KUWAIT SAYS “ENOUGH WARS” SHOUTS THE LOCAL PRESS
PART I
The local edition of THE DAILY STAR newspaper here in Kuwait shouted the following front page story on the 14th of May 2007:
“Kuwait Says ‘Enough Wars.’”
This title piece was based on comments from the Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah. He stated emphatically that over the past quarter of a century his region in the gulf had seen too many “destructive wars” and indicated the region did not need “to see another one” soon.
Al-Sabah was, naturally referring to the tensions between the United States and Iran.
Many leftist pundits in the USA had predicted that the USA would attack Iran sometime in 2007. Luckily, this has not come to pass.
However, the language in the local Kuwaiti papers are not always so pacifistic as in the aforementioned DAILY STAR headline.
Two weeks earlier in late April, another local paper, the ARAB TIMES, had headlined on the first page a different article predicting that “10 days of Bombing” Iran will “Quiet down the President”of Iran’s rhetoric.
These sort of contradictory statements in the Gulf press have been going on for more than a few months in all of the Gulf regions’ media sources.
One day a confrontation with Iran is imminent and the non-Shia states in the region need to back opposition Iran, especially the incursions by the Iranian government, or the region must strongly counter the supposed Iranian nuclear threat.
In the following week, we hear a statement from one government or other in the region that the Gulf region is seeking long-term integration and peace with their Persian neighbor.
All this flip-flopping should come as no surprise when one notes that on the one hand, there is a millennia-old antagonism between Shias and Sunnis in the region. On the other hand, many Gulf Region states have a high percentage or citizenry with fairly direct familial connections in Iran and in the Shia regions of neighboring Iraq.
This means that almost all Gulf countries have to be sensitive to their own population’s preference for non-confrontation with Iran.
On the whole, from my perspective in Kuwait, I don’t see any great support here by the public for a U.S. attack on Iran.
On the other hand, there is an obvious great dependence on U.S. assistance—especially military assistance—in the Gulf kingdoms and states. In 2007, this has led the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to explore publicly the idea of creating its own nuclear energy program.
To clarify, the Gulf Cooperation Council is primarily an economic block of states. It consists of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. These countries have more oil combined than about any other group of states on the planet.
Why would they want to invest in nuclear energy at this time?
The obvious and most logical sources for energy in a post-petroleum world in the Gulf region—with its high temperatures and week-after-week of sunshine most of the year—are:
(1) Solar power and
(2) Wind power.
In short, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the real reason for the GCC to commitment to invest in nuclear research are:
(1) to pose a counter threat to Iran and
(2) to gain nuclear technologies from the USA, Britain, France, Russia, etc.*
I ask people in the USA and the Gulf to push their leaders not to waste money on a nuclear build up in the Gulf that will leave the World in a worse and worse mess until something goes booooomm!
PART II
A cartoon in the local DAILY STAR newspaper showed a man with his son. The son was waiving flags of Lebanon, Hezbollah, and a photo of a famous leader. The young man looked like he was ready to march in the streets.
The boy says to his dad, “Long live Hezbollah! Down with the US!”
The father asks with some frustration, “Are you serious?”
The boy continues to spout short trite phrases, like: “Iran is the boss!”
The father is angry and horrified at his son’s politics and shouts, “I’m going to beat you!”
“Long live the Persian Gulf!,” the boy shouts back.
The father collars the boy and demands, “Tell me! Who taught you all this?”
The fearful and sweating boy wines, “OK, don’t hit me. I’ll tell you. WE LEARNED THIS IN SCHOOL.”
Dropping the boy to the ground, the father says thoughtfully to the reader, “Well, I guess that’s good war preparation. God help us.”
Whereas, this political satire indicates how deep-rooted certain political, religious, and nationalist elements are in the biases of youth in certain Arab states, the real question I have for my fellow Americans back in the USA is: What kind of analysis have we been doing about our education systems?
Are parents—let alone their offspring—able to see how a government or some political cabal (like the one that currently runs the White House) can control their thoughts and march them off to another war?
I wrote recently of how media in the Middle East are slowly making its audience used to the idea that a confrontation will loom between the USA and Iran.
Is the same thing happening in the USA? Is complacency settling in?
I also wrote of the increasing arms race in the Gulf state region and the fact that the American weapons corporations & power companies--plus other nuclear power economies on the planet--would love to make some money selling nuclear technology to the Gulf states in the coming years.
Now, in May 2007 Dick Cheney comes and stops in several Arab countries on his journey.
Is he just trying to escape impeachment in the USA?
Sadly, I think not.
What does such a trip mean for the future of the region and the world? One Kuwaiti writer, Ayed Al-Mana, spells out our dread.
“Cheney’s recent visit to the region, which included Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq reminds us of his shuttle visits as Secretary of Defense in the ‘90s just prior to the launching of rockets and cannons against Iraq, which put an end to Iraqi dreams of occupying Kuwait…. This current visit is more than just discussing the Iraqi affairs. In my opinion, it could be a cover to discuss a more serious issue, which is the Iranian nuclear program. Since Cheney is a hawk in the US administration with so much influence on American policies, then his recent maneuvers must have been aimed at containing the Iranian role in the regions.”
As summer 2007 comes upon us there will likely be no military confrontation between the USA and Iran. It is just too hot here temperature-wise!!!
In order to take advantage of thi summer heat, I encourage the Peace Movement in the USA to begin a push to demand a cool-down on this nuclear issue in Washington in the weeks leading up to earlier autumn 2007 and in winter 2007-2008.
Otherwise a pull-out in Iraq might lead to a heat-up in tension between the U.S. and Iran.
Notes:
Al-Mana, Ayed. "Cheney Knows Best", THE DAILY STAR, May 14, 2007, p. 8.
