‘Fraternity vital to end crisis’
‘Gulf House’ unity at stake
“THE current GCC/Qatar crisis is in fact an extension of the so-called crisis of the ‘withdrawal of ambassadors’ which happened in 2014,” columnist Nasser Khamees Al-Mutairi wrote for Annahar daily Monday. “However, although it looks like the ‘crisis of the withdrawal of ambassadors’ had apparently ended from a diplomatic point of view, it looks like the crisis had left behind some residue in the form of no-confidence among the concerned Gulf capitals -- Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha. Moreover, the relations between these countries had witnessed repeated crisis at bilateral levels and among all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states.
“As a matter of fact, the GCC political reality shows the differences among the member States were engulfed in official and protocol statements highlighting slow and impeded joint GCC action. In other words, the GCC/GCC differences mostly capped the GCC limited cooperative steps or rather bilateral differences among some of the member States which actually impeded their joint cooperation projects.
“In this context, we cite the differences among some of the GCC member States which dominated the entire political scenario in the region to such an extent these States were busy looking for mediations to settle the bilateral differences.
“Such being the case, let us criticize ourselves as GCC nationals and look back at our march as a cooperation council and calculate the gains we have made on the ground throughout the past years.
“In other words, we have to check if this march has helped the peoples of the member States or tensions and differences among member States have kept them away from each other, particularly since we know that these tensions and differences continue to surface from time to time.
“However, here we would like to shed light on both the agreement among the member States and differences among them. Take for example, the member States had agreed upon to unify the customs tariff but no common market was founded among them.
“Apart from the above, we have observed how the communiqués issued during the GCC summits concentrate on unity among member States and their joint political action, but in reality we see the differences among these States when it comes to dealing with various political issues which still prevail, particularly in terms of political dealings with Iran, the United States of America and Iraq as regional and international powers that have their own agenda but carried out at the expense of the security and future of the region.
“In other words, we found that the GCC countries dealt with the above regional and international powers through bilateral political visions and not through collective action capable of portraying the GCC member States as one political bloc.
“Speaking of the GCC Unified Manpower Project two member states had withdrawn from this project even before the latter saw the daylight. Not just that these states are still at loggerheads over the seat of the proposed GCC Central Bank. This is in addition to the disagreement about the unified GCC currency.
“Let us also talk about another complicated issue related to the differences among the GCC member States over the demarcation of the borders among them, given the fact this issue remains still suspended and has helped complicate the atmosphere during many GCC summits.
“Not only that, some of the member states were reluctant to refer the files of border problem to the International Court of Justice in The Hague but unfortunately the GCC countries have so far failed to solve their differences over the border issues in accordance with a specific GCC mechanism and this reflects a state of conflict among some of them.
“Given the above, we infer that even if the diplomatic efforts are exerted to contain the current GCC/ Qatar crisis, it is needless to say the effects of this crisis shall put a stain on the wall of the ‘Gulf House’.
“Consequently, we suggest that any efforts that might be exerted to achieve the GCC reconciliation should not focus only on rebuilding the relations among the relevant countries, rather this reconciliation should be based on frank talks, mutual and fraternal understanding in addition to the estimation of the joint interests among these countries and eventually realize that the GCC political and security reality is based on the basis of confidence and goodwill.”
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“The Arab Gulf countries are currently passing through unseen ‘political detour’,” columnist Tariq
Boresli wrote for Al-Anba daily Monday. “However, this ‘detour’ looks like a difference over some political viewpoints, but in reality such a difference irrespective of its nature and dimension will not negatively affect the robust and historical relations among the peoples of the Arab Gulf countries -- the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States.
“I am not addressing the GCC as a political organization rather the peoples of the GCC countries stretched from North to South Arabian Gulf and from the Arabian Gulf to Red Sea and the Arabian Sea where the historical ties among these peoples can be dated back to hundreds of years based on one race, one language and deep-rooted history to such an extent many political observers are in agreement that all peoples in this part of the world are looking forward for a confederation representing the political dream for these people and this dream will be translated into a reality sooner or later.
“I am writing this article today amid differences in viewpoints among some of the GCC member States. However, although these differences existed in the past, by virtue of grace of Almighty Allah, the differences used to vanish, hence, we expect even the current differences to vanish sooner or later.
“Consequently, we presume the educated GCC people should use their efforts to achieve the targeted convergence among the concerned member States in a prelude to achieve the targeted confederation among all GCC member States and I see that this dream will be realized soon irrespective of the differences in political viewpoints and not political conflicts.
“Last Wednesday, HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad received the Amir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. However, although this visit was of protocol in nature, everybody knows that the visit will play a significant role in terms of viewpoints among the concerned member States.
“In this context, we cite a poem that was written by the late Dr Ghazi Al-Qusaibi during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait under the title, ‘How the Gulf will be a Gulf without Kuwait’.
