From The Guardian
''On Thursday evening Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who combines the roles of Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, stood with the Duke of York and mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to watch the inauguration of the Shard. As blue and green lasers, accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, lit up a London skyline now dominated by the 310m skyscraper, the performance was streamed live around the world.
If the opening of western Europe's tallest building – presided over by Hamad, whose country's sovereign wealth fund owns 95% of the development – was a demonstration of Qatar's rapidly growing global visibility and influence, a few days before, in an equally vast but older building, that influence was being exercised far more discreetly. The building was the UN's Palais des Nations in Geneva, where last Saturday Hamad met the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and other foreign ministers to press his country's case for firmer international action over Syria.''
read more
Showing posts with label Qatar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Qatar. Show all posts
Monday, July 9, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
''Qatar Rises to Become a New Center of Power in the Middle East''
From Strategic Culture
"Along with natural gas holdings, mass media are a pillar of Qatar's emerging regional leadership. The emirate is home to Al Jazeera, an information heavyweight with the audience estimated at 50 million as of 2011. Established by David and Jean Friedman in 1995, it was at the early phase patronized by Sheikh Hamad bin Thamir Al Thani who had recently seized power in Qatar. Al Thani poured a handsome $150m into the media outlet, plus, in a lucky coincidence, Al Jazeera was able to absorb nearly the whole former BBC Arabic language TV station which used to exist in the form of a joint venture with Saudi Arabia's Orbit Communications Company and fell apart due to disagreements with the Saudi authorities. Al Jazeera owes much of its acclaim to the focus on Arab affairs and to risky live reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan."
read more
"Along with natural gas holdings, mass media are a pillar of Qatar's emerging regional leadership. The emirate is home to Al Jazeera, an information heavyweight with the audience estimated at 50 million as of 2011. Established by David and Jean Friedman in 1995, it was at the early phase patronized by Sheikh Hamad bin Thamir Al Thani who had recently seized power in Qatar. Al Thani poured a handsome $150m into the media outlet, plus, in a lucky coincidence, Al Jazeera was able to absorb nearly the whole former BBC Arabic language TV station which used to exist in the form of a joint venture with Saudi Arabia's Orbit Communications Company and fell apart due to disagreements with the Saudi authorities. Al Jazeera owes much of its acclaim to the focus on Arab affairs and to risky live reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan."
read more
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)