G iven kuwait digest An Egyptian experience By Waleed Al-Rujaib During a recent visit to Cairo, I had a conversation with a friend which saw me expressing frustration from the extreme traffic problem at the Egyptian capital. The conversation dragged on as I expressed disappointment about how the Egypt that I know have changed so much, with cities filled with complex road networks and consumer lifestyle that adds to the suffering of the working class, while lacking libraries containing books of knowledge. I was comparing between Egypt today and Egypt during the time I lived there as a college student nearly 40 years ago. After discussing the cultural and social changes in our countries, my friend suggested that I deliver a seminar to talk about <strong>Kuwait</strong> whose name is synonymous with culture and democracy in the Arab region. I was given the opportunity during the seminar to talk about the history of <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s economy, society and culture. I explained the difference between <strong>Kuwait</strong> today and during the sixties and the seventies of the past century, mentioning the social and cultural changes that affected daily behavior and values. I noticed that the majority of people attending the seminar were professionals or educated people, and I was shocked to realize that some of them still believe that <strong>Kuwait</strong> is an invented entity and historically is part of Iraq. I attempted to correct this misconception by asking for a proof to support this theory - which none was able to provide - while giving names of books with high cultural and historical credibility to back up my point. My attention was also caught by someone who used the term “democracy of Bedouins” during his speech. To be honest I wasn’t sure if he was trying to undermine <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s democratic experience with that term, or it was made with good intention. Meanwhile, another person argued that stating that demands for parliamentary work started in <strong>Kuwait</strong> since 1921 are exaggerated. The seminar also addressed the Arab Spring; on which one man in attendance argued that the revolutions are created by America in order to allow Islamists to reach power. And while admitting that martyrs have fallen during the January 25 Revolution, he insisted that the situation is different in Syria where he said that the revolution “aims to remove the resisting regime of Bashar Al-Asad by the hands of armed Jihadist groups”. I know this is only one man’s opinion, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that it would come from someone who claims to be educated. Midway through the seminar, a group of people came inside who according to the seminar’s supervisor are unionists that arrived late because they were taking part in a demonstration to demand rights that they believe President Mohammad Morsi’s administration is attempting to obliterate. I noticed that their comments were more mature and reflected more political awareness compared to opinions expressed by the educated attendees. They even praised <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s unionist work, and expressed high deal of knowledge about what’s going on in <strong>Kuwait</strong>, Syria as well as Egypt. Furthermore, they showed great level of enthusiasm while expressing faith that their revolution against the Muslim Brotherhoods’ rule will be victorious. This experience proved to me once again that workers are more aware, more eager and more optimistic than some educated people who still live in obscurity and despair. It also made me understand that these educated people never took part in the Tahrir Square demonstrations as part of the Egyptian revolution. — Al-Rai kuwait digest Protecting communities’ identities By Dr. Mohammad Al-Moqatei the increasingly deliberate actions practiced by certain individuals and parties around the world to provoke Muslims by insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), I believe that the best way to face this is through the international legal system. Arab and Muslim governments are today required to act on top international forums, especially with the United Nations, in order to come up with an international treaty that protects identities of communities and religious beliefs and develop a treaty that classifies religious insults as an international crime for which violators can be brought to trial in local and international tribunals. Iconoclasm is a crime punishable by international law, even if it happens during times of war. I believe that protecting religious beliefs and identities of communities isn’t less important than protecting religious symbols. Some countries have laws that criminalize anti-Semitism or offending ruling figures. A recent example of that happened when the United Kingdom took efforts to stop publishing revealing pictures of Princess Kate Middleton, prompting several countries, including France, to issue orders against publishing them. In my opinion, protecting religious beliefs and cultural identities of societies is more important than that. That’s why I believe an international agreement to protect the religious and cultural identity of countries and communities is important. It would provide international protection that prevents violent reactions that otherwise happen as a result of a lack of criteria to stop offensive actions against religious beliefs. The treaty would further help take legal actions in a civilized manner that would prove to be effective in deterring insults so that no excuse will be left to justify people responding violently. Turkey and Egypt did the right thing by taking legal actions against the people who offended the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This is, indeed, the safest way to deal with this issue.