‘Politics marriage of interests’
‘Big powers make intentions known’
“THE politics is mostly based on the language of reciprocal interests,” columnist
wrote for daily. “These interests are the compass that determines the policy directions of each country in general, and especially the big powers in particular, which exploit their powers and exercise their influence and use it to achieve vital strategic interests in the political or economic field, which in fine is known as the ‘diplomacy of the deals’.
“Such diplomacy, however, is mostly based on exploiting every crisis or an issue that surfaces in the world in the name of intervening and settling it in some way that will benefit the influential and pivotal state.
“As a matter of fact, the policy of the international deals is more pronounced in the US administration, since the United States is based primarily on a pragmatic and opportunistic policy. In the era of US President Donald Trump, the political deal is a diplomatic art and skill that is spoken openly and without any ambiguity.
“In other words, President Trump is first of all ‘a businessman’ and as such he deals with politics in its capacity as ‘a business’.
“Such being the case, his both internal and external policies, will be just a set of short term ‘deals’ that shall be subjected to evaluation on an individual basis pursuant to economic criteria to be based on achieving a provisional interests.
“Given the above, the economy plays a significant role in Trump’s decisions and political projects. In other words, Trump is currently managing the White House in the same manner that is followed by him to manage his own firms.
“From the perspective of the deal, Trump has chosen a number of his top executives in economics and business administration, including the US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and the well-known businessman, dubbed as ‘The King of Bankruptcy’ in addition to his former secretary of State Department Rex Tillerson who was the chairman of the giant Exxon Mobil Company.
“However, as long as trade and economy are the main pillars of the Trump field, his principles can be generalized in all aspects of life, starting with international relations, where it has expressed reservations to, or objected to, several economic and trade agreements, such as the Iranian nuclear file and the Paris Convention on the Climate Change, in addition to the restrictions placed on the Chinese goods, and agreements which were signed by his predecessor, president Barack Obama.
“However, his withdrawal from the relevant agreements and deals was under the pretext that they are prejudicial and against the interests of America or these shall create a deficit in the US balance of payment, particularly those which were concluded between the United States and China.
“Not only that, he went on to say that the allies and friends who are protected by Washington, should pay the price of this protection. By saying the above, Trump portrays his country as a power for rent.
“Anyway, it is needless to say that President Trump’s repeated talks about the Gulf states is no longer a secret, particularly since we know that he has requested these states to pay the price of their existence and stability in addition to the cost of the related armament contracts and big deals the money from which finds its way to the US Treasury.”
Al-Mutairi
“The reasonable person is the one who forgets the Arab situation so that it does not get him or her into a frenzy,” columnist and Professor
wrote for daily. “But the events impose themselves simply because the circumstances hand us over to the outcomes. In other words, the situation which we have reached can be attributed to the absence of the Arab mind, the collapse of education, the cultural setback, tearing apart the Arab world and our domination by the international powers due to our weakness to such an extent destiny is no longer in our hands.
“From the destruction of Libya, our fear of Syria and Iraq, our fear of the situation in Yemen to return to the past from north to south, and our concern about the situation of the Gulf Cooperation Council, collapsed Arab unity has killed our Arab dream.
“Such being the case, the countries in the Arab world have been battered and this is evident in the division of The Sudan into two – the North and the South. This is in addition to the destruction of Libya and at the moment we fear for the Syria and Iraq and add to this Yemen. We fear for this country returning to the days of its unity and we also fear the eventual division into the North Yemen and South Yemen, also because the dissolution of the Gulf Cooperation Council is looming on the horizon.
“However, if the above happens, the Arab unity will collapse and our Arab dream will die with it.
“Meanwhile, the president of the United States surprises us from time to time with statements, decisions, orders, and looting of funds, but we have no choice but to pray to Almighty God to help us and assure our hearts and protect our minds.
“In this context, we say the problem rests in the fact that the decisions of President Trump have come as a shock from time to time. They are merciless and are issued without pre-warning non lenient and without any prior notice which makes it difficult to comply with.
“But what is strange in this connection is to see all parties bowing to these decisions and as such it is but natural to see the Palestinian cause ending and dying. Not just that it is natural to see Jerusalem drifting away from the Arab hold and being defiled by the Jews in addition to the spread of the hatred among the peoples due to the policy of ‘divide and rule’.
“However, the last surprise of Trump is his declaration that he supports the solution of Palestine problem based on the foundation of two states – one for the Palestinians and the other for the Israelis – to end the Palestinian struggle. However, this attitude contradicts the policies followed by his administration in dealing with this struggle since a long time.
“And as usual, it is Trump who issued his orders for the implementation of the decisions and this was evident through his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings where he informed him to divide Palestine into two independent states indicating that he sees that this will be the most successful
solution for this issue.”
