Germany’s alliance with Qatar: human rights or natural gas?

• Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world, has many holdings in large European infrastructure, industrial and service companies and is also a possible gas supplier for Germany.
• But the criticism of the country is great shortly before the start of the soccer World Cup: Human rights in Qatar are severely restricted, the conditions for guest workers are life-threatening, women are oppressed, homosexuals are despised – at the same time the aspiring sheikhs do not want to be lectured by the West.
• This puts Germany in a dilemma: Because it needs a quick replacement for the gas that previously came from Russia. What are the chances of Qatar doing better?

Five tankers with red hulls and white superstructures are moored at the several kilometers long quay and are being filled with liquefied natural gas from stainless steel pipes. On the horizon more gas tankers push out into the open sea, the huge domes already pumped full of liquid gas.