I don't think people on QL believe 'whatever the media tells them.' Otherwise we would not be having this conversation, and all of us would blissfully believe in the overriding message of the monotone voice of the Gulf Times: "everything is great, nothing to see here, move along please." And, unfortunately, the Western media will now have a difficult time reporting on anything happens here, because they will have to wait for visas :-)

Sounds like from Mandi that this whole affair has nothing to do with reciprocity and more about tightening of border and employment controls, which makes sense given how porous both are here. Perhaps in order to get away with tightening up things of the rest of the GCC during the current downturn, the government made the decision to apply it to countries across the board. Looking at the regulations, Qataris still have to go through a great many more hoops to get into the US and UK than the reverse, so if it really is about reciprocity, then they have a long way to go.

I am on vacation for the next few days so good luck with the thread!