‘Boost spirit of optimism’

‘Victories come with unity’

“DURING our weekly meeting which we usually hold immediately after the Friday Prayer, we share enjoyable moments and exchange valuable thoughts and discuss issues which mostly revolved around the events currently taking place at the global and regional levels and everybody freely expresses his viewpoints,” columnist, the Dean of the College of Technological Studies at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) and the Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Heritage Revival Society (IHRS)

wrote for Al-Rai

daily Sunday.

“I personally prefer to talk about the Islamic Military Alliance that has been declared by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia consisting of 34 Muslim States whose task is confined to confronting terrorism and I praised this alliance.

“However, Bu Hamad in response to my comment asked me if I believe in this news report – news about the declaration of this alliance, which for him is some sort of propaganda that has the blessing of the United States of America because Washington is currently striving to ‘narcotize’ the Arabs. He went on to say, ‘Do you believe that anything can be passed at the moment without US blessing and its direct intervention?

“I asked Bu Hamad why he was too pessimistic and why, ‘we have to believe that the United States of America is currently dominating everything in the world?’

“Bu Hamad’s reaction was ‘Yes, because the United States of America monopolizes the sophisticated weapons industry and as such it is Washington that decides who to give these weapons and who to deprive of it. Such being the case, nothing will happen without the blessing and nod from the Americans.

“I replied saying see how the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member States managed to form an Islamic coalition for the liberation of Yemen accurately and by force.

“However, following this comment, Abu Ali seemingly decided to take part in our dialogue and said, ‘Do you see how the United States of America has stopped the advance of the Islamic Coalition forces in Yemen to such an extent these forces at the moment are in an unenviable position in that country? Hence, we found that these forces have swiftly responded to a proposal calling for the ceasefire between them and the Houthi troops due to the pressures from Washington.

“Anyway, I responded to Abu Ali by saying ‘May God bless you’, but what has been said is some kind of baseless propaganda that has been promoted by some people just to negatively affect the morale of the Islamic coalition troops in Yemen, hence we should not believe in such propaganda, simply because this advancement that has been realized by the Coalition troops in Yemen indeed calls for pride, particularly since we know that this is the first time for the Gulf States to depend on themselves in terms of encountering a well-trained army of Yemen.

“But with regard to truce that has been approved recently by the members of the Islamic coalition, this was actually dictated by their keenness to ease the torment of the Yemeni civilians and as declared by the great powers or suggested that the truce will help prevent the occurrence of ‘famine’ in Yemen due to the insistence by the Houthis to prevent the arrival of aid to civilians who are currently suffering from food shortage in some cities and villages throughout Yemen. Moreover, the truce is likely to pave the way for reaching a peaceful solution to stop the war in Yemen, and this calls for optimism.

“Apart from the above, I said nobody can deny the fact that the United States of America has provided the necessary logistic support to the Saudi Arabia-led ‘Operation Decisive Storm’, and moreover, Washington has blessed and encouraged this operation.

“In the meantime, we have to realize that the ‘secret of success’ rests in your ability to avert any clash with the great powers and strive to achieve the targeted success through your cooperation with the said powers.

“In the meantime, we have to keep in mind that even the United States of America, was reluctant to surrender

Al-Hassawi

because of the losses it suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan estimated to be $7 trillion.

“But Bu Hamad, responded by saying how this Islamic military alliance has been formed overnight, particularly since we know that some of this alliance member States are currently at loggerheads and even lacking the minimum coordination among themselves.

“I replied that although I do agree with you that some of the alliance members need to boost coordination among them, it is needless to say the requirements of the current phase calls for achieving mutual understanding among the alliance member States and eventually expand this alliance.

“Likewise, I added, we have to work hand in hand to boost the spirit of optimism among our peoples since this will help achieve a targeted idealism which all of us are looking forward to and keep in mind that all victories that have been achieved by the Muslims throughout history can be attributed to unity which some of the leaders of the nation have successfully managed to translate into a reality among the various peoples.

“But Bu Hamad quickly reacted by saying, anyway let us wait and watch and eventually detect how this segment of our people who are still dreaming for a better future are still far away from this reality.”

Also:

“After about four years of the bloody war which currently takes place in Syria, we found the international community represented by the United Nations still believes that its resolutions, statements and moves will cheat the people,” columnist wrote for Annahar daily Sunday.

“However, we would like to tell the international community that the people no longer trust your resolutions, particularly since we know that the huge budgets and the absolute powers given to United Nations five permanent members of the Security Council along with the fake talk of fighting terrorism in Syria have gone with the wind.

