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How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

author:Black box science

How rich is Qatar? And why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, spend $1 billion to dig it into an island country?

The rumor that Saudi Arabia wants to dig Qatar into an island country was released in 2017 when Saudi Arabia united seven Muslim countries and collectively severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, but judging from the opening of this year's World Cup, the Saudi crown prince was invited to attend the event, and the relationship between the two countries that love and kill each other has obviously eased. And the reason why Saudi Arabia wants to unite with the "little brothers" to collectively block Qatar is mainly because Qatar is too rich on the one hand and has embarked on a maverick path, and the thighs of the world are not holding the thighs of Saudi Arabia, and even the thighs are thicker than those of neighboring countries in terms of economy.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

But on the other hand, Saudi Arabia is too weak, this peninsular country with an area of only 11,500 square kilometers, the total population is only 2.658 million, and 85% of them are foreign workers from India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, which means that there are less than 400,000 real citizens in the country. But if you compare it with Saudi Arabia around you, you will find that the entire Arabian Peninsula is almost occupied by Saudi Arabia, and Qatar is like an inconspicuous peninsula city on the east coast of Saudi Arabia, the entire area of Saudi Arabia reaches 225,000 square kilometers, but it is only the size of the mainland Tianjin, Saudi Arabia's area is 20 times that of Qatar, and the population of 34.81 million is 87 times that of Qatar.

So Saudi Arabia wants to blockade Qatar from the perspective of territory alone, but if it wants to spend $1 billion to dig a canal, although the feasibility is completely present, it still sounds as naïve as a schoolboy drawing a line on a desk, and may be more just scaring and scaring Qatar.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

Although Saudi Arabia is not bad money to dig this canal, and Qatar is a peninsula with only one side of the border with Saudi Arabia, if the canal is dug, it does isolate Qatar geographically, but the actual impact on it is not too great, after all, the western part of Qatar is desert, and the main population is also located in the eastern coastal area. So digging a canal is not as effective as breaking off diplomatic relations, but why is Qatar so hateful?

Mainly because it is too rich, even local tycoons like Saudi Arabia will hate the rich, but the enemy is not that Qatar has earned those dollars, but rich oil and gas resources. Qatar has such a large territory, how rich oil and gas resources you can hardly imagine, the natural gas reserves of the northern oil and gas fields alone are the third in the world, second only to Russia and Iran, and the top two are always subject to Western sanctions. However, Qatar can mix in front of the Western world, which also makes Qatar a lot of money. Therefore, the per capita GDP in 2021 reached 61,800 US dollars, which is not only second to none in Asia, but also rich in the world.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

As for the official citizens of Qatar, even if they do nothing all day, they can receive unemployment insurance of $2,000 a month, and if they are normal citizens, the legal working hours are 3 hours a day, and the average annual income is $150,000, which is converted into RMB is an annual income of millions.

Ordinary people are so rich, how rich the country should be is enough to imagine, as for spending $220 billion to host the World Cup is a small operation, but too rich economic power, in contrast to the relatively weak military strength of the entire country, coupled with Qatar's maverick diplomatic policy has brought it a crisis.

The per capita annual income of Kata citizens reaches one million yuan, and the country is even richer, why is it in the crisis of being dug out of the island country?

Qatar has made money by selling oil and gas, so the whole country can implement a high welfare policy, primary and secondary education and medical care are free, and even incurable diseases that cannot be cured in the country, the state will pay for citizens to go abroad for treatment.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

And also spent money to buy 6 famous universities in the United States and 2 Europe, including Cornell University, to jointly run schools in Qatar, although international universities need to pay money, but for Qatari citizens per capita annual income of millions of yuan, everything is not a thing. In short, it is a phrase "not bad money", but it is this style of not bad money that once made Qatar isolated from neighboring countries.

Because the same Arab brothers who once herded camels in the desert and later became nouveau riche because of the oil of the Persian Gulf, why are you so good? In the face of such soul torture from Saudi Arabia and other countries, Qatar just wants to say that I will come more. But in Saudi Arabia's view, Qatar is the least likely to come, a typical thorn. I dare not say that the entire Islamic world, at least in the Arab countries, worships Saudi Arabia as the big brother. Although Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are often combined into the three "big dogs" in the Middle East, this is only an affirmation of Qatar's economic strength.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

In terms of political and military and even a small territory, Qatar is a completely small country, and the entire Arabian Peninsula has historically belonged to the Arab Empire, but the later rising Ottoman Empire ruled the area again, and in general, these Arab brother countries, whether prosperous or tribulated, ate in one pot.

Until the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Arabian Peninsula began to become independent, and emirates like Qatar were established, but Britain entered the Arab world and occupied Qatar, which was like the pearl of the Persian Gulf, in 1882, but no oil was found at that time, and Saudi Arabia was also under British colonial rule, so everyone was still brothers who shared suffering, they were all colonized by Britain, and their boundaries and positions were not so clear.