“The content of this poem is applicable to all GCC member States. In other words, how the Gulf will be a Gulf without the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or Qatar or the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Oman, or the Kingdom of Bahrain.” “We fear having to wake up to a day similar to the Iraqi invasion which occurred on Aug 2, 1990 and not finding the country in its normal state,” Hassan AlEssa wrote for Aljarida daily. “We fear seeing soldiers and military vehicles everywhere, and people feeling confused and not knowing what happened. All we remember was the funny political slogans uttered by officials, claiming that the crisis was just temporary. It is funny because, according to them, whatever happened before the Iraqi invasion in terms of Saddam’s threat to Kuwait was just a temporary emergency crisis.
“How much worried would we be if anything similar to what happened on Aug 2, 1990 had happened, if we are aware of, or read or identified what is going on around us? I am not taking about political or military invasion but the financial and economic invasion.
“The storm this time did not happen suddenly. There were warnings, cautions and analyses being published and broadcasted for three years now. Despite that, there are people who think everything is going to be fine. No one complained until now as the politicians are not using the word ‘It’s a temporary crisis,’ but are instead reassuring people by saying, ‘We will not touch the pockets of citizens.’
“Who are these citizens who will not be negatively affected by the economic crisis? Do they have rich inheritances? If yes, this crisis will definitely not touch their pockets directly. However, they will be affected when the ability to purchase will reduce for most employees.”
“All Kuwaiti citizens were delighted when Kuwait won temporary membership in the United Nations’ Security Council 2018/2019,” Dr Hind Al-Shoumar wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“This victory is the result of the diplomatic and political efforts with the support of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who gave Kuwaiti diplomacy a shiny face from the time he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Since then the image of Kuwait has become linked to holding on to international legitimacy and playing an effective role in solving issues and ending disputes.
“The winning of Kuwait reveals the consideration that the world shows for Kuwait’s participation in solving the regional issues and its keenness for peace and human rights. There is no doubt that the diplomatic delegation to the United Nations led by Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi is capable of fulfilling what the world needs from Kuwait during the coming period.
“Kuwait has always been active in solving the problems of the region as well as the world. Kuwait is known for its wise politics and positive neutralism. This was the reason why the world respects and trusts the Kuwaiti attempts to mediate in settling disputes. Kuwait has never practiced aggression against any other country. Kuwait has always supported peace and compromise, and was always against aggression and trouble making.
“Congratulations to everyone who participated in this achievement that adds extra responsibility on the Kuwaiti diplomacy and politics.”
“Researchers have done so much in interpreting the Islamic concepts concerning words of Allah Almighty, which are clearly meant to teach certain objectives in the entire Quran. These objectives are proven by the Sunna of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that explains certain details in the noble Quran,” Ezzah Al-Ghamdi wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“Purification of minds, straightening and building them are among the major concepts of Islamic religion. Islam is wide and resilient in nature, making it appropriate for every time and place. We can see that all prohibitions and grave sins contained in the Quran are clear. They include drinking alcohol, fornication, gambling and so on. They are meant to actualize five necessities in life such as protection of religion, life, brain, progeny, and wealth, in addition to honor.
“These are regarded as basic necessities that Islamic Sharia intends to actualize through abidance by the tenets of Islam. Allah did not forget to mention another type of prohibition in the Quran, which serves as a conduit pipe for corruption. This is known as ‘Cheating.’ The word cheating is not mentioned clearly but a synonym is used in form of ‘Deficient Measurement.’
“A member of the National Assembly has said the purpose of the assembly is to protect the interests of citizens and ensure that government approves of relevant laws that improve the life of citizens,” columnist
Yusuf Hajji wrote for Al-Nahar daily. “Another MP wondered why some budgets were approved after irregularities and excesses had been detected in that regard. Sadly, the statements were made by MPs. What about ordinary citizens who are rendered powerless in the decision-making process in terms of concessions, increments, grants and rent allowance that go a long way to affect the standard of living.
“The current assembly will try to prevent any decision that harms the interest of citizens while monitoring the activities of government even if they’re unable to prevent imposition of additional service charges on services.”
“The political situations in the region and the global atmosphere seem like childish games that nobody understands except crazy people. There are no friends, as all are enemies to one another,” Dr Hassan Abbas wrote for Al-Rai daily.
“Fellow Arabs, do not be dazzled by political statements, because they are all lies upon lies. Iran does not love Al-Assad, Russia does not fancy Al-Baath, Kuwait is not fond of Americans, Washington does not have any feelings for Saudi Arabia, and Egypt is not dancing to the tunes of liberalism. All those things we are hearing do not have any place in the 21st century diplomacy.
“An American woman once asked me some questions — “Why do you Muslims hate the Jews? Why do you wage war against Israel?” My Christian employee asked me another question a while ago – “What is the problem between Shiites and Sunnis?”
“What those questions have in common is that religion appears to be the sacrificial lamb in the diplomatic scene.”