If there have been a dictionary entry for the idiom “to punch above one’s weight,” it might properly be illustrated with the tiny emirate of Qatar and its former emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, who died Sunday on the age of 74.
Hamad, who dominated Qatar from 1995 till his abdication in 2013, introduced into being the trendy idea of a minuscule however energy-rich Gulf monarchy with expansive world energy. With out his dangerous and infrequently controversial geopolitical technique, the Center East, and maybe the world, would look very totally different.
Hamad wagered that the huge wealth stemming from Qatar’s ample oil and fuel deposits may very well be used for greater than a top quality of life, leveraging it for enormous worldwide affect. And it didn’t require merely spending the cash on pricey weaponry. Hamad understood that his nation might train outsized affect by investing in establishments of soppy energy: media, diplomacy, sports activities, the humanities and strategically calibrated philanthropic donations.
