Qatar is smaller than Schleswig-Holstein. And yet has great influence in the world – through billion-dollar deals in football, with banks and as one of the largest gas suppliers. stern reporter Jonas Breng traveled through the emirate, met a cousin of the emir, analysts and PR experts, the country’s first female music star and desperate guest workers. And describes a hypermodern country full of contradictions.

The sentence falls after five minutes. Who would he suit better than him? “As a country, Qatar is fighting above its weight class,” says Fahad Bin Chalid Al Thani, arching his back as if he were back in the ring. Outside his office in Qatar’s capital, Doha, a spring storm has darkened the sky and sand is lashing the windows. It seems as if the desert is reclaiming the city. But Al Thani, beige hipster glasses, detergent-white traditional robe, sits relaxed on his leather couch. “Ambition,” he says, “is part of Qatar’s DNA.” He himself is a good example of this.