Money is a wonderful thing. Qatar has plenty of it and is putting it to use in its expanded public diplomacy. With wealth rather than weaponry, Qatar is becoming a new kind of superpower. The tiny state’s latest triumph is being named the site of the 2022 World Cup.

DOHA --- Money is a wonderful thing. Qatar has plenty of it and is putting it to use in its expanded public diplomacy. With wealth rather than weaponry, Qatar is becoming a new kind of superpower.

Pope Benedict was tonight at the centre of a new diplomatic storm after Egypt recalled its ambassador to the Vatican in protest at the pontiff's call for Middle Eastern governments to do more to protect their Christian minorities.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the Middle East for meetings with Persian Gulf leaders, acknowledged Sunday that it would take years to undo the damage caused by the WikiLeaks revelations, likening her recent travels to an extended "apology tour" to reassure allies who suffered embarrassment or worse because of the disclosures.

Any defining moment of a year is usually an analysis in past tense. Rarely ever is it a judgment in future tense. But that’s exactly how it is in the case of Qatar successfully bidding in 2010 to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. While winning the bid is victory enough to become a defining moment for the present, the real impact lies in what this success could do for the Gulf in general and for Qatar in particular over the next decade and beyond.

America’s influence has dwindled everywhere with the financial crisis and the rise of emerging powers. But it seems to be withering faster in the Middle East than anywhere else. Two decades ago, when America marshalled a daunting force to toss Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, it stood unchallenged in the region.

The northern West Bank village of Masaha received a special book donation to its library from the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem on Tuesday. The donation included 40 books from Scholastic Books' My Arabic Library, in addition to a selection of 100 books produced by the United States Government's Regional Book Office in Cairo and Amman.