“Yesterday, I came across the tweet of Dr Sa’ab, who is known for exposing many public funds corruption cases. Dr Sa’ab cited a newspaper article published on June 21, 2016 about the decisions of the Cabinet during its meeting a day earlier. Certainly, the decisions were about appointments and others which are no longer the concern now,” columnist
wrote for daily. “Dr Sa’ab focused on a very important decision taken by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) a few days before the Cabinet meeting. The chairperson of the commission and Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance and acting Minister of Oil Anas Al-Saleh attended the meeting to inform the attendees about the decision. What was the decision?
“The decision prohibits the appointment of expatriates in ministries. None of the CSC officials, whatever the position, has the right to issue a decision to appoint or use the services of any expatriate even those with specializations that may be needed by any government entity or any other job rejected by citizens.
“This decision was taken two years and four months ago, and then the CSC comes today to refrain from providing the State Audit Bureau with the figures, names, positions and salaries of expatriates working in government institutions. It provided contradictory and incorrect figures to the parliamentary committee tasked to investigate the replacement status. If we do not respect our decisions, how can others respect us?”
“Kuwait’s old and modern history is full of good deeds. Its people love to do good and charity works. They offer help to others and are known for their hospitality,” columnist wrote for daily.
“In the modern era, after the discovery of oil, Kuwait never stood idly by in any catastrophe that happened to humanity, or a cry of distress here or there, in the East or West. It always hurries in stretching its hand to those in need regardless of race, color or language to promote peace and ensure the safety of all human beings.
“Yesterday, the Kuwaiti Food and Relief Bank launched its charity campaign, ‘Kuwait next to you,’ which aims to provide support and assistance to the people of Indonesia due to the earthquake and floods which killed about 2,000. This is a great work which proves to the whole world that Kuwait is a good country and plays a prominent role in humanitarian relief. It proves that it is a State of peace and good, seeking and spreading such acts throughout the world.
“Kuwait’s philanthropic work expands to most parts of the Earth. Why not, since its ruler is His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the International Humanitarian Leader, on the land of goodness and blessings – the International Humanitarian Center.”
“Free and independent press means a society that monitors and pursues its capabilities and rights. A free and independent press means the spotlight is on all sectors of society, corrupt politicians and security officers, bribed officials, judges who are not committed to their oath to achieve justice and even the journalist who betrays the honor of his profession. The number of journalists who are assassinated and imprisoned exceeds all other civil occupations,” columnist
wrote for daily. “If free and independent press is absent, corruption becomes a normal practice for those engaged in such acts, while the rights and fate of individuals are in the hands of a totalitarian decision maker.
“Some say that China and Vietnam have no free press. Despite the economic boom in China, is the quality of life for its citizens similar to those in Sweden, Canada or Singapore? Others may say that Israel has free press, but we say it is a State of aggression and occupation. In fact, the Israeli press is not free considering the presence of security and military censorship to review news before publication.
“If Hitler, Mussolini, Japan’s leaders during the Second World War and Saddam Hussein had free press and listened to the opinions of others, they would have been able to control their evil desires, predicted their tragic end and daunted. However, they listened to the echoes of their voices in societies that eliminated the opinion of others and free press.”
“I would like to thank Kuwait Writers Society for inaugurating its new season with a symposium titled ‘Creator’s ambitions and conditions of reality,’”
wrote for daily. “It was good that a senior official of Ministry of Information disclosed the ministry’s intention to hold special training courses aimed at rehabilitating employees to obtain censorship license, and that the ministry will review a number of banned books.
“The best thing was when he announced the ministry’s keenness to be open to civil society organizations including Kuwait Writers Society, College of Arts and Higher Institute for Theater Studies. If what the senior official said is true, it represents a quality leap for enhancing freedoms and ensuring wise censorship.
“He also said the ministry will ask help from academics to participate in the censorship process.
“Despite the fact that such an attitude of the ministry came too late, it is better late than never. Actually, when a book, TV series or a play is banned due to trivial and silly reasons, it represents humiliation to the entire society.
“I really hope the speech given by the Assistant Undersecretary for Information Affairs at Ministry of Information Muhammad Al-Awash is serious, practical and applicable.
“Algeria witnessed an incident recently when a historical statue installed at the center of Satif City was destroyed under the pretext that it contradicts Islamic traditions. The Algerian Ministry of Culture took a respect-worthy stance in terms of repairing the statue. The residents of the city condemned the incident. Algerian artists declared that Ministry of Culture and cultural institutions are responsible for developing the cultural level of people and increasing their awareness about the value of art.
“This makes me want to thank the efforts exerted by National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) in Kuwait and the relevant bodies especially those responsible for Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Center and Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Center. We hope their efforts to turn Kuwait into a center of arts and culture at least in the regional level will be fruitful.”
— Compiled by Zaki Taleb