The Qatar Embassy in London co-sponsored the day-long event in partnership with the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Diplomats and staff from the embassy, assisted by volunteers from Qatar, were on hand at the festival to showcase the culture and traditions of the country and offer hospitality on the day. 

When almost 600 Ottoman sailors lost their lives in far-off Japan in 1890, few at the time would have thought that the tragedy would usher in more than a century of friendship. But the sinking of the Ertuğrul frigate on its way back from a goodwill voyage to Japan did just that, establishing a bond between the Japanese and Turkish peoples that has endured even after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. 

Not everyone has a mountain, and not every child gets to stay forever atop his mountain. All of which brings me to President Obama's remarkably clumsy decision to host on May 14 a summit at Camp David (the presidential retreat located in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains) on the Middle East with the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.