Qatar The Ambitions of a Rich Small Nation Micol Briziobello - Misna

More documents

Recommendations

Info

production for Qatar’s domestic use will easily meet 60% of its domestic needs, according to Fuhad Bin Mohammad al Attiya, the President of QNFSP. Al Jazeera: Qatar’s own Television Channel Qatari television channel Al Jazeera is lending its support daily to the vanishing “organisations” of the Syrian “opposition” that talk of “democracy” and “human rights”. In the meantime, it’s noteworthy to add that Al-Jazeera has become more of a pan-Islamic network rather than a pan- Arab one, and many journalists have resigned in protest of a channel that has turned itself into a weapon against the Syrian regime. Since the 17 th of March, it has been revealed how the mythicised television channel Al-Jazeera has been losing support, especially due to its one-sided coverage of the crisis in both Syria and Bahrain. As far as Bahrain was concerned, everyone had thought that the revolution was only going to affect North Africa and that Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were going to be spared. Qatar had considered Bahrain a peaceful and secure nation, and had even thought about joining the two countries by building a 43 km bridge, costing 3 billion dollars that will have be completed by 2013. This is the reason Qatar conveniently chose to hide the actual truth of what was happening in Bahrain. According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, many journalists have not accepted this type of political partisanship, and some senior members of the Qatari
oadcaster in Beirut have even announced their imminent resignation or have already resigned. The managing director of the Office in Beirut, Hassan Shaaban, has spoken of his imminent departure, which follows the departure of Al-Jazeera correspondent Ali Hashem and producer Mousa Ahmad. This has served as a protest against the reports and censorship regarding the events taking place in the Arab world, and in particular, in Syria and Bahrain. According to the newspaper, Ali Hashem made the decision after Al-Jazeera had refused to show a photo that he had taken in Syria of armed fighters in clashes against the Syrian army in Wadi Khaled. He was also furious about Al-Jazeera’s opposition against covering the King of Bahrain’s repression of protesters who had been peacefully asking for the same democratic reforms that the Syrian opposition had been demanding. The producer of the Beirut Office, Mousa Ahmad, had also protested as to why Al Jazeera had totally ignored a recently passed referendum by Syrian President al- Assad on constitutional reforms of the regime (the end of the Baath one party regime and limits on the time allowed for presidential mandates) that saw the participation of 57% of the electorate. The satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera (still financed in part by the Emir) has been influential in the protests in Tunisia and Egypt and at the start of April, last year, Qatar had asked openly for the resignation of Yemen’s President, Ali Abdullah Saleh. In July 2011, despite the excellent relations
Page 1 and 2: Qatar The Ambitions of a Rich Small
Page 3 and 4: In fact, it will host the Football
Page 5: illion, which is currently controll
Page 9 and 10: As has been seen, Qatar was integra
Page 11 and 12: opposition members in exile, in par
Page 13 and 14: However, what has brought them to t
Page 15 and 16: Qatari citizens do not pay tax and

Qatar The Ambitions of a Rich Small Nation Micol Briziobello - Misna

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?