‘Need all countries to confront Western hegemony trying to impose their plans’
“TWO events that took place in the past week confirm a well-established truth among most of the peoples of the Third World, which is Western hypocrisy and double standards practiced by the West in dealing with all issues and peoples and exploiting them to achieve their economic, political, and strategic interests at the expense of the principles and values of other peoples,” columnist Oweid Al-Salili wrote for Al-Shahed daily.
“The first event is the position of the European Union regarding Kuwait’s implementation of the death sentence against those convicted of murder and attempting to extort Kuwait from the Schengen visa gate, in addition to the statement of the French Foreign Ministry, which is separate from the rest of the world in condemnation, as if Kuwait or other countries in the world are taking instructions and orders from the European Union or France.
“The attitudes of European countries with double standards were practiced in a crude manner towards Qatar, which is hosting the World Cup, with the emergence of extremist positions from France and Germany towards Doha, fabricating lies and arguments for workers’ rights to thwart the holding of the tournament in an Arab Muslim country.
“The West does not care about human rights, free- dom, or the rights of minorities. Rather, they use these as arguments to blackmail the countries and peoples of the world to achieve their interests.
“There is ample evidence of the lies of human rights claims, issues of minorities and freedom, especially what happened during the colonial era of violations and theft of people’s wealth to this day, not to mention the unforgivable crimes committed by the West or their support or turning a blind eye for their political and economic interests in Palestine, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya and the majority of the poor, and powerless African countries that are still under French hegemony to this day.
“The term European hypocrisy, which was launched by the President of the International Federation of Football, FIFA, Swiss Gianni Infantino on the eve of the start of the World Cup, confirms the annoyance and intolerance of many peace-loving Western citizens and those who support human rights against the double standards practiced by their governments towards the peoples of the Third World, which requires all the countries of the world to confront the Western hegemony that is trying to impose their agendas and plans to subjugate the countries of the world.”
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“We missed the opportunity, exactly, as a football striker, who is alone with the goalkeeper of the opposing team at his mercy, and hesitates to shoot while he is a few feet away from the goal for fear of missing and his team loses the match that would have qualified it for the championship finals,” columnist Asrar Jowhar Hayat.
“Exactly, this was our case with wasting the golden opportunity to benefit from the organization of the sister country of Qatar for the World Cup, a short distance from Kuwait, so we did not seize the opportunity and we wasted it even though the gains were many.
“Despite our pride in Qatar’s organization of the World Cup, we fell behind the Gulf ranks once again, and we were unable to keep pace with the Gulf preparations, whether in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Oman although the opportunity was ripe for us for economic and touristic benefits.
“The first step we failed to take was not to facilitate visas for the fans of the World Cup, although we are all fully aware of the huge number of fans who will attend this global event and most of them may be visitors to the region for the first time.
“Therefore the opportunity was good to give them a chance to visit Kuwait due to the geographical proximity to Qatar, however we refrained from that and we do not know what the government’s justifications are for that, as Gulf countries have facilitated entry for Haya card holders!
“Several sectors in the country missed the opportunity, perhaps the most important of which is the hotel sector. Today we hear about Gulf benefits, for example, reservations for most of the UAE hotels were full due to the entry of the World Cup fans, as is the case in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
“We also missed the opportunity for the entertainment sector, albeit poor in Kuwait, and the restaurants and cafes sector and all sectors of small projects, when we refused to facilitate the entry procedures for football fans.
“This missed opportunity can only be explained by the absence of coordination between the sectors of the state. It was a foremost reason for us to prepare for a global event like this, a while ago and this could have been done if those concerned with the economy and the ‘Interior’ had met to cooperate and study aspects of benefit, and legalize the matter to the satisfaction of both parties, but we chose the easiest solution by closing the country.
“Yes, we live in a closed country, and we will not be able to create economic and tourism opportunities unless we change our way of thinking and grant a margin of ease in issuing visas in order to ensure economic recovery, and ensure movement in the market, which can be reflected in important and vital sectors as well as an opportunity for our entrepreneurs.
“An opportunity like this, not to be repeated, was missed by Kuwait, and our Gulf brothers invested in it and we will occupy the spectator seats as usual, but we will still applaud and encourage our brothers in the Gulf, raise our hat to them, cheer for their dazzling success, and be proud of them.”
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“The first duty of the government, legislature, thinkers, preachers, media and civil society institutions is to build the capabilities of human beings. This, gentlemen, is the secret of progress or deterioration of any country throughout the world,” columnist Ahmad Baqer wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“Unfortunately, the Kuwaiti decline covers all fields such as sports, theater, economy, education, and the performance of the legislature and government. This decline is measured through clear, global and local indicators.
“In sports, it is indicated by the modest results. In the economy, the budget is still based on the unilateral oil revenue in a dysfunctional economic structure. When oil price fell during the eight lean years (2014-2022), we reached a deficit that devoured all the liquidity of the general reserve. When oil price rose last year, the authorities became preoccupied with spending, without understanding the lesson, so they now turned their attention to devouring the future generations fund established by the forefathers.
“Another indication is that there is no practical solution to the demographic imbalance, because this issue is related to the labor market and the imbalance is worsening due to the abundance of privileges offered to government workers.
“The excellent performance of the Saudi sports team cannot be viewed through the sports perspective only. We have repeatedly heard and seen news that progress and building human capabilities have become visible in all fields. Thus, dependence on oil has decreased there and they have budget surplus, while the governmental and private oil and manufacturing industries are standing on their own feet.”