Wrestling with jabs and jives in the Arab world
THE COMMON view of the Middle East is that there is always fighting in the region – sometimes against external forces, at other times internal. It can be difficult to separate fact from fiction with the current political blockade imposed on Qatar by its Arab neighbours – Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt – the cause of much misinformation, accusations, indignant rebuttals of reports in the international media and insults being traded across borders.
Just this week a Doha daily newspaper, The Gulf Times, ran a story that Qatar Petroleum, the country’s flagship oil and gas company, had signed a concession agreement with the Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council for the continued operation of a shared offshore oil field.
The news was surprising in light of the blockade. A day later, Dubai’s Gulf News newspaper, quoting an official source at the Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council, reported that a concession had not been signed with Qatar Petroleum, but was actually in place with a Japanese consortium that dealt separately with Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
All clear, then? Thought so. Basically, the point being made was that Abu Dhabi, and the UAE by extension, was still not engaging with Qatar.
Sometimes the jabs and jibes exchanged between the countries involved in the political stand-off can seem reminiscent of a World Wrestling Federation (WWE) script – there is a “face” (Qatar, who are taking the high ground) and a heel (take your pick from Saudi, UAE, Bahrain or Egypt) and one is never sure what twist the next episode will throw up.
It will come as little surprise, then, that the WWE has a huge fan base in the Gulf, to the extent that it has entered into a 10-year strategic partnership with the Saudi General Sports Authority, in support of the country’s Vision 2030, its social and economic reform programme.
The event is scheduled to be held at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on April 27, featuring talent such as John Cena, Triple H, Roman Reigns and Randy Orton. The kingdom will be hoping that exposure to these wrestling icons will encourage their own superstars-in-the-making to make a career in the industry.
Qatar might be missing out on playing host to the glitz, glamour and garishness of the WWE in the flesh, but that doesn’t mean its interest in it is any less. One of its TV stations has a dedicated WWE channel that runs 24 hours a day. The country is also building from the bottom up in search of its own superstar, with Al Jazeera recently reporting that Qatar had started its first wrestling school.
Time will tell whether Qatar or Saudi Arabia lands the biggest punch in the ring. For now, there are greater battles to fight outside it.