Saturday, January 21, 2006

Crisis...it would be understandable if the passing of the late Emir were a surprise, something that couldn't have been planned for, something that the previous five years could not have arranged for in a civilized way..but what, after all, is civilized about a malformed democracy...the democracy where everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop...for more teeth to be bared...all the feverish wheeling and dealing in the background while we look on like the impotent audience members we feel we are...at least this audience member feels it...a complaint here, a statement of worry there and a waving of flags as always ....and there's the disrespectful text messages flooding the static around our skulls...texts which, had they contained a coherent complaint against the proceedings, would be an act of free speech that we could all be proud of, but they weren't anything but cowardly squeaks from our typical resort to cheap volleys of humour..as always, bitter humour to deal with our fears...a discomfort that has it's cold hands on all our hiding, quiet little hearts...the media plays the tune that is set by its owners, or the news come from gossip and leaks, whispers and winks..what a way to get information...our blogger brothers and sisters are doing their bit to say something in this void...and there is that sense of insecurity still hanging about the air...and we stay as always waiting for the next spoon to land on our still tongues..


headlines from around the world:
Kuwait Moves to Strip Power From Ill Emir NYT--Kuwaiti paper calls for ruler to step down Guardian, london ---Kuwait struggling to recover sense of purpose FT ---Kuwait rulers in succession wrangle after emir's death Egypt ---Kuwait emir plans oath despite health concerns India
جموع الأسرة بايعت الشيخ صباح Al-Watan
الرأي اليوم / لماذا صباح الأحمد؟ AL-Rai Al-Aam


Kuwait's Constitution

الله يحفظ الكويت

4 comments:

kwtia said...

Apologies to Shemsi...I was blocked by fasttelco...are they really blocking or is it a glitch in the system??
Anyway his comment was lost due to me having to blindly erase several versions of this post that had popped up ..
anyway here is what Shemsi wrote

Hi

I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, since Sabah Al-Ahmed has been the defacto ruler. Is it:

1. People don't think that Sheikh Saad should take the oath, because of his health?

2. People think Sheikh Saad would nominate someone else (other than Sabah Al-Ahmad) as crown prince?

3. People don't like Sabah Al-Ahmad and think that he's usurped control of the Kuwaiti govt?

Shemsi,
I think people have one or any combination of these worries..among a host of others... if you haven't done so already, hop over to the blog aggregator and there are lots of opinions about what people feel is wrong...
I'm about to do that myself now that i'm not on fasttelco anymore..
There are rules and a constitution that are being used and abused whenever it suits people and there are battles between those who want power and it all makes for distrust and instability that the public is very worried about...

http://safat.kuwaitblogs.com/

Shemsi said...

Wow you actually knew someone named Shemsi? I never have. My mom named me after a friend of hers (who she promptly lost touch with after I was born).

I don't seem to have a good comprehension of politics. At least in the US, if you get a bad hand, you only have to wait 4 year (at the most 8) and hope for someone better. I know it's much more serious in Kuwait. I remember in Ijtima3iyat class (or whichever class it was) learning about what a perfect system for succession Kuwait has. Oh well. I hope it all works out though. Kuwait's had to deal with enough bullshit in the last couple of decades!

kwtia said...

Yeah..I think he was originally from North Africa but he was french..It's a lovely name, i don't know why we don't see it more often..But it's also nice that it's rare..
I really hope it all works out..but working out really ends up being just more of the same here..

Anonymous said...

hey kwtia - its me ya secret admirer again;-)
do u think race has something to do with any of this? hmm..
wouldn't we like to know...and even if health is an issue - there was a Pope who stayed in leadership until the very end...so what's the real deal?