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They are full of glitz, and they expect to remain in charge for a long, long time.
The monarchs who lead Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia may from the outside look like a trio of like-minded Persian Gulf autocrats. Yet their territorial rivalry is intense, and the Western Capitals have become a prime location in an iconic battle royale.
Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, John B. Alterman said, “All these governments … really want the greatest mindspace among Western governments.”
As the Gulf states seek to wean themselves off the oil that has made them rich, they know they will need friends to help them transform their economies (and modernize their societies).
“They think it’s important not to be stigmatized as just hydrocarbon producers who are ruining the planet,” Alterman said.
with an ex Vice President of the European Parliament in prison and Belgian prosecutors are asking Revoke immunity from more MEPsAllegations of cash bribes and undue influence by Qatari interests are likely to implicate Brussels’ more powerful players.
The Qatari government categorically denies any illegal dealings, saying that it “operates through institution-to-institution engagement and in full compliance with international laws and regulations.”
Against the backdrop of regional rivalry, this engagement has grown increasingly stronger. While tensions with Riyadh have eased over the years, Qatar’s animosity with the United Arab Emirates has been particularly severe.
Qatar’s survival strategy
Regional rivalries erupted beyond the Middle East in 2017 into a standoff that will reshape regional dynamics.
Until then, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were essentially enemies. As members of the Gulf Coordination Council, they were working toward creating a common market and currency in the region—not too different from the European Union.
But differing responses to the Arab Spring led to a breakdown in relations.
The Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network gave a platform to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist party that swept power in Egypt and challenged governments across the Arab world. And Doha didn’t just offer a bullhorn—it offered direct financial support to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, consider the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.
Along with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic ties with Doha in June 2017, blocking access to Qatar’s airspace and sea routes; Saudi Arabia closed its border, blocking Qatar’s only land crossing.
Among the demands: Shutting down Al Jazeera, ending military coordination with Turkey and distancing itself from Iran. Qatar declined – even though it was a time of crisis building infrastructure ahead of the 2022 World Cup and 40 percent of Qatar’s food supply came through Saudi Arabia.
Fighting what it called an illegal “blockade” became an existential mission for Doha.
MEP Hannah Newman, Chair of Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the Arabian Peninsula (DARP), said: “The only thing Qatar can do is make sure that everyone knows that Qatar exists and that it is a good place.”
“He also really stepped up diplomatic efforts around the world saying, ‘We are good’,” said Neumann of the German Greens.
Qatar needed Brussels because it had already lost another major ally: Washington. Not only this, then President Donald Trump took the side of Qatar’s rivals in the fight; She also appeared to take credit for the idea of isolating Qatar Even though the largest US military base in the region is southwest of Doha.
Elsewhere, Qatar had already been working with London-headquartered consultancy Portland Communications since at least 2014 – as the World Cup hosting coup was becoming a PR nightmare, involving allegations of bribing FIFA officials and extorting migrant workers. Stories of exploitation were coming to the fore.
EU explodes on the scene
In Brussels, Doha has tapped Abdulrahman Mohammed al-Khelafi, the head of its EU mission, who moved from Germany to Belgium in 2017 to pursue European ties.
Within days of the crackdown, al-Khulafi appeared at NATO meetings, and within months opened a think tank known as middle east dialogue center to improve Doha’s image as an open promoter of debate (on the contrary, it conflicted with its neighbors) and pressure on the EU to intervene in the Middle East.
by the next year, he was speaking panels About countering violent extremism – with the Dutch and Belgian Federal Police. By the end of 2019, Al-Khulafi hosted the first meeting of the Qatar-European Union Friendship Group of the Embassy.working dinner,
“The post-blockade situation has prompted Qatar to establish closer ties outside the context of the regional crisis, for example, with the European Union,” said Pier Antonio Panzeri, the then chairman of the parliament’s human rights subcommittee. told uractive In 2018.
The following year, Panjeri will attend the “International Conference on National, Regional and International Mechanisms to Combat Impunity and Ensure Accountability under International Law” hosted by Qatar, and heaps of praise on the country’s human rights record.
Panzeri is now in prison in Belgium, facing corruption charges; His NGO fight impotenceIt is being intensively investigated to be a possible front.
Newman said Qatar’s survival strategy has paid off. “Of course, it worked,” she said. “I think it’s fair enough, if they don’t do it through illegal means.”
Directly or indirectly, Qatar scored several major victories during this period, including several resolutions in parliament on human rights in Saudi Arabia and a Call to stop arms export Went to Riyadh after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Doha also inked collaboration arrangement Setting the stage for closer ties with the EU in March 2018.
enemy once again
Since Saudi Arabia and Qatar signed a deal two years ago to end the crisis, Riyadh-Doha relations have generally cooled. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 37, traveled to Qatar in November for the World Cup and embraced Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, 42, while wearing a headscarf in the host’s colours.
However, relations between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – led by 61-year-old Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – have remained cold.
As the Gulf changed, said Alterman, the UAE “saw that role as a status quo power”. On its neighbor’s side, “Qatar has seen that role as aligning itself with the forces of change in the region, and this has created a certain amount of mutual discontent.”
Qatar’s small scale has contributed to Doha’s sense of internal security, which fosters an openness to engage with groups that others view as an existential threat.
The Qataris see themselves as “champions of David against Goliath,” said Andreas Craig, an assistant professor at King’s College London who has in the past served as an adviser to the Qatari armed forces. “A range of different opposition figures, established Saudi opposition figures in the West, civil society organizations have also been financially supported by Qatar,” Krieg said. (Khashogi, one of the most prominent Saudi opposition figures of the era, belonged to the state-backed Qatar Foundation.) “Hence why Qatar has always been seen as a thorn in the side of its neighbors.”
and while €1.5 million cash haul While the amount seized by the Belgian Federal Police looks like an eye-popping amount, it certainly pales in comparison to the amount spent by the Gulf states on legal lobbying in Brussels. And that amount, in turn, pales in comparison to the amount those countries spend in Washington.
“Brussels is not that important,” said Craig. “If you look at the money that these Gulf countries spend in Washington, these think tanks, hundreds of millions of dollars every year on academia… creating their own media outlets, investing strategically in Fox News, big Investing in PR operations at scale.”
Nonetheless, the European Union remains a major target. Abu Dhabi is consolidating its “long-standing partnership” with Brussels on economic and regional security matters through deeper, strategic cooperation with EU institutions and member states, a UAE official said in a statement.
“Brussels was always a center for creating a narrative,” said Craig.
And right now, every power player in the region is deeply motivated to change that narrative.
Alterman invoked a widespread perception of Gulf states as “people who have more money than God who want to take the world back to the 7th century.”
But this is wrong, he said. “It’s about shaping a future with remarkably high stakes, a profound unease about how the world will relate to them over the next 30 to 50 years – and frankly, a series of rulers who will rule over the next 30 to 50 years.” See yourself in power till years.”