—Al-Rai 4 LOCAL Worst totalitarian regime W hat did transpire out of the regional changes in most of the Arab countries that we witnessed over the past year and a half, and have these legitimate uprisings resulted in chaos and instability? Maybe the most important result is the uncovering of the American-Persian (Iranian) partnership to divide the spoils, and reward the land of Persia (Iran) and present it with the price which includes Iraq, Bahrain, Syria, and Lebanon in exchange for Iran continuing its spreading of sectarian strife in the Arabian Gulf and Middle East. Iran, which America handed Iraq over to at the end of 2011, is protecting the most dangerous mission in the way of liberating Iraq and spreading sectarian chaos, stealing its natural resources, killing its scientists, and changing many of the moral, social, intellectual, and cultural characters of Arab societies by taking advantage of poverty, backwardness and discrimination. It also changed the traditional stability of the Arab Maghrib (North African) countries into major trouble where sectarian strife is playing an increasing role day after day. Persia, with all the factors of danger and animosity in it, must be brought back to size, not just having its nails clipped. Our battle as Arabs with Persians is a battle of existence and identity and freedom of generations, not just a battle of borders, because Persia, which was overwhelmed with the feelings of victory when it isolated Iraq, then destroyed it, developed an appetite for expansionism and the wish to control, and always wave its military nuclear project to support its extortion capabilities, both locally and internationally. So, is it enough to only clip Iran’s nails and will the true rescue of our nation from its catastrophes that were caused by the Persian danger and influence be fulfilled that way? The rescue of the Arab nation from Iranian arrogance will not be achieved, and the fiercest and most dangerous Iranian attack on Arabs will only be stopped by removing Persia’s claws and its cronies in the Arab and Gulf countries and the enemy Trojan horses that are waiting for the Iranian orders to jump all over us in non-stop operations as long as Iran remains able to cause deep wounds with its claws. So how will we remove the Persian claws to guarantee its inability to kuwait digest By Abdallah Al-Hadlaq hurt the Arab nation for many centuries, and maybe forever? The decisive and frank answer is that victory should start in Iraq by kicking Persia out, and that can be achieved by the Arab Iraqi resistance and its Sunni Kurds in Iraq’s Kurdistan, and then we move to the other choice, which is the destruction of one or more of Iran’s centers outside Iraq in Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, Gaza, West Bank, Bahrain, Qateef and others. If the Persian presence in Iraq is dealt a severe blow that weakens the morale of its traitors, and coincides with targeting its military and political centers outside Iraq, then Persia will not be able to fight two major battles at the same time, and in both cases the spearhead will be the Iraqi resistance with all its Arab, Kurd, Assyrian and Kaldonian factions. Launching an all-out war on the Persian influence centers in Iraq, Bahrain, Qateef, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and Yemen is the goal of the Arab National liberation movements, and their basic mission is to abort the Persian plan that is trying to uproot the Arab identity of Iraq and other Arab countries, especially now that Persia announced that the Emirati islands are forever Persian, Bahrain a Persian province and that the Arabian Gulf is also Persian! And that Persia is in control of the Arabian Gulf region. In the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (August 30, 2011) it was proven that the activities of Persia to enrich uranium did not stop but, rather, was accelerated in the Fordo and Parsheen facilities and that the quantity of enriched uranium increased from 145kg to 255kg, an increase of more than 75%, and diplomatic efforts that took place in April 2012 failed due to Iran’s continued stubbornness. Efforts by the council of the IAEA on December 9, 2012 also failed because of Iran’s stubbornness and they must again bring Iran before the Security Council. Whoever calls for including Persia in the talks to solve the Syrian problem is mistaken because Iran is part of the problem, not the solution, and because the fascist Zuradishti ruling regime in Tehran is the worst totalitarian regime in the world and supports the criminal Bashar Al-Asad in his annihilation of the Syrian people. Creating crises for political mileage D ear Sirs, <strong>Kuwait</strong> as a country still has to figure out the basic tenets of politics, which is evident in the way our national political arena has been functioning, which is probably one of the worst in the world. The lack of understanding that is rampant in our political work has resulted in many crisis and disasters, until we established a monopoly on them. Contrary to our sorry state of affairs, our neighboring countries, who are living under similar circumstances, but do not share our political beliefs have progressed way ahead of us, leaving behind a gap of at least four decades. This has happened despite the fact that till a few years back, these countries were lagging behind <strong>Kuwait</strong>. Do you feel that things have changed