1. Art and Diseño

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015
LOCAL
kuwait digest
kuwait digest
Reconsider domestic
and foreign policies
Nothing comes
after ‘tet’
Democracy
By Shamlan Al-Essa
By Hassan Al-Essa
he quick changes in the Arab region require that
Gulf countries reconsider their domestic and foreign policies to overcome the dangers these countries are facing. Among the most important challenges
that face our country is the quick rise of the Iranian influence in the region after the fall of Yemen and Syria, Iraq
and Lebanon being under Iran’s mandate. The question what are the expected Gulf polices towards the accelerating developments in Yemen? And do the Gulf countries
have a joint view towards what is going on in Yemen?
And where the Gulf countries agree with Iran and where
they differ? Especially that there are Gulf countries that
have close ties with Iran.
The Gulf countries can form an effective Arab axis to
contain the Iranian expansion in the region, especially
that Iran uses the religion and sect factor and support of
the minorities in the Arab region to strengthen its position, which created crises between Gulf countries and
Iran, because the Gulf countries consider Iran’s interference in their domestic affairs a violation of these countries’ sovereignty.
The Iranian policy in the region is contradictory and
double-faced, because at the time when Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani confirms his efforts to create positive
atmosphere and improve his relations with neighboring
Gulf countries, we find him attack Saudi Arabia and UAE
for their support of Saddam Hussein during his war with
Iran! While the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Essa Al-Khalifa
sent a congratulatory letter to the Iranian president on
the anniversary of the Iranian revolution victory in 1979,
the Iranian Revolution Supreme leader Ali Khamenei
received a group of Bahraini opposition during which he
blessed their power and steadfastness!
The Arab Gulf countries attempted to protect themselves against the Iranian influence expansion through
signing strategic alliances with the US, and among the
strange ironies is that the American ally does not want to
face Iran now, rather its entire concentration is on fighting
the expansion of the Islamic State (Daesh) in the region.
The latest visit by American president Barack Obama
along with a large American delegation to extend condolences to the Saudi leadership included political talks over
several issues, including the war against terrorism and the
latest developments in Yemen.
We in the Gulf should understand that the American
stand towards Iran is because of a change in the structure
of strategic American interests and its work towards grabbing the alternatives that follow the reconciliation with
Iran and reduce the burden of confronting it, more than
reflecting a victory of any side in the long struggle
between them. The interests of the United States in the
region are limited to Israel’s security after the US dropped
the policy of managing change in the region and the
American involvement in the region was reduced. The
Arab Gulf countries are required to strengthen the
domestic front by following a reform policy that concentrates on the citizenry principle to bring the people closer
to their rulers and repel all foreign attempts to expand
into our countries.
ccusations of forgery and manipulating laws
with the intention of profiteering from a business are very simple and normal. However,
assuming it is illegal, nobody cares about the argument that took place between two lawmakers in parliament three days ago, where one of them accused
the other of registering some stores he owned in his
wife’s name and not paying their rent, and the other
argued that he ‘was not one of those who would forge
a report in a tender or forensic reports about drug
abuse’!
Well, regardless of this argument that ended by
using a genuine Kuwaiti dialect term ‘Tet....tet’ (which
is usually used to scare away cats intruding or trespassing into the house), none of their colleagues,
Cabinet members or even their voters actually care
about such accusations that may prove true or are
mere provocative talk affected by childhood memories and arguments.
People in Kuwait and in other countries witnessing
similar public property and fund violations and
lenient administrations are used to hearing news
about major crimes of abuse of powers, profiteering
and bribery, which all drain public funds and most
probably reach dead ends due to mistakes in imposing the law or lack of earnestness in tracking down
the culprits, especially when this tracking is limited to
symbolic nominal measures where the stardom of
some officials is splashed in newspapers as if corruption and looting public facilities is their prime cause,
or when such cases are closed because the culprits
managed to find their way out of the country to wrap
up the whole story with the conclusion that those
with authorities did their duties according to the law
and we should stop asking them for more.
Accordingly, this ends another silly act of our official
play.
What does it mean to forge a tender or a rent
stores in a wife’s name by this or that lawmaker when
compared to endless stories about mightier hotshots
who remained in office for scores of years and served
under many ministers who considered them (the hotshots) above suspicion? Those hotshots really knew
how to mislead the law and justice that has become
actually, not symbolically, blind as indicated by its
famous statue.
When this blindness happens, justice no longer
sees VIPs and their crimes but it strongly punishes
some young people for ‘tweeting’ out of the flock and
in disobedience. VIPs might have learnt how to butter
and tidy up everyone when they were in office
according to the principle of ‘charity cuts the tongue’.
Well, a few days ago, the local press shyly reported the
story of one of those hotshots as one of so many in a
country where charity does cut tongues, who managed to escape like so many before him who fear
nothing nor the term ‘tet’ because they knew long
ago that nothing comes after ‘tet’!
—Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Jarida
A
T
Al-Anbaa
kuwait digest
What about corruption and arms deals?
By Dr Bader Al-Daihani
W
hile talking about how to handle the predicted
deficit and excessively focusing on social subsidies and salaries, namely those of small
employees and retirees, both the government and its
financial advisor - the International Monetary Fund have been avoiding discussing or even referring to certain expenses despite their significance in handling the
financial deficit, such as expenses of huge arms deals
and those resulting from political and institutional corruption.
The arms race and facilities related to it have been
draining GCC states’ budgets, as a single huge deal costs
what equals funds spent on necessary social needs for
years to come, taking into consideration that social
expenditure is part of a state’s public expenditure as well
as the fact that the sole beneficiaries of such deals are
weapons manufacturers, their local agents and some
senior bureaucrats who get huge commissions for facilitating signing the contracts. According to an Al-Shall
report on Sept 28, 2013, Kuwait’s military spending in
2012 was $6.021 billion (KD 1.686 billion), with an annual
increase of about 10.2 percent.
In addition, one can talk about political corruption
forever. Examples of abuse of powers and public positions to achieve personal gains and illegal wealth made
by using public funds in profiteering, political deals and
custom-tailored tenders are endless, not to mention the
billions-worth foreign transfers and bank deposits, the
high cost the state budget endures as a result of giving
away state property and lands very cheaply on longterm contracts in very significant spots like the seafront
extending along the Kuwaiti coast from north to south,
Shuwaikh industrial area and Al-Rai (that all of a sudden
and by powers of influential people turned into an
investment and commercial area) and agricultural land
holdings and ranches that are mainly being allocated for
political reasons for long periods and contracts without
changing the lease value to match that of the market.
(Some of those lands still cost the same per square
meter in rent since the 1960s!)
Therefore, treatment of the predicted deficit must be
comprehensive, radical and fair because ignoring the
huge arms deals about which we never have enough
details about why we need them and political and institutional corruption issues that have been draining public
funds, while at the same time pursuing a few dinars in
the pockets of small employees and people with limited
and small incomes would mean the continuation of
extreme social bias in managing the state budget.
—Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Jarida
kuwait digest
Human rights and
Kuwait in Geneva
By Mudaffar Abdullah
T
o start with, sentencing a parliamenand bureaucracy that has caused considertary election candidate and a number
able retreat in development. For instance,
of his campaign assistants to prison for Hungary recommended establishing a spetaking part in vote-buying is considered a
cial national organization for human rights,
substantial development after long experiwhich is a good idea to place the whole
ences of lack of evidence. The grace given to issue in the hands of only one body instead
Kuwait to prepare its reply for the compreof scattering its responsibility amongst the
hensive human rights periodic review sesministries of interior, social affairs, foreign
sion was over last week in Geneva and will
affairs and justice.
be followed by another session within four
Notably, this idea has been kept in drawmonths for NGOs.
ers of the parliamentary human rights comWell, to briefly define this mechanism
mittee since 1996 and the government has
approved in 2006, it is part of the work of
not taken any positive moves towards
the UN Human Rights Commission which
achieving it so far, which caused a lot of
allows member states to provide a 20-page
embarrassment with international organizareport describing
tions because the minhuman rights in their
istries mentioned
Following this issue for above are too busy to
territories - a 10 page
report with recommengive due proper care
years, I noticed the
dations on human
and attention to human
progress of human rights rights.
rights and a 10-page
report including a sumDespite progress
in Kuwait is subject to
mary of all information
made in some fields
public administration like ranking Kuwait
provided by NGOs. HRC
is responsible for periproblems and bureau- 46th in the internationodically reviewing the
al human development
cracy
that
has
caused
files of 48 countries
index in 2014 comevery four years.
considerable retreat in pared to 63rd in 2011,
What has been said
Kuwait still has many
development.
about Kuwait? What are
duties and the governthe recommendations
ment still has a lot of
made by other counchallenges in view of its
tries? So many issues were discussed includ- achievement as a ‘Center of Humanity’,
ing freedom of speech, torture, free Internet, which was achieved thanks to the efforts of
Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis,
HH the Amir. So many officials have been
bedoons, labor rights, withdrawing citizenmedia stars and in office for years without
ship, establishing a supreme human rights
even telling the difference between internaorganization and endorsing some international obligations and their selfish love of
tional protocols and agreements.
the country, which was reflected by creating
Recommendations were made by many
the slogan ‘Kuwait is for Kuwaitis’! We still
countries including the US, France,
have some officials who keep making racist
Denmark, Hungary, Spain and others.
anti-expat statements as if they are living in
Following this issue for years, I noticed
a secluded world away from human commuthe progress of human rights in Kuwait is
nications through social media networks!
subject to public administration problems
— Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Jarida