Better Late than . . .
This morning’s sunrise, around 5:30 or so, dim and grey but sharp. Not much has changed. The sky is white with haze; you can’t see any blue, but there are also no clouds, it is all opaquely white.
I’m having a busy, and disconnected day. Lots going on. Sorry to shortchange YOU, but it is what it is.
Filtered Dawn
It’s not that haze we have been having that magnifies the radiance of the sun into a huge, pulsating ball hanging over the Gulf; today is a much more muted dawn, filtering through the grey layer of haze lying far out on the horizon. There is no surf, but minute wave action, visible but not elevated . . . it is a Saturday morning sunrise, no drama, respecting those who get to sleep in . . .
For those Kuwait students who check in, missing Kuwait, it is the time of year when people are picnicking in the local parks, dining outside at the Marina and Kout malls, and enjoying the pleasant warm nights while they can, before all is breathlessly hot.
At six o’clock this morning, it is lovely:
And this is what the week is going to look like:
Have a great day, Kuwait.
“Kuwait Will Work it Out”
Some ambassadors, in my humble opinion, are just weenies. They go to all the dinners, they shake hands with important people, they mouth polite phrases and the party line, and some barely connect with the country where they are assigned. No one can accuse the current American ambassador to Kuwait, Deborah Jones, of being a weenie. This woman is a lion. And you get the feeling she loves what she is doing, and that she is truly connected with issues and activities in Kuwait.
”Kuwait will work it out”, stresses U.S. ambassador
Dina AlـMallak
Al Watan; you can read the entire article by clicking on the blue type, here.
KUWAIT: “Kuwaiti people are wellـeducated and know themselves well enough …. They don”t need someone coming from outside to fix their machine. We look forward to the lively debate that is to come,” said U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah Jones on Wednesday.
In a roundtable open discussion with a group of journalists from the Kuwaiti media, U.S. Ambassador Jones underscored the U.S. relations and aims locally and in the region. She also discussed such topics as the local elections, President Barrack Obama”s goals, and the Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Excerpts:
How does the U.S. administration view the recent political developments in Kuwait?
Jones: Obviously Kuwait is a sovereign country; we take that word, “sovereign,” very seriously. Kuwait is not one of the 50 states. On the other hand, I don”t think that it is a big secret in the world that the United States is a big believer in democracy ـ representative democracy ـ and participatory governance.
The best way to ensure peaceful transition and growth, as countries grow, because governments are organic and we think that democracy ـ representative democracy ـ is what helps countries to grow and develop, and avoid violent transitional episodes.
We have always supported Kuwait”s democratic traditions, which we believe are deeply embedded in your diwaniya tradition and others, such as participatory governance. We describe the process here as being vibrant and a little bit complicated. We support that, given the alternatives. Politics is about building capacity and ensuring that there is growth and access to resources.
When political gridlock leads to stagnation, no one benefits of course. So, democracy is about a couple of things ـ it”s about representative government. It”s also about respectful rule of law and respect for institutions.
We feel pretty confident that Kuwaitis are going to work (it) out. There is a lively debate and you all have an important role to play as a free press, in responsibly reporting on what you hear, and contributing to that democratic dialogue, which is often noisy. I was going to use the word cacophony, which means a clash of sounds. We are used to this in the United States; we are used to having a lot of noise that comes when the various branches of government interact.
You can read the entire article HERE
Rape in Kuwait – the flip side
By now you know a lot about who I am – what I laugh at, what I treasure, and what makes me break out in a storm of fury. Rape is one of those issues; the sheer entitlement that goes with stripping another human of choice and violating flesh as if the victim were nothing more than a piece of meat, it energizes me to a white rage, whether the victim is man, woman or child.
And then . . . and then . . . there are very strange cases of reported rapes in Kuwait that I have a hard time imagining exactly what happened here. I am not being flip, in a flippant sense; I am perplexed. We sometimes get so little of the story, and once you have a key piece of information – which we often never have – things make sense.
This is from today’s Kuwait Times:
Minor Raped
Police said a minor girl told Salhiya police that while she was sitting on the beach, a young man approached her and told her that he belonged to a well-known family. He then took her to an apartment in Sharq where he raped her before returning her to the same area. Later, another man approached her and took her to another apartment and raped her as well. She provided police with their mobile phone numbers. The case is under investigation.
Does this not sound peculiar to you? For one thing, is she sitting alone on the beach? Does she know these men? She goes with them – alone? By choice? Twice, with two different men? They give her their phone numbers?? To me, there is a lot of information missing in this report. It sounds like a very strange case of rape. I almost wonder if the minor has a mental incapacity, but it doesn’t say that.
Man, Woman arrested
A police patrol traveling in Sulaibiya recently suspected a young man and woman as they were driving. (Note to self: remind Kuwait Times that you do not use “Police suspected. . ” without specifying which behavior they found suspicious) Police asked to see their civil IDs and discovered that the young woman had run away from home one month ago. During interrogation, she confessed that the man and his three friends had raped her several times in a flat. The case is under investigation.
The following one is not about rape (nor am I sure the above cases are about rape) but is a case that makes you go “hmm. . .. what??”