in our country? May be you are wrong? My dear, democracy is also about harboring a deep belief in opinions, but more importantly another person’s opinions. Another person’s opinion could be wrong but possibly right as well, and your opinion could be right, but possibly wrong too. Democracy is not about your personal opinions always being right and never wrong and considering others’ opinions always wrong and never right. Real democracy is also a state, where even though your opinion might differ from someone else’s you are still willing to pay the price for following that other person’s opinion, even if it means sacrificing your life. Politics, my dear, is the art of making the impossible possible. But <strong>Kuwait</strong>i politics has unfortunately transformed into something where politics mainly involves formulating political policies that either allow you to forgive and forget or are based on hatred and doubt, or defaming your opponents, even though they might be right and sometimes even if you are wrong. In the right kind of politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends. But in our case, our lawmakers are constantly bearing out their permanent enmities in public and on the way making new enemies. While in advanced countries, politics has been able to replace street-level discourses with advanced and parliamentary dialogue, the exact opposite has happened in <strong>Kuwait</strong>. kuwait digest By Sami Al Nisf Politics is a normally like a game which delights the audience because of its unpredictability. But in <strong>Kuwait</strong>, this game is already fixed in advance, and is run from beyond the playgrounds, is pre-planned in such a way that audience or rather the <strong>Kuwait</strong>i public are made to cry and are deserted in a way, which makes us a laughing stock in the eyes of our neighbors. As a result of our politicians practicing this particular brand of politics, we are always in the midst of some crisis or the oth- er, which is more often than not created to gain political mileage. Politicians feel proud to make every dramatic declaration they can about ending the crisis, which in turn creates a new one. But who decided that politics cannot be practiced without creating a crisis rather than solving it? In the right kind of politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends. But in our case, our lawmakers are constantly bearing out their permanent enmities in public and on the way making new enemies. While in advanced countries, politics has been able to replace street-level discourses with advanced and parliamentary dialogue, the exact opposite has happened in <strong>Kuwait</strong>. We discuss something as serious as amending the constitution with the frivolity of a street dialogue and legislate our laws without giving them due consideration. So please explain to me as to which political dictionary has helped you in developing your deductive powers. Note: How can a man who cuts his nose or gouges his eyes out to make his wife angry be considered wise? At the same time, where is the wisdom in threatening to rally on streets and spreading confusion against a matter that does not hurt the country or pose any threat to the common man? —Al-Anbaa TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 Controversial Thoughts “I Addressing unemployment H uman in my view By Alia Al-Hazeimi love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.” Khalil Gibran. It took me two hours of thinking after reading this quote, thoughts regarding God, religion and current events that are shaping the world we live in today. I found these elements are quite challenging, although they seem as our motives for doing goodness and spreading kindness in the world. Unfortunately the opposite is happening more often, many of these elements are being shaped into other “forms” or to be more specific, tools. Throughout centuries, religion and politics walked hand- in- hand and seemed to be inseparable, although there were many attempts to prove otherwise. But these attempts were caught between a rock and a hard place. In simple English, the definition of “religion” is ‘a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.’ And politics is ‘The activities associated with the governance of a country or area and the total complex of relations between people living in society’. If we blind fold these two terms, we would probably think they are both the same, they both aim to govern human affairs. The question that keeps crossing my mind is “was religion really a constitution? Therefore religious scriptures are politics?” and if it is yes then genocides and waging wars in the name of God is man-made? Let’s forget about ancient history and take the crusades and on wards as examples. Weren’t all these campaigns made under the banner of “God Wills It?” How many recent wars and carnages were made against people due to differences of beliefs? Yet at the end of the day all these events are documented and observed by political entities! Religion has a sanctified holy nature that is not “supposed” to be manipulated for achieving personal gains and most importantly should not be used to justify acts of violence. No religion in this world allows bloodshed and promotes war, and even if there is, it is what is known as acts of “retaliation”. However, is it really retaliation when all these conflicts are taking place in countries and parts of the world that know so little about anyone’s else religion. Is it a lack of knowledge that led to “retaliation-like” conflicts? Or could it be that high authorities internationally did not take the time to understand other