May 20, 2025 | New York Sun
Qatar, Cultivating Friendships With Washington and Moscow, Plays the West Like a Fiddle
The burgeoning relationship between Qatar and Russia signals that the Kremlin is not as globally isolated as the West desires it to be — and Doha is not as neutral as it pretends to be.
May 20, 2025 | New York Sun
Qatar, Cultivating Friendships With Washington and Moscow, Plays the West Like a Fiddle
The burgeoning relationship between Qatar and Russia signals that the Kremlin is not as globally isolated as the West desires it to be — and Doha is not as neutral as it pretends to be.
Excerpt
Qatar is playing the West like a fiddle, extending a hand to Moscow one day and to Washington the next.
Last week, President Trump signed numerous deals with Qatar. Meanwhile, Doha is also cozying up to Moscow. Last month, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, met with President Putin at the Kremlin. During the emir’s visit, Moscow and Doha deepened their economic partnership, agreeing to contribute $1 billion each to a joint investment fund.
Natalie Ecanow is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Ivana Stradner is a research fellow.