It will be some time before it’s clear whether the story of Ahmed Muhammad, aka “clock boy,” has a happy ending. After being arrested last month under suspicion of bringing a bomb disguised as a clock to his Texas high school, the 14-year-old won the world’s sympathy, a scholarship fund, gifts, letters from business executives, meetings with world leaders, including the president of the United States, and now a free high school and college education in that blossoming center of innovative science and technology—Qatar. “It’s basically like America,” said Ahmed’s 18-year-old sister, Eyman. 

Of course, the tiny Gulf emirate that hosts the world’s leading anti-American satellite network Al Jazeera is nothing like America.  Unlike America, for instance, Qatar produces only one thing—natural gas, which it would be incapable of producing or getting to market without Western technology. Qatar’s financial resources have allowed it to import all of its prestige from the West, including museums, the 2022 soccer World Cup, and of course U.S. educational institutions. In short, Qatar is a vulgar parody of America and other Western societies.