Post Tagged with: "Qatar"

Qatar World Cup: A global binder

Qatar World Cup: A global binder

Every four years, the football world cup brings the world together. The euphoric bond transcends religious, ideological, political and time barriers. Messi, Mbappe, Neymar and Benzema, artists in motion, mesmerize and enthrall fans as did football greats like Pele and Maradona. At a mind-boggling 227.27 million viewers per day an estimated 5 billion people, nearly three fourth of humanity, viewed[Read More…]

by 19/12/2022 Comments are Disabled World
And the winner of the World Cup is…… Qatar!

And the winner of the World Cup is…… Qatar!

Palestine won too without even playing! Since the historical decision when Qatar was awarded the FIFA hosting rights in 2010, it has constructed seven gigantic stadiums and refurbished Stadium 974, named after the country’s international dialing code. This stadium has more than normal stadium value. It is a port-side structure with more than 40,000 seats built also from recycled shipping[Read More…]

by 14/12/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Latha Bollapally, with her son Rajesh Goud, holds a picture of her husband, Madhu Bollapally, 43, a migrant worker who died in Qatar. Photograph: Kailash Nirmal

A Gentle Reminder

Cruelty has its own beauty, and over the course of the last one month that sublime monster has danced on the deserts of Qatar like there is no tomorrow. Oh, what a dance it has been! No matter what monolithic wall of insulation you erect, no matter what estranged island of solitary confinement you choose, no matter what saintly, supercilious[Read More…]

by 13/12/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Concerns about the welfare of Indian migrant workers in Qatar

Concerns about the welfare of Indian migrant workers in Qatar

To Shri Bhupender Yadav Union Labour Minister Dear Shri Yadav, Following several news reports on the problems faced by Indian migrant workers in Qatar, I addressed the External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar on 29-3-2021 for taking up the matter with the concerned authorities in Qatar.  A copy of my letter is available in your Ministry. I extract below a relevant portion of[Read More…]

by 04/11/2022 Comments are Disabled India
Latha Bollapally, with her son Rajesh Goud, holds a picture of her husband, Madhu Bollapally, 43, a migrant worker who died in Qatar. Photograph: Kailash Nirmal

Virtuous Hypocrisy: The Socceroos and the Qatar World Cup

For a time, the confused and muddled approach from Australian football (soccer to some) did much of a side-step regarding the human rights imbroglio and Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup.  There was ample cash and participation in one of the world’s biggest tournaments on the line.  There was FIFA’s reluctance that footballing sides show any political streak; such[Read More…]

by 31/10/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (R) receiving Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar (2nd-R), Doha, Sept. 2020

Rise and rise of Qatar in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan

When the US State Department announced that it would host a virtual ministerial meeting on August  30 with “key partners on Afghanistan,” there was an element of surprise in the list of participants. Apart from the US’ NATO and EU allies, there was a solitary non-western partner country — Qatar.  What qualified this peninsular Arab country to be invited to join such a privileged circle of America’s[Read More…]

by 02/09/2021 Comments are Disabled World
The Qatar World Cup: Dreaming of Bridging the Gulf Rift

The Qatar World Cup: Dreaming of Bridging the Gulf Rift

  With the 2022 World Cup in Qatar only two years away, and a resolution of the three-year-old Gulf rift nowhere in sight, government officials, soccer governance executives, and pundits are playing with the notion that the tournament could serve as an icebreaker in the dispute between Qatar and its detractors, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain. It is[Read More…]

by 31/10/2020 Comments are Disabled World
Is It The Beginning Of The End For The GCC?

Is It The Beginning Of The End For The GCC?

