Qatar

Coordinates: 25°30′N 51°15′E / 25.500°N 51.250°E / 25.500; 51.250

Qatar (/ˈkæˌtɑːr/,ⁱ/ˈkɑːtɑːr/, /ˈkɑːtər/ or ⁱ/kəˈtɑːr/;Arabic: قطر‎ Qaṭar [ˈqɑtˤɑr]; local vernacular pronunciation: [ɡɪtˤɑr]), officially the State of Qatar (Arabic: دولة قطر‎ Dawlat Qaṭar), is a sovereign country located in Southwest Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait in the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island of Bahrain, as well as sharing sea borders with the United Arab Emirates and Iran.

Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in the early 20th century until gaining independence in 1971. Qatar has been ruled by the Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Qatar is a hereditary constitutional monarchy and its head of state is Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The constitution was overwhelmingly approved in a constitutional referendum, with almost 98% in favour. In 2013, Qatar's total population was 1.8 million: 278,000 Qatari citizens and 1.5 million expatriates. After Saudi Arabia and Oman, Qatar is the most conservative society in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia (ⁱ/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbiə/, ⁱ/ˌsaʊ-/), officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is an Arab state in Western Asia constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula. With a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km² (830,000 sq mi), Saudi Arabia is geographically the second-largest state in the Arab world after Algeria. Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, and Yemen to the south. It is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast, and most of its terrain consists of arid inhospitable desert or barren landforms.

The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four distinct regions: Hejaz, Najd, and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud. He united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. The country has since been an absolute monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. The ultra-conservative Wahhabism religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called "the predominant feature of Saudi culture", with its global spreading largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "the Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam. The Kingdom has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners.

House of Thani

The House of Thani (Arabic: آل ثاني Al Thani‎) is the ruling family of Qatar, whose origins can be traced back to the Ma'adid clan of the Banu Tamim tribal confederation.

History and structure

The Al Thanis, an Arabic Family part which belongs to the Ma'adid sect of the Banu Tamim tribe, can be traced back to Mudar bin Nizar who settled at Gebrin oasis in southern Najd (present-day Saudi Arabia) before he moved to Qatar. Around the 17th century, the tribe lived in Ushayqir, a settlement north-east of Riyadh. They settled in Qatar around the 1740s. Their first settlement in Qatar was in the southern town of Sikak, and from there they moved north-west to Zubarah and Al Ruwais. They settled in Doha in the 19th century under their leader Mohammad bin Thani. The group was named after the father of Mohammad, Thani bin Mohammad.

The family is made of many factions. There were three major branches in the early 1990s: Bani Ali, Bani Hamad and Bani Khalid. The number of the family members during the same period was estimated to be about 20,000.

Black M

Alpha Diallo better known by his stage name Black Mesrimes or more commonly Black M (born 27 December 1984), is a French rapper and singer-songwriter of Guinean descent. He grew up in the 7th and 13th arrondissements of Paris. He is famous for his membership of the French rap and hip hop collective Sexion d'Assaut in addition to his solo work and collaborations with various artists. His moniker Mesrimes is a reference to French criminal known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces" and French anti-establishment wanted man "Robin Hood" Jacques Mesrine. Black M uses many punch lines and onomatopoeias in his works.

In 2006, he had a joint released Bakry & Black Mesrimes presente Le Pact. In 2013, he released "Ailleurs" as an early release from his solo album titled Les yeux plus gros que le monde that followed in 2014, becoming his first official studio album. Black M states in his latest music video a famous punch line; "Alexandre de L A, il est super stylé". Follow-up big hits from the album included "Mme Pavoshko", "Sur ma route" and "La légende black". He later rereleased the album with 8 additional track renaming the new special release Le monde plus gros que mes yeux

Foreign minister

A Foreign Minister or Minister of Foreign Affairs is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations.

World contexts

Difference in titles

In some nations, such as India, the Foreign Minister is referred to as the Minister for External Affairs or, as in the case of Brazil and of the former Soviet Union, as the Minister of External Relations. In the United States the equivalent to the foreign ministry is called the Department of State, and the equivalent position is known as the Secretary of State. Other common titles may include minister of foreign relations. In many Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in Latin America, the foreign minister is colloquially called canciller (chancellor).

Powers of position

A foreign minister's powers can vary from government to government. In a classic parliamentary system, a foreign minister can potentially exert significant influence in forming foreign policy but when the government is dominated by a strong prime minister the foreign minister may be limited to playing a more marginal or subsidiary role in determining policy. Similarly, the political powers invested in the foreign minister are often more limited in presidential governments with a strong executive. Since the end of World War II, it has been common for both the foreign minister and defense minister to be part of an inner cabinet (commonly known as a national security council) in order to coordinate defense and diplomatic policy. Although the 19th and early 20th centuries saw many heads of government assume the foreign ministry, this practice has since become uncommon in most developed nations.