Hillary Clinton emails reveal powerful families' intricate relationships
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Version 0 of 1. Revelations that Cherie Blair secretly lobbied Hillary Clinton on behalf of a fabulously wealthy royal from an authoritarian Gulf state are likely to be seen, at least by conspiracy theorists, as further evidence that a handful of individuals who wield power behind the scenes through personal connections actually runs the world. In other words, it is not what you know but who you know that really counts. Blair’s ingratiating and unctuous entreaties, revealed after the US courts forced Hillary Clinton to divulge private emails sent and received while she was secretary of state, will not surprise those who have seen her in action on London’s diplomatic circuit, where she was a seasoned networker and glad-hander. Related: Hillary Clinton lobbied by Cherie Blair to meet Qatari royal, emails reveal The bigger picture the emails illuminate is the intimate and intricate web of relationships between three of the world’s most powerful political families – the Clintons, the Blairs, and the Al-Thanis, who run oil and gas-rich Qatar. Sheikha Mozah, on whose behalf Blair interceded, is the wife of Qatar’s former ruler and mother of the current emir, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al-Thani. The ruling family has launched a concerted, multibillion dollar effort over the past generation to increase influence and leverage in the west. The Al-Thani profile in London is huge if mostly unsuspected. Measured in terms of property, they own the Shard, Harrods, the Olympic village, the US embassy building in Grosvenor Square, property in Hyde Park, 8% of the London Stock Exchange, a chunk of Barclays and a quarter of Sainsbury’s. The Blairs, together and separately, appear to have done the Al-Thanis a lot of favours. In 2012, Tony Blair, who stood down as Britain’s prime minister in 2007, reportedly made $1m by helping to broker a $50bn deal between commodities trader Glencore and Xstrata, a mining company in which the Qatari royal family was a major stakeholder. In the same year, the former Labour leader was named in court in London as a broker in a mooted property deal that would, if completed, have given the Qataris a share in a £1bn hotel group that owns the prestigious Claridge’s, Connaught and Berkeley hotels. Tony Blair’s private work often gets confused with his continuing public role which, until recently, included the post of the UN’s Middle East envoy charged with improving the Palestinian economy and governance. This post gave Blair a high-profile platform in the Middle East. His hardline speeches warning of the regional menace posed by Iran fitted well with the views espoused by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni monarchies. Related: Sheikha Mozah: the (un)acceptable face of Qatar’s global expansion | Observer profile The Blairs also run the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, a charitable organisation that aims to combat religious extremism. Contributions to the Blairs’ charity causes, including $500,000 from a Ukrainian oligarch and $100,000 from Rupert Murdoch, have sometimes proved controversial. Cherie Blair has her own charity that supports female entrepreneurs. These activities echo of those of the Clinton Foundation, set up by the former US president when he left office in 2001. The Clintons and Blairs are long-time political and personal friends. The Clinton Foundation has accepted donations from many of the world’s richest and most powerful people. Its donor list runs to 200,000 names, and includes foreign governments, Wall Street and foreign financial institutions, energy conglomerates and others. The government of Qatar has given between $1m and $5m. The Qatari committee that successfully bid for the 2022 Fifa World Cup, a bid now under legal investigation in Switzerland and the US and criticised over the deaths of foreign construction workers, also made sizeable contributions to the Clinton Foundation. Hillary Clinton has been criticised for continuing to accept donations to the foundation from foreign governments and individuals when she was directing US foreign policy as secretary of state. The Clinton Global Initiative, an annual New York event bringing business leaders and government decision-makers together for philanthropic purposes, provides the Clintons and the Blairs with further unmatched networking opportunities. Sometimes the support received is questionable. In 2009 and 2010 Sepp Blatter’s Fifa paid a fee to take part in the initiative. |