‘Arabs drifting from main cause’
‘Spring’ leaves region in total disarray
“THE Arabs in the past were always concerned with the Palestinian cause, but now they seem to have slowly and steadily drifted away from their responsibility following the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions which has propped up many significant problems that currently grip the minds of the entire Arab world,” columnist Abdulmohsen Al-Husseini wrote for Al-Shahed daily Tuesday.
“As a matter of fact, these problems are invented by the West and International Zionism. In this context, we say the Arabs for more than fifty years have remained preoccupied with the Palestinian cause to such an extent they were dealing with this issue as their basic cause and were always striving to liberate the occupied Palestinian lands in general and the restoration of the City of Holy Jerusalem from the claws of the Israeli imperialism which has the support of the United States of America and Europe.
“The Palestinian cause has undergone several misfortunes following the convening of international conferences to find a solution for the Palestinians who are forced to leave their homeland — courtesy of Western imperialism and International Zionism.
“But it looks like the events in question have failed to achieve a fair solution for the Palestinians. Such being the case, the Western imperialism in collaboration with the International Zionism gave birth to the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions.
“In other words, this imperialism and the International Zionism have pushed some elements who in collaboration with the Western intelligence gave rise to popular revolutions in many Arab countries including Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Yemen.
“In the face of these revolutions, the Arabs reacted by organizing demonstrations in support although revolutions have achieved nothing in a country like Egypt. Rather Cairo ended up promoting anarchy and gave birth to terrorism.
“In this context, we refer to the Muslim Brotherhood Group which failed to rule Egypt largely due to its inability to manage the affairs of Egypt and offer a better solution to the problems.
“Such being the case, we found Egypt following the Jan 25 events in 2011 witnessed attacks on the people and destruction, torching State institutions including the Egyptian museum and looting its contents.
“To the contrary the Muslim Brotherhood Group when it came to power in Egypt, it released all the criminals from the Egyptian jails in a bid to destroy the State institutions including police stations.
“Such being the case, we wonder if such events can be classified as a popular revolution. Has anyone ever heard that during a popular revolution people are being attacked or the infrastructure of the country destroyed?
“The above actually happened in Egypt following the Jan 25 events, so much so even after the ouster from power, the elements of the Muslim Brotherhood Group are still involved in terrorist activities against both the Egyptian army and the police almost on a weekly basis.
“Surprisingly these elements call for the liberation of occupied Palestine and the liberation of Jerusalem in the midst of their accusations against former officials calling them ‘corrupt’.
“Speaking of Tunisia, people there revolted against the then ruling regime, but it is needless to say this revolution succeeded by virtue of an understanding that was shown by the leaders of this revolution in succumbing to the demands of the Tunisians and as a result we see stability all over Tunisia.
“With regard to Syria, President Bashar Al-Assad is still insisting to remain in office with the assistance of foreign powers which have only helped to kill the Syrians in the name of protecting Syria.
“However, these days, this country witnesses the killing of Syrians almost on a daily basis and the destruction of the country’s historical antiquities.
“For example, in Syria Assad sought the assistance of Russia, Iran and the Hezbollah of Lebanon to fight the Syrians and protecting his regime. This certainly is high treason because the real Syrians will not seek the help of foreigners to kill their brethren who are no less than their family members.
“Speaking of Yemen, this country witnessed the eruption of a popular revolution against the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, but the latter resorted to his former foe, the pro-Iran Houthis although throughout his fiveyear rule he fought them.
“Now the same Houthis are launching missiles and bombing the Saudi cities in an attempt to occupy these cities and eventually occupy both Makkah and Al-Madina Al-Munawara to realize Iranian dreams.
“Speaking of Libya, this country is actually in a state of overwhelming turmoil and killing among its components and this can be attributed to the collaboration which has been weaved between the West and International Zionism which has given birth to the Islamic State organization or the so-called ‘DAESH’ which is fighting the Arabs on behalf of Israel to force them to give up on their Palestinian cause.”
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“The world is waiting for the outcome of the battle for control of Mosul and this battle will be different from other battles which have occurred in Iraq in recent times,” columnist Suad Fahd Al-Moejel wrote for AlQabas daily Tuesday.
“The parties currently fighting the battle in Mosul agree on the importance of confronting the Islamic State (IS) or the so-called ‘DAESH’, but the problem rests actually in the Iraqi political, geographical and social factors, or rather the historical factors that shall make the battle for Mosul difficult and dangerous in view of such complications which are rife with the current scenario in that part of the world because according to reports some complications had surfaced during the battle for Fallujah, Ramadi, Tikrit and other Iraqi cities.
“The problem in the battle for Mosul rests in the fact that the latter shall reopen the wounds of political, nationalistic and ethnic nature because this issue has remained unsolved for decades. This problem will not end rather it is likely to foment more trouble and spread to all countries in the region whose demographic structures resemble Mosul.
“It is needless to say the issues of doctrinal minorities, religion and ethnicity represent one of the most sensitive and dangerous issues simultaneously currently facing the region, given the fact these issues foremost surfaced in Iraq, particularly in the wake of dismantling the Ottoman Empire, and later the British occupation of Iraq contributed to ingraining this problem followed by many other factors which have remained unsolved over the decades.
“These days, the entire region is grooming itself to deal with the first battle that will beset with frank confrontations that shall concentrate in handling the ethnic, doctrinal, religious and political implications.