                The Gulf Cooperation Council consisting  of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain was  formally established in May 1981.The Charter stipulates  that the purpose is “to effect coordination, integration and inter-connection between Member States in all fields in order to achieve unity between them.” The 1979 Iranian Revolution led[Read More…]

by 10/11/2017 1 comment World
Turkey And Qatar Stage Joint Military Exercises Amid Doha Blockade

Turkey And Qatar Stage Joint Military Exercises Amid Doha Blockade

  Turkish and Qatari navies have carried out a joint exercise as Qatar’s economic blockade by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries entered into third month. The Qatari military said the exercise was aimed at exchanging information, training senior military officials, and improving coordination between the two forces to boost security. Brigadier Hadi Rashid Al Shahwani, commander of the exercise,[Read More…]

by 09/08/2017 1 comment World
The Saudi-American-Iranian-Russian-Qatari-Syrian Conundrum 

The Saudi-American-Iranian-Russian-Qatari-Syrian Conundrum 

The Middle East.  Could there be a more perilous place on Earth, including North Korea?  Not likely.  The planet’s two leading nuclear armed powers backing battling proxies amply supplied with conventional weapons; terror groups splitting and spreading; religious-sectarian wars threatening amid a plethora of ongoing armed hostilities stretching from Syria to Iraq to Yemen. And that was before Donald Trump[Read More…]

by 06/07/2017 2 comments World
Behind The Scenes At The Saudi-Qatari Pissing Contest

Behind The Scenes At The Saudi-Qatari Pissing Contest

Saudi Arabia, with the bellicose support of President Trump, has launched a diplomatic and partial economic offensive against the ridiculously small state of Qatar and is dragging its allies, the United Arab Emirates in particular, into a potential major headache. You see the de facto capital of the Emirates is Abu Dhabi which uses Qatari natural gas to generate half[Read More…]

by 28/06/2017 1 comment World
Saudi-Qatari Diplomatic Crisis Deepens: Qatar Rejects Any Talks Until Blockade Is Lifted

Saudi-Qatari Diplomatic Crisis Deepens: Qatar Rejects Any Talks Until Blockade Is Lifted

Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Monday (June 19) ruled out any talks to resolve the current Saudi-Qatari diplomatic crisis unless blockade is lifted. “Qatar is under blockade, there is no negotiation. They have to lift the blockade to start negotiations,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying. “Until now we[Read More…]

by 20/06/2017 1 comment World
Qatar Signs $12 Billion Deal To Buy 36 F-15 Jets As US Warships Arrive In Qatar For Military Exercise

Qatar Signs $12 Billion Deal To Buy 36 F-15 Jets As US Warships Arrive In Qatar For Military Exercise

  In a paradoxical development in the current Saudi-Qatari dispute, Qatar and the United States Wednesday signed a deal to buy F-15 fighter jets for $12 billion while two US warships arrived in Qatar for joint exercise. Tellingly, the $12 billion deal was signed despite Qatar being criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump for supporting “terrorism.” The Bloomberg News quoted[Read More…]

by 16/06/2017 1 comment World
Saudi Arabia Teams Up With Israel In Anti-Qatar Lobbying In The US Congress

Saudi Arabia Teams Up With Israel In Anti-Qatar Lobbying In The US Congress

  US proposed  legislation – Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act of 2017 – threatening to sanction Qatar for its support of the so-called “Palestinian terror” was sponsored by 10 lawmakers who received more than $1m over the last 18 months from lobbyists and groups linked to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Al Jazeera reported Friday. The[Read More…]

by 11/06/2017 1 comment World
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan Backs Qatar In Dispute With Saudi Arabia

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan Backs Qatar In Dispute With Saudi Arabia

  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended Qatar after Saudi Arabia and several other countries severed diplomatic ties with it for supporting Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. President Erdogan is the Chairman of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Ironically, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Maldives are members of the OIC. “Let me say[Read More…]

by 08/06/2017 3 comments World
Punishing Qatar

Punishing Qatar

Are we in need of distractions?  The political masters obviously think so.  There have been hackings, cuttings, slayings and crushing events.  As battles continue raging in Syria and northern Iraq, European cities face the next round of urban slayings. As that was taking place, eyes in the western media were taken off brewing troubles among the Gulf States.  Eager pots[Read More…]

by 08/06/2017 1 comment World