With the third largest natural gas and oil reserves In the world Qatar has quite an influence over Arab states and through it's Al Jazeera radio and television network has become a credible public voice. Recently it has been and is continuing to spend billions on infrastructure in order to attract tourism. It is an absolute monarchy.
Things have recently gone belly up for the oil rich state. A number of Al Jazeera journalists including an Australian have been incarcerated in Egypt. Of course it didn't help that Qatar \openly supported the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other groups during the period known as the Arab Spring.
Politics, religion and thousands of myriad issues within those issues, continue to dominate this part of the world. The U.S. and Europe is concerned that stability should be maintained at all costs. Major disruptions here could cause chaos with most economies.
There have been mutterings already re the World Cup soccer, that temperatures might well be too high Average daily temperatures during summer ( June thru' to September ) can easily exceed 40 C with little if any rainfall. The coastal regions can be slightly milder but there is a corresponding increase in humidity. Sport seems to be playing more and more of a role in world politics.Where there is money.....
