‘Economic killers’ facilitate graft

‘Caracas emerging latest victim’

“MANY people were surprised when the US President Donald Trump showed his enthusiasm to the political crisis which currently prevails in Venezuela,” columnist Suad Fahd Al-Moajel wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“However, this enthusiasm can be translated as Washington’s likely intervention militarily in that Latin American country.

“But the question is: What reasons will push the US to intervene in Caracas? In this connection, it looks like John Perkins in his thriller which he wrote under the title ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’ has detailed the tasks of the ‘economic killers’ and the major role they played to blackmail the states, people and institutions throughout the world.

“Given the above, it looks like it is now the turn of Venezuela and Caracas has been targeted by these economic killers because the oil reserves of this country are tremendous.

“And because oil is one of basic policies of Washington and its oil partners as it happened in our Arab world and in some developing countries, the work of these killers of economy will begin by corrupting the ruling classes who dominate the state affairs in addition to some politicians by exploiting those who are ready to swallow the bargain chip of wealth and the interests of their homelands against some periodic objectives that shall serve only their narrow greed.

“It is needless to say the political scenario either in Venezuela or in some Arab countries has become complicated and as such it will have been difficult for us over the period to understand or comprehend this scenario.

“Consequently, we find what John Perkins has said in his book are confessions and some parts look logical to what is currently taking place in Venezuela and what is witnessed by some of our Arab countries in the form of destructive wars.

“At the outset of his book, Perkins while explaining the tasks of his function as ‘economic killer’ says the task requires me to encourage the leaders of the world to fall in the trap of loans that shall help secure their allegiance … by doing so we shall be able to blackmail them at any time we want in order to secure our political, economic and military requirements against their (the leaders) political situations.

“In this context, the job of Perkins as he has confessed in his book was to achieve two basic aims, the first to justify the huge international loans that will be siphoned into the coffers of big firms and then work to bankrupt the states which receive these loans in a way these states will make easy targets to acquire any service for the country such as the voting in the United Nations in favor of the lender or for acquiring oil or anything else.

“In this connection, we refer to Iran as the first state in which the ‘economy killers’ began their activities by toppling the then elected prime minister Dr Mohammad Mossaddeq who had started the policy of nationalizing oil in his country .

“However, in the wake of this measure, the US sent one of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents to organize demonstrations and riots against Mossaddeq and as a result he was toppled and since then the idea of ‘killer economists’ emerged.

“Of course, we cannot hold only the foreigners accountable for the repercussions of the political, economic, administrative and moral crises, but certainly the internal foes would have not been in a position to achieve what they have were it not for the supervision and support that was extended to them by the ‘Fifth Column’ elements (economic killers) who facilitated internal corruption.

“Today, either in the Middle East or in Venezuela, we find these ‘killer economists’ enter through the issue of globalization, in the form of consulting firms, the funds such as from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and so on. All these are weapons used by the ‘killer economists’ under a theme ‘Americanizing’ the world, not for ‘globalizing’ the universe.”.

Al-Moajel

“We see in the civilized areas city of Caracas houses which can be easily distinguished with luxury and most expensive cars and huge priceless yachts worth millions of dollars parked in front of their homes but also an overwhelming majority of people are still living at the feet of the mountains and heights of the cities or living in ghettos in tin houses,” columnist and ambassador Yusuf Abdullah Al-Enezi wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“I lived in that beautiful country for about five years as head of the Kuwaiti diplomatic mission in Caracas – the capital of Venezuela from 1996 to 2000. My home was distinguished with its big area, with a unique garden, fruit trees and various types of flowers and birds.

“It was the nice place for a gathering – various friends including the former president, the late Hugo Chavez in addition to many businessmen in general and Venezuelans in particular where some of the latter were of Arab extraction either Syrians or Lebanese as well as many men of literature, culture, universities professors, politicians and members of diplomatic corps from all of countries of the world.

“However, during one distinguished meeting one of the stars of the Venezuelan serial was present – Venezuela produces a lot of series which sometimes runs in hundreds.

“In Venezuela, I was non-resident ambassador to the republics of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia in addition to some tasks in some other states such as representing my country during the national celebrations such as when President of Nicaragua came to power to representing Kuwait during the celebration that was held to mark the launching of the Arab Satellite (Arab Sat) from the French Marine Base in the Republic of the French Guyana via ‘Aryan’.

“Apart from the above, I visited most of the Caribbean Sea and the Bahamas Islands.

“Returning to Venezuela – this most beautiful country from time has been suffering and what is currently happening in that country is destruction. This country is currently on the verge of the economic and even political collapse.

“It is suffering from acute political division among the various denominations of the people. Not just that, all the indications refer to high rate of crimes to such an extent Caracas is not termed as one of the most dangerous cities in the world and the general situations in that country are painful due to the wide differences between the minority of rich people who own most of the wealth and the majority of poor who suffer from abject poverty

“This happens although Venezuela enjoys tremendous wealth in addition to natural resources such as the oil, gas and natural resources including gold, aluminum, and so on.”

“Venezuela is living on the edge of a political volcano that can lead to violence if the parties concerned do not exercise restraint. The power struggle has reached the climax, and the situation does not come as a surprise,” lawyer Riyadh Al-Sane’ wrote for Al-Kuwaitiah daily.

