Why is the American hostility to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
“THERE is an American policy that is difficult to understand, especially practiced by successive democratic administrations, which is reflected in what the famous Democratic Senator Patrick said: ‘Being hostile to the United States is an uncomfortable issue and it may be profitable’. As for being a friend and historical ally of America, it is a very dangerous issue,” columnist Sami Abdullatif Al-Nisf wrote for Annahar daily.
“The senator issued the statement after America suddenly surprised its allies by abandoning them without warning over the past decades.
“Similarly, it is difficult to understand the repetition of the hostile attitudes of the current US administration to the sister Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which had the first credit in the Middle East for not falling into the hands of communism during the fifties and sixties and the defeat of the Soviet Union after its invasion of Afghanistan in the late seventies until the end of the eighties.
“Then the kingdom harnessed its land, water and sky to the international coalition forces to defeat the tyrant Saddam and liberate Kuwait and prevent him from controlling the sources of oil production in the world.
“There is not a single justification for the current US administration to detract from its historical ally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with hostility under the pretext of flimsy excuses.
“In the matter of oil, the Kingdom’s oil production represents only about 10% of global production, and decisions in OPEC Plus are determined by 23 countries and not one country, the Kingdom.
“Reducing production has a strategic interest for the global economy and for the consuming countries. Oil is a depleted wealth and an increase in production will mean the depletion of oil fields and stocks sooner or later, which will raise its price at the time to numbers that may cause the destruction and bankruptcy of many countries in the world.”
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“When the citizen and the expatriate alike cry out about the disruption of road projects for months or even years to exacerbate the traffic crisis, there must be a defect and weakness in the supervision and there are some people who benefit from the crisis,” columnist Walid Ibrahim Al-Ahmad wrote for Al-Rai daily.
“When our upside-down situation continues with weak sewage networks, and our streets and manholes expose us every year during winter rains, there must be some defect and inaction without punishment.
“A big thank you... We say it to the Audit Bureau, which revealed in its last report the negligence of the Ministry of Works, revealed the secret and showed its weakness of oversight and its failure to punish contractors for the delay in completing their projects, after the Bureau examined and reviewed the ministry’s data contained in its final accounts for fiscal 2021-2022.
“The State Audit Bureau stated that the Ministry had suffered a lot from its inaction in the implementation of many projects and was still suffering from delays in completing its projects, according to the timetable stipulated in the contract and that the ministry had slackened in imposing delay fines due for each day of delay.
“The Bureau indicated that there are shortcomings in the preparation of some studies and the lack of coordination required with the concerned authorities, which resulted in the failure to submit 8 contracts for the establishment and completion of construction projects in several tenders, despite the completion of the design work for some of them more than five years ago.
“The Bureau also pointed out that there were shortcomings in the construction, completion and maintenance contracts of roads and bridges in South Surra and the vicinity of Jaber Hospital, as well as the intersections of the next part of the Seventh Ring Road, at a value of 66.680 million dinars, however the ministry did not impose fines for delay.
“The ministry also failed to apply the fine for delaying the contract for the construction, completion and maintenance of the 5, 6 ring roads, amounting to 7.472 million dinars, and other problems in the construction of the passenger building (T2) at Kuwait International Airport and many more.
“The report stated that the ministry had refunded a delay fine to one of the contractors in the amount of 3.685 million dinars by a court ruling.
“The problem here is that this report is not the first of its kind that condemns the ministry. Rather, go back to the Bureau’s report two years ago (October 2020) and you will find it talking about the same failure, inaction, the same neglect and losses.
“We ask now, who will hold the ministry accountable for the waste and manipulation of the state budget and the lack of responsibility? Who is holding its employees accountable and imprisoning the beneficiaries and the influential among them?
“The disastrous report revealed damage and deterioration of the ministry’s equipment and pumps, and the outdated good ones for more than 30 years, and their operation rate ranges between zero and 45 percent, which indicates that the ministry is not prepared for the rainy season.
“The summary is ‘Rejoice while you get drowned’ this season. The ball is now in the court of the National Assembly and before it is in the government house.”
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“The budgets session last Tuesday proceeded comfortably and reassuringly for the Kuwaiti people, as the current National Assembly proved that its primary goal is to protect public money,” columnist Yousif Hajji wrote for Annahar daily.
“It is keen on carefully discussing and reviewing the budget. It considers various comments and notes of the State Audit Bureau prior to approving the budgets, not like in the past when billions were approved within minutes.
“People also find comfort with the government, which did not object to the opinion of the Assembly. It expressed willingness to sit with the parliamentary Budgets Committee to discuss all comments and amend them if necessary. This is a positive indication of the extent of cooperation between the two authorities in the next stage. The citizen wishes for real achievement through cooperation between the two authorities.
“Last Tuesday’s session proved that the Assembly believes in prioritizing the protection of public money, despite the fact that the presented State budget contained some populist financial advantages like the encashment of unused leave days and reward for frontliners.
“The Assembly has put in place solutions for the government to grant these benefits as part of the supplementary budget, that is, if the government really wants to give privileges to the deserving.
“The Assembly rejected the idea of including these privileges in the State budget items, because its main concern is protection of public money even at the expense of electoral popularity. This was the first test for the current Assembly and it passed the test with distinction.”
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“The most profitable type of investment is human investment, as humans are the future of the nation and society,” columnist Dr Hind Al-Choumar wrote for Anba daily.
“Some countries have no natural resources, but they invest in their people, preparing them from early childhood in terms of health, education and all other fields until the investment becomes profitable after a certain period time. In the absence of attention and preparation of people, this element of development and human power are out of the equation.
“The preparation and development of human capital must be done through well-defined programs that governments are committed to implement as part of their work plan. They must be prepared to be held accountable for this plan. The provision of human capital is vital in overcoming economic challenges.”