‘Polls will not alter Iraq chaos’
‘Iran intervention remains threat’
“IRAQ is preparing for the upcoming parliamentary elections and as such the party blocs who will contest these elections are preparing their lists,” columnist Dr Abdulmohsen Hamada wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“In this context, the secretary-general of Assaeb Ahl Al-Haq (the bands of the people of right) which represent one of the Popular Mobilization militia supported by Iran, Qais Al-Khaza’ali, was quoted as saying ‘The number of seats that his coalition will win in the coming elections will make it one of the influential coalitions that will choose the prime minister and take all the basic decisions that are of interest to the state.’
“Apart from the above Al-Khaza’ali said the ‘defect’ in the country’s political process rests in the nature of the current parliamentary ‘quota’ system.
“However, we hope this doesn’t mean that decisions will be imposed on the state without paying concern to the other components of the Iraqis. Due to the difficult circumstances experienced by Iraq, Sunni and Kurdish political forces demanded postponing the elections for six months so that the Sunni cities liberated from the terrorist organization would be able to provide the necessary services and remove the rubble of the battles and bodies buried under the rubble, so that thousands of displaced people could return to their destroyed towns and villages and then they can vote in a comfortable election atmosphere.
“However, the Shiite forces refused to postpone the elections on the grounds that the postponement is contrary to the Iraqi constitution. For its part, the US Embassy in Baghdad confirmed that the US government supports the holding of elections on time in May next in line with the Iraqi constitution.
“Amid these circumstances, however, the leader of Bader Organization which represents one of the “Popular Mobilization” organizations, Hadi Al-Ameri, has shown growing enthusiasm to market himself as a candidate for the post of prime minister of Iraq for the next session.
“While Iraq was preparing for the elections and the lists are formed and the list of alliances emerges and began to show national voices calling for the unity of Iraq and rescue the country from political Islam and eventually transfer it under the national umbrella, which includes all components of the Iraqi people and maintain its unity.
“At this point we saw how the Iranian spiritual leader sent his special adviser Dr Ali Akbar Velayati to Baghdad to deliver a speech at the Constituent Conference of the Iraqi Society for Islamic Unity, organized by the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad.
“In his speech Velayati attacked America and said that Islam began to regain its position with the Islamic awakening adopted by Imam Khomeini and this would be enough to defeat American projects. He stressed that the Islamic awakening will not allow the arrival of liberals and communists to Parliament, stressing that the Islamic awakening is the solution.
“Despite the fact that the chances of the victory of the Communists and liberals in the upcoming Iraqi elections are slim, the Iranian intervention in this direct picture is contrary to the international norms that the Iranian government does not seem to have taken into account.
“There was no statement from the Iraqi government to denounce this Iranian intervention. So many observers believe that the results of the next election will not change anything in terms of the political chaos in Iraq. Iran’s influence will remain so that the Iraqi people will feel the danger of intervention and confront it.
“However, for us, we are positive that the Shiites of Iraq are not less enthusiastic in terms of encountering the Iranian influence if they start feeling the danger of such an intervention against the unity of the Iraqi territories and people.
“We pray to Almighty Allah to bless the people of Iraq and enlighten its way in order to rescue its state from the current ordeal.”
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“Today, the scene in Syria is more blackened and the modern history will record that this country at the moment is caught in the quagmire of direct and indirect international struggle,” columnist Zayed Al-Zaid wrote for Annahar daily.
“About seven years ago this period represented the age of the Syrian revolution that was declared in 2011 and since then the international powers armed to the teeth started finding access to Syria and this preceded by the intervention of the armed sectarian militias in the affairs of that country.
“These days, it is Syria which is currently targeted by the Israeli missiles and raids and the latter just recently carried out its fiercest aggression on Syria following the downing of the Israeli warplane by Syrian troops.
“As a matter of fact, what is currently taking place in Syria is a ramified spider web which is linked to wide network of interests. In other words, all parties are talking about fighting of the Islamic State (IS) or the so-called ‘DAESH’. This happens, while Israel is busy flexing its muscles to show its might on the ground and its ability to reach any objective with absolute American support in the name of fighting terrorism and the Iranian danger.
“Under these ramifications in general, there will be no loser, except one party which has no choice, but to deal with this reality — the Syrians — who are victims of every military operation which is talking about its security, safety and real interest although the real outcomes of these operations are always targeting its life and constitutes a threat to kill it or to get displaced.
“As a matter of fact, today the need seems to be imperative for all of the international powers to hasten to end the existing struggles in Syria which are motivated by special interest and open the door for political negotiations instead of transforming the Syrian arena into a cake to be divided among the struggling parties by supporting different components at the expense of achieving some interests which have nothing to do with the humanity.
“It is rather motivated only by politics of interests that shall bear no fruit except bring ordeals against their owners in future and younger generation that knows nothing but will only get the stench of killing and displacement from their homes and as such these generations will eventually not accept to see an inch of their land being looted.”
“Population and labor market restructuring has been among the demands of national democratic elements and forces for decades, due to its importance in our national economy. However, the government’s policies work on the opposite direction in the interest of forces influencing the economy,” columnist Dr Badar Al-Daihaani wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“Despite the encouragement and support rendered to the private sector in terms of employing national manpower through which 65 percent of the salary is paid by the government to nationals in the private sector, foreign labor force still dominates the sector.
“If we add visa traders who significantly contribute to population imbalance especially in the labor market, this means such imbalance will persist and even get worse. Nonetheless, despite the clear-cut reasons and solutions, the racist far-rightists are attempting to divert attention by spreading hateful racist speech against expatriates. This attitude only brings about negative results.
“They put the blame on expatriates for even air pollution, as if the expatriates are the ones in charge of setting up policies in this country. It is unfortunate that such rhetoric is getting positive vibes in the society which continues to ignore the actual cause of their problems.
“They are oblivious to the fact that the racist far-right rhetoric they are propagating is the same with the one which has become the norm in western countries as it preoccupies the public, away from the economic failures of their capitalist countries where wealth is in the hands of a few people and the majority is suffering.”
“When following the issue related to the gang that manipulated the results of expatriates’ medical tests, I had mixed feelings of pride and sorrow at the same time,” Lieutenant General Eng Tareq Hamada wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“I felt proud when the gang was arrested by Ministry of Interior where I had the honor of working. I felt proud when securitymen proved their ability to work hard with dedication. They bear many serious responsibilities that should be taken up by other ministries. Ministry of Interior bears the consequences of the lack of interest and negligence of other ministries.
“What made me feel sorry is the statement of an official in Ministry of Health who openly said the gang managed to pass transactions of expatriates who suffer from dangerous diseases. In other words, the gang managed to infiltrate Ministry of Health to take advantage of the lack of monitoring.
“The presence of expatriates who suffer from serious diseases that can spread to others, and the renewal of their residencies are contributing to the export of diseases to us for free.
“It is sad that Ministry of Health woke up too late to declare that it repeated medical tests for four expatriates and the results proved they suffer from hepatitis. It also declared about discovering other cases after conducting medical checkups.
“Without the vigilance of Criminal Investigation Department at Ministry of Interior, this issue would not have been discovered. We use this opportunity to thank Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah, Lieutenant General Mahmoud Al-Dousari and Major General Khalid Al-Deen for the wonderful work.
“However, the issue still exists. It is necessary to establish a process for conducting medical tests which will bring an end to this problem. We ask the Ministry of Health to start replacing expatriate employees with Kuwaiti employees at the medical test centers for expatriate labor and ministry’s laboratories.”
“One day during the ancient times, a youth went to a large mosque to study lessons on religious sciences from a sheikh (cleric). On the first day, he was robbed and he was very angry about what had happened. He found it strange as even scholars have become thieves,” Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.
“When a cleric heard him, he told him that scholars are not thieves but thieves are wearing robes of scholars.
“We also should not accuse politicians in general. If we see a politician stealing, it does not mean all politicians are thieves. Unfortunately, some thieves became politicians because they realized this field helps them obtain funds easily.
“When we see on social media in terms of accusations against politicians is a sad matter. Many Twitter users have been accusing politicians of stealing without any evidences to back their accusations.”