Shallow Waters
The rise and fall of Qatar in Economist headlines
The recent crisis in relations between Qatar on the one hand and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain on the other has sparked much political analysis — some of it good, but most of it slapdash and not so good.
Among the worst of the worst:
- One ripped from the headlines of Muftah, describing “panic in the streets” in Doha (despite relative calm)
- Simon Henderson’s hyperbolic claims for Foreign Policy that this could kick off the next World War (hold your horses)
- Robert Fisk’s usual speculative garbage, this time suggesting that Qatar’s regional plans included financing the reconstruction of and thereby taking over Syria
To jump to the head of the queue on superficiality, I’ve decided to go one farther — an article that literally just gives you the headlines on Qatar from the Economist, stretching back a bit over a decade. See if you can spot when Qatar went from World Cup-hosting, free-media-supporting, independent diplomacy maverick to the centerpoint of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s internal disputes.
September 2006: Qatar: A bouncy bantam
June 2008: Qatar: Small country, big ideas
May 2010: Qatar and its emir: He’ll do it his way
December 2010: Art in Qatar: A Smithsonian in the sand
— Qatar’s World Cup win: What cash can do
November 2011: The rise of Qatar: Pygmy with the punch of a giant
February 2012: Qatar’s ruler: Flying-carpet diplomacy
March 2012: Art and the Middle East: Qatar’s culture queen
October 2012: Gaza and Qatar: Bringing gifts to the Holy Land
January 2013: Al Jazeera: Must do better
June 2013: Qatar: Democracy? That’s for other Arabs
June 2013: Qatar’s new emir: A hard act to follow
July 2013: Qatar’s foreign policy: Change of tack
September 2013: Qatar: No more own goals
December 2013: Football and labour rights in Qatar: A Cup of leverage
March 2014: Diplomacy in the Gulf: No one is happy
March 2014: The Arab League: An unfraternal lot
June 2014: Qatar: Too rich for its own good
February 2015: Sports extravaganzas: Games that must stop
June 2016: Qatar: The other Wahhabi state
June 2017: A family feud: Saudi Arabia cuts off Qatar
— Donald does Doha: America is no longer a force for stability in the Gulf
Andrew Leber is based in Boston.
