“THE FIGHT against those expressing their opinions freely has reached to such a level that the government, which claims to have reforms and development on mind, is relinquishing all its tasks to pursue one satellite channel and prevent its airing from any part of the world. Why is the government being so repressive? Have the Minister of Information and the government become so strong that they are able to promote their backwardness even abroad?” columnist Abdullatif Al-Duaij mused for Al-Qabas daily Saturday.

“The Kuwaiti citizen, by the virtue of backward laws such as the Audio-Visual Law, is not allowed to express his/her viewpoint in his/her own homeland. Now, by the virtue of the consecutive parliamentary interpellations and the support shown by some politicians and parliamentarians, Kuwaiti citizens will no longer be allowed to express his/her opinion even outside the country.

“In this context, one may refer that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information has succeeded in shutting down Al-Sour Satellite Channel even in Bahrain. Now, nobody knows what to expect from this despotic government which is supported by the above-mentioned bulls — we say bulls, because we expect them to be eaten in the same way the Al-Sour Satellite Channel was eaten.

“In other words, a day will come when the government will manage to put on trial a Kuwaiti citizen living in London, if he drinks alcohol in London or maybe citizens will be whipped, in case they fail to perform Friday prayers in Switzerland. This is likely to be applicable on our political activists and our elite youth too.
 “One wonders if anyone can prevent the Ministry of Information from requesting some specific countries throughout the world or even some international internet firms for shutting down websites of those who supported parliamentary interpellations or even that of those who voted against the same.
 “Frankly speaking, I am yet to comprehend the attitude of freedom activists in general and those who are still insisting on practicing their absolute freedom. Why are these people supporting such ‘a dirty’ interpellation which was filed recently against the Minister of Information?
“Let us start with media men who had supported Al-Oqaila gathering or those who had called for shutting down some satellite channels. Aren’t they the same people who were slamming others for attacking and criticizing fiercely?

“Not just that, some of these people were previously given a strong warning by courts for expressing their opinions over certain issues too freely. Such being the case, one may wonder, why these people want to deprive others from speaking freely while they themselves strive to have that right.
“Now, those who supported the ‘dirty interpellation’ against the Minister of Information are requesting the government to curb its ‘extension’ and eventually end it.
 “We understand good intentions, but instigating against the government over the right to practice freedom of speech or even keeping silent when the government practices its oppressive policies against satellite channels is a crime.”

Also:
“The discussions about dual nationality are steadily escalating and political arguments over this sensitive and perilous issue have significantly increased in Kuwait, which is a small country and is not in a position to bear more security problems,”columnist and attorney Fawziya Al-Sabah wrote for Al-Rai daily Saturday.
“Now the question is: What about the perils of dual nationality and can the government be held accountable for the rampancy of this phenomenon? In my own opinion, the government could be held accountable on the same level as its responsibility for not solving the Bedoun (stateless persons) problem.
“In this context, one may refer that in 1980s, those holding dual nationality used to enter Kuwait with vehicles having Gulf number plates and they were mostly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“Not just that, these people then directly went to the General Department for Citizenship and Passports for renewing their Kuwaiti passports and after getting the job done, they immediately left to their own home countries. Some of these people didn’t even have Kuwaiti currency and used to exchange riyals, in order to pay fees for getting their passports renewed.

“However, the General Department for Citizenship and Passports did not pay any attention to this issue and never conducted any investigation on this issue.
 “These days, people holding dual nationality enter the country along with their family by air and go to the Government Manpower Restructuring Program to obtain financial aid with the help of certain cooperative societies and some fake firms before returning to their own countries.”

“US President Barrack Obama is currently striving to impose more economic and political sanctions on Iran for its refusal to cooperate with international organizations over its nuclear program,” columnist Hamad Al-Merri wrote for Al-Watan Arabic daily Saturday.
“The American president’s endeavors in this connection have coincided with the escalating tone of Israel over the danger of Iranian nuclear program.
“For its part, the American administration feels Tehran’s possession of a nuclear bomb will pose a threat to American interests in the Middle East region, particularly since we know that the region is rich in oil.
“Such being the case, Washington is currently striving to prevent Tehran from making a nuclear bomb, particularly since Iranian official information is mostly based on threatening American interests in the region.

