‘Time now for own decisions’

‘Powers back own interests’

“HOW can we these days understand the US foreign policy in the Gulf region while what we observe is contradictions and instability,” columnist and attorney

mused for daily. “We feel there is no stable US policy, rather what we see are a set of contradictory and changing pattern of policies on a daily basis and to support our statement we cite the contradiction between the US President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, where the former has not hesitated to support the Saudi leadership in terms of the latter’s recent measures against Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah following the launching of a long range ballistic missile by the Houthis on Riyadh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has considered this development as a war waged on the Kingdom by Hezbollah and Iran in their capacity as supporters to the Houthis in Yemen.

“Such being the case, this may mean at the outset an upcoming war, but we don’t know where its place in the Arab region will be. In other words, we have yet to know whether this war will take place in Lebanon or in the Gulf region. However, for his part, the US Secretary of State has issued a statement in which he called on all the relevant parties to respect the independence of Lebanon and refrain from waging wars on this country on behalf of some foreign parties.

“Anyway, we would like just to remind the relevant parties that for Arabs, Lebanon shall remain a better place for such wars, because this country has always been the ‘ideal manhole’ or drainage for Arab and regional conflicts, and the sad testimony is the civil war in that country which lasted from 1975 up to 1990.

“Given the above, how can one rely on the contradictory US policies which are currently adopted by the administration? Can these policies be trusted in terms of drawing a map for the future, particularly since these policies look bleak following the collapse of the oil prices and the destruction of the change movement that occurred in the framework of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’?

“However, this dazzling contradiction in the attitude of the strongest superpower in the world, is likely to shed some light on the reality of the US policies and before that on the European policies as well as on destruction that was caused by such policies in the region as a result of which we must not put all our money on ‘the American horse’.

“In this context, we elucidate that the US policies have committed a lot of mistakes and the peoples of the region paid an exorbitant price. As a matter of fact, we don’t need to talk about the history of the US policies in question that is full of conspiracies.

“In this connection, we cite how these policies aborted the movement of Dr Mohammad Mussaddaq, the former Iranian prime minister at the beginning of the 1950s against the then regime of the Shah.

“And how these policies turned their back on the US ally Shah and then started supporting the Jihadists in Afghanistan through the Gulf and Arab funds and the mujahedeen against the then Soviet Union in a prelude to pave the way for the ‘Jihadist power’ or the so-called ‘Arab Afghans’ to get the latter transformed into ‘alQaeda network’, ‘the Islamic State’ and so through the US-Gulf incubators.

“Not just that, the policies in question also supported Saddam Hussein during his adventure in the ‘First Gulf War’, then this policy later on got rid of him through lies labeled his regime saying it possess weapons of mass destruction.

“This happened after Saddam was consumed and the American purpose was achieved, given the fact the Americans following their invasion of Iraq had left the doors of Baghdad open for foreign interventions and terrorism. This happened in the wake of the failure by the occupation management because the country was abandoned to its fate.

“Anyway, history calls on us to take our decisions slowly and steadily without making haste or getting involved in political adventures which we don’t know where they will guide us.

“We say the above, although we know for sure that we concede that the US is the big and significant ally for our regimes post World War II. Moreover, were it not for the US we would not have dreamt of the liberation of Kuwait, but this does not mean we have to close our eyes to all the decisions taken by this superpower.”

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Al-Essa

“In May 1948 the foundation of the Jewish state in the Arab Palestine was declared and our Arab nation lived the worse of its cases. Moreover, the Arab countries in the wake of this event had resorted to the exchange of accusations and as such the sadness found its way to all Arabs,” columnist wrote for

daily. “In September 1961, the then unity between Egypt and Syria collapsed and it resulted in the two parties (Syria and Egypt) exchanging accusations.

“However, after six years the Arabs were defeated by Israel in the war of 1967 where the then Arab revolutionary powers had started exchanging accusations. Moreover, a state of polarization surfaced in the Arab world and the charges of treasons surfaced.

“Now, let us imagine if the above gross events occurred during our current time — the time of Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and the Satellite TV Channels. However, what is currently happening in our region, can be deemed less than the above big tragedies which had not negatively affected the determination of the men and unlike what is currently taking place in our region, hence, we wonder what is the difference between yesterday and today.

“As a matter of fact, the difference rests in the fact that every Arab citizen at the moment has a transmitter through which he/she practices his/her hobby in analyses, thinking, the leveling of accusations and sometimes leveling insults against others.

“In this context, we cite how a difference among some neighboring countries or clash among some leaders or the resignation of prime minister and how one of these issues can be transformed into the ‘mother of issues’ and how the exchange of accusations began through the media that upset the public and shook the very economic foundations in addition to generalizing the state of pessimism.

“Anyway, thank God, we are living in good condition although those who are living around us are currently facing dangers — it is a natural danger because nature of life is full of dangers and challenges, but it is needless to say the volume of the difficulties depends on how you can see them, but certainly the people who are looking forward to development and evolution, will not allow the difficulties to define their future.”

“Starting from today (Nov 15, 2017), the Ministry of the Interior has announced the activation of Article 207 of the Traffic Law according to which those who speak on the phone while driving without the use of headphones and those who don’t wear the seat belts (driving and the passenger in the front seat) will be punished and the vehicle will be impounded for not more than two months and the same punishment will be meted out to motor bikers if they don’t wear the crash helmet while driving,” columnist wrote for

daily. “In fact I am one of those people that were waiting for the Ministry of Interior to apply this law. Why? Because I am frankly aware of the disregard by some people, especially people who speak on the phone while driving. This is not only negligence and weakness on the part of those who commit these violations but a constant threat to the lives of others.

“These and other laws have been enacted to achieve their first objective: to protect the lives of citizens and expatriates, laws that benefit you personally, benefit the entire community, and spread comfort and tranquility to roads and vehicles plying on these roads.

“Frankly, I hope the law will punish mobile phone users while driving and expose the lives of others to imminent danger.”

“We have yet to find an answer to what led to the current situation in Lebanon. She was a pure jewel, which we used to call ‘Switzerland of the East’ about half a century ago,” wrote for

daily. “Lebanon used to be the lung and passion of the East amid religious tolerance in behavior and approach. It was an oasis of kindness and peace, and God’s paradise on earth. We ate from the pureness of Lebanon, drank from its health and enjoyed the voice of Feyrouz and danced to the rhythm of the Rahbanis. Everything in Lebanon was beautiful, from humans to stone. That was the Lebanon we used to know.

“Sadly, she is completely different today after becoming another Afghanistan that produced Taleban from the womb of Pakistan and adopted Al-Qaeda, which hoisted the flag of resistance against Russian aggression. AlQaeda crossed the border later to perpetrate destruction and wreaked havoc in the country. They planted and exported narcotics, and took cover inside the tunnels of Kandahar.”

“At the initial stage of implementing the Constitution, democracy nearly failed, because the maiden Parliament of 1963-1967 completed its term but not without crisis that nearly derailed the democratic process at the beginning,” Professor wrote for

daily. “This happened during several sessions within November and December of 1964 and through January 1965. What was the crisis? It was about flashes of clear confrontation and dispute associated with inauguration of the third plenary term on Oct 27, 1964. Late Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem recited the popular poem, which says (Issues handed over to good people are done properly but bad people will take over when the good ones leave the scene).

“The most significant aspect of the poem could be the manner in which the late Amir recited it. He repeated the poem while pointing the finger toward those present to show that crisis was looming in the horizon. That was exactly the situation, because Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem accepted resignation of the Cabinet from the Prime Minister on Dec 1.

“Questions were postponed until the new Cabinet was formed, while the following session was not held on Dec 8 due to lack of quorum. The new Cabinet was unveiled on Dec 15 yet some lawmakers expressed objection to the structure, citing Article 131 of the Constitution that prohibits combination of ministerial appointment with business. Following many disagreements, almost half of the lawmakers resigned after the Prime Minister decided to swear the minister on oath by force, and frustration set in.”

“Our brothers in the Ministry of Interior do not leave anything for us to describe their condition, whereas the society is bearing the effect of their negligence in various aspects such as crimes, citizenship fraud, lack of traffic solutions and many others,” columnist

wrote for daily. “Despite all these, from time to time an official appears to nauseate the public with strange statements that show how detached the ministry is from the public. You remember the statement, ‘Traffic is a blessing’, which is a philosophical statement with deep meaning that reflects surrender of the interior officials to the traffic jam in the country. The statement has become a national joke on various occasions. We keep on wondering how an official can come out and utter such a statement.

“The most recent of such catch phrases is related to the lack of parking areas in the country as a lieutenant general dismissed such claims stating, ‘We need to organize ourselves and stop being lazy.’ Also, in relation to students at Kuwait University, ‘There are enough parking spots but the students are lazy and they do not want to walk.’

“Nonetheless, we salute the police officers who devote themselves in every aspect of their work stations. Given that officials seem unable to solve challenges on the ground, they should at least spare us from nauseating statements.”

“The shape of the new Cabinet is still not clear, and indications are rife that most of the nominations being peddled are based on political desires. Until the final announcement, we are unlikely to have any idea about more than 60 percent of the nominations,”

wrote for daily. “The Cabinet could return with the majority of its members, and this possible scenario will be a comprehensive reshuffle, while drastic change is likely to be around 50 percent. In cases, keen onlookers, forecasters and speculators will be surprised — regardless of the statement I made in a previous article suggesting the changes would be almost total and shocking to everybody.

“Studying the defects of the current National Assembly, which is heterogeneous in nature and unstable, the majority of lawmakers suffer from excessive allergy in dealing with issues that affect the public during grilling.

“In some cases of grilling, it is difficult to recognize pro and anti government lawmakers and the best way to deal with such unstable Parliament is to return all former ministers without exception.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb