Qatar: a frog who wants to be an ox

Qatar, a tiny country in the Persian Gulf, has been resolved to play a role in international equations, a thing that has created much trouble for it.
Belgian daily La Libre wrote in its report on Qatar’s attempt to widen its influence in the region and the world. “Christian Chesnot, journalist, researcher and co-author of a book entitled Qatar, the Secrets of its Power, says Qatar is like a frog, who wants to become an ox.”

In Aesop’s fables, a conceited frog who thinks he is very great, upon hearing the description of an ox from his grandson, decides to emulate the greatness of the ox, but finally he bursts.

“Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, the Qatari Emir, wants to play the game even with who is the enemy, and we see that it supports Islamists in Mali, but also it announces its support to French operation there, and on the other hand, it is an important ally for the US and has relations with Taliban,” adds Chesnot.

“In order to show himself great, Hamad relates himself to all sides, as he supports Ikhwan in Egypt and Tunisia, and his capital city Doha has become the capital of Syrian opposition groups,” he adds.

Nabeel Nasri, French political analyst and the writer of The Enigma of Qatar says that “Qatar has adopted a policy of extending unrest and domination,” and adds that “Qatar helps confound the chaos in countries-as is the case in Libya and Egypt-, and then it works to control the political scene, and interferes in internal affairs of other countries through providing financial resources and money.”

Nasri believes that Qatar supports Syrian rebel groups to implement its plans to export gas to Europe through a pipeline crossing Syrian soil and reaching Mediterranean Sea. “Natural gas reserves newly discovered in Syria and Lebanon has enticed Qatari Emir,” he adds.