“It is the result of many accumulations, the most im- portant of which is that the Venezuelan regime revived socialist principles and established a different model of the international capitalist trend, especially since Venezuela is a country with very important reserves of oil, iron and gold. The crisis started in 2013 when Maduro won the presidential election. The country then went into a recession due to the fall in oil prices which coincided with an economic crisis.

“In late 2015, the opposition managed to win the parliamentary elections and the feuding conflict between the president and the parliament began, but the opposition was unable to oust him. After Maduro lost to the majority of the parliament, he called for the Constituent Assembly on July 30, 2017. The Constituent Assembly operated parallel to the parliament, and enjoyed broad and open powers, starting with a change in the Constitution and ending with the solution to the political and economic crisis in the country.

“The new Assembly was actually inaugurated in August 2017, in a move that its opponents considered a deviation from the parliament. The new body was given the power for a constitutional review and amendment, and the power to dissolve the elected parliament.

“Following the re-election of Maduro for a second six-year term, the country’s division deepened, followed by protests amid a crippling economic crisis that resulted in currency devaluation and food shortage. The US State Department imposed numerous economic sanctions on President Maduro’s administration, which increased the rate of cross-border migration to neighboring countries. In the wake of this, the Parliament President Juan Guaido declared himself the acting president, as the Constitution was circumvented, and the elections were rigged and illegal.

“The pro-Maduro Supreme Court declared open a criminal investigation against the lawmakers for allegedly trampling on the prerogatives of President Maduro. The US President Donald Trump recognized Guaido as the acting President of Venezuela, and Canada, Brazil, Colombia and several Latin American countries followed the suit. On the other hand, Russia, China, Cuba, Mexico and Turkey affirmed their support for Maduro. Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Portugal gave Maduro eight days to call for elections; if not, they will recognize Juan Guido as president. Maduro rejected the ultimatum, saying his country is not linked to Europe.

“The first Gulf state to determine its stance on the political crisis in Venezuela was Kuwait. Its Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi said the political crisis in Venezuela requires priority to be given to the national interest over personal or party interests, and all parties concerned must exercise restraint and renounce violence.

“He stressed the need to fully abide by the principles of the Charter of the United Nations in order to maintain international peace and security, while working to meet the challenges and crises.

“In another aspect, CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said the global oil supply may be negatively affected this year due to significant declines in crude exports from Venezuela. The situation in Venezuela is still tense, especially with the announcement made by Air Force General Francesco Yaines of his support for Guaido and with the specter of violence between the supporters and opponents of the President starting to cast a shadow on the political scene in Venezuela.

“We call on the parties involved in Venezuela to see the results of the Arab revolutions, which did not bring about the desired prosperity in line with the slogans lifted. They should deal with the matter in the context of the rotation of power, especially since the organization of new presidential and parliamentary elections may satisfy all parties. God knows the hidden intent behind actions.”

“Ministry of Higher Education has once again brought the fake certificates’ issue back under the spotlight by referring a new batch of suspicious cases to the Public Prosecution,” Dr Hayla Hamad Al-Mukaimi wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“This scandal emerged last summer and some inquiries were made about the reasons behind the campaign against fake certificates. Many doubters were unsure about the credibility of the campaign, and some believed the aim of the campaign was to draw the attention away from some commercial and financial deals.

“Honestly, we do not care much about such conclusions. What we care about is the issue itself and the exposure of the relevant corruption network. This corruption network was discovered to be capable of executing such fake processes both inside and outside Kuwait. The keenness of Ministry of Higher Education to follow up the issue reflects the credibility and serious intention to ensure this scandal is brought to an end.

“The most crucial aspect of this scandal is that most of the discovered fake certificates are certificates of law. This means many of those who are supposedly qualified to defend, protect and enforce the law are already forgers and violators. This reminds us of the fact that most of those who acquired Kuwaiti citizenship fraudulently seek jobs in Ministry of Interior, which means those responsible for enforcing the law are basically the ones violating it.

“This situation reflects the collapse of the state institutions. A country that seeks advancement and development instead of just surviving should be keen about supporting the judicial authority, law and those responsible for enforcing the law.

“We support the ministry and the government in taking necessary steps to confront the spread of fake certificates and punish those involved. The government should not succumb to political and parliamentary pressure against the interest of the state.”

“Kuwait recently witnessed two educational events – the opening of the conference titled “Technology of Education… Future Vision” organized by the Public Relations Association, and the opening of the 7th annual admission fair of Kuwait University at Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Theater,” Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.

“Of course this is clear evidence of the great trend towards development of education. The contents of the conference and the fair were complementary to each other. The former was concerning development of education and the latter about directing the outputs of education to the disciplines needed by the labor market.

“Education, despite its importance and value to human beings, will not be effective unless it is related directly to the type of outputs and disciplines required. If there is a genuine desire to develop education, it should be discussed only through the introduction of the required disciplines and outputs.

“During the conference, Minister of Education had affirmed the desire of the state to increase efficiency of school and educational departments, improve the methods of education, and provide the latest technologies and equipment for making education an integrated system so that the state is capable of competing in the international level.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb