How the Real World Works

How many of you have heard of Timmy Davis? Hands up. Sounds like a PGA golfer, no?

In fact he is a former Marine, who, after his decade in the Corps went onto a career as a US diplomat. The man reportedly speaks both Spanish and Arabic along with his native English, and in 2020 the Biden Administration appointed him as US Ambassador to Qatar. You know, that tiny and immensely wealthy country in the Middle East whose name no one is entirely sure how to pronounce. He seemed quite enthusiastic about the country in which he was appointed, having said, among other things “There is not anything that we do in the region that’s not enhanced by our relationship with Qatar.”

Davis as Ambassador to Qatar seems a very sensible appointment, given his linguistic abilities, no? Well, he stepped down from that Ambassadorship in June of this year, and he has a new job. To quote The Free Press, which put me onto this story,

Irth Capital Management, an investment fund backed by Doha and whose co-founder and chairman is a member of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family, said that Davis has joined the firm as president and partner.

According to The Free Press, there is nothing in his background to suggest that Mr. Davis knows anything about finance or wealth management. I presume that is not why Irth hired him. This quote from the TFP article says it better than I can:

Government ethics experts interviewed by The Free Press also said it is fair to ask whether Davis’s activities as ambassador were in any way shaped by his impending business relationship with members of Qatar’s royal family.

It is of course not true that Mr. Davis has invented something new, here. The article goes on to point out numerous past Ambassadors to Qatar (and other countries) who have gone on after their ambassadorships to work for various orgs that lobby the US government on behalf of those same countries to which they were the Ambassador.

Davis is not being asked to lobby his government, his position at ICM seems more like…..I dunno, a payoff?

This is how the real world of BIP*s works.

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*Big Important People