The Globalist Podcast (December 13, 2023) – We examine Benjamin Netenyahu’s alleged scheme to bribe Hamas through Qatar.
Also, Tim Bale explains how, in the UK, Tory factions are pulling the strings on Rwanda; Liz Cheney’s message to the GOP; and film critic Karen Krizanovich reveals how Japan is breathing life into the US box office.
Little Big World (August 29, 2023) – Qatar is a small country in the Middle East and received a lot of international attention by hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
“I was invited by Visit Qatar to explore what Qatar has to offer beyond football. After two amazing and very hot weeks of shooting, I have condensed hours of footage into a bite sized film with less than 3 minutes that you might hopefully enjoy. Check out stunning desert landscapes, breathtaking art installations, amazing beaches, oriental markets and a vibrant and futuristic urban capital.”
A time-lapse & tilt-shift & aerial video by Joerg Daiber
Plus: fears that Polish democracy is under threat, secret talks between Qatar and the Taliban, and award-winning author Leila Slimani talks about her latest novel.
On the surface, Qatar is a dazzling and colorful Arab country, home to sheikhs and big business. But migrant workers without Qatari citizenship make up nearly 90% of Qatar’s total population – the highest such rate in the world.
Anyone traveling to Qatar arrives with plenty of prejudices: that it is a corrupt, filthy-rich emirate full of forced laborers who have no rights; that it is home to businessmen whose practices are, at best, questionable. But for the Qataris themselves, and the millions of guest workers from all over the world who live there, the picture is more nuanced.
Yes, Qatar is a dictatorship with an emir who enjoys almost unlimited power. But at the same time, Qatar is remarkably open and progressive. The emirate is tiny, and yet tremendously fascinating – with its vast desert landscapes, its bizarrely-shaped mountains and its picturesque sandy beaches.
The Economist – Qatar is about to host the most expensive World Cup ever, costing as much as $300bn. Why has this small, gas-rich kingdom chosen to host football’s most prestigious event, and how does it fit into its broader plans for economic transformation?
Video timeline: 00:00 – Why is Qatar hosting the World Cup? 00:57 – World Cups are expensive competitions 01:56 – Qatar’s human rights violations 02:36 – Qatar’s place in the Gulf 04:43 – Qatar distinguishes itself from its neighbours 05:50 – Qatar bids to host the World Cup 07:18 – Qatar’s neighbours issue a blockade 10:12 – What might happen after the World Cup?
Ben Luke talks to Hannah McGivern, a correspondent for The Art Newspaper who has just been to Qatar, about the vast number of public art projects that will accompany the FIFA Men’s World Cup that begins there on Sunday 20 November.
She also discusses the museums that Qatar plans to open by 2030. How does this explosion of cultural initiatives sit with Qatar’s record on human rights and treatment of low-paid migrant workers in the building of its cultural venues and World Cup stadia? It has been a heady fortnight of auctions in New York.
Ben speaks to Georgina Adam, an editor-at-large at The Art Newspaper, about the highs and lows, and whether we can expect even more sales of blockbuster collections in the coming years.
And this episode’s Work of the Week is an untitled painting by Luis Meque, an artist born in Mozambique who came to fame in the 1980s and early-1990s in Zimbabwe. Tandazani Dhlakama, the curator of the exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, tells us about Meque’s painting and his brief and brilliant life.When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, 20 November-3 September 2023 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ordinarily a football World Cup would be a moment for celebration,a time to savour sport’s power to unite nations and a glorious distraction from the problems of the day. Not this time: the 2022 tournament has been mired in controversy since it was awarded to Qatar 12 years ago.
Another dubious global milestone was reached this weekas the world’s population passed 8 billion, according to UN estimates. In a the first of a series of dispatches from the frontline of population growth, Hannah Ellis-Petersen reports from India, which next year will overtake China as the planet’s most populous nation, on what the shift means for the world.
The US midterm elections saw the Democrats fare better than expected, retaining control of the Senate despite looking likely to lose control of the House by a small margin to the Republicans. The more consequential outcome may be for Donald Trump: Chris McGreal and David Smith ask if the former president’s grip on the GOP is weakening, and if his rival Ron DeSantis’s time may be coming.
This week’s @TheTLS , featuring Anna Reid on Zelensky; @pwilcken on a divided Brazil; @james_waddell on manuscript collectors; @LamornaAsh on Tammy Faye; @LinahAlsaafin on Qatar; and Peter Thonemann on how Herodotus would fare in today’s academic job market … – and more.
We hear the latest on the crisis in Ukraine and discuss the significance of the emir of Qatar’s visit to Washington. Plus: what’s making headlines in business and the UK celebrates Independent Venue Week.
Doha, Arabic Al-Dawḥah, city, capital of Qatar, located on the east coast of the Qatar Peninsula in the Persian Gulf. More than two-fifths of Qatar’s population lives within the city’s limits. Situated on a shallow bay indented about 3 miles (5 km), Doha has long been a locally important port. Because of offshore coral reefs and shallow waters, it handled only small vessels until the completion of its deepwater port in the 1970s.
Qatar is a peninsular Arab country whose terrain comprises arid desert and a long Persian (Arab) Gulf shoreline of beaches and dunes. Also on the coast is the capital, Doha, known for its futuristic skyscrapers and other ultramodern architecture inspired by ancient Islamic design, such as the limestone Museum of Islamic Art. The museum sits on the city’s Corniche waterfront promenade.
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