religions and show mutual respect? Isn’t respect the most basic code after believing in God in all religions? Have we forgotten that “Peace” is a common ground for all religions and that we’re here to do good? Aren’t we obliged to respect each other’s religions without any kind of racism and hate? Aren’t we supposed to suppress all forms of aggression? After all, we are all human. Don’t you agree? kuwait digest By Riyadh Al-Adasani development is crucial for a nation’s development and advancement. Governments were put in place for the people, not the other way around. The government’s role is to take care of its citizens and to improve services. Our government, however, lacks vision and a workable plan for the future. It has certainly failed to give importance to developing the country’s most precious wealth, which are its human resources. Where is the government’s plan to tackle unemployment? The number of unemployed citizens in <strong>Kuwait</strong> has reached nearly 20,000 and continues to increase annually. In the meantime, the national labor law, which directs that 60 percent of staff members at banks and major companies must be <strong>Kuwait</strong>is, has not been effectively enforced. The government should’ve forced these firms to abide by the law before offering them with a multibillion stimulus package during the financial crisis. The government must have a clear vision that focuses on supporting its young citizens and building their future, because they make up 50 percent of our population today, and are the country’s future. Currently, there’s huge demand for state jobs, which is threatening the state’s budget and is expected to boost inflation, since <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s economy is completely dependent on oil prices. This situation has left <strong>Kuwait</strong>i youth facing a dark future, who have to sometimes wait for as long as two years before finding a job, while expatriates - with all due respect - have a job waiting for them even before they have left their home country. Being close to young citizens, I can see how they suffer on account of the government’s policies, especially those of the <strong>Kuwait</strong> Municipality, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. Their hopes for starting their own businesses fade away as a result of the government’s own crippling demands. Even the ‘e-government’ project is a mere slogan and far removed from the ground reality. In order to address the unemployment problem, the government must improve the private sector in order to provide job opportunities for <strong>Kuwait</strong>is. It should also enforce early retirement and create new jobs. The government must also allow young citizens to own industrial land and start businesses in the economic, handicraft, commercial and other fields. There’s no reason why the government cannot expand the current industrial land usage, because nearly 93 percent of <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s land area remains unutilized. Land monopolies tend to kill the ambitions of young citizens and they need the government’s support for their projects and for ensuring that all their work-related procedures are facilitated. This essential support will help young citizens on the one hand and benefit the state on the other. —- Al-Qabas
Ziad Bou Jaber, Director of Sales Marina Hotel and Rana Nagi, Account Manager, ASDAA brought a cake to the <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong> on the occasion of the newspaper’s anniversary. Flowers sent by Waleed Kanafani, President of the International Advertising Association, <strong>Kuwait</strong> Chapter to <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong>’ on the occasion of the newspaper’s 51st anniversary. Flowers were also received from Kanafani in his capacity of General Manager of MEC. local Yousef Khalid Al-Marzouq, Editor-in-Chief of Al- Anbaa newspaper sent flowers to the <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong> on the occasion of the newspaper’s 51st anniversary. Flowers sent by Nadine Al-Alami, Country Manager ASDAA in <strong>Kuwait</strong> on occasion of <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong>’ 51st anniversary. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong> celebrates 51st Anniversary Khadija Meftah, PR Executive at Movenpick Al-Bida’a Hotel (center) and Moustafa Sallam, Sales Manager Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al-Bida’a brought a cake on the occasion of <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong>’ 51st anniversary. Adnan Saad, Marketing Director, <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong> (right) received the gift on behalf of the <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong>. Rana Mneimenh, Director of Sales and Marketing Swiss-Bel <strong>Kuwait</strong> Plaza Hotel (right) and Katrina Jarlos PR and banquet executive at Swiss-Bel <strong>Kuwait</strong> Plaza Hotel are seen with Saad after gifting a cake to the newspaper. Marketing and PR Executive at Movenpick Free Zone wished <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong> a Happy Birthday with a cake. Saif Mohammed, General Manager Safir Hotel and Residences and Ahmed Al Saqer Marketing and Communications Executive wished <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong> a Happy Birthday with a cake.—Photos by Joseph Shagra Fares Hamed Al Majed, Director of Government Sales at the Sheraton Hotel has presented <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong> with a cake.
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