[CLIP] How a Tiny Gulf Nation Is Waging a Massive Information War on the West: Jonathan Schanzer

let's go back to Cutter and I'm specifically interested in huge amounts of money possibly hundreds of millions of dollars in this town heading into you know towards that building behind you there how does cutter how has cutter managed to like you said sort of play Both Sides the way that that you describe Money Talks I think it's hard to ignore that money the qaris have bought the rights to the names of a number of American schools they created something called Education City in Doha um or right outside of DOA where they have Texas A&M and Georgetown and Carnegie melon Northwestern they bought the brands of these universities to create um satellites um they've sunk huge amounts of money into the university system here in the United States they bought the World Cup through bribes according to two British journalists who wrote A fascinating book called The Ugly game uh where I think they make a very compelling case for qari illicit Finance purchasing those games well I mean they also to be fair though they also make the cas the case that the the the authorities the soccer authorities actually indicated that it is for sale in the first place that's right but but this is what I mean though by by Money Talks right I mean the money has um been slashing around in world capitals and in the halls of power for quite some time now um there are dozens of Lobby firms and white Sho law firms and PR firms that are on retainer here for the qataris they sponsor the Congressional baseball game every year they kept the uh Metro open when the capitals were on their Stanley Cup run the money is enormous they bought a city block here called City Center um high-end retail I mean you can't go for more than a few blocks here in this town without seeing some semblance of qari influence I just want to they sponsor the Congressional baseball game why was I I I went for the first time last year or this year but I had no idea yeah you'll see I mean it's you know that's astonishing yeah and it's a regular thing we see the qaris are sponsoring lots of different things they've got a lot of money to spend um and they do and it buys them influence and um they've got a lot of different actors conflicted out but I think no investment has been more lucrative for the qaris than the alate airbase that large air base that we have over there I mean they built it to our specifications um it is for us to use in perpetuity um and it gives them security because no one will trifle with them when the US military is stationed there but as they've built up this sense of security over time uh they've also had all of these Bad actors based there as well and again I do get a sense that this is now all kind of boiling to a head that Americans are more aware of this as a result of 107 why is the funding of the University so important in your mind you you you focused on that a little bit earlier we place a lot of value in the top schools we have in the United States it's one of the reasons why there was so much outrage I think over the way that some of the schools responded to the spike in pramas sentiment or even anti-semitic sentiment some of the presidents of these schools were brought before Congress to answer to the public um and I think the qari seem to understand that that um working with these schools investing in these schools using the brands of these schools this buys the qaris some Bona fees it gives them a certain amount of additional respect um and um I think it's helped build their brand I do well it you're s suggesting something interesting because you know we're talking about this hearing where the presidents of Penn and Harvard and MIT were before Congress and just kind of saying outrageous astonishing things right woke a liberal ideology has infected these schools and these presidents are reflecting that in what they're saying but you're saying that that there's also foreign funding possibly influencing their positions which I think is problematic at the end of the day these are American universities that should be serving the American people raising up a next generation of American students who will one day be American leaders um it's a problem when you're you're looking at an authoritarian government of 300,000 people that is answering to No One um their values are not our values they don't have freedom of religion they don't have freedom of speech they are interested in buying power raw power and if they're doing that through our universities I think there is a price that we might pay there's also this element of real estate you discussed this city block again I wasn't aware of the city block um in this what is the significance of that oh it's just real estate right it's gaining a foothold in the city it's the broader portfolio um you know they have herod's department stores in London they have soccer teams in Europe we talked about the World Cup um one gets a sense that you know when you've got bottom B lless wealth you know of course you're going to spend it but are you spending it for the exertion of influence are you spending it so that you can make additional money right what are the dividends I think the qaris are doing it it's twofold right they're looking at ways to gain influence in capitals I think there is a strategic logic to their investment um and um you know I wouldn't have a problem with City Center if I didn't see the Congressional baseball game and the lobby firms and the white shoe law firms and the pr firms and everything else I see it as part of a broader strategy which I'm concerned about because it certainly looks like at least from my vantage point that the US government has given up on trying to change the behavior of the qataris as it relates to sponsoring terrorist groups or or even I mean we don't even try to hold the qataris to account look at the number of people who died under horrific conditions building the stadiums for the World Cup he never paid a price for it I believe we've given the qaris a sense of impunity I do know that in Cutter some of the text School textbooks they're ripe with anti-semitic content very overtly I mean very blatantly um and you can't help but wonder if that somehow doesn't make its way into American American textbooks when we look at the qaris I'm often asked um why are they doing this what what what is motivating this sparsely populated country why are they out there supporting Hamas and the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and Isis and all these other Bad actors um they are a wahhabi country they uh you know we used to only associate that word with the Saudis it's interesting the Saudis have actually undergone a significant process of Reform uh I've been to that country several times over the last several years and I'm astounded by some of the changes that have happened it's got a long way to go um but it's just interesting because you may recall there was a falling out with um the other Gulf States and the qataris back in 2017 um they had essentially come to the conclusion that the qataris were too radical even for the gulf so we're talking about the kuwaitis and the Saudis and the emiratis saying you know what we've had our problems in the past but these guys this is a bridge too far um and really their their beef with the qaris is that they are the probably the number one proponent for the Muslim Brotherhood um now the Muslim Brotherhood for the the uninitiated is the Cornerstone of every radical islamist ideology that we've seen come out of the Middle East whether it's Hamas whether it's Al-Qaeda Isis they're all built from the same sort of core principles embraced by a guy named Hassan albana the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood back in 1928 they today the qataris Remain the top proponent of the Brotherhood ideology and so when you talk about the possible spread of textbooks it's not just that it's the sermons at mosques it's at the madrasas the schools where people are taught you know Islamic texts and Islamic teachings this is I think a broader problem one the the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the largest if not the largest uh Grassroots uh religious political and religious organizations in the Middle East