in 2006 and with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in from late 2008 to Jan. 18, 2009, Israel had representative offices in Qatar and Oman. They were closed when the Arab states allied to the West realised that their moderation was not being reciprocated by the Jewish state.
That of the Iran-led axis of anti-US/anti-Israel forces in the GME, including Syria and several Sunni and Shi'ite militant groups.
That of al-Qaeda, the Neo-Salafi Sunni terrorist group which only uses al-Jazeera, from among various other channels, to send its messages to the world - partly because Qatar's official sect is a mild version of Wahhabism (Salafism) tolerated by Osama bin Laden but frowned on by the official Wahhabi imams of Saudi Arabia.
That of democracy, which in Qatari politics is selective and tightly controlled by the Emir, Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
That of its National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), set up in 2002 as a permanent body tasked with implementing the principles of all the major world covenants on human rights and monitoring abuses in Qatar. Again, its critics say, this is a selective process. On May 17, 2007, the NHRC was elected as a member of the 47-state UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) despite strong objections from several member-states.
The annual Forum on Democracy and Political Reform in the Arab World held in Doha. This is an exercise in hope, despite the lack of practical results. The Arab region remains the world's last non-democratic region, having resisted repeated attempts of Arab liberals, human rights activists, Islamists and constitutionalists to bring their societies into the growing club of democracies (see omt9QatrProsAug27-07).
The HQ of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum has been set up in Doha. Created as an informal club in Tehran in 2001, the GECF currently involves Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, the UAE and Venezuela. They represent about 73% of the world's gas reserves and 42% of production. Observers include Kazakhstan and Norway. Doha says the GECF is open to new members, with candidates needing the votes of three-quarters of the member-states to join.
OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri of Libya in March 2009 said the GECF would ensure "regulatory oversight" of gas markets troubled by harmful price fluctuations, adding: "GECF willensure better data transmission, increased market transparency and energy security in terms of both supply and demand The current low price environmenthas affected investment decisions on capital-intensive gas projects and has strained the development of new, more expensive gas supplies".
Doha has embarked on bold moves which have brought about a sea-change in the emirate. Shaikh Hamad has improved the quality of dialogue with his people. Settlement of the long-running territorial dispute between Qatar and the neighbouring island of Bahrain in March 2001 marked a new era for both states. This was based on a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accepted by both sides.Soon the two states agreed to build a 50-km causeway, Friendship Bridge, to link Qatar with Bahrain. The settlement prospects had improved since 1999 when moderate Shaikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa took over in Bahrain after the death of his father. Now Hamad bin Isa is a king, with Bahrain having become a democracy.
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