‘Is there really a revolution?’
‘Are Syrian stories facts or fables?’
“IS THERE really a revolution in Syria? Did the people really rise up against the president and his regime in a peaceful revolution that soon turned into a massive war with foreign parties entering the arena of conflict? Is there actually a destruction, displacement, death, apprehension and missing people that had resulted from this war which had lasted for more than seven years,” columnist and attorney Riyadh Al-Sane’ mused for Annahar daily.
“Or are we just victims of international media and its network of channels? Are we really naïve to this extent that we sympathize with the revolution that actually did not happen and death and displacement that did not exist, and missing people are on paper only because they still live with their families. What is exactly happening there? And where is the truth?
“It is needless to say that the facts are obvious and still the same because the images that the world sees and deals with day after day – images and screams from the elderly and children and bereaved families as they search from the rubble a frame containing the picture of a mother and the memory of the missing, looking for maimed bodies implicitly asking for their families and friends.
“The truth is not told by scraps of paper scattered in newspapers or in the incomplete analysis that deals with the listeners who are stupid, that they believe everything and fake stories to transform the same into a media illusion, such as the lie of Wall Street or a big-footed man living in the Himalayas.
“The truth is that the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the fact-finding committees of the Security Council, one of them headed by an Arab (Mohammad El-Baradei), the World Bank, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Amnesty International and a Russian satellite channel all agree that there is a fight, genocide, destruction and arrests in Syria.
“The entire world knows the horrible crimes committed by the Syrian regime against its people. In this context, we elucidate that the outcomes clarify the grounds. There are thousands of refugees in Europe, in camps and at border points of countries and others drowned in seas or those buried in mass graves.
“Given the above, we wonder if these people voluntarily left their homeland. In this connection, according to the World Bank (WB) the number of those killed in Syria since 2011 and so far exceeding 400,000 in addition to more than five million who have sought refuge and more than six million who have been displaced.
“Meanwhile, we found how the Syrian government who had lost its legitimacy is supported by Russia, carried out attacks using chemical weapons and random attacks against civilians and related infrastructure.
“Not only that this government has prevented humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians to such an extent it used hunger as a war tactic to force the Syrians to leave their country in violation of international law.
“Besides, this government still goes ahead and tortures, maltreats, arrests and abducts its opponents to such an extent the number of the victims of violence in Syria has exceeded 14,456,625 including martyrs, the missing, and refugees and displaced people.
“Apart from the above, we say more than 70 percent of the Syrians are negatively affected by the war in their country, while the number of families who have lost their breadwinners exceed one million.
“The Syrian regime arrests one citizen every four minutes, every 13 minutes the regime loses a citizen; every 15 minutes the regime kills a citizen. The regime kills 8 children every day and four citizens are tortured to death.
“It is needless to say that the above statistics are documented by international credible sources which actually refute all fabrications and lies which some people inherent to the Syrian revolution as well as to the blood of the martyrs who condemn both the regime simply because Syria became an arena for settling regional struggles because the regime is no longer capable of controlling the situations in the country.”
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“In eight years Syria has been subjected to all kinds of destruction, military, political, economic and psychological wars, deemed to be the first of its kind in modern history after the Second World War,” columnist Najem Abdullah wrote for Al-Shahed daily.
“Throughout the said war, Damascus alone faced all the schemes of catastrophic conspiracies on the table of the projects with the sole aim of tearing apart the Arab region.
“The crimes committed against Syria during eight bloody years have nothing to do with the slogans of democracy, freedom, social justice and the angelic slogans raised by the virtuous people who are paid with baskets of currency, weapons, and ideological hate speech until it is clear to those who were misled that the aim is to serve the destructive plots in the region.
“But those who are misguided as a result of the relevant slogans and speeches, had at last come to realize that what happened was just aimed at extending service to the destructive schemes targeting the region in addition to the various components of the Syrian community, its economic structure and the potentials of their people and eventually to hand over the entire country to terrorism and turmoil and prevent any pivot role for Syria to serve the Arab nation and interests of the region.
“However, it is Syria and its President Bashar AlAssad who have given the entire world a lesson in steadfastness and belief in the homeland and its role of foiling the conspiracies that may target the unity of the people of this homeland and its territories.
“This dear Arab land has incurred and born the backwardness of the nation and its retreat in terms of abiding by its mass role against the declared destructive projects in the Arab region and aimed at looting the wealth of the nation, its potentials in addition to the spread of terrorism in this part of the world with the sole purpose of hurling it back into the Stone Age as we see it happening in some Arab countries.”
“There are many indexes that measure the performance of governments and determine their place in the international list. They include political, economic, developmental and cultural aspects,” Dr Hassan
Abdullah Jowhar wrote for Aljarida daily. “Fraser Institute in Canada issues a report annually after following up and measuring five aspects that determine a strong and independent national economy. These five aspects are governmental commercial procedures, freedom of commercial exchange, currency policy, amount of public expenditure and judicial coverage for protection of intellectual properties.