Runaway Woman
A Filipina woman recently told Sulaibikhat police that she abandoned her sponsor’s home in Bneid Al-Gar before going to her Pakistani friend’s flat in Doha. Two months later, the woman became pregnant. She then reported the matter to the police.
She went to the police and said “I am a runaway, and I am pregnant” knowing she will be charged with absconding AND with immorality, maybe adultery? Knowing she will go to jail? What, exactly, is she hoping to gain? What is she reporting?
The crime news is full of mysterious glimpses, and we rarely know the rest of the story.
Expecting Too Much?
The newspapers in Kuwait have gotten better. Really. They are using fewer hackneyed cliches, their spelling is better, their use of photos is getting better – mostly the captions match the photo.
This, however, is inexcusable.
A headline featuring the Emir of Kuwait – a big story.
Sew, my newspaper friends, is what you do with a needle.
Sow is what you do with seeds, or grains, as in “as you sow, so shall you reap.”
Oh, Arab Times, the shame!
AMIR WARNS IN RUN-UP TO POLL CAMPAIGN; ‘Prosecute bids to sew disunity’
KUWAIT CITY, April 12, (KUNA): His High-ness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Sunday called on the relevant national authorities to take legal action against persons or establishments that target national unity in the run-up to the electoral campaigns. The Amir made the call during an extraordinary session of the Cabinet that he chaired. The meeting was attended by HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Following the session, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Faisal Mohammad Al-Hajji Bou-Khaddour stated that HH the Amir, during the meeting, expressed his dismay and regret at those who are fomenting discords and hateful factional disputes, as part of their campaigns for the upcoming elections for the ninth legislative term of the National Assembly.
Prison Security Inspectors Attacked by Somali Women
I don’t know why this makes me laugh, but it does. Like if you are visiting a prison, don’t you just take it for granted that your bags, your person may be inspected? Why would you object – unless you are trying to smuggle something in to the person you are visiting? And can’t you figure out that if you ATTACK a security person, you are likely to get arrested? I don’t know why, I guess that life throws you curves and this is a situation that jumped from zero to 100 on the intensity scale in a very short time. You have to wonder – well, I have to wonder – what the participants were thinking?
Staff Writer
Al Watan
Kuwait: Security authorities in the Central Prison arrested two Somali women after they assaulted four female Kuwaiti inspectors and refused to submit to search while they were passing through Gate B in the prison.
The incident started when one of the female inspectors asked the two Somali women to submit to search procedures. However, the two women refused and attacked the inspector. Although the other female inspectors tried to save their colleague, they were also assaulted by the two Somali women. The prison authorities interfered and arrested the two women. The injured inspectors were taken to hospital to receive medical services, in addition to issuing a medical report that described their injuries.
Schools Start Date 23 September 2009 in Kuwait
School year to begin on Sept. 23
Staff Writer
Al Watan
KUWAIT: The Council of Undersecretaries at the Ministry of Education has officially announced the next academic year’s schedule. Intermediate and secondary stage students are scheduled to resume their classes on Sept. 23, while kindergarten and primaryـone schoolchildren are expected to return to school on Sept. 27, while children in the other primary stages are due to resume later; on Sept. 29. In another development, the council has also decided to cancel retests for students of all stages and announced that the new intermediate evaluation system will be introduced from the next academic year.
I am guessing that this is after Ramadan, and after the Eid al Adha?
Last updated on Monday 13/4/2009
Monday, 13 April 2009 Sunrise
Good morning, Kuwait.
Forecast for today – hot – and humid. Aarrgh.
In Florida, this is the weather that makes the flea eggs start hatching. When it hits over 30°C or 85°F, to me, that is hot. I always hate it when I have to close up the windows and have the A/C on 24/7, but I also hate sweating . . .
Early mornings are nice . . .
Easter Sunrise and Noah’s Ark
Today is the most beautiful day in the church year, Easter Sunday. Mary and Mary go to the tomb where Jesus was laid, only to find the 2 ton stone rolled away from the entrance, and angels waiting there, telling the women that Jesus was not there, that he had arisen. If you have been reading this blog for any time at all, you will know that it delights my heart that women were the first to know, and that Jesus, resurrected, appeared first to a woman. In the Bible, she tells the men and they don’t believe her. LLOOLL.
It is a glorious Easter morning:
As part of her Easter greeting today, a friend sent the following, which I love. Since all three traditions, Jewish, Christian and Moslem, celebrate Noah (Noh) I thought I would share it with you.
Noah’s Ark
(Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah’s Ark. )
ONE: Don’t miss the boat.
TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat!
THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
FOUR: Stay fit. When you’re 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
FIVE: Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
SIX: Build your future on high ground.
SEVEN: For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.
EIGHT: Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
NINE: When you’re stressed, float awhile.
TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
ELEVEN: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there’s always a rainbow waiting.
Have a great day, a blessed day, Kuwait.
Kuwaiti Men and the Women’s Vote
What is not to love about Kuwaiti men? Most of the Kuwaiti men I know are strong proponents of the Kuwaiti woman, sometimes, just as in my own country, the men are stronger proponents of women’s rights than the women are. Saw this editorial cartoon last week and intended to publish it, but somewhere, it got lost. No longer.
Kudos on you, Ahmed. Great cartoon!
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