Doha spends on think tanks to spread its divisive messages
With almost 100 speakers and guests, the security conference in Istanbul’s Marriot Hotel last month was convened for talks on some of the weightiest topics facing policymakers today.
AlSharq Forum considered a radical overhaul of Middle East security across six sessions. The overall theme was Towards New Security Arrangements for the Mena Region.
The title of the meeting was something of a giveaway. Iran has long pursued a foreign policy centred around the topic.
And since Qatar’s stand-off with the Arab coalition erupted a year ago, the concept has become the centrepiece of Doha’s foreign policy as well.
The venue in Turkey was no coincidence. Under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s leadership the country has shifted closer to the radical axis championed by Iran.
Searching the 86-page programme for the forum, it is hard to discern any trace of Doha in the event. There are only three references to Qatar, all placed in the biographies of speakers.
But just a few months earlier Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim had endorsed the idea that regional security interests would be thrashed out at a level outside the Arab League.
Speaking in Munich in February at the city’s annual security forum, which attracted speakers including British Prime Minister Theresa May and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Sheikh Tamim shrugged off the boycott by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain with an alternative vision for Middle East diplomacy.
“It is time for wider regional security in the Middle East. It is time for all nations of the region to forget the past, including us, and agree on basic security principles and rules of governance,” he said.
“All the nations need to agree on a baseline of coexistence, backed by binding arbitration mechanism to take part in a regional security agreement.”
A source said Qatar’s endorsement of the regional framework was sealed in a secret five-country meeting that included foreign ministers from Iran and Turkey on the Iranian island of Kish in early February.
Doha’s stance on the boycott at the time hardened further and US State Department envoy Gen Anthony Zinni’s role became impossible, diplomats say. It was no coincidence that AlSharq championed this same policy. While it is not said, the forum has been paid for by Qatar since it began in 2014.
It was founded by Wadah Khanfar, once director general of Al Jazeera in Doha, and included among its guests those
At Munich, Sheikh Tamim shrugged off the boycott with an alternative vision for Middle East diplomacy
who worked for Qatar-funded organisations.
On its website are instances of how AlSharq operates to try to influence long-standing think tanks. A panel carries the logo of Chatham House and other prominent bodies.
Last year AlSharq co-sponsored a one-day conference with Chatham House that was held off The Strand in London at the grand Royal Society of Arts. The topic was the migration crisis hitting Europe.
Again scattered through the panellists were guests from the Qatari-funded network, including speakers from the US think tank Brookings, which has a long relationship with Doha.
Brookings’ Doha branch has long been a source of influence for Qatar, as has the Royal United Services Institute in the UK.
It also used to operate an office in Doha and has done extensive training for Qatari officials, as has the PR firm Portland, which is run by Tony Blair’s former Downing St spokesman Tim Allan. In the past year, Mr Allan has acted as gatekeeper for western journalists seeking access in Doha.
The institute’s headquarters in London provided Qatar with a platform in January for a “special briefing” for members with Khalid Al Attiyah, the Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for Defence.
A few weeks earlier the body staged a one-day conference that included Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, the Qatari Foreign Minister, and British ministers.
A panel also included Britain’s then deputy national security adviser Patrick McGuiness, who has since been seconded to the Qatari government as an adviser on security.
Access to the 17th-century Banqueting House on Whitehall was only possible through a tunnel from the institute’s building next door. A spokesman for the institute said the events were among many it hosted for all voices from the region and beyond.
“As part of its remit, RUSI acts as a platform for debate of all security questions in the Gulf, and engages in co-operative activities with all Gulf states,” the spokesman said.
“Over the past year, the Institute welcomed many delegations and conferences, from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, as well as Qatar”.
While the Qatari government has long sought affiliation with top-ranked institutions, its influence operations have dramatically increased in the past 12 months.
While there is no evidence that these institutions have been editorially influenced, there is clearly the potential for a conflict of interests.