How has a small Middle East country become one of the most influential on the world stage
By William Koenig
Qatar is a nation with fewer than 400,000 citizens, perched on a peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf. Yet this tiny emirate, backed by vast natural gas wealth, has become one of the most influential — and controversial — players on the global stage. Through its media empire, sovereign wealth fund, and high-level political connections, Qatar has bought extraordinary influence in the Middle East, Europe, and, increasingly, the United States.
The question is not whether Qatar is influential — it is. The real concern is what it does with that influence.
Al Jazeera: Doha’s Global Megaphone
Al Jazeera, launched in 1996, is often presented as a bold experiment in independent Arab journalism. But its editorial line consistently reflects Qatari state interests. While it has exposed corruption and abuses elsewhere, Al Jazeera has long offered favorable coverage of Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and given airtime to voices hostile to Israel and the West.
In Europe and the United States, the network operates as a powerful soft-power tool, shaping public perception while cultivating elite acceptance. In effect, Al Jazeera has allowed Qatar to punch far above its weight diplomatically, giving it a platform no other Gulf monarchy enjoys.
Buying Prestige in the West
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, manages over $500 billion. Its investments stretch from luxury real estate in London, New York, and Los Angeles, to high-profile brands, sports franchises, and major corporations.
These financial stakes are not simply commercial. They buy access, credibility, and protection. In London and Paris, Qatari investments have secured not only favorable press but also political allies reluctant to criticize Doha. In Washington, Qatar has poured money into universities, think tanks, and lobbying firms, effectively ensuring that its narrative has champions in elite institutions.
Qatar and Trump’s Washington
Qatar faced a crisis in 2017 when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt launched a blockade, accusing Doha of funding terrorism and embracing Iran. The Trump White House initially leaned toward the Saudis and Emiratis. But Qatar moved swiftly to recalibrate.
One avenue was through New York real estate — a world President Trump knew well. Doha cultivated relationships with figures in Trump’s circle, including developer Steve Witkoff, who emerged as a backchannel envoy. Qatar also invested heavily in projects tied to politically connected firms, ensuring that its footprint extended from Wall Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.
By 2018, Qatar had repositioned itself as an indispensable partner in Washington, leveraging both its wealth and its willingness to spend liberally on influence campaigns.
The Ideological Export
Behind the polished façade of luxury investments and elite networking lies a troubling reality: Qatar remains a chief patron of Islamist movements across the Middle East. Doha has hosted leaders of Hamas, funded Muslim Brotherhood affiliates, Taliban and provided support to groups that fuel radical ideologies.
This is not simply Middle Eastern geopolitics. The concern is that Qatar, while embedding itself into Western systems, is also exporting ideas hostile to the very societies where it invests. By funding mosques, Islamic centers, and institutions abroad, Qatar has facilitated the spread of radical interpretations of Islam that destabilize communities and, in some cases, feed extremism.
Europe as a Testing Ground
Nowhere is this more evident than in Europe. Qatar has poured billions into cities like London and Paris, while simultaneously channeling funds to Islamist-linked organizations. The result is a paradox: governments dependent on Qatari investment are reluctant to confront Doha’s ideological agenda, even as their societies wrestle with radicalization and terror threats.
The United States risks a similar trajectory. The same patterns of investment, soft power, and religious influence are now deeply rooted in American institutions.
A Sophisticated, Radical Player
Qatar is not merely buying protection against its larger Gulf neighbors; it is advancing a long-term strategy. By weaving itself into the fabric of Western economies, universities, and political systems, Qatar ensures that its critics face resistance from within. At the same time, by supporting Islamist causes abroad, it fuels instability that only enhances its diplomatic value as a 'necessary mediator.'
This dual track — cultivating Western elites while backing radical forces in the Middle East — makes Qatar one of the most sophisticated geopolitical actors of our time. But it also makes Qatar a dangerous one.
The Stakes for America
The central concern is that a radical Islamic state, flush with wealth, is embedding itself in the heart of America’s political and economic life. Its investments may look like simple business deals, but they come with strategic intent. Its media empire may look like journalism, but it shapes global narratives with a clear ideological tilt.
The United States must ask whether it can afford to allow Qatar to deepen this foothold unchecked — especially as Europe already bears the cost of such entanglements.
Qatar may be small, but its ambitions are vast. The question is whether America will wake up to the dangers before it is too late.
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How Qatar Bought America
By Frannie Block and Jay Solomon
May 8, 2025
Source: The Free Press
The tiny Gulf nation has spent almost $100 billion to establish its influence in Congress, universities, newsrooms, think tanks, and corporations. What does it want in return?
The question is: How did a refuge of Islamist radicalism, a country criticized for modern-day slave labor, become the center of global politics and commerce? How did this tiny peninsular country of 300,000 citizens and millions of noncitizen migrant workers manage to put itself smack-dab in the center of global diplomacy—and so successfully ingratiate itself within the Trump administration?
Over the past few months, The Free Press investigated these questions. What we found is that no obstacle, no history, no bad headline is too big for Qatar’s money.
Qatar has spent almost $100 billion to establish its legitimacy in Congress, American colleges and universities, U.S. newsrooms, think tanks, and corporations. Over the past two decades, it has poured those billions into purchases of American-made weapons and business investments ranging from U.S. real estate to energy plants. It built—and still pays for—the Al Udeid Air Base, even as the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended. Doha finances research and campuses at prestigious American universities. And its lobbyists have the connections needed to open all the right doors in Washington. Since 2017, it has spent $225 million on lobbying and public-relations efforts in the nation’s capital.The Free Press reviewed thousands of lobbying, real estate, and corporate filings. We interviewed dozens of American, European, and Middle Eastern diplomats and defense officials. We also analyzed secret intelligence briefings and previously undisclosed government documents. Together, they explain how Qatar has amassed so many loyal allies in America.
For the rest of the comprehensive 31-page article, click here: The Free Press
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Trump says he wants all Middle Eastern countries to have formal Israel ties
US president invokes attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites as he calls for countries in the region to join ‘Abraham Accords’.
Al Jazeera United States President Donald Trump has called on all countries in the Middle East to forge formal relations with Israel despite the ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza, citing the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
Trump’s call on Thursday comes amid a growing international push to recognise a Palestinian state.
“Now that the nuclear arsenal being ‘created’ by Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, it is very important to me that all Middle Eastern Countries join the Abraham Accords,” the US president wrote.
“This will insure [sic] PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
But US efforts to expand the agreements – with focus on Saudi Arabia – over the past years have failed.
The kingdom’s top officials have repeatedly stressed that Riyadh is committed to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which conditions recognising Israel on establishing a Palestinian state.
He said it is his “dream” for Saudi Arabia to establish official ties with Israel, but he wants the kingdom to do it on its “own time”.