BBC on Qatar
Interesting BBC article on Qatar as world political player:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20890765
It's generally a reasonable assessment of Qatar and its rising visibility in world politics. It's assessment of Qatar's rise is interesting. Not surprisingly, much is attributed to the current leadership and the abundance of natural resources.
This comment on the US, however, caught my attention:
"To be secure Qatar could no longer be the quiet man of the Gulf, it had to become useful to a world who would then have a vested interest in protecting it.
Most important of all it should be useful to the United States, the only power capable of securing Qatar's survival."
So what's everyone's take on the role of the US to Qatar's security, rise, and power? Is the US protection and investment necessary for Qatar's prosperity and independence?
I'm surprised Qatar wants to make itself more visible as some of its actions recently could lead it to become a target for more extremists elements.
Maybe someone wants to leave a legacy....
is BBC cash register is ringing!
Hope all this don't backfire. Playing on world stage might bring you recongition and importance but it has its own risks attached.
The old adage.. "you scratch my back and I will scratch yours"
As far as the "visibility is concerned, I doubt whether the public worry too much about it.
its very interesting yes..and the second point you made, then leads one to other thoughts; qatar has ambition and money..perfectly reasonable..however, a lot of powerful people internationally need to agree to let that happen, need to see enough in it for themselves to let qatar fly, need to re-align their policies to make room for qatar..locally, the rulers need to convince a very conservative populace of the wisdom of being so visible..all of which then leads to the thought of qatar's ambition being potentially also used by others to vicariously meet their own vested interests and schemes..it all seems very deep and complex..far beyond the grasp of my limited understanding anyway:-)
Hats off to Qatar. They learned from the "mistakes" of Kuwait and Saudi. Qatar has found a big brother to protect it, but has at the same time exerted its influence so that it is a neccessary proxy in the wider region.
Probably two things are at play here.
1. Qatar's advertising with the BBC and BBC world has been significant in the last two years. So keep your revenue stream happy.
2. Qatar's interaction with the world has gone from sleepy backwater to high influence and spending like a drunk hooker on a Thursday night. That sort of change is interesting.
surprise surprise!..i actually find myself agreeing with you..i feel that we, the average laymen, don't really understand the insidious ways of the few powerful folk in the corridors of power that actually run the global scene..i personally am deeply interested in these sort of things and how the whole thing works..but when you consider how many alternative viewpoints exist on a single topic, its enough to make me give up trying to reach any one conclusion..each one sounds reasonable/feasible on its own and yet, who's to decide which one is most?
It is true that the rise in stories has been huge!
But it could also be because Qatar is buying pretty much anything it can in the UK at the moment. So people are bound to be curious of the country most had never heard of a couple of years ago
I've noticed in the last 6 months the BBC running a large number of stories about Qatar. Now with Qatar growing and being involved on the world stage you would expect an increase however, the upsurge is huge. Starts to make you think someone is using their influence or money to get Qatar's message across......