The local edition of THE DAILY STAR newspaper here in Kuwait shouted the following front page story on the 14th of May 2007:
“Kuwait Says ‘Enough Wars.’”
This title piece was based on comments from the Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah. He stated emphatically that over the past quarter of a century his region in the gulf had seen too many “destructive wars” and indicated the region did not need “to see another one” soon.
Al-Sabah was, naturally referring to the tensions between the United States and Iran.
Many leftist pundits in the USA had predicted that the USA would attack Iran sometime in 2007. Luckily, this has not come to pass.
However, the language in the local Kuwaiti papers are not always so pacifistic as in the aforementioned DAILY STAR headline.
Two weeks earlier in late April, another local paper, the ARAB TIMES, had headlined on the first page a different article predicting that “10 days of Bombing” Iran will “Quiet down the President”of Iran’s rhetoric.
These sort of contradictory statements in the Gulf press have been going on for more than a few months in all of the Gulf regions’ media sources.
One day a confrontation with Iran is imminent and the non-Shia states in the region need to back opposition Iran, especially the incursions by the Iranian government, or the region must strongly counter the supposed Iranian nuclear threat.
In the following week, we hear a statement from one government or other in the region that the Gulf region is seeking long-term integration and peace with their Persian neighbor.
All this flip-flopping should come as no surprise when one notes that on the one hand, there is a millennia-old antagonism between Shias and Sunnis in the region. On the other hand, many Gulf Region states have a high percentage or citizenry with fairly direct familial connections in Iran and in the Shia regions of neighboring Iraq.
This means that almost all Gulf countries have to be sensitive to their own population’s preference for non-confrontation with Iran.
On the whole, from my perspective in Kuwait, I don’t see any great support here by the public for a U.S. attack on Iran.
On the other hand, there is an obvious great dependence on U.S. assistance—especially military assistance—in the Gulf kingdoms and states. In 2007, this has led the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to explore publicly the idea of creating its own nuclear energy program.
To clarify, the Gulf Cooperation Council is primarily an economic block of states. It consists of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. These countries have more oil combined than about any other group of states on the planet.
Why would they want to invest in nuclear energy at this time?
The obvious and most logical sources for energy in a post-petroleum world in the Gulf region—with its high temperatures and week-after-week of sunshine most of the year—are:
(1) Solar power and
(2) Wind power.
In short, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the real reason for the GCC to commitment to invest in nuclear research are:
(1) to pose a counter threat to Iran and
(2) to gain nuclear technologies from the USA, Britain, France, Russia, etc.*
I ask people in the USA and the Gulf to push their leaders not to waste money on a nuclear build up in the Gulf that will leave the World in a worse and worse mess until something goes booooomm!
PART II
A cartoon in the local DAILY STAR newspaper showed a man with his son. The son was waiving flags of Lebanon, Hezbollah, and a photo of a famous leader. The young man looked like he was ready to march in the streets.
The boy says to his dad, “Long live Hezbollah! Down with the US!”
The father asks with some frustration, “Are you serious?”
The boy continues to spout short trite phrases, like: “Iran is the boss!”
The father is angry and horrified at his son’s politics and shouts, “I’m going to beat you!”
“Long live the Persian Gulf!,” the boy shouts back.
The father collars the boy and demands, “Tell me! Who taught you all this?”
The fearful and sweating boy wines, “OK, don’t hit me. I’ll tell you. WE LEARNED THIS IN SCHOOL.”
Dropping the boy to the ground, the father says thoughtfully to the reader, “Well, I guess that’s good war preparation. God help us.”
Whereas, this political satire indicates how deep-rooted certain political, religious, and nationalist elements are in the biases of youth in certain Arab states, the real question I have for my fellow Americans back in the USA is: What kind of analysis have we been doing about our education systems?
Are parents—let alone their offspring—able to see how a government or some political cabal (like the one that currently runs the White House) can control their thoughts and march them off to another war?
I wrote recently of how media in the Middle East are slowly making its audience used to the idea that a confrontation will loom between the USA and Iran.
Is the same thing happening in the USA? Is complacency settling in?
I also wrote of the increasing arms race in the Gulf state region and the fact that the American weapons corporations & power companies--plus other nuclear power economies on the planet--would love to make some money selling nuclear technology to the Gulf states in the coming years.
Now, in May 2007 Dick Cheney comes and stops in several Arab countries on his journey.
Is he just trying to escape impeachment in the USA?
Sadly, I think not.
What does such a trip mean for the future of the region and the world? One Kuwaiti writer, Ayed Al-Mana, spells out our dread.
“Cheney’s recent visit to the region, which included Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq reminds us of his shuttle visits as Secretary of Defense in the ‘90s just prior to the launching of rockets and cannons against Iraq, which put an end to Iraqi dreams of occupying Kuwait…. This current visit is more than just discussing the Iraqi affairs. In my opinion, it could be a cover to discuss a more serious issue, which is the Iranian nuclear program. Since Cheney is a hawk in the US administration with so much influence on American policies, then his recent maneuvers must have been aimed at containing the Iranian role in the regions.”
As summer 2007 comes upon us there will likely be no military confrontation between the USA and Iran. It is just too hot here temperature-wise!!!
In order to take advantage of thi summer heat, I encourage the Peace Movement in the USA to begin a push to demand a cool-down on this nuclear issue in Washington in the weeks leading up to earlier autumn 2007 and in winter 2007-2008.
Otherwise a pull-out in Iraq might lead to a heat-up in tension between the U.S. and Iran.
Notes:
Al-Mana, Ayed. "Cheney Knows Best", THE DAILY STAR, May 14, 2007, p. 8.
Labels: Iran War USA "Nuclear Weapons" Arms Race Gulf Kuwait
posted by Kevin Anthony Stoda at 5:24 PM
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