‘Skepticism over new coalition’

Loosely-knit alliance to complicate anti-terror fight

“THE decision of establishing ‘the military alliance to counter terrorism’ has been announced all of a sudden in spite of the fact that there were no prior arrangements or coordination meetings among foreign ministers of the Arab and Muslim countries,” columnist, Professor at Kuwait University’s Political Science Department and former MP

wrote for Al-Jaridah Tuesday.

“We have not seen any coordination under the umbrella of a global or a regional system such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in spite of the danger of terrorism which is the biggest challenge of our time which needs to be addressed firmly with all out efforts at all levels.

“This new decision is a replica of the sudden decisions that have appeared and disappeared during the past two years without real and tangible or systematic continuity which neither brought results on the ground nor set clear goals and strategies or applicable mechanisms of action.

“This new military alliance does not differ from the declaration of the Joint Arab Army, which died before it was born a year ago. Add to this the international coalition ‘the Storm of Decisiveness in Yemen’, which ended with the involvement of Saudi Arabia and the UAE alone in the battlefield after the rest of the other ten countries which cheered and blessed and officially announced their participation but were satisfied with recruiting fighters from the Blackwater company from Colombia, Chile and El Salvador, not to mention the Gulf Union project which was announced and then canceled within 48 hours at the Kuwait summit.

“A quick look at the structure of the declared military alliance is enough to know its future. The pillars of this alliance such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt cannot be homogeneous intellectually or politically, let alone they compete for the regional leadership.

“More than two-thirds of the members of this alliance are poor countries or virtually non-existent and not able to add any value to this project and may even be burdensome and costly because they might need huge financial assistance that cannot be afforded due to the decline in oil prices, and the state of austerity adopted by the GCC countries and Pakistan quickly disavowed of this alliance as it did in the Storm of Decisiveness operation.

“Suspicions revolve around some states in this new alliance that they support terrorist organizations and this is revealed by the decision, departments and intelligence institutions in world capitals, including the United States, France, Germany and Britain.

“How can we coordinate with them to fight their terrorist allies and worst of all, the definition of terrorism and terrorist organizations is a controversial issue among members of the alliance itself.

“Countries such as Egypt and the UAE, Saudi Arabia classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization while the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey represents the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Any successful global alliance may not require general consensus among the world countries or the number of participating countries, but the agreement of the great powers is the magic key, so only two coalitions have succeeded in the modern era, the first in the World War Two against Hitler, and the other in the war led by the US jointly with Russia to liberate Kuwait, and many alliances were only equations for the balance of power and the continuation of regional and global conflicts which have yielded no results.

“The war on terrorist groups has military dimension without doubt, but the roots of these groups are embedded in intellectual and cultural beliefs and religious extremism that require confrontation with courage.

“Most of the new coalition countries are responsible for the fight against this terrorism not on the battlefield, but in the minds of young people and the pretenders including the elders of religion.”

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“The phenomenon of terrorism is growing at the international level and possibly the Islamic State or the socalled DAESH organization is the most famous in this criminal area despite the presence of other organizations not less murderous, but media activity for DAESH at the global level has given a bad image for the Arab region and tarnished the image of Muslims,” columnist wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been always fighting terrorism both internally and possibly the documentary film ‘How did Saudi Arabia face terrorism’, which was aired by Al Arabiya News Channel reveals the Saudi efforts and sacrifices in the fight against the big scourge of terrorism.

“At the international level, we all remember warnings of the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz about a year ago against the danger of DAESH and his demand for international cooperation to fight it and also his call to establish the international alliance to fight DAESH in Iraq in which Saudi Arabia is still participating with air missions.

“We were not surprised when Saudi Arabia announced the establishment of a military alliance of 34 Islamic states, and Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Storm of Decisiveness shall be the headquarters of this new alliance, which aims to fight terrorism militarily, politically and intellectually.

“The launch of this alliance of Islamic nature to fight terrorism – terrorism that is falsely carried out in the name of Islam -- will remove any confusion from the minds of others about Islam, and this is exactly what was confirmed by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in his statement that the Islamic alliance is a message to those who try to link terrorism with Islam.

“The founders of the new military alliance confirm that it is not an alliance, neither Sunni nor Shiite but Islamic and that the door is open to all Muslim countries, regardless of its doctrine, as it will fight this terrorism, whether Sunni or Shiite.

“The Islamic Alliance member states will contribute according to their means and capabilities, and the Alliance will only intervene militarily at the request of an Islamic state that suffers from the risk of terrorism.

“The Islamic military alliance acts will abide by the Charter of the United Nations, and will coordinate with the international forces that are fighting terrorism.

“The Saudi foreign minister did not rule out that Saudi Arabia and some Gulf states sending special forces to Syria to fight DAESH, and perhaps the mission of the Islamic military alliance would develop later to include the liberated areas from DAESH in Syria in coordination with the moderate Syrian opposition to ensure that these shall not be controlled by the forces of the Syrian regime or be occupied by other extremist elements.

“In conclusion, the Western forces are unreliable in the fight against DAESH because without the ground war they will not eliminate DAESH. The Islamic alliance is a realistic solution and more credible and widely accepted by most parties.”

