The glitzy face of Eurabia

Qatar’s love affair with all things French does not exactly include “liberty, equality, fraternity”. Everything in what is technically a constitutional monarchy is in the hands of the al-Thani clan. Socially, it’s a hardcore pyramid. What’s the place of “Western liberal democracy” in all this ocean/desert of cash? The emir and his ultra-pro team have been skillfully projecting Qatar’s global image as an extremely modern country. In Qatar everything seems to be diluted in the overwhelming liquid modernity flux of services, banking and smooth efficiency. As much as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates copied to the hilt the Singaporean model, Qatar is re-mixing the Dubai copy. A haven of social justice it ain’t.
France and the European U-nion for that matter – can live with it. Most of Qatar’s gas – the country is the number one exporter of LNG (liquefied natural gas) – goes to Asia. Last year, France bought only 85 million euros in oil and 20 million euros in gas from Qatar. The possibilities of expansion, not only for France but the EU as a whole, are limitless. Especially because Brussels’ dream is to escape from the Russian energy stranglehold. The holy grail is North Pars, the largest gas field in the world, which Qatar shares with Iran. Forget about villas in the Cote d’Azur; it’s big – energy – business in this node of Eurabia that will be booming for a long time to come.

Asia Times