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Waiting for the subway, I saw a poster for an upscale gym chain. Locations? “City of London. High Street, Kensington. Dubai.” What a shame to choose an environment so distorted by bad taste and ignorant expatriates. However, the city and Dubai branches must be top notch.
Soon after, I was in Doha, and once again a European-Gulf connection became inevitable. The Emir of Qatar returned from a state visit to Britain, where the hosts were looking to reach a trade agreement. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), based in Switzerland, granted the rights to host the World Cup to Saudi Arabia. Even in skyscraper-free Muscat, where alleyways that would otherwise be rationalized elsewhere in the Gulf wind freely behind the Corniche, the three restaurants in my hotel are outposts of Mayfair brands.
What a shame that the word “Eurabia” was taken. And with such cranks. (It is a far-right term that refers to a supposed conspiracy to Islamize Europe.) Because we will need a word to describe this relationship. The Arabian Peninsula has what Europe lacks: space, natural wealth, and the resulting budget surpluses to invest in things. For its part, Europe has “soft” assets that the Gulf states must acquire, host, or emulate in order to play a post-oil role in the world. This is not the deepest external connection in the Gulf region. Not while 38% of the UAE's population and a quarter of Qatar's population are Indians. But it may be the most symbiotic, if I understand that word correctly.
It is true that the United States has a defense presence in all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries. This includes the Saudi footprint, which Osama bin Laden was not enthusiastic about. But daily contact? America is 15 hours away by plane. Soft assets are either more difficult to buy or less desirable. Its citizens do not have sufficient financial incentives to live in tax havens, where Uncle Sam charges them at least some difference.
In the 1970s, as OPEC profits flowed through London, Anthony Burgess wrote a dystopia in which grand hotels became “the Claridges” and “the Dorchesters.” What a mental shock it is for even the most worldly Europeans to see – we shouldn't get around this – non-white people with more money than them. However, they can dismiss the Gulf as a place where they do not live. Half a century later, their descendants came to call it Copium. In fact, their descendants may literally live there for economic opportunities. (El Dorado?) As a banker friend explains, time zones allow you to sleep late, trade European markets, and then eat late, so it's the young ones who do the Gulf stuff, not the jaded ones my age.
For how long? The sheer possibility of this encounter, between a culture of universal rights and monarchical despotism, between a mostly secular continent and the home peninsula of an ancient faith, is what sets it apart from anything I can think of. The relationship can be both necessary and unsustainable. It would not take much — some violence within the GCC, for example, which seemed close in 2017 — for Europe's exposure to the Gulf to worsen as badly as its previous overtures to Russia. If Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City are found to have committed financial irregularities, much of the Premier League's history will be tainted. Because it's “just” a sport, I feel like people aren't prepared for the backlash.
It is narrow to assume that the relationship can only collapse from one party. It is the Gulf side that must make the most critical cultural adjustments. Because Europeans associate 1979 with Iran, and perhaps with Margaret Thatcher, they sometimes overlook the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by fanatics who thought the House of Saud had become lenient with Western customs. Governments in the region certainly do not forget this.
How liberated can a place be without tripping over the cultural strand that occupies (and is responded to differently) in each state or emirate. Everyone is very nice to “Mr. Janan” at his hotel in Doha. But the metal scanners that must be swiped upon each return to the building stand as a reminder of the dangers here. I wonder if Europe and the Gulf are putting too much effort into their mutual relations because of the nagging doubt that they can continue.
Send an email to Janan janan.ganesh@ft.com
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