But after Saudi independence in 1932, Qatar remained a British protectorate until 1971. During this period, although both countries have successively discovered oil and gradually embarked on the road of nouveau riche, after all, Qatar is closer to the West, it can be said that the international vision is broader, and it has its own ideas on many things, rather than choosing to follow the lead for Saudi Arabia.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

As a Muslim Sunni-dominated Arab country, Qatar should be closer to Saudi Arabia, but the fact is that Qatar and the Sunni rival, the Shiite stronghold, Iran, also maintain good relations. And in the world's various big brothers, Qatar Bai's largest pier is the beautiful country Lao Mei, directly invited the United States to station troops in Qatar, located near the capital Doha Udaid base was directly made into the largest military base of the United States in the Middle East.

This operation also doubled Qatar's status, originally Saudi Arabia is the younger brother of the United States, Saudi Arabia hopes that Qatar will be its own little brother, so that Saudi Arabia is the horse boy among the younger brothers. But Qatar is not, I have so much money to buy an equal position. Therefore, Saudi Arabia once had bad intentions, and the proposal to establish a united state was directly ugly, which naturally caused Saudi resentment, and in many issues related to the Arab and Muslim worlds, Qatar let itself loose and contradicted Saudi Arabia.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

However, Qatar is not intentional against Saudi Arabia, just wants to find its own path, but in international relations to want independence itself is the original sin, the disregard of the leading big brother is even more unbearable for Saudi Arabia, so it wants to dig the border canal to turn Qatar into an island country to relieve anger, as for Qatar wants to be independent, it needs to have corresponding strength.

What kind of strength does Qatar have to ignore Saudi Arabia, the big brother in the Arab world, and even get so angry that Saudi Arabia threatens to spend $1 billion to dig it into an island country?

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

Saudi Arabia wants to dig Qatar into an island country, although the impact on it will not be too great, but after all, as a peninsular country only one side is connected to the land, and then isolated by the dug canal, it really becomes an island country. All kinds of materials that could have been transported by land will become more troublesome, but this is not the most important thing, and if you provoke the big Arab brother of Saudi Arabia, your own life will indeed not be too good.

However, Qatar did not immediately choose to grovel, but soberly realized that strength is the last word, and if there is no strength, it will be bought with money, whether it is soft power or hard power, as long as money can get it, it is not a problem. And one has to admire Qatar's technology in spending money. In 2017, Saudi Arabia did not unite with 7 neighboring countries to collectively break off diplomatic relations with Qatar, but also blockaded Qatar, which originally blocked 40% of Qatar's daily material sources, which is very uncomfortable for this country with almost no agricultural production and a large number of industrial materials relying on imports. The only land passage was cut off by Saudi Arabia, and sea transportation was blocked by restrictions from neighboring countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and even aircraft could not fly in transit.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

But Qatar just does not give in, directly uses the air fleet to buy materials from Turkey and Iran, transit Iran across the Persian Gulf to transport back home, build a port directly to Iran on the other side, all kinds of materials for World Cup infrastructure are solved by sea transport with Iran, and even more absolutely build new pastures in the desert, directly airlift tens of thousands of cows from the United States to solve the problem of drinking milk.

This wave of operations also directly let the opposite Saudi Arabia write a capital letters, not convinced that it is really not okay, for Saudi Arabia to unite many countries, put forward Qatar and Iran to break off diplomatic relations, and close Al Jazeera and many other demands, that is not a promise. Even being listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by Saudi Arabia, Qatar continues to maintain normal relations with Iran without blinking. At least from this point of view, Qatar is righteous enough, and Al Jazeera is an artifact that Qatar paid for, how can it be closed.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

Because it directly adopts the operation model of Western media, and in the relatively conservative environment of the Arab world, it is known for daring to say, such as what polygamy, feminist democracy and other topics are not shy away, and directly developed into the world's third largest TV station with CNN and BBC names, although the first two reputations are not too good, but they have absolute say in international public opinion.

And Qatar has a place in the world discourse of Al Jazeera, which is the embodiment of Qatar's soft power, and even because it is a TV station controlled by Arabs, it has interviewed Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, bin Laden, etc., becoming a trusted voice platform for all forces in the Middle East, which also reflects Qatar's strategy in making friends, as long as there is no direct conflict of interest, those who want to chat well are not refused.

How rich is Qatar? Why did Saudi Arabia, a neighbor that is also a tycoon, dig it into an island country?

In line with the principle of multiple friends, multiple roads, spending money to do things, Qatar does not hesitate to spend money around the world, so it can not only allow the United States to station troops in its country, but also maintain good relations with Iran, just hosting a World Cup, building new cities and stadiums and other facilities, so that dozens of countries and Qatar are involved in economic ties, but also let themselves show a wave of presence in front of the world. You know, in 2021, Qatar has eased relations with neighboring Arab countries, and this relies on Qatar's arrogant financial hard power and good influence soft power.

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