‘Deliberate bid to fuel chaos’
‘Crises recurring in Mideast region’
“IT seems there is a deliberate intention to prolong the duration of the Arab crises and fabricate more of the same,” columnist, Director General and Editor-in Chief of Sawt Al-Arab satellite TV channel Dr Hesham Al-Diwan wrote for Al-Shahed daily.
“Currently, there are five Arab countries that are suffering from recurring problems, while some others are facing fabricated ones.
“We should realize that the ruling regimes of the Arab countries are not angelic. Most of them have no link to democracy, which is there only for name sake just like in many other countries in the world.
“Both the media and the public opinion are presently at loggerheads with the American President Donald Trump concerning several personal and public issues relating to internal and external American matters.
“In France, both the labor federations and the public are at loggerheads with the French President Emmanuel Macron over the latter’s taxation policy and over the local labor law.
“In the United Kingdom, the British people and most of the members of the House of Commons and even some government officials are at loggerheads with the Prime Minister Theresa May. In fact, seven ministers of her government had recently resigned due to some differences with her over the Brexit issue. (Britain’s exit from the European Union).
“Neither Trump nor Macron nor May had considered the opinions or demands of the majority in their countries, even though democracy entails that both the decision and the rule should be in the hands of the people.
“However, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel is an exception in this regard, as she is determined to stay away from any governmental work and from the rule in her country because her party has started losing the trust of the voters. This was attributed to the differences among the party leaders concerning the chancellor’s policy relating to the immigrants and some other issues.
“In reality, the chancellor reserves the right to adopt an open policy in dealing with the immigrants from a humanitarian perspective. She also reserves the right to deal politically with various leaders around the world concerning the European affairs and other matters.
“Meanwhile, both Spain and Italy are currently involved in a struggle over their interests in Libya, which is situated in a significant geographical location overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and opposite these two countries. The sea is located near the oil and gas interests of the two countries in conflict.
“Speaking of the United States of America, this country is involved in the war currently taking place in Iraq as well as in its internal affairs. Washington is also currently intervening in the affairs of Syria and abetting terrorism there.
“Apart from the above, US is involved in the war in Yemen, and in the conflict between Qatar on one hand and some Gulf states and Egypt on the other.
“What is the reason behind such Western involvement in the Arab affairs and why are the Westerners involved in instigating protests against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Sudan? Could this be attributed to just oil factors or is it because of religious aspects or Arab aspects especially the Al Quds (Jerusalem) issue and the Palestinian cause in order to incinerate the entire region for the good of Israel?
“Personally speaking, I doubt the leaders who are concerned about the stability in the Middle East region – including the Arabs, Muslims and the leaders of the G20 as well as leaders of the other countries – who still ignore the reason behind the transformation of the Arab World into an arena for internal wars and for settling conflicts among the great powers.
“The actual problem is that the Arab World or Arab human beings work on the basis of the famous saying of Ibn Al-Qayyem: ‘If you do not know, it is an ordeal. If you know, the ordeal will be greater.’
“We pray to Almighty Allah to bestow His mercy upon the people.”
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“Following the downfall of the Iraqi regime in 2003, an international team and I went to Iraq on a fact-finding mission to follow up the situation of the civilians there and to search for the prisoners of war (POWs),” columnist, professor at Kuwait University’s Political Science Department, an advisor to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Secretary General of the Arab Fund for Human Rights Dr Ghanim Al-Najjar wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“Despite the dangerous situation that prevailed in Iraq at that time, we managed to intervene in many cases, and expose these cases to the entire world.
“After paying several visits and carrying out extensive tours throughout the areas of conflict, we detected gross violations of the rules governing wars, the Geneva agreements, and the international humanitarian law. We had addressed the coalition forces in Iraq and held a meeting with the top leaders. We had requested these leaders to abide by the rules of the international humanitarian law and correct the mistakes as well as provide necessary protection to the civilians.
“During those meetings, the top leaders of the coalition forces had actually assured us, but what we saw on the ground was not in line with those pledges and undertakings. When the complaints began increasing steadily, the official who was responsible for the prisons in Iraq at that time James Karbenski said, ‘We are dealing with the prisoners as fairly and humanely as possible.’ However, the treatment was neither humane nor fair, as documented in the report published by the Associated Press in 2004 concerning the scandals and the torture that the prisoners of Bu Ghuraib Prison faced. This report had been followed by the famous television program titled Sixty Minutes.”
“The spread of rumors and frequent gossips are negative acts that sometimes affect the peace process and social security. For example, after the recent crisis of rainfall and normal life on the roads began, rumors started spreading about the flying gravel and that every motorist whose vehicle’s windshield is broken must remain on the road until patrol officers arrive and a police report is prepared,” Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.
