Kuwait needs its James Baker

30/10/2025

I met James Baker on January 30, 2023, at the Willard Hotel in Washington. I had hoped to speak with him about Kuwait, but in his calm and deliberate manner, he turned the discussion toward something larger. He reflected on the diplomacy of his time and contrasted it with today’s reflexive reliance on force. Not long before that meeting, I had listened to William Burns’s memoir The Back Channel.

In it, Burns described Baker’s diplomacy as firm yet rational. He emphasized Baker’s reliance on dialogue and sustained engagement even when politics pointed toward confrontation. For Burns, what set Baker apart was his insistence on legitimacy in international law and his credibility with allies—foundations that underpinned his success.

If Americans can still turn to a man in his mid-nineties for lessons and inspiration, why should Kuwait not do the same? Where are our own elder statesmen— those who witnessed independence in 1961, endured the invasion of 1990, and navigated the turbulence after Iraq in 2003? Their absence is more than silence; it weakens our national memory.

Their voices are not a luxury but a necessity. They carry the lived experience of guiding institutions through difficult times and of navigating moments when stability was at risk. They know that calm on the surface does not always mean true security, and that a sudden loss of balance can quickly bring serious peril. They can link past to present and foresee future risks with the perspective of those who once managed national responsibilities under intense pressure.

This is why Kuwait must carve out a special space for them. While public debate is often constrained by rules and sensitivities, these men and women must be allowed to speak with a freedom not granted to others. Their critiques, their warnings, and their predictions are precisely what can prevent avoidable crises. It is the responsibility of the Council of Ministers to provide them with that platform and to show the patience that truth sometimes demands. For the bitter honesty of those who care, however uncomfortable, is far less painful than the silence that leaves a country blindsided by problems it might have avoided.