‘Occupation broke camel’s back’
‘Kuwait story with Arabism continues’
“OUR story as Kuwait mingled with Arabism actually began during the reign of Sheikh Mubarak AlKabir who with the then Amir of Al-Mohammara Sheikh Khazal and the former Iraqi prime minister Sayed Taleb Al-Naqeeb (from the City of Basra, Iraq) had joined the Arab nationalist current which was opposed to the then Turkish rule of the Arab countries,” columnist and Professor Dr Hesham AlAwadhi wrote for Al-Qabas daily. “During that time, there actually was no popular current representing Arabism in Kuwait like Syria, for instance, rather this current surfaced as a reaction by the ruling elite against the then domination that was imposed by some foreign powers on the Arab country.
“But following the discovery of oil, the spread of education, the entry of Iraqi newspapers into Kuwait and the establishment of the Egyptian Radio, Kuwait began to see some kind of popular awareness towards the issues and the problems of other Arab countries and the downfall of the Ottoman State following the World War I from 1914-1918) and the birth of the Arab Nationalistic State.
“This development resulted in the Arab ethnic identity to supersede the religious identity but it is needless to say the role of religion in public life had not completely vanished rather stood at second position in the public life.
“In this context, we say the military coup which occurred in Egypt in 1952 under the leadership of Jamal Abdulnasser constituted a significant push for Arab nationalism to such an extent the latter witnessed a significant promotion that was deemed as the first of its kind in its history, not only in Egypt, but even in the Arabian Gulf in particular.
“This development cannot be attributed to the distinguished charisma of Nasser and his media or the Egyptian Voice of the Arabs or Sawt al-Arab radio in particular, rather teachers who came to Kuwait from Egypt and Palestine.
“The teachers actually played their role in shaping the mentalities of the students during the 1950s and 1960s to such an extent the trend of Arabism transformed into an overwhelming current in Kuwait during that time and nobody in the country opposed this development.
“For his part, the then Amir of Kuwait the late Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem in 1958 submitted a proposal to the then British government expressing his desire to make Kuwait a member of the Arab League, but Britain had turned down this request and considered it as a victory for the Arabism of Nasser, which London did not support.
“In 1958 there was a coup in Iraq led by the then Brigadier Abdulkarim Qasim against the then Royal regime of Iraq. Kuwait appreciated the coup and an official Kuwaiti delegation paid a visit to Baghdad to congratulate Qasim.
“But in the press conference that was held by Qasim immediately after the withdrawal of the British troops and declaration of Kuwait’s independence in 1961 Qasim demanded the annexation of Kuwait to Iraq. The logic of Qasim actually constituted the first slap in the face of Kuwait coming from the Arab nationalism.
“However, the slap was not too painful, because the nationalistic achievements that were realized by Nasser in the name of Arab nationalism which Qasim had abused, actually played its role in easing the pain or rather the shock that was caused by Qasim.
“We know that Nasser had supported Kuwait and the Kuwaitis. Moreover, the Arab League which Kuwait had joined post independence deployed a joint Arab force from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Sudan and Tunisia to encounter Qasim’s threats against Kuwait.
“However, the regime of Qasim was toppled in 1963 in a bloody military coup during which Qasim and many of his senior aides were killed. In spite of the above, our story with Arabism, did not end here, rather the story had been just begun.
“In this context, we say, by the end of 1960, the State of Kuwait had witnessed the foundation of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED). This Fund gave many loans and grants to various Arab countries.
“Not just that, during the 1960s Kuwait saw the foundation of many clubs, newspapers and local political currents — all of them armed with the tendencies of Arabism.
“But in 1967, the Arab nation witnessed a military relapse represented by the Israeli occupation of the remaining part of Palestine and the defeat of Egypt and Syria by the Israeli forces followed by the death of president Jamal Abdulnasser — a victim of heart attack.
“These events constituted another slap in the face of Arab nationalism but this slap did not constitute the coup de maitre, because the Palestinian cause continued to represent ‘a thin thread’ that tied the Arabs to each other up to the end of the 1980s.
“But following Saddam Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait in 1990 in the name of Arab nationalism and this occupation was the straw that finally broke the back of the camel.
“Anyway, the story of Kuwait with Arabism has not come to an end, rather its modern story at the moment is filled with humanity and this can be highlighted in detail in the next article.”
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“The two terrorists who carried out suicide attacks against two churches in the Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria are actually Egyptians. However, the attacks were carried out in deference to orders that were issued by the leaders of the Islamic State (IS) or the so-called DAESH where the said operations fall within the latter criminal schemes,” columnist Abdulmohsen Al-Husseini wrote for Al-Shahed daily. “However, according to investigations the two terrorists traveled to Syria and joined DAESH and were trained to carry out terrorist operations. They returned to Egypt and eventually carried out the attacks and killed their compatriots.
“They actually killed Egyptians, destroyed their country and threatened the security and the stability of their entire homeland. In this case, we wonder, what grudge these terrorists had against their country and citizens.
“They actually targeted two churches when the Christians were praying to mark one of their festivals. These acts were carried out as if the two churches are not part and parcel of their country.
