‘Will Putin unite Arabs, end bloodshed?’

Queries over Gorbachev intentions

“WHEN the president of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on a project to modernize both the thought process and the strategic policy of the Soviet Union, nobody had expected his efforts would dismantle the entire Eastern Bloc and divide the Soviet Union, put the Communist thought on the backburner and the country would lose its status as the great power that can confront the Western Camp,” columnist Ali AlBaddah wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“This happened at lightning speed and surprisingly no one had forecast that this would mean the collapse of the Soviet era sooner than later.

“In spite of the above, what was built in over more than 70 years was dismantled at a lightning speed during which senior capitalists and t Zionists were racing to have access to Moscow to assist the government to shift from the socialist system to free market economy.

“In other words, both the investors and consultants, most of them the Jews from New York made a beeline to dominate and loot the wealth of the Soviet Union, which had now become the Russian Federation after the vast areas and important personalities parted way with the former regime.

“But this surprise and the Western invasion resulted in the Russian leaders losing vision for a short while until they finally realized that they were on the verge of losing their country to Western invaders and that it was time to work seriously to restore the sovereignty of the nation.

“In this connection, we look at how these leaders shouldered their responsibilities to restore parity and strengthen the Russian Federation and build new coalitions with the many republics that had detached from the former Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation managed to haul itself back into the global balance.

“It is true that the former Eastern Bloc mostly comprised of East European countries did not return to the Russian Federation, but it is needless to say all the nuclear weapons were returned to the Federation and the latter, had restored its position as a great power with ideological changes and this resulted in the Russian Federation emerge as a rival for other great powers in dealing with many issues and had succeeded in maintaining its independence and effectiveness to such an extent Russia has been recognized as one of the big powers by all countries in the world.

“But the question here is: what Gorbachev meant for Arabs? What was his strategy, objective and thinking when he called for change to keep abreast with the same? Did he plan to boost the Arab affairs and help them realize the objectives of the nation including dignity and building a developed nation?

“And had the Gorbachev of Arabs, realized that the great powers don’t respect injustice, persecution, corruption and manipulation of the future of the peoples?

“And had he realized as the Russian President Vladimir Putin has that the capitulation to the West will not provide him the much-needed safety and keep in mind that the objectives of Zionism are aimed at imposing its domination and realizing its dreams represented by the founding of the Jewish homeland, given the fact this homeland no longer will stretch from the Nile River to Euphrates, rather from the Arabian Gulf to the Nile River, motivated by their conviction that their domination of the wealth of the Arab Peninsula, will enable them to rule the world? Such being the case, we wonder if the Gorbachev of the Arabs will realize the above.

“Meanwhile, we look at Arab blood which is currently being spilled in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Libya and this coincides with the depletion of the Arab wealth through encouragement and supporting those who are striving to weaken and humiliate us and ensure that the rest of the people of the world make us a laughing stock.

“In other words, the Gorbachev of the Arabs is still behaving arrogantly and unilaterally as if the millions of Arabs are not concerned about his actions – the millions of the Arabs whose leaders are not dealing with them with respect but has left the issue in the hands of ‘the Gorbachev’ to decide the fate of the nation in a shameful manner that was addressed to him by some people. Such being the case, we are perplexed because we do not see our destination or the direction in which we are supposed to move.

“However, the Russian Federation leader has managed in a short while to restore everything that Moscow had lost but here we wonder if the Arab Putin will put an end to the ‘recess of poverty’ before it deteriorates further and restore its glory and build the future for the Arabs.

“Anyway, the Russian Putin, had depended on his people to restore what the country had lost through the adventures of Gorbachev, and as such we wonder if we will witness the appearance of an Arab Putin who is capable of stopping what had been planned by the Gorbachev of the Arabs.

“The Putin of Russia has actually unified the nation and mobilized the people behind his leadership. Given this fact, we wonder if the Arab Putin will stop the current manipulations and restore cohesion among the Arabs to prevent more bloodshed and restore its might.”

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Al-Baddah

“Many people believe that Russia currently adopts the same Communist thought of the former Soviet Union, but reality shows something else and I had earlier referred to the same through many articles over the nature of life and the political regime in the Russian Federation,” columnist, director-general and the editor-inchief of Sawt (Voice) Al-Arab Satellite TV Channel and the former chairman of the Britain-based Arab Organization for Human Rights, Dr. Hesham Al-Diwan wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“Practically, Russia is not Communist and/or is not subjected to the domination of any political party and I believe that the Russian President Vladimir Putin is a man of an independent thought although he was one of the senior officials in the Russian secret service during the Communist era.

“This man irrespective of his iron fist and concentration on the military aspect in terms of human resources and armament power can be seen as a successful president in his country although the Russian ruble has a weak standing against the US dollar and the Russian economy is doldrums.

“However, despite the above, the Russian economy can be seen as one the best not only at regional level but also may be internationally because in the world rankings the economy of Moscow stands at fourth or fifth but is no longer classified as one of the rising economies or one that is suffering due to foreign debt unlike before.

“In this context, we say the latest special reports show the Russian economy has contained all ups and downs and is now seen as a national integrated economy – the first of its kind in the world which is free of any internal and external debts.

