Tricky guest: The Emir of Qatar visits Berlin

As soon as you hear “Emir”, you think of Christian Wulff in this country. And of the unfortunate call from the then Federal President to the mailbox of the then editor-in-chief of the “Bild” newspaper (“I’m currently on the way to the Emir and therefore very busy here”). But firstly, Wulff was on the way to the Emir of Kuwait and from Qatar. And secondly, the Emir of Qatar is now on his way to becoming Chancellor of Germany.

On Thursday, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani will meet Olaf Scholz in Berlin. Of all things. The trip has been prepared for months, but since terrorists from the Palestinian Hamas murdered hundreds of Israelis and kidnapped over 100, this visit is particularly explosive. The Chancellor could use this as an opportunity to answer the question of what he actually means when he says: Unfortunately, this also has to do with the Emir of Qatar. The three largest supporters that the Palestinian terrorist group can rely on include Iran and Turkey – the Gulf Emirate of Qatar.

Ideologically expresses flexible

Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani has ruled here for ten years. He was just 33 years old when he took over from his father, the youngest head of state in the world at the time. Boarding school in England, graduated from the Sandhurst Military Academy, two wives, 13 children, estimated private wealth of 1.7 billion – and extremely flexible ideologically.

Very close

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On the one hand, Qatar, like its neighboring Saudis, is committed to strict Wahhabism, but on the other hand, it is not hostile to the West. It is a strategic duality that is exemplified by the news channel Al Jazeera, which has its headquarters in Qatar: While its rather liberal English-language program is largely dominated by BBC-trained journalists, the Arabic program, which is popular throughout the Middle East, sees itself as a mouthpiece the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Under the eyes of the Emir

The largest US military base in the Middle East is located just a few kilometers outside the capital Doha, where the Taliban government in exile resided until recently. And this is where Hamas’s foreign leadership still has its headquarters. Ismael Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas politburo, spends most of his time in the Gulf. Under the eyes of the emir, the terrorist group receives its guests here, holds meetings and processes financial transfers. She may soon be negotiating with Israel’s negotiators here about how many thousands of her “fighters” she can free from Israeli prisons in return for the kidnapped civilians.

As the smallest country in the region, Qatar also tries to secure its independence by maintaining as much influence as possible in as many places as possible – and ideally making itself indispensable as a mediator. This was the case with the talks on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan that took place in Doha. Now we could be helpful again when it comes to preventing an impending wildfire in the entire region. People were ready to help, it was said at the beginning of the week, of course not without pointing out who was really to blame for the attacks: .

So it’s a delicate meeting that awaits the Chancellor. That’s probably why he skipped the usual press meeting afterwards so as not to provoke any new upheavals. In the recent history of the there have been a few, in short form and from the Emir’s perspective: How the Germans sent their fuzzy economics minister to bend over backwards and ask for gas. How her interior minister proudly wore her colorful armband at the World Cup in Qatar, her footballers covered their mouths and spontaneously flew home. And how their foreign minister had to fly to Doha in the spring to make the weather nice again.

The Emir’s Prime Minister and at the same time his Foreign Minister couched the ups and downs in the following diplomatic words: “The relations have existed for a long time and have seen considerable development.” With regard to Germany, he even spoke of a “strategic partnership”.

Community of values ​​in dollars

This partnership is best expressed in values. In this one, it’s not LGBTQ who sets the tone, but rather QIA – the Qatar Investment Authority manages the sovereign wealth fund worth over $300 billion, which is intended to increase the extensive income from the oil and gas business. The Emir’s fund not only owns the French football club Paris Saint-Germain, it also owns – and this is where it becomes important for the Chancellor – 17 percent of the shares in Volkswagen, six percent of Deutsche Bank and around three percent of Siemens.

And from 2026 a few billion more will flow into the fund. From then on, Qatar will finally deliver the LNG that Germany needs to replace the Russian gas that has been lost. After all, the Chancellor always has to think about that. And if he forgets, the Emir will surely remind him.

Correction: Precisely because in this country when you hear “Emir” you always think of Christian Wulff’s call, the original version of the text incorrectly said that Wulff was on his way to the Emir of Qatar. The correct answer is of course: Kuwait.