Generosity with a purpose

A very sinister purpose: "Qatar’s War for Young American Minds".

One might expect that scholarly institutions that have benefited from this autocracy’s money would rethink their partnership after Qatar’s foreign minister said that “Israel alone is responsible” for the pogrom perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. Or after Qatar’s prime minister on Friday declined to close the office Hamas maintains in its capital. But these universities have given no indication that they will end their profitable partnership with Qatar.

Of course, American universities have a glib explanation as to why there's nothing to worry about: 

In the last 25 years the universities have justified these joint ventures with Qatar as a way to liberalize an autocratic society and bring American soft power to the Middle East. Indeed, Qatari officials have themselves given lip service to this goal.

So, Qatar must have shed some of its medieval superstitions as a result of this exposure to western ideals, eh? Well...not necessarily. 

In some cases, the universities cooperated with Qatar’s strategic interests. The Qatar campus of Northwestern, whose U.S. journalism school is ranked as one of the best in the world, signed a memorandum of understanding with Al Jazeera, the Qatari-funded news channel that has provided a sympathetic platform for Hamas and other Islamist groups over the years, to help train its reporters.

Well, good to see that these institutions are selling their souls at such a high price. Obviously they're not entirely dismissive of filthy lucre.