The tiny kingdom casts a mighty shadow
Fifteen years ago Qatar was, to most of the world, a tiny, unremarkable oil-producing kingdom that people outside the Gulf had a hard time placing on a map. That began to change in October 1996 when the state-owned Qatargas company entered the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, sending its first shipment to a power plant in Japan; since then, the pace of transformation has increased exponentially.
Today Qatar is a household name worldwide, thanks in large part to its having secured the FIFA 2022 World Cup finals; its economy is among the fastest growing on earth, fueled by the massive revenues it is reaping as the world's largest exporter of LNG; the Doha-based Al Jazeera satellite news channel is the most influential media outlet in the Middle East and North Africa, while its sister station, Al Jazeera English, is regularly cited as the most intrepid English news broadcaster around the globe. Doha has also strategically positioned itself as a diplomatic hub, forging ties and treaties in both the East and West, while mediating between all sides in a world rife with conflict.
In this issue of Executive we examine some of the key aspects of Qatar's global role and how it is using regional events to position itself for the future.
What Saudi Arabia is for oil, Qatar is for natural gas, which goes well beyond simply being a commodity supplier: as nations around the globe have become increasingly dependent on Qatar's natural resources, the kingdom's clout has ballooned, allowing it to weigh in internationally with ever-greater political leverage and extract security concessions from the world's most powerful militaries, which see the prosperity of their economies indelibly linked to the stable supply of energy that Qatar provides. [See 'The Tiny Giant']
The role of Al Jazeera in Qatar's rise to prominence cannot be overlooked. As the American ambassador to Qatar, Joseph LeBaron, was quoted as saying in a 2009 diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks: "Al Jazeera's ability to influence public opinion throughout the region is a substantial source of leverage for Qatar... Moreover, the network can also be used as a chip to improve relations. For example, Al Jazeera's more favorable coverage of Saudi Arabia's royal family has facilitated Qatari-Saudi reconciliation over the past year." [See 'Obedient Al Jazeera']
And as unrest has swept the Arab world this year, Al Jazeera has -- with the exception of Bahrain -- been on the front lines, stoking revolutionary fever, while the Qatari government has maneuvered to capitalize for the future. In Libya, for example, Qatar was the first Arab nation to officially establish ties with the revolutionary government in Benghazi and join the NATO-led air campaign against the old regime in Tripoli, all the while negotiating distribution deals to stake Doha's claim on Libya's hydrocarbon riches and last month purchasing the rebels' first oil shipment from the eastern city of Tobruk -- the payment for which was coincidently directed to a rebel-held account at a Qatari bank. [See 'Transparency: lost in revolt']
The Libyan play is somewhat of a gamble for the Qatari Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, given the volatility of the situation and the uncertainty of the outcome. But for this tiny kingdom to rise through the ranks of nations and establish itself as a global power these types of risks have perhaps been necessary, as only by taking them has it learned to punch so far above its weight.
© Executive 2011