“Nowadays after the ruling regime killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and forcibly driving millions in all directions, this regime has now thrown open the borders for the terrorist groups from everywhere in addition to seeking help of some foreign countries to intervene in the country’s affairs.

“I say here in spite of the above, the international community still attempts to cheat the Syrians and this was evident through a resolution that has been unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council member States calling for drawing up a new international roadmap for achieving the peace in Syria.

“However, the resolution stipulates among other things that ‘the Syrian people only shall determine the future of Syria’. Moreover, the resolution calls for immediately halting attacks against the civilians.

“Apart from the above, the resolution calls for the formation of a transitional government and hold presidential elections under the patronage of the United Nations.

“As a matter of fact in spite of the statements that have been issued by the US Secretary of State John Kerrey immediately following the endorsement of the resolution in question mostly revolves around the necessity to bring down the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, but it is needless to say this resolution does not include any basic and clear cut points calling for the referral of the incumbent Syrian regime along with its president, the symbols of this regime and the military and security leader to an international court.

“Such being the case, we conclude that this resolution shall remain valueless, lest to say this resolution is just a reward on a silver platter to those who have killed their peoples and devastated their country.”

“It is our right to be proud of this great achievement in the form of the opening of the Jaber Stadium last Friday, which ought to have been aptly described by the HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, as the ‘Sports Wedding’, because it rightfully forms a source of joy and happiness and pride for his sons — the Kuwaitis — officials and ordinary citizens,” columnist

wrote for Al-Sabah daily. “His Highness has confirmed that the interaction of the citizens through their participation in this national celebration of this sport and their contribution to make it work in the true spirit of one Kuwaiti family.

“The people of Kuwait have proved that they are able to work and make achievement to keep up with their counterparts in the finest form and rub shoulders with the most advanced countries as they proved that they are united in the face of challenges and that the national interest will always remain above other considerations.

“We appreciate each and every one who has participated in the event and portrayed beautiful images of Kuwait.”

“The Turkish head of intelligence Hakan Vidan reportedly said a few days ago that the Islamic State or the so-called DAESH is a powerful force on land and this is an accomplished fact which cannot be ignored and which necessitates to open a consulate for this group in Istanbul,” columnist

wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“The head of the Turkish intelligence stated this is confirmed after two terrorist operations carried out by DAESH – shooting the Russian aircraft over Sinai and the attack in Paris.

“When Hakan Vidan makes this statement, he may be proclaiming a policy that has been drawn by the politicians in Turkey and this means confirmation of what has been circulated by the mass media that Ankara has thrown open its borders for DAESH to enter Syria and has organized training camps for members of this group and provided them weapons to fight the Syrian Army.”

“In the 2009 Parliament, the political opposition succeeded in pushing for the dissolution of both the government and legislature, which happened when the head of the government was accused of using political money to tame some parliamentarians,” columnist wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“As a result, the 2012 Parliament reflected the national satisfaction of their representatives who were capable of combating governmental corruption, but that did not continue for long as it was nullified and the one-vote system was adapted, prompting the opposition to boycott the election.

“The same happened in 1962 when the opposition boycotted the election, but the difference is, at that time, the reason for boycott was related to issues pertaining to the Constitution and the ongoing boycott was due to lack of worthiness in participating in the election.

“The political opposition factions have been blamed for most of the problems in the country. However, it has been a while since this opposition left the political scene and yet the country is still staggering here and there. If it wasn’t for the opposition, we would have never discovered where the faults lie. Today, everyone knows very well, it has nothing to do with the Parliament.”

“We usually explain economic issues easily. In any country, the actions of the government directly and indirectly affect the lives of citizens, so it is advisable to learn from the mistakes of others in order to have a proper picture of any issue when a decision is about to be made,” columnist wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“In South Africa, the value of its currency fell dramatically due to the decision to change the finance minister. This prompted the President of South Africa to change three ministers in the same position three times within almost a week. Portugal lifted taxes imposed on its citizens after discovering the austerity measures were not implemented properly, whereas the citizens in the oil and mineral-rich country – Venezuela – are suffering economically.

“Because of the European financial crisis, Spain was hit hard economically up to the extent that some of its people got food from the garbage bin, likewise in Argentina after the value of its currency drastically dropped against the US dollar. Perhaps, these miseries are evident in Greece whose government spent more than its financial ability, leading to the suffering of its people, especially since the government spent like there is no tomorrow.

“We mentioned some of these examples to demonstrate the consequences if a government takes a bad decision and how it affects the people. For instance, the government increases tax on fuel without putting into consideration the public, thereby, leaving more question marks because it gives more work in terms of security, particularly in the new field.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb