Nice analysis. My favorite part:

The Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti, who watches Qatar from afar, told me Doha used to look very different.

“I remember a time,” he explained, “when there were only two high-rise buildings in Qatar.

geopolicraticus:

This excellent BBC piece by Kevin Connolly of BBC News, Qatar, chronicles the ambitions (so far, largely successful) of Qatar to raise its diplomatic status to a role commensurate with its status of possessing the highest per capita GDP in the world.

The article includes this fascinating quote from Mostefa Souag, managing director of al-Jazeera’s Arabic news service:

“The media is all about soft power… If you are a small country and you want to be successful, you don’t need warships or airplanes; you need soft power.”

“Soft power is media, science and culture… I believe that the Emir was aware of this and I believe that’s a great vision.”

Well, I am entirely in agreement with this analysis, and I suspect that Joseph Nye, who I believe coined the term “soft power,” would probably be nodding his head.

If Qatar continues to develop along this model, investing its considerable wealth in developing its soft power, the Qatari people will have a very bright future. While others in the region are stagnating, Qatar will pull ahead and be not merely a regional leader, but also a global leader.

This is an encouraging sign, and testament to the truth of the Proverb that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The Qataris are demonstrating their vision in concrete and accessible forms, and as a result the people of Qatar will not perish. Good for them.