“Moreover, the handling of such issues is likely to go beyond the traditional regional parties and stretch to other international parties. This was evident in the form of concern which has been shown by the US and France to the prospective outcome of the battle for Mosul.
“Based on the news reports, the parties which are currently taking part in the battle for Mosul battle are the Islamic State (IS) or the so-called ‘DAESH’, the Iraqi regular army, the Popular Mobilization forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga, the Nationalistic Mobilization forces, the Clannish Mobilization in addition to some foreign parties mostly represented by the US, Iran and Turkey.
“But with regard to the prospective clash among some of the relevant parties, the analysts expect this clash is likely to occur between the Kurds and the Arabs and between the Sunnis and the Shiites and may be KurdsKurds clash, but it is needless to say this prospective clash is likely to encourage some regional powers to intervene.
“However, the major problem will not only rest in this prospective clash, rather this will be represented in the management of Mosul following its liberation from the clutches of DAESH, particularly in light of the latter’s readiness to deal with various possibilities.
“Anyway, the circumstances currently surrounding the battle for Mosul and its outcome will definitely be not so easy, because of the clouds appearing on the horizon, clouds of the prospective confrontation among the relevant parties that is something inevitable and historical.
“But we hope all countries of the region will learn a lesson and keep in mind that the solution rests in the founding of the civilian government and not one based on dogmatic, ethnic and sectarian notions.”
“As we are heading for new parliamentary elections I wish all the candidates and all the voters are aware of the reasons contained in the Amiri Decree that led to the dissolution of the previous Parliament,” columnist Saleh Al-Shayji wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“No doubt the reasons for dissolution of the Parliament are very considerable. Although the dissolved Parliament is not responsible for it but it is true that the region is passing through a critical period with pockets of wars which can snowball into a big one in the midst of interests of major powers and it is obvious with their bargaining since no one is ready to agree on several issues.
“The Amiri Decree has cited the abovementioned dangers and then the decision has been taken to notify the candidates and the voters to be responsible when casting their ballots.
“The Amiri Decree is calling for attention to elect members to the Parliament who will focus on major issues and not waste time and effort on trivial issues.
“It is true that we had many previous Parliaments which did not promote the right attitude, rather the members played with the sentiments of the citizens to promote their personal agendas.
“But the conditions then were not as serious as they are today — today it is not the time to indulge in petty quarrels.”
“We live in the 21st century, the world has become a small village and most countries of the world have by far advanced in informational and technological fields and this is shown in the transactions carried out by the government agencies or individuals,” columnist Zayed Al-Zaid wrote for Annahar daily.
“However, we live in a totally different world, the world of ‘technological backwardness’ and our e-government system is just an illusion.
“To prove this we can cite so many examples. Take for example the statistics issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry which were published by a local daily.
“The statistics say the ministry has suddenly discovered that roughly 4,427 dead people receive ration food and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor has discovered dead people continue to receive social assistance.
“About a year ago, the Ministry of Education had discovered some former employees of the ministry who are dead are still on the ministry payroll.”
“The most important statements now are those issued by the candidates of the Parliament elections. One will find them attacking the executive authority and accusing it of inadequacy with the intention of sensitizing emotions. Surely they will win the hearts of some unsuspecting electorate,” Sa’ad Al-Me’tash wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“Many of these statements are only meant to tickle the emotions of the electorate for the sake of winning parliamentary seats. It is natural that the seat is very important considering the fact that it will boost the personality of the winners because they will be among the 50 Kuwaitis with exclusive opportunity that other citizens do not. It will open doors for them and change their social and financial lives.
“However, does this game work with everybody? I hope some candidates will not misconstrue the word ‘reach’ for ‘sheep’ used in preparing dinner for the electorate in their campaign offices. What we simply mean here is that the statements were issued towards embarking on reform and fighting corruption.
“Dear candidates, I wish to remind you of a scary word of Allah for those looking for the position of authority. It simply says that Paradise is reserved for those who do not seek high positions and indulge in corruption in the world. Only the pious and righteous will profit in the end.”
“We are back to facing the ballot boxes following the dissolution of the last Parliament,” Mishref Aqab wrote for Al-Shahed daily.
“We will soon have new elections, a new parliamentary term and a new government. We will soon hear speeches about the importance of enforcing the law, transparency, fighting corruption and punishing the corrupt people. We will hear about the preparation of shortterm, long-term, five-year and all other types of plans. We will listen to the governmental statements concerning removal of obstacles facing major projects and executing the latter in a proper manner.
“In fact, promises related to transparency, fighting corruption and implementing the law are nothing but just meaningless words. For example, we still do not know the names of those responsible for the scandal of medicines that cost the state more than $2 billion. The same happened with the scandal of the multi-million-dinar transfers. Where are the universities, the new airport and the metro that were promised? Years have passed but there has no real development in this regard.
“Strangely, some are still talking about transparency and need to impose the law. According to the international classification, Kuwait is the fifth richest country in the world. However, the current situation of the country does not match that reputation at all. We are frustrated about the plans that are just words on papers. What happened to the Free Trade Zone project? Unfortunately, we talk too much but work too less. We hear a lot about deadlines of 2020 and 2035 as though all of the desired development will be achieved by those years. The consequent governments cancelled the Ministry of Planning and then they brought it back. It is strange that all this is happening when both the government and Parliament are talking about applying the law.”