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A summit of Arab countries will be held in Doha on Sunday to discuss the consequences of Tuesday’s Israeli raid on Hamas in Qatar. The Gulf states have reacted very negatively to this Israeli incursion, which appears as an act of pure hubris by Benjamin Netanyahu.
Once a fortress of neutrality and wealth, Qatar now finds itself on the front lines of an escalating regional conflict, as Israel, Iran, and Gulf powers maneuver for strategic advantage.
By giving the Americans advance warning, the Iranians ensured that their response to the US bombing yesterday would not cause any casualties. Donald Trump seized the opportunity to stop the war, despite Israel’s continued pursuit of a hardline approach.
Architecture is a form of soft power, a symbolic language through which Gulf states tell stories about themselves to the world and to their own citizens — and ultimately, to exercise control.
While the Qatari-owned media has pushed Arabs in the U.S. to protest against Israel and American bias toward it, Doha has warned its citizens against doing the same — and prohibits them from interacting on social media.
U.S. President Donald Trump is on a Gulf tour that is adding to Israel’s worries about its strongest ally: the U.S. has negotiated the release of an American hostage with Hamas, and a ceasefire with the Houthis, without involving Israel.
Qatar was crucial to the ceasefire negotiations in the Middle East. It proves that you don’t need a large army or nuclear weapons to play an important role in the world.
Amman and its allies, much like the skeptical secular Syrian opposition, await tangible actions on the ground to match the promises of pragmatist rhetoric from Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who is marketing himself as a statesman committed to building an inclusive new Syria that’s a good neighbor after abandoning extremist ideologies.
Having played a precious though ultimately futile role as mediator, Qatar announced it will step back from Gaza talks as both sides remain uninterested in a ceasefire. And following Trump’s election victory, there’s a notable new appointment to represent Israel in Washington.
In the Middle East and North Africa, divisions are as stark as they can be. War-torn nations stand side-by-side with wealthy oil-rich countries where the elites feel disconnected from the rest of the region. But, as Yemeni freelance journalist and a human rights defender Afrah Nasser, warns, these inequalities breed monsters, and wealth will not prevent oil-rich countries from experiencing chaos and destruction.
The war in Sudan has displaced some 10 million people, and 2 million have moved to the already fragile neighboring countries. Yet, as the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East dominate global politics, there are huge gaps in the provision of international aid to these refugees. Rarely has a disaster of this magnitude received so little attention from the international community.
Wounded by the bombs, some had to face surgeries on kitchen tables. La Stampa reporter Francesca Mannocchi met them and their parents in Doha, Qatar, where they seek refuge.
In Qatar, Egypt, Paris or on the phone, negotiators are busy trying to secure the release of hostages, push for “humanitarian pauses”, and prepare for the political aftermath of the war. Meanwhile, the war rages on in Gaza.
With $6 billion freed up to go in the coffers of the corrupt and repressive regime in Tehran, nobody is happy. But sometimes there is no alternative to the imperfect nature of international diplomacy.
Soccer is a useful political tool for dictatorships. But Qatar is able to milk the World Cup as much as possible because the sport is infected by unbridled capitalistic greed.
The Qatar World Cup has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. However, the newly constructed city of Lusail in the country makes one thing clear: the West is not the target audience for this World Cup. Qatar has different, even bigger ambitions.
Labor strikes are forbidden in the Emirates, but two consecutive work stoppages by food delivery drivers have made news lately. Could it be a sign of challenges to the UAE’s unequal and authoritarian economic model?
The emirate of Qatar is tiny, but it wields disproportionate power in the world, where it maintains complicated and often troubling relationships. Just ask Israel.
PARIS — There is no doubt among the people at the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Europe’s soccer governing body, that allegations of corruption against UEFA President Michel Platini is a case of paranoia gone wrong. Some there believe that the controversy suggesting Platini was bribed to support Qatar’s 2022 bid may be the […]
DOHA – Jean-Pierre Moreau is growing flowers in the desert. Just 30 kilometers west of the Qatari capital of Doha, roses, gladiolus, chrysanthemum are blooming. At the request of Hamid Khalifa al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, the Frenchman produces four million flowers a year, with the help of 60 employees mostly from Nepal and India. […]