“As a matter of fact, these two terrorists carried out the operations just to sow seeds of grudge and hatred among the Egyptians ignoring the fact that right from the beginning of time the Egyptians have been living in peaceful coexistence. As a matter of fact we say this operation achieved nothing on the ground except the destruction and murder of the innocent people.
“It is needless to say Egypt shall remain the homeland for all Egyptians. This country, at the moment, is in an imperative need for security and stability to create an appropriate atmosphere for all Egyptians as well as for the State of Egypt to enable Cairo to achieve development.
“In other words, Egypt at the moment is in a dire need for coherence filled with the love and faith of the people so that the they can proudly say ‘Egypt is for all Egyptians’ and this means all Egyptians must cooperate to discover who have deviated from their road in their lust for money and for personal gains at the expense of the interest of Egypt and that of the Egyptians.
“The efforts of all Egyptians must actually focus on fighting the terrorists who are currently striving to destroy Egypt and sowing grudges and hatred among various components of the Egyptians.
“All Egyptians are invited to work hand in hand for the sake of building their country and bring the smiles back on the faces of the Egyptians to build their country and boost security and stability in every corner of their country and restore the past glory — the glory of the July 1952 Great Revolution.”
“What do you know about Mauritius? It is a small African country where the government provides free education to children from the primary level onwards as well as free transportation for students from their homes to their schools. Education is one of the free services that the state offers to its citizens there, and it is not a commodity for sale”, Prof Dr Abdulrahman
Al-Ahmad wrote for Al-Kuwaitiah daily. “Mauritius provides free health care facilities for all citizens including expensive cardiology surgeries. No one trades on the health of citizens. Regarding real-estate property, 90 percent of Mauritians live in their own houses. There are no families or homeless people complaining of hiked prices of lands and construction materials. The per capita income in Mauritius is $19,600 annually but they are not proud of receiving the highest per capita income in Africa.
“Mauritius is the richest African country even though it lacks natural resources. It has neither oil nor minerals, but it depends on human resources, followed by agriculture whereby they export agricultural products after manufacturing them. Tourism also brings in exceptional income to this country. The military expenditure is sidelined in the budget, as it is mainly aimed for providing health and education services.
“The President of Mauritius Dr Amina Ghareeb Faqeem is a scholar who holds PhD in Organic Chemistry. She has written more than 20 books and carried out eight international researches in biological science.
“In Mauritius, Muslims are the minority. Only 17 percent of the citizens are Muslims. Yet, the people chose a Muslim president because the society coexists in a peaceful and safe environment without any religious sedition.”
“We had earlier pointed out the bad conditions of the expressways in Kuwait and asked Ministry of Public Works to immediately launch repair works of these vital and important roads. We want to again turn the ministry’s attention to the potholes and pits in these vital roads which cause accidents and injuries to motorists”, Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for
Al-Sabah daily. “Newspapers and social media recently reported good news about the signing of two urgent contracts worth KD 8.560 million by Minister of Public Works Eng Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa for maintenance of state roads. The first contract aims at tackling the problem related to asphalt on the roads such as loose gravel and potholes. The second contract is for carrying out some urgent road maintenance activities.
“This news, which is an affirmation of the meeting of one of the most important demands of road users, come as a comfort for citizens and residents, who are eager to see improvement of the roads after the maintenance and reform activities are completed.
“The initiative taken by Ministry of Public Works to meet the demands of the public should be regarded as a good example because it is the ministry that is most concerned with the problems related to infrastructure and construction which affect large part of the lives of Kuwaiti citizens and residents.”
“The sectarian Syrian regime’s attack on Khan Shaikhoun, where chemical weapons were used including Sarin gas, was not accidental,” columnist
Sultan Al-Khalaf wrote for Al-Anba daily. “The criminal attack came after American President Donald Trump released a statement that deposing the Syrian regime is not a priority. The attack also happened a day after the suicide bombing by a young Kyrgyzstan man at Saint Petersburg railway station. It is clear that the attack on Khan Shaikhoun was the Syrian regime’s revenge in favor of its Russian ally.
“It was not the first time that the sectarian regime in Syria used chemical weapons against Syrians. The first time was in 2013 when hundreds were killed and the crime passed without any punishment so the criminal regime was quite sure it will not be punished in case it repeated the crime.
“The hesitation of major countries encouraged the Syrian regime and this resulted in increasing the suffering of the people. The excuse that the war is against DAESH and not against the Syrian regime is wrong. The danger posed by the Syrian regime is much more than that of DAESH. The Syrian regime forced millions to leave their homeland. It killed 400,000 persons using all sorts of weapons.
“However, it seems Donald Trump changed his opinion recently as he decided to direct American missiles towards the same airport that the Syrian regime used to carry out its crime against Khan Shaikhoun. The American air strike exposed the crimes of the Syrian regime in front of the whole world. It also unmasked the false claims of former American president Barack Obama who said it is not viable to deal with the Syrian issue militarily.
“Hopefully, the recent American air strike against the Syrian regime is the beginning of efforts to end the suffering of Syrians and the sectarian regime as well.”