“According to the report, Kuwait is in 95th place among all countries in the world and the lowest among Gulf countries. Strangely, Kuwait was in 35th position on the same list three years back. As individuals, we may not notice the negative consequences of such a change in position as long as we find salaries in our bank accounts before the end of the month.
“Nevertheless, such international classifications especially those prepared and issued by independent and trustworthy bodies play an important role in directing major investors and international companies in dealing with different countries around the world. Reports of this kind serves as a catalyst for competition among the governments in terms of improving the services provided to their people and enhancing their respect and place among other countries.
“Furthermore, these reports draw attention to shortcomings and highlight the weakness of economic development and financial strategies of various countries. They actually ring the alarm of danger for concerned governments to deal with the shortcomings.
“Perhaps the Fraser Index is not among the most reliable resources in terms of identifying the stability of a state economy but its report agrees with many other indexes in terms of the fact that Kuwait suffers from deterioration in a number of aspects. These reports highlight the lack of transparency and spread of corruption as well as lack of proper visions.
“The reports come concurrently with other reports that highlight the deterioration of public freedoms, depression among people and their worry about the future. Fraser report is not part of the opposition and it was not prepared by spies or traitors. It actually is based on official data issued by the government. People who work on Fraser reports have no electoral or political ambitions. The report does not aim at forcing the government to resign or the National Assembly to be dissolved, due to which we have to respect and consider these reports and studies.”
“The GCC countries have remained politically stable, because most stable countries are ruled by a king or an emir – as observed in the Gulf countries, as well as the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway,” columnist
Ahmad Al-Dawas wrote for Al Seyassah daily. “Some Arabs have bet on the fall of GCC regimes but we thank God their dream never came to pass and the countries of those who wished us evil rather fell apart, although we do not wish them any harm.
“Taking a deep dive into history, we observe the Arab world was plagued by the voices of Arab political theorists who were calling for socialism after 1950. A popular Arab regime emerged to give Arabs a false impression of the benefits of socialism and revolution and the act of overthrowing kings wherever they were found. This ignited the ouster of kings in the Arab world – King Farouk of Egypt and the monarchy in Iraq by Iraqi army led by Abdul Karim Qasim, as well as monarchies in Yemen and Libya.
“The Communists overthrew King Sihanouk of Cambodia in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. In Nepal, the king continued to rule a stable country but he was overthrown based on popular demands of the opposition. Even so, the end result was the collapse of state and government. Afghanistan, which was ruled by a king, became a republic and mishandled its conditions while the days of the Shah were considered the best period for Iranians.
“With this quick review of history, we as Gulf citizens must praise the Lord each day and night for His blessings – in view of the fact that we have not been subjected to the suppression of political system. We cannot appreciate our Gulf countries unless we compare the situation of peoples from other countries around us who have been deprived of a decent living.”
“The citizen often wonders when it comes to the statements of the government. At times there is a talk about austerity and later you hear about financial status being fine, and then you hear about the need for privatization and you hear that privatization will happen after some years,” columnist Mishref Eqab wrote for Al-Shahid daily.
“Privatization and development issues are old. They keep on reappearing whenever the oil price falls. When the oil price is high, you neither hear about privatization nor taxes. Nonetheless, oil remains the only source of income for this country. It is unfortunate that since the discovery of oil up to this day, there has not been proper planning to set up other income generating alternatives.
“Proper planning would have prevented even the idea of privatization of the oil sector given that it is the vein of this country, let alone radical changes in the government’s concept, philosophy and work in a bid to have a culture which utilizes resources in an ideal and optimum manner for all manpower resources and infrastructure.
“Advanced countries in the world usually privatize companies which incur losses and the objective of privatization is to improve such companies’ financial status. This begs the question: Will the Privatization Law solve the unemployment problem in the country?
“There is fear that the call for privatization is just a ploy to sell and benefit from State properties in favor of a small group of people at the expense of the majority and public wealth.”
“I do not know how a person who did not strive or study could accept work or salary without exerting any effort. I mean those who hold forged university degrees and others who only look after their own interests, while damaging the interests of the country and its people,” columnist Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.
“Fraud is the most dangerous thing for a nation that is in the process of advancement and progress. The most dangerous type of fraud is intellectual fraud which simply means illegally acquiring social or intellectual status. We see it as the most dangerous type of fraud as it is harmful and deadly for the society.
“Therefore, the Council of Ministers did its best when it insisted and continues to insist on holding forgers accountable to serve as a lesson for others who might be planning to engage in such a heinous and ugly act. It is a deterrent for others.
“Yes, we need to tighten control to protect the Kuwaiti society. We must enact laws that enable the executive authority to punish forgers and fraudsters, including those behind the false certificates. We hope our wise government will close its doors in front of manipulators.”