“This is the kind of rumor that disrupts road movement, paralyzes traffic and creates huge traffic congestion on highways. Ministry of Interior was quick to deny the rumor and tracked down those responsible for it. Therefore, the ministry deserves all respect and appreciation.
“The malicious rumors that are launched especially in times of crises are tantamount to intellectual terrorism. The propagators deserve the most severe punishments. This does not mean a person with an account on social media can say anything at any time, especially if the lives of people are threatened and their interests are exposed to harm.
“Therefore, we all have to ignore such rumors and ensure the authenticity of reports and news before circulating them.”
“I do not think there are people who object to compensating citizens whose properties were damaged due to the heavy rains in the country. According to Article No. 25 of the Kuwaiti Constitution, the state guarantees the solidarity of the society to bear the burdens resulting from disasters and tribulations,” Dr Naji Saoud Al-Zaid wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“The main goal is the solidarity of the society. This has been seen in Kuwait, both from individuals and the government, during the times of disasters and catastrophes.
“However, some people as usual have started exaggerating the extent of damage while some are still continuing to practice fraud. Therefore, it is necessary to ask for the experience of the compensation committee, which was formed after the Iraqi invasion to assess the extent of damage.
“We know that citizens deserve compensation so we leave this matter to the government and its officials to facilitate this matter. However, why should we exclude the insurance companies from contributing to paying compensation for the damages especially to the cars?!”
“Fact-finding committees that are formed by the government or Parliament are usually formed with the intention of prolonging the process until the issue being investigated dies or its impact subsides. Usually the results of these committees’ investigations eventually do not attract any attention and end up in the archives,” Za’ar Al-Rasheedi wrote for AlAnba daily.
“The fact-finding committee that will be formed to investigate the destruction caused by the recent heavy rains in the country should be different from majority of the fact-finding committees that were formed in the past. This is due to the fact that the issue in hand has transcended the political altercations. It has extended beyond its size, and its impact is above any sugarcoating of its facts.
“I believe that the issue here is decisive; that is how it should be. As I said in previous articles, the instant accountability should be the basis on which the government operates. I also believe publishing or rather presenting the outcome of any fact-finding mission should be done through a series of press conferences.
“This should be the method with which such issues are handled from now on. It should apply on everyone without exception, even in cases where a partial or complete change of government happens. The government needs to continue unveiling every circumstance revealed by the fact-finding committees.”
“With the end of the critical period when Kuwait witnessed unstable weather condition, it seems the efforts exerted by the control room, which was established for managing the crisis, will not continue even though a new crisis has emerged,” Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“The most obvious sign of the new crisis is the damages to the roads and streets, as well as the complete destruction of some roads. All roads are full of potholes now, even the roads that survived the torrential rains.
“The second sign is the flying gravel resultant from the breakdown of the badly blended asphalt. This phenomenon is common in all parts of Kuwait and is not limited to any specific areas. This means either we were being robbed for years or the monitoring bodies did not know about it. Perhaps they knew about the corruption but they overlooked it probably under personal considerations that often have more priority than public interest.
“When the contractor, supervisor and the responsible government leader are corrupt, the reform-seeker has to fight three battles to put an end to the corruption and sue the responsible retroactively even if the accused is already dead.
The current crisis in terms of the bad condition of the roads requires ten-times more efforts compared to the efforts exerted during the rains. The condition of the roads tell us there are corrupt contractors and corrupt officials who approved to receive the roads under full awareness that the roads did not meet the stated criteria.
“I thank God that He protected Kuwait when the heaviest rains were experienced in the Gulf region but the clouds passed by Kuwait. If Kuwait had experienced those devastating rains, we would have witnessed a real disaster.”
“There is no doubt that the responsibilities on the lawmakers, especially the pro-government MPs, are overwhelming and daunting, because those lawmakers are often obliged to attend parliamentary sessions, particularly those that involve voting on bills or grilling submitted by a lawmaker,” Khaled Ahmad Al-Tarrah wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“They attend sessions, even if it is towards the end, to perform their duty of pushing through the governmental directives, which are not orders of course.
“Surely, the record presented by Al-Qabas daily (Oct 21, 2018) whereby it revealed that three lawmakers whose names were mentioned did not raise any parliamentary questions for two years is instructive. This does not mean that those three lawmakers and their pro-government colleagues did not perform duties of being present in the ministries to push through files and obtain exemptions, in addition to sealing cooperation between both authorities. They usually ensure that things work out in favor of the decision-makers, ignoring their positions and influence.
“In contrast, the current Parliament excels the previous one in terms of the number of questions, as contained in the report published by Al-Qabas. This does not mean success for the current Parliament or woeful failure for the previous one, because parliamentary activities sometimes depend on efforts and at times they are about settling scores within the Parliament, government or other individuals and corporate bodies.
“Citizens are the ultimate losers, especially when they are conscripted to vote for certain people who are later found to be poor in ideas and often act contrary to promises.”