A Visit to Friends

Courtesy Call

The German President's current visit to the Arabian Peninsula begins today, Tuesday, with stopovers in Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and terminates with a stopover in Kuwait. Christian Wulff had visited Qatar already at the beginning of the year. His plan, at the time, to continue on to Bahrain, was interrupted by Bahrain's bloody repression of the country's mass protests.[1] The president is shunning Bahrain also on this visit to the Gulf to avoid damage to his country's image. Just last week, the German Minister of the Economy, Philipp Roesler, paid a visit to Qatar. Since some time, this dictatorship at the Persian Gulf has been intensifying its cooperation with Germany at a rapid pace. From Germany's point of view, this involves more than just economic profit, but rather services - including military - of foreign policy loyalty in the Arab world.[2] Regular courtesy calls are necessary for the development of their cooperation, explain German media. "In the Arab culture Sheikhs react very sensitively when they feel they are not being treated appropriately."[3]

Only Men

Qatar is a suitable cooperation partner, not only because of its enormous riches but also because, through clever PR, it has an image in the West of being a relatively "liberal" country and therefore can promote itself as an acceptable ally. It is regularly being compared to Saudi Arabia, whose state religion - the Wahhabi Islam - forbids women not only from being politically active, but even from driving an automobile and is notorious for both its extreme rigidity and its excessive corporal punishment. Wahhabism is also the predominant form of Islam in Qatar. Currently, subsequent to the first overtures toward liberalization in the late 1990s, a more rigid control of compliance with Wahhabi regulations has begun to become noticeable, according to business circles. For example, couples from Egypt and Lebanon, who had been living together without being married, have been sentenced to long prison terms.[4] The country's strong Islamist character is veiled to the outside world through the fact that the wife of the ruling dictatorial emir, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned is politically active and very much in public view. Most recently, she was very prominent in the photographic reporting on Wulff's visit to the Gulf. That women in 1997 received active and passive electoral rights, was her initiative, a fact that German media like to stress to legitimize cooperation with Qatar. However, Qatar has no national parliament, only an advisory board appointed by the Emir, himself. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, this advisory board is comprised only of men.

In the Billions

The enormous yields that Qatar takes in from its natural gas exports - it has the third largest natural gas reserves in the world - ensure a perpetual economic boom. With its gas business, the country has achieved gigantic wealth, which, among other things, it is investing in its infrastructure projects. Over the next few years, US $190 billion are to be invested in educational institutions, within the framework of the "Qatar Vision 2030" project, to train the necessary specialized personnel for the development of hi-technology beyond the oil and gas industry, as well as for the transportation infrastructure. The Deutsche Bahn Corp. has already landed a contract for a 17 billion Euro project.[5] On the other hand, through its Sovereign Wealth Funds, Qatar is investing billions in German companies, since the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) bought 5 billion Euros in Volkswagen shares in 2009. Over the next few years, according to recent reports, the QIA, which has also bought shares in the German Hochtief construction company, intends to invest 25 billion Euros in Germany. In Doha, last week, the German Minister of the Economy initiated a "business partnership" - the "Qatar-Germany-Partnership" - to enhance conditions for the booming business relations. This is also advantageous for the voluminous construction contracts in the framework of the preparations for the 2022 Soccer World Cup to be held in Qatar. German companies seek to profit from this opportunity.

Modern Slaves

The awarding of the hosting of the 2022 Soccer World Cup to Qatar - from which German companies seek to benefit - recently provoked strong protests, because of the way immigrant workers are treated in that country. They comprise up to 87 percent of the total population and nearly the total work force. They do not enjoy appropriate legal protection, which regularly provokes protests by international trade union associations over Qatar's working conditions. The International Trade Union Confederation criticizes the fact that foreign workers are not even allowed to organize within the country's only authorized consolidated trade union. They are "often exploited, because the work contracts give their employers" - including the German employers - "comprehensive authority."[6] Just recently, 90 Nepalese were expelled from the country, because they went on strike against their employer, who had reneged on paying the previously agreed wage increase. "Foreign immigrant workers are exploited and mishandled," summarizes Amnesty International in its annual report.[7] One international trade union alliance even demands that Qatar not be allowed to host the 2022 Soccer World Cup, if the country does not immediately treat its foreign workers appropriately, who will also build the soccer stadium. The trade union alliance is quoted saying that the situation of the workers is literally "modern slavery."[8]

Foreign Policy Deputy

Serious western criticism is improbable, not only because of the billions in business yields that are beckoning from Qatar, but also because of the country's rapidly growing foreign policy significance for western interventions in other Arab countries. Qatar has particularly become known for its participation in NATO's operations in Libya, where it not only provided combat planes but even ground troops. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[9])The Doha government is also taking the lead among the Arab League forces, in calling for the overthrow of the Syrian government in the name of "democratization," to which, in light of the situation in Qatar, observers are reacting - off the record - with ridicule and mockery. The Qatar-based Al Jazeera television station played an important role both in overthrowing Moammar Gadhafi and in the current agitation against Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Expert observers of the Arabian Peninsula have noted that "the closer the country [with mass protests] was to the borders of Qatar," during the "Arab Spring" "the less" Al Jazeera had reported on the uprisings. In the case of the major rebellions in Bahrain, Al Jazeera's coverage had been reduced "to a minimum."[10]

Allies

In the wake of its legwork for the West, Qatar is also pushing ahead with the export of its Wahhabi state religion to the Arab world. Critics are convinced that both, the Tunisian Ennahada Party and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, could not have become so influential without external financial help. Qatar's massive support was particularly conspicuous. The country is hosting Yusuf al Qaradawi, a Muslim Brother and one of the most prominent Islamist preachers, who, thanks to Al Jazeera, has also gained great influence in the Arab world. It is evident that Doha has also systematically set up Islamist militia in Libya. It is not yet clear, if the same will be repeated in Syria. In any case, the approach reminds of the cooperation between the West and Saudi Arabia in Afghanistan in the 1980s. At that time, Riad had played a significant role in supporting the Afghan Mujahidin, who, in alliance with the West, fought the Soviet troops at the Hindu Kush and the socialist forces in Kabul. Saudi activists, such as Osama bin Laden, were using this common struggle to strengthen their Islamist networks with the friendly help of Western Europe and the USA. The outcome is known.

[1] see also Kampf der Titanen
[2] see also War Threats against Iran (II)
[3] Rösler im Wundevrland; www.spiegel.de 08.12.2011
[4] Michael Backfisch: Die Scheich-AG. Wie unsere Unternehmen vom Wirtschaftswunder am Golf profitieren, Frankfurt/New York 2011. See also our review
[5] see also Die Qatar-Bahn
[6] Katar 2011; www.survey.ituc-csi.org
[7] Katar; www.amnesty.de
[8] WM 2022: Gewerkschaften befürchten "Sklaverei"; www.zeit.de 17.11.2011
[9] see also War Threats Against Iran (II)
[10] Rainer Hermann: Die Golfstaaten. Wohin geht das neue Arabien? München 2011