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

• Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world, has many companies in large European infrastructure and industrial and service companies, and is also a potential supplier of gas to Germany.
• But the criticism of the country is significant shortly before the World Cup kicks off: Human rights in Qatar are severely restricted, conditions for guest workers are life-threatening, women are persecuted, homosexuals are hated – and at the same time aspirants. The elders do not want the West to lecture them.
• This puts Germany in a bind: it needs a quick replacement for the gas that has so far come from Russia. What are the prospects for improving Qatar’s performance?

Five tankers with red hulls and white superstructures are moored on a quay several kilometers long and are filled with LNG from stainless steel tubes. On the horizon, more gas tankers rush into the open sea, and already huge domes are pumped full of liquid gas.