 “In this context, one may cite a previous experiment through which Iranians showed their enmity to every thing American. It was represented by Iranian occupation of the United States of America’s embassy in Tehran in 1980s and the occupiers managed to detain embassy employees for more than 18 months.
“Not just that, Iran was also involved in bombing the headquarters of American troops in Lebanon in 1980s. In spite of the above, the United States of America did not dare to take any military action against Iran. In other words, the only action it took was severing diplomatic ties with Iran. It also instigated other countries to impose economic sanctions on Tehran.”

“Arabs are supposed to defend the Jerusalem City, particularly since Arab history speaks about the importance of the holy city and how Arabs should spare no effort in protecting it,” columnist Khaled Al-Sharaf wrote for Awan daily Saturday.
 “The speech delivered by Turkish Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan during the recent Arab summit conference held in Libya revealed a lot of things about the importance of Jerusalem as a holy city.
“Amid Arab intentions to resume negotiations with the Zionist usurping entity, ignoring the Arabs’ historical responsibility towards Palestine and the holy places there, Erdogan revealed a historical fact saying the Palestinian cause represents an Islamic cause, stressing that Turkey will play its role towards Jerusalem cause, as well as in dealing with intentional attempts aimed at changing the history.
“When the Turkish Prime Minister was saying all this, the Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was listening as if he had no connection with the relevant topic.
 “As a matter of fact, following the establishment of the Zionist entity in Palestine, the Palestine cause became an Islamic cause and this position continued until some Arabs convinced some media outlets to introduce the said cause as Middle Eastern issue and then started referring it to as the Arab - Israeli struggle, given the fact that it was aimed at minimizing Islamic concern towards the Palestine cause.
 “Not just that, the said change in the Arab attitude towards the Palestine cause resulted in some Arab countries establishing diplomatic ties with the Zionist entity and this, per se represents an acceptance of the existence of the strange entity on the Palestinian territories and it followed with the conclusion of a peace accord between the Palestinians and the Israelis.”

“The magnitude of suffering among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients has prompted doctors to seriously search for medical solutions like analgesic and other medicines,” Faisal Abdul-Aziz Al-Zamel wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“People are perplexed and sad every time they see their loved ones climbing the stairs with difficulty and require assistance to engage in any activity, while some of the patients have started losing their memory. Everybody wants to know if there is a solution but doctors have admitted that they have not found effective ways to treat the disease until now.If you seek medical assistance, doctors often say, “We don’t know because the causes are ambiguous. Just take these pills and we shall see the effects later.”
“Some of the patients, who have been frantically browsing the Internet to find a cure, chanced upon the profile of Dr Paolo Zambini - an Italian specialist whose wife suffered from the same ailment. He carried out a research until he discovered that the rate of blood flow into the brain is not enough and the tightness of blood tissues reduces the rate of flow, so a certain quantity of blood remains in the brain. He found out the need to expand the tissues for the blood to flow back from the brain properly. His wife recovered from the disease through this procedure.
“Kuwaiti doctors learnt a great deal from this discovery, prompting one of them to take a courageous step to carry out a similar operation locally and he succeeded. The Ministry of Health (MoH) has coordinated with the doctors and MS patients in the country are now receiving proper treatment. Thank you to the caring doctors and ministry officials for exerting tremendous efforts to end the suffering of others.”

“Conspiracy mentality and natural democratic practice are two contradicting ideologies. If anybody feels that developments and discussions around him are conspiracies to implement a certain agenda against him or his group, then he cannot benefit from the democratic process because he does not believe in the concept and noble intentions thereof,” Dr Khalid Ayed Al-Jenfawi wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“The conspiracy mentality often accumulates uncertain dreams. Whoever has this kind of mentality remains an imaginary victim or pretends to be carrying out patriotic or democratic responsibilities.
“On the other hand, some people believe the Kuwaiti democratic practice does not involve conspiracies or hidden agenda against any group or individual. Clear democratic practice and difficulty in implementing a hidden agenda, which is not in line with the Constitution, clearly rule out possible conspiracy against any segment in the society. “In the meantime, it is impossible to exclude any citizen, for whatever reason, especially if he carries out his civic duties as a patriotic person who respects the law of the land.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb