New financial crisis looms

Kuwait well-placed to tackle chaos

“THE signs of a new global financial crisis are looming as a result of a series of economic measures taken by some countries, especially the United States in relation to their trade partnerships with a number of countries of the world,” columnist Fahd Dawood Al-Sabah wrote for Annahar daily.

“This has led to a drop in the exchange rates of these countries against the US dollar, and in turn has affected the currencies of the countries which are linked to those countries commercially, which means that a collapse similar to the game of dominoes follows and leads to a major storm and affects the savings of individuals in banks and moreover, many fragile economies of the world will be affected by that storm.

“In this regard, it is necessary to face the fact that the majority of Arabian Gulf economies depend on imports for up to 90 percent of the goods, while exports do not account for more than 10 percent, and perhaps the only commodity exported is oil and its derivatives.

“Consequently, it is very important to deal with caution to what is happening in the world now, especially in terms of the development of bold financial and economic protection plans to prevent the recurrence of the experience of 2008 and the resulting losses of large banks and international financial institutions, including Gulf and Kuwaiti banks.

“As a matter of fact, the GCC countries currently enjoy excellent relations with the majority of the world countries, and have built large trade partnerships with them.

“Such being the case, the GCC countries have the ability to play a distinctive role in preventing shocks through gradual transformation into a global treasury.

“In other words, these countries are qualified to becoming a global financial and trade center that shall mostly depend on the financial neutrality and protect the savings of its citizens through prudent fiscal policies aimed at attracting individual Gulf capitals deposited in some countries into the GCC countries, in addition to attracting other capital and increasing investments in the Gulf states.

“However, if this happened, then the GCC states will be in a position to overcome economic deflation which some of these countries are currently suffering from. On the other hand this prospective development shall push for the expansion of partnerships with different countries without being subjected to a factor of tension.

“In this regard, Kuwait seems to be qualified and ready to play a greater role for its significant dependence on the free economy and individual initiative, in addition to its strategic location geographically, and the flexibility it enjoys in attracting foreign investment, away from the complexes that may be placed by electoral interests against any openness policy, given the fact these complexes have frozen the local market and this has resulted in significant number of investors looking for safe havens to deposit their money and investment abroad.

“However,this can happen although these investors are currently suffering from sharp setbacks in the exchange rates in these so-called safe havens against the US dollar, which in turn is experiencing real crisis with a growing US public debt which has reached in the region of $21 trillion.”

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Al-Sabah

“After the end of the Second World War, two superpowers emerged in the world – the United States of America and its allies, or the so-called ‘capitalist camp’, and the Soviet Union and its allies, or the socalled ‘socialist’ or ‘communist camp’,” columnist and ambassador Yusuf Abdullah Al-Enezi wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“However, both sides sought to spread their influence throughout the world. The Soviet Union founded the Warsaw Pact and extended its influence to a number of countries in the world, including some Arab countries that adopted the socialist system while the United States of America founded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which included the European countries.

“In the wake of the expansion of socialist influence and the growing Arab nationalist tide in the Middle East region, we found that Britain which was strongly supported by the US, in 1955 established the Baghdad Alliance, which included Britain, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, but this alliance did not last long following the withdrawal of Iraq post the 1958 revolution.

“Now, with so much quality news about the United States desire to establish an ‘Arab NATO alliance’ in the Arab region in general and in the Gulf region in particular, will this alliance be limited to some Arab countries or will include other countries such as Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and perhaps Israel at a later time?

“However, I believe that there is preparation for such an alliance like the above or let us say a ‘peace agreement’ between the countries of the region, supported by some of the big powers.

“But the question is, how will this be done in the face of sharp differences between America and Iran, and between the US and Turkey, as well as the IsraeliPalestinian conflict?

“Based on my belief, that will find ourselves running a race against time to overcome these events simply because the Palestinian issue is now entering its final stages in order to see the establishment of the ‘State of Palestine’, which includes the West Bank and Gaza, and possibly parts of Jerusalem as the capital of the emerging state led under the joint leadership of Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

“In this context, we say it will not be surprising to see that the reconciliation between the two Palestinian organizations (Fatah and Hamas) will be realized through Israeli mediation.

“In the meantime, and in light of what has been circulated by some newspapers the prospective meeting between the US President Donald Trump and the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, may culminate an old alliance between America, Iran and Israel, which was founded during the regime of the Shah who was dubbed the ‘Gulf Policeman’.

“However, what we are witnessing at the moment is the re-domination of the Syrian regime on the ground and the weakness of the Syrian Free Army, the Syrian opposition and the other extremist factions in Syria in addition to the Turkish delegations to Washington.

“This calls on us to forecast that the Arab arena will be groomed for something new, particularly in the wake of the US shifting its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and to recognize this city as the eternal capital of ‘Hebrew Israel’ in a prelude for opening some Arab embassies in Jerusalem.

“Besides, there are some indications that mostly signify that the region shall witness abnormal changes in the near future which will be pregnant with events.

“We pray to Almighty Allah to protect the State of Kuwait, its leadership and its people from every devilish action.”

“Time runs so fast. The desolate nights have passed but the smile is still missing from the one who always painted it on our faces. He is the late artiste, the giant of Kuwaiti and Gulf art Abdul Hussein Abdul Redha,” columnist Dr Emad Bukhamseen wrote for Al Nahar daily.

“A year has passed since your departure Abu Adnan. We miss your presence on the screen; we miss your Ramadan series which we were used to seeing every year.

“Everyone on whose faces you painted a smile cried when you passed away. You left in our hearts a lump that is difficult to digest. I never imagined I would write an article in your tribute , and I did not imagine my pen would jot down words of sorrow to express to you the grief in my heart over your passing. However, such is the world that drifts between loss, departure and tears on the cheeks.”

“Application of the law on all with exception and confrontation of corruption through transparent methods is the aim of democratic and advanced countries. This means democracy represents one side of the coin and the rule of law the other side,” says Mishref Aqab from Al-Shahed daily.

“We have a wonderful Constitution in Kuwait that organizes the society. The Kuwaiti Constitution stipulates the separation of power among the three authorities in a way that prevents the overlapping of power. On the other hand, separation of power does not mean each of the three authorities work in isolation from others. The Constitution organizes the relations among them in a manner that allows each of them to monitor others and prevent any misuse of power from occurring.

“Philosopher Plato once said distributing power among different bodies prevents dictatorship. The Kuwaiti Constitution defines the duties and rights of citizens as well as their freedoms. According to Article 50 of the Kuwaiti Constitution, each of the three authorities is tasked with specific duties. It stresses the importance of coordination among them.

“Nowadays we hear calls for amendments to the Constitution of Kuwait. Actually there is nothing preventing the amendment of any country’s constitution. However, the problem is that our priorities differ from those of the advanced countries that precede us in the adoption of democracy. They aim at more freedoms, more transparency and more laws that enable them to question the executive authority. We uphold any calls for enhancing freedoms, transparency and preservation of the public funds.

“In another development, I will talk about the imposing of travel ban on citizens who suffer some financial troubles that prevent them from paying off pending installments. This action contradicts the right of citizens to travel freely, as guaranteed by the Kuwaiti Constitution. Does anyone really think a Kuwaiti citizen will immigrate and leave his homeland just because he is not able to pay the installments of a car or some commodities? There must be other procedures that can guarantee the right of the banks or companies without violating the Constitution.”

“In the recent years, especially after the Arab Spring, talks about the trend of people’s obedience to their ruler and the ban on them from opposing the ruler have increased,” Mubarak Fahad Al-Duwaila wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“The official media in most of the regional countries, especially in the Gulf region, Egypt and Syria, had prepared for this. We witnessed many scholars stressing on the need to ban anyone from opposing the ruler especially after the elected Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi was overthrown and things became stable for his successor.

“Some thought the Arab Spring was directed at the Gulf countries, so they started directing some hits in advance at specific political blocs, taking advantage of the events to portray them as devils. The sponsorship targeting social media has been toughened and public freedom has been minimized to unrecorded levels. We witnessed some Arab countries being transformed into large jails, and courts are piled up with lawsuits filed against prisoners of conscience.

“We saw huge numbers of people accused of joining banned groups and parties. We in the Gulf are not in need of such procedures at all due to the special conditions of the ruling regimes. We are familiar with the rule of dynasties and we believe this is important for the stability of the Gulf countries. It represents the strong fence against mess and devastation.

“Sadly, this fact was ignored by those who planned events in favor of the ruling dynasties and they recommended directing strong hits at such currents before they become stronger.

“Some might argue that, unless tough confrontation are taken against the demonstrations witnessed in Kuwait, things would reach dangerous levels. To them we say, their way of understanding is the reason for the problems that we are suffering today including the delay in implementation of developmental projects.

“We need to remind them that those peaceful marches (not demonstrations) had legitimate and declared requests that were focused on confronting widespread corruption. Those marches were conducted by a number of MPs who belonged to different political currents. After the violent confrontation of the peaceful marches, they resorted to organizing sit-ins with the aim of conveying their voice.

“We all remember the Monday Diwaniyas that went on from late 1989 to early 1990 during which Kuwait witnessed a number of sit-ins, calling for reform and activation of the Constitution of Kuwait. No one then said they aimed at taking over power.

“In conclusion, there is not a single Kuwaiti citizen who calls for changing the rule of the Sabah Family. There is not a single political bloc that aims for such a target. They only aim for reform, justice and implementation of law on all. This is applicable to all Gulf countries.

“Therefore, we hope the so-called scholars of the rulers to stop bidding in the issue of banning any opposition against the ruler simply because this is part of our basic principles of political work. All we want is to stress the need to differentiate between expressing opinions and opposing the ruler.

“Based on this deliberate mix, we are asked to keep quiet and say not a word to criticize the spread of corruption. We miss the privilege that distinguished us for a long time, which is the freedom of opinion, thanks to the “fatwas” that consider any criticism as disobedience of the ruler.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb