For Qatar, relations with West are a balancing act

DOHA, Qatar: For Sheik Hamad bin Jasim bin Jaber al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and chief diplomat, it’s natural to play host to the U.S. military while sharing one of the world’s largest natural-gas fields with Iran.

Qatar’s royal leadership has learned to balance contradictory political interests as a means of national preservation for the tiny country. Saudi Arabia, a kingdom friendly to the United States, looms on Qatar’s western border, and Muslim clerics rule Iran just across the Gulf.


The Qatari strategy may be a peek into the future of international politics. As the U.S. and Europe increasingly rely on new sources of energy and capital, they may be dealing with more independent-minded countries like Qatar that play all sides to their advantage and favor no major power exclusively.

“Our ambition is to have prosperity for our people,” Hamad, who also oversees Qatar’s $60 billion investment fund, said in an interview in the booming seaside capital, Doha. “We would like to be friendly with everyone.”

Qatar is asserting itself economically. Tankers filled with Qatari natural gas will arrive routinely at a Texas terminal by 2009. Enriched by the third-largest gas reserves in the world, Qatar plans to invest as much as $15 billion this year shoring up U.S. and European banks struggling with mortgage losses.

IHT