“It is strange that Great Britain just now discovered the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood organization. It is just now Prime Minister David Cameron and his Foreign Office spokeswoman announced the danger of the Brotherhood, while forgetting that the Arab Spring and the accompanying agreements between the organization and United States concerning the new Middle East map,” columnist, former MP and General Manager of Scope Television

wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“It is clearly known that the Muslim Brotherhood played a big role in drawing the map of the new Middle East on the basis that they are a strong ally of the United States as well as for appeasing Iran and Israel, and never announced even on a single day a status of hostility with any of them.

“Most importantly all bloody organizations, including the al-Qaeda and the so-called DAESH came out from the womb of the Muslim Brotherhood organization and most dangerous people are members of this organization which was recently discovered by Britain.

“This discovery came late while all the European security studies indicate the involvement of the Brotherhood in more than one incident, including the recent bombings in Europe.

“The most important questions: ‘What measures will be taken by Great Britain against the organization after it discovered its danger? Was this organization allowed to threaten our security and our stability because it carries out the US Arab Spring project against us? Has the Brotherhood become dangerous while Europe is plagued with such danger?”

“Since the start of the 21st century, two contradicting phenomena have been crystallizing. One is the enhancement of civilization dimensions and human co-existence through the concept of globalization,” columnist Prof

wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“Through this phenomenon, we have seen the international community signing various pacts to bring the world together and unite its objectives towards improving the standard and quality of life. This has been done through United Nations programs whose essence is humanity.

“The other phenomenon is disappearance of law and going back to lawlessness where we see major countries that run world affairs interfering with other countries’ destiny to the point of forcing the latter to change their leadership, let alone the ethnic conflicts propagated by major countries to foster their interests.

“These two contradictions prove difficult to co-exist, such that, lawlessness appear to prevail over the other, in which decisions are taken to destroy humanity in every part of the world just to serve illegal and hidden interests, without giving any consideration to the principles of laws and civilization.”

“A couple of days ago, Al-Jaridah daily published an article about the effects of rancor in some non-governmental organizations and syndicates in Kuwait, saying the government, through the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, is planning to issue a new law to restrain activities of these organizations,” Professor wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“The kind of restriction the government will place on them has not been witnessed in the country since inception in 1962. In case provisions of the law are implemented, it means the best moment and golden era of volunteer work in Kuwait are over. Kuwait has always been known to be at the forefront of such activities, while it is a model for others in the region and some other Arab countries.

“One of the most notable aspects of the law is about granting the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor right to select maximum of one-third of the board members in every society. The question that arises here is: How will it be possible for the societies and organizations to succeed in actualizing their objectives if there is no homogeneity and harmony.”

“We believe that all odds favor successful inauguration of the Sheikh Jaber International Stadium on Friday, so the program will come out in a bright color,” columnist

wrote

for Al-Sabah daily.

“We are also sure that attaining that target is not only a responsibility of the security authority or any other concerned government authority but everybody in the country.

“We hope true patriotism will prevail for the success of the event and the best interest of the nation. We are used to the situation whereby national festivals bring everybody together due to its significance.

“The entire world will follow up the event, especially those in the sports circle. We should exemplify to the world the rate of our awareness, civilizations and ability to put smiles on faces without disruption of any kind. This means that we are capable of preventing any attempt to disrupt the much expected amazement.”

“Time has come to take serious economic steps considering the rapid deterioration of the global economic situation, especially here in Kuwait where we bake most of our daily bread by selling barrels of oil to the international community while the oil price continues to fall with no hope of rising,” columnist wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“If we speak with a practical and rational mind, the direction, which the economy is moving to, signifies that the only way forward is to face the current economic reality. The falling oil price will make the State unable to fulfill even the most basic obligations to its people while there is no middle ground in this matter – either we take serious economic steps to save our economy or let it spoil.

“The State’s expenditure increased when the oil price per barrel reached more than $120. Unfortunately, the State continues to spend in the same manner, instead of limiting its expenditures. For starters, the State may reduce food rations, most of which go to the marginalized labor force or sold in neighboring countries.”

“We still have sources which we can use to address the deficit, such as electricity, water, overseas medical trip and other expenditures that heavily and unnecessarily burden the State. Let us start today to implement our own austerity measures before such measures become hard and painful for us.”

“The estimated cost of overseas treatment for the current year, which was published on social media, may not be accurate. It is important to revisit files of this nature and then adopt serious measures to rectify the trend," wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“The Kuwaiti constitution guarantees the right of citizens and even expatriates to receive medical care. In view of that, it is necessary to open the file of medical services to approach the level of proficiency in terms of services the country spends billions of dinars on. Before we ask the Ministry of Health to give reason for the expansion of overseas treatment file, we would like to know what it did to improve the level of domestic services.

“Unfortunately, the ministry did not benefit from financial luxury the State of Kuwait has enjoyed for decades ago in terms of building new hospitals and investing in human resource. What procedures will the ministry take to handle such situation?"

— Compiled by Ahmed Al-Shazli