The ‘Arab Kissinger’ comes to Malta

Sheik Bin Khalifa Al Thani is reviled by critics as a feudal monarch hailing from a family which ruled Qatar for the past 150 years, and who runs the country in the same way as a family-owned corporation. 

On his part - in tandem with his energetic second wife Mozah Bint Nasser - he   projects himself as an enlightened moderniser. 

What is certain is that his shrewd bit diplomacy has paid off, turning Qatar in to a country which wields influence far beyond its size.

As veteran journalist, Robert Fisk observed Qatar may be tiny but in the region and beyond it, "it is very, very big indeed". 

Blurring the confines between a nation state and a business corporation, the Al Thani family uses the country's sovereign fund to invest heavily in real estate in European cities like London, energy utilities and football clubs. 

The Sheik's efforts to turn Qatar in to a global hub were crowned by his country's successful - albeit controversial - 2022 World Cup bid.

Qatar's soft power is also boosted by the global influence of Al Jazeera, the channel that gave Arabs their first taste of freedom of expression, and the bete noir of authoritarian Arab regimes, Israel and the United States.

The Sandhurst-educated emir seized power from his father following a bloodless coup in 1995. From then on, he embarked on a mission to transform his kingdom into a thriving business corporation owned by the ruling Thani family's investment arm, Qatar Holdings.

Signs of modernisation include the appointment of women to key cabinet positions. But Qatar is still a place where bloggers can be detained without explanation.

Moreover, only 250,000 in his country of 1.7 million are citizens, with the rest being foreign labourers, mostly from poor Asian countries who contribute to the nation's wealth while working in miserable conditions.

Qatar still hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East. But the emir is known for walking out of the room after Former US Vice President Dick Cheney confronted him with large file on his desk marked: 'Al-Jazeera'. "What's that for?" the Emir asked. Cheney told him he intended to complain about the channel's coverage of the Iraq war. "Then you'll have to speak to the editors in Qatar," the Emir replied, and walked out of the room.

He has been dubbed as the 'Arab Kissinger' by the Economist for his ability to strike a friendship with everyone.

He brokered a peace deal between Hamas and Fatah and is reported to be hosting talks between the US and the Taliban.

He actively supported western intervention to oust the Gaddafi regime and now leads efforts to oust the Assad regime in Syria, going as far as calling for a military intervention against the brutal regime.

While Al-Thani supported the democratic movements in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, he was silent on the brutal crackdown in neighbouring Bahrain, which is ruled by a fellow sunni monarch who rules over a restless Shia population. Still, Al Jazeera was foremost in reporting the repression of activists in hospitals in Bahrain.

Although resented by Arab secular dictators who blamed satellite TV for their downfall, Al Thani is not trusted by Arab liberals who dread his links with political Islam.

But the emir has successfully moved in to fill the vacuum in Arab leadership following the fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt and an increasingly inward looking Saudi Arabia.

Qatar's powerhouse

During the 1940s, Qatar transformed itself from one of the Gulf's poorest states into one of its richest by exploiting the nation's oil and gas reserves. A former British protectorate, the country declared its independence in 1971.

Qatar has the third-largest reserves of liquefied natural gas in the world after Russia and Iran.

Revenues from the oil and natural gas sectors amount to 60% of the country's GDP.

Unlike Dubai's, Qatar's banking sector managed to escape the direct impact of the global subprime fallout.

The desert kingdom uses the sovereign wealth fund to invest heavily in real estate in European cities like London and in long-term stakes in Barclays, Credit Suisse, Harrods, Volkswagen and the London Stock Exchange over the past four years.

The emirate has also made a number of other investments in the utility sector in Western Europe, including the acquisition of a 6% stake in the Spanish power company Iberdrola by Qatar Holding for about $2.8 billion in March.

Investments range across sectors, extending to shipping, with plans made in May for a €400 million investment in the Bajadilla port in Marbella by the royal family member Sheik Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani.

The same sheik spent €36 million to buy Málaga Football Club at the end of June, taking on the Spanish soccer team's €14 million of debt. The Qatar Investment Authority, meanwhile, acquired 70% of the French football team Paris Saint-Germain in May, while F.C. Barcelona signed a sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation, worth up to €170 million for the five years from July.

Qatar's shadow on Libya

Qatar was a leading supporter of the revolution in Libya, arming the Libyan rebels, buying their oil and sending its air force to join NATO in pounding regime targets.  

In this way, Qatar earned the eternal gratitude of many Libyans. This gives Qatar significant influence and leverage over the Libyan leadership.