“But the problem rests in the international classification which shows that the financial controlling institutions which classify and evaluate the financial positions of the countries worldwide emanate from capitalistic markets and systems where the economies that are classified as communist are not linked to these markets although these economies have relinquished the previous system which is in disagreement with the capitalistic system in everything and are not subjected to the latter’s system and rules on one hand and the Western controlling apparatuses on the other and are in turn void of any data that may holding a comparison between the previous regime and the current one.

“But certainly, Russia during the past twenty years has responded to many dictates which had damaged its economy.

“Russia has now been transformed by as much as twenty percent from one of the former communist or socialist states of the Warsaw Alliance or the former Soviet Union whose political and economic affairs were managed by Moscow into the capitalist system after being liberated from Communism in its attempts to obtain assistance that was pledged by the US or the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“However, the most significant thing in this connection is based on my personal viewpoint supported by international testimony which emphasizes that the economy of both Russia and China shall constitute the biggest of its kind in the history, particularly since China also represents at the moment the biggest retail market in the world with a size exceeding $6.5 trillion exceeding that of the US although the latter has been monopolizing this issue for the past half a century with a sum exceeding $1 trillion.”

“I read with interest the series of special papers of President Jamal Abdel Nasser, which are prepared and published by his daughter Dr Huda Jamal Abdel Nasser, consisting of five volumes, the first part is shorter, and contains more than 300 pages, the second has 610 pages, the third 620 pages, the fourth in 965, and the fifth is still in the pipeline,” columnist, former envoy of the State of Kuwait to the United Nations and former SecretaryGeneral of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdullah Bishara wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“I will refer in this article to the fourth part, which contains all the documents of Abdel Nasser during the Egyptian-Syrian unity. This is the most important chapter in the history of Egypt amidst other dangerous chapters, all its events, and the speech of President Jamal Abdel Nasser and part of the special correspondence between him and Nikita Khrushchev – a Soviet statesman who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964.

“These messages ignited the relations between the two countries and escalated into intellectual and philosophical rivalry between Arab nationalism and communist thought, and reflected on the situation of the communists in Egypt and in Syria, and reached the limit of accusing Khrushchev that he was deliberately alienating the revolutionary national elements such as Khaled Al Azem and others in Syria, writers and philosophers in Egypt.

“And there have been mutual accusations about Iraq and who presents the Iraqi revolutionary security to the dangers, and more than this indicates dialogues through correspondence to Khrushchev disregard for the Egyptian president, who describes him as an adventurer does not depend on the discipline in its course, and the responses of President Abdel Nasser on this matter strongly, and these messages of up to twenty pages each, and four between the two parties.

“It was a crisis in which the Russian translator, said he did not understand what the Egyptian President Abdel Nasser was saying, but what he translated was what Abdel Nasser meant. Khrushchev said everything was delivered on tapes, supervised by specialists, in contrast to the Egyptian side, who spoke without experts who prepare the minutes.

“President Abdel Nasser replied that after every meeting with Khrushchev he met with his team, and provided them with a full report on the talks, and a comparison between the Russian version and the Egyptian version, and it showed the difference was in the translation.

“Whatever the mistakes of the translation, the messages conveyed the anger of each side to the accusations of the other, in which criticism, reproach and words about the lack of recognition of the Soviet Union, and the Egyptian claim that Egypt fought alone in 1956, and long words of those who intervene in Iraq, and how to co-exist between Arab countries and the conservative Arab states, as Khrushchev pointed out that Nasser was defending the nature of the relations between the Arab countries, which are based on heritage, culture, religion and interdependence, whatever the differences among the regimes, they have their own mechanisms. There is no contradiction between socialist revolutionary Egypt and the ideologies of Arab states.”

“In 2006, a member of the National Assembly adopted the issue of dropping loans. He tried hard to mobilize the largest number of supporters for his proposal. He then promised the masses that the loans will be dropped and many citizens resorted to borrowing because of his promise. In the end, the proposal failed because it did not get the required number of supporters to approve it, let alone the government’s opposition to proposals which add burdens to the State budget,” columnist Abdulaziz Al-Fadhli wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“Objection to the proposal was based on several factors like the fatwas of some eminent clerics such as Sheikh Ajil al-Nashmi and Sheikh Nazem Al-Mesbah, as well as the Fatwa Department at the Ministry of Awqaf. They said writing off loans does not ensure justice among citizens in terms of using public money as borrowers will benefit while depriving those who did not borrow. Some cited the negative economic impact of the proposal on banks and the country in general.

“Others argued the proposal will make people get used to borrowing, owing to the possibility that the State will cancel their loans in the coming years. These and other factors still exist, prompting some people to stand against the current call for dropping loans.

“On the other hand, some people think that it is the responsibility of the State and members of the National Assembly to alleviate the suffering of borrowers, some of whom were referred to the prosecution, arrested or banned from traveling. They believe the State has abundant wealth as it provides assistance and support to many countries, asserting Kuwaitis deserve such assistance.

“Both sides have been able to support their positions as their arguments are valid, but it is sad to witness the unjustified attack and inappropriate words uttered against those opposing the proposal.

“Many members of the National Assembly have reservations over the proposal, but they do not want to announce their position for fear of the irrational and sometimes morally wrong attacks by those who are in favor of writing off loans.

“I want to ask those pushing for writing off loans and I hope they will answer in a transparent manner: Is it acceptable for the State to write off the loans of those who borrowed money to buy luxury villas, invest in deposits with higher returns, travel every month or set up a business? I hope you will accept the other point of view without being upset.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb