Qatar: a small country that has won respect
In order to overcome the crisis, the Ukrainian leadership is seeking possibilities to get loans from the rich states of the Arab Gulf (they insist on this name, perceiving Tehran’s hegemonistic aspirations in its usual designation, the Persian Gulf). In February Pavlo Sultansky, head of the Economic Cooperation Department of Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, reported that Ukraine was holding negotiations with Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries.
These expectations of Kyiv, which have not yet been satisfied by any of the 17 states mentioned by Sultansky, have obviously had an impact on the political consultations between Ukraine and Qatar on the level of foreign affairs ministers. (Today Qatar is the richest state of the Gulf.) Before the arrival of the Qatari guest, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the talks will address the question of attracting investments from Qatar. However, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Mohammed Abdullah Mutib Al Rumaihi said in an interview that “the political consultations were primarily concerned with our bilateral relations. We have signed a memorandum on understanding in political questions between the ministries of foreign affairs of Qatar and Ukraine. We have also discussed problems that are of mutual interest for us, including the situation in the Middle East and reforming of the United Nations.”
The Ukrainian leadership is too easy a target if you look at their frantic search for loans. According to our data, several foreign ambassadors have been recently invited to the building on Hrushevsky Street for hour-long talks on this topic. At least they received some assurance from the Qatari guest, who said: “We are preparing an official visit of the Qatari State Minister of Foreign Affairs to Ukraine, which will take place in the end of June. He will come with a large group of state officials and businessmen in order to discuss the possibilities of our trade cooperation.”
Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed came to the diplomatic service from the army, where he commanded artillery after receiving education at cole Sp ciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, a top French military academy. He defined economic priorities of present-time diplomacy in a military style — clearly and precisely: “Today an ambassador should first of all be an economist and tradesman.”
The Qatari deputy minister speaks very highly about Ukraine: “We view Ukraine as more than a friendly state. We see that Ukraine in the future (pause)… and today has a potential to essentially influence this whole region and play an important role in the international arena.” Such an assessment is not only pleasant for our self-esteem, but also inspires us with optimism, because Qatar has an impressive reputation all over the world thanks to its far-sighted foreign policy. It deserves a more detailed analysis and ought to serve as an example for our state.
Qatar is a relatively young state, which became absolutely independent in 1971, after liberating itself from the British protectorate and an attempt to coexist in the federation of emirates, UAE. Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani came to power in 1995, and this year is regarded the starting point for Qatar’s active foreign policy. Researchers credit him with developing and realizing the vision of Qatar as an active player in the world.
“His Highness Emir believes that our active foreign policy is the warranty of our security,” Mohammed Al Rumaihi explained. First and foremost, Qatar secured itself against the influence of the powerful regional players — Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Egypt. The tool used for such efficient neutralization was the world renowned TV channel Al Jazeera, which was founded in 1996 on a half-million grant from the emir. (Last year Al Jazeera outstripped Coca-Cola in the rating of the world brands.)
The TV channel quickly won the sympathy of the “Arab street,” as the public is called there, because it presented live the talks that was held in many Arab countries at traditional get-togethers in street caf s, even in whispering tones. On many occasions reports and free discussion of events in other Arab states brought Qatar in conflict with its “Arab brothers,” as the leaders of Arab states call each other. This led not only to closures of the channel’s offices, but also to the withdrawals of ambassadors for many years ahead.
However, at the initial stage, every media sensation generated by this kind of conflict only strengthened the knowledge in the world about the existence of a small state with 900,000 population. Later this cemented Qatar’s reputation in the West as a vehicle of freedom in the entire Arab world.
Eventually this reputation affected the United States, when Al Jazeera broadcast live the events during the intervention of Afghanistan in 2001 and the Iraq war in 2003. This was so serious that at one point the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called to the emir, demanding to change the channel’s editorial policy but to no avail. At the end of The Day, Al Jazeera became the neutralizing factor with regard to the US influence and potential interference. (Qatar has strategic partnership relations with the US, and an American base with the entire regional command is located here.)
At the same time, Qatar began to successfully play a mediating role in conflicts far beyond the Gulf. The fact that none of the sides saw any bias or help to a conflicting side was in its favor. Second, nobody would suspect the small state in hegemonist aspirations. Of course, Qatar’s diplomacy was supported by great financial resources, because the emirate is among the world leading suppliers of oil and gas. Last year Qatar took the lead over Luxembourg with the annual per capita income of $90,000.
As a rule, humanitarian missions went before the diplomats to the zone of conflicts. Among Qatar’s most famous successes at mediating was stoppage of the confrontation of Lebanese political forces in 2008. The mediation attempts of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and France failed there, but Qatar managed to pull off the impossible: it made the hostile sides create a government of national unity and change the election legislation for fairer parliamentary representation of the population, divided not by politics, religion, and ethnic origin.
Qatar has recently managed to resolve another case, which was hopeless: it succeeded in making Sudan’s government and the armed Justice and Equality movement in Darfur sign a “good-will agreement” on exchange of war prisoners, non-aggression against civilians, and access to humanitarian organizations. Incidentally, the deputy minister of foreign affairs of Qatar had to postpone the initial date of his visit to Kyiv due to the final stage of these negotiations.
Qatar maintains a special position in the Israel-Arab conflict. On the one hand, official Doha has adopted the general stance known as Saudi Peaceful Initiative: recognition and establishing relations with Tel Aviv in exchange for stopping occupation of Arab territories and creating the Palestinian state. On the other hand, several years ago Qatar allowed Israel to open a trade office, and within the framework of organized international conferences it accepted high-ranking Israeli officials, even when others were boycotting them.
Last year’s report of the US Congress stated that Qatar gives financial aid to HAMAS. But Washington was not yelling about helping “terrorists.” In response to my question on they still have hope for peace after the radical right came to power in Israel, Mohammed said: “We always hope that Israel will eventually understand the importance of peace for all the parties in the Middle East. And we in Qatar are working with Israel to attain peace. We don’t pay attention to the kind of government they have; rather, we consider whether this government is working for the peace of both Israeli and the Palestinian people. We are working with our friends in both Palestine and Israel.”
Qatar has equally flexible relations with Iran, which has the intentions to dominate in the region, its neighbors suspect. Recently the words of an Iranian official that Bahrain used to be a province of the Persian State enraged all the states of the Gulf, and its rulers immediately gathered for a summit. Instead, in December 2007 Qatar hosted the summit of the leaders of the Gulf States and invited President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
In contrast to its neighbors, official Doha is not so categorical in its assessment of the Iranian nuclear program. “We regard the Iranian nuclear program as peaceful by its nature. Every country has a right to peaceful programs. What regards our concerns, in a case of such a peaceful program we are concerned about the environment and the safety of waters in the Gulf, because we greatly depend on it,” the deputy minister of foreign affairs said. These responses alone confirm his explanation for success of Qatar’s mediation missions: “Our government has created a very flexible mechanism of diplomacy for initiatives and maneuvers in its foreign policy.”