But Qatar has been accused of interfering in setting the post-war agenda by supporting particular factions, like the one led by Islamist leader and head of Tripoli's military council Abdul-Aziz Belhaj, who is poised to play a key role in Libya's future.

Belhaj - who used to lead the Islamic Fighting Group - was tortured at the behest of US and British intelligence agencies under the rendition programme after he was forcefully repatriated to Libya by CIA agents due to his alleged links with Al Qaeda.

Belhaj denies links with Al Qaeda and insists that his aim is the setting up of a civilian government.

Qatar had also sheltered Libyan cleric Ali al-Sallabi, who has now returned to Libya.

Payback time for Malta?

As Labour MP Leo Brincat recently observed, this "little but highly influential Gulf country is no doubt most appreciative of Malta's efforts to help the Libyan people in their hour of need".

In fact, the visit by the emir of Qatar could signify 'payback time' for Malta's collaboration with Qatar and western powers in providing assistance to the Libyan rebels.

But efforts to attract Qatari investment go back to September 2009, when President George Abela paid his first state visit to the Arabian powerhouse.

During his visit, he also opened the first ever Malta/Qatar Business Forum, in the hope of laying 'the foundation stone' for a new phase of Qatari/Maltese economic and commercial relations.

Next week's visit by the emir also comes in the wake of a visit by Tonio Fenech to Doha in March in which he met Qatar's minister for energy and industry Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada.

Human rights in Qatar

Unlike neighbouring Saudi Arabia, women in Qatar may drive, wear bikinis at the beach and wear whatever they please elsewhere. Alcohol is served in hotels and a Catholic church opened in 2008 - the first one in a gulf emirate.

But according to Amnesty International, allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment continue to be reported, albeit sporadically.

Sentences of flogging continue to be imposed.

Qatari blogger and the founder of a human rights organisation Sultan al-Khalaifi was arrested on 2 March 2011 and detained incommunicado. He was released on 1 April 2011, without any charges.

Police in Qatar are also known to be reluctant to treat violence against women, particularly violence within the family, as a criminal matter, although such violence constitutes an assault under strict application of the law.

The new Qatari Constitution bans all discrimination "on grounds of sex, race, language, or religion". But women must obtain approval from their husband or guardian before travelling, and children of Qatari women who marry foreign nationals do not qualify for Qatari citizenship, unlike children born to Qatari fathers and foreign mothers.

Limited democracy

Qatar has been accused of supporting democracy abroad while retaining a feudal system at home.

On 1 November 2012, Sheikh Hamad announced that a first-ever parliamentary election based on universal suffrage would be held in 2013.

The election will be the first to the Shura Council, 30 of whose 45 members will be elected and the others appointed by the emir under a constitution approved in 2003. All the body's current members are appointed.

The powers of the Shura council are still limited as laws still have to be approved by the emir.

But there has been little enthusiasm and clamour for democracy in a country inhabited by 250,000 very rich and complacent citizens who boast the highest per capita income in the world.

Exploitation of foreign workers

Four in every five people living in Qatar are foreigners. 

For western expats, Qatar offers better career prospects, higher salaries and tax-free living in a liberal environment, which permits alcohol in restricted areas.

For most foreign workers hailing from Asian countries like Nepal, India and the Philippines, Qatar is simply better than home.

According to the US State Department's 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report, Qatar is a destination country for men and women subjected to forced labour and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution.

Many migrant workers working in Qatar pay exorbitant fees to recruiters in their home countries - a practice that makes workers vulnerable to forced labour once they reach Qatar.

Like other Gulf countries, Qatar has sponsorship laws, which have been criticised as "modern-day slavery".

Sponsors have the unilateral power to cancel workers' residency permits, deny workers' ability to change employers and deny permission to leave the country.

2022 World cup

The bid for the 2022 crowns the efforts of the Sheik to turn his country in to a global hub. As the first Arab country to host the world cup, Qatar is using the global event as a showcase of its western-friendly image.

But allegations of corruption have shrouded Qatar's world cup bid, thus raising the possibility that the Al Thanis are using corporate largesse to peruse their political agenda.

The key allegation - according to evidence shown to a Parliamentary Committee by The Sunday Times - is that FIFA executive committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma took bribes of $1.5m each to vote for Qatar.

Qatar and the FIFA officials involved have denied these charges.

The bid was controversial for other reasons including the very high summer temperatures, which soar over 40ºC.

But FIFA was convinced by Qatar's technological solution to overcome the sweltering heat - by building nine new fully air-conditioned open-air stadiums that work using solar power.