April 2006 Archives

Mahmoud al-Zahar speaking to reporters in Damascus last week. (AP)

A Hamas Minister managed to lose $450,000 while on a visit to Kuwait. You heard right: FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. It was supposedly "stolen" from his Hotel Room.

I am positive the minister was going to use the money to pay some of the salaries of government employees manually.

And they expect more donations from Gulf countries...

Here is the full article (from Haaretz) :

$450,000 said stolen from PA foreign minister during visit to Kuwait
By Haaretz Service

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar has had $450,000 stolen from his hotel room during his current visit to Kuwait, the Itim news agency quoted the Kuwaiti media as saying Wednesday.

According to the report, al-Zahar had asked the Kuwaiti authorities to keep the theft under wraps, but the incident was confirmed by a security official at the hotel.

The foreign minister, a senior member of Hamas, is on a tour of Arab and Muslim countries to drum up funds after Israel suspended the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority and Western donors cut off aid to the Hamas-led government.

The European Union and the United States have cut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority over Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by previously signed peace agreements.

Itim also reported that an official at the Palestinian Finance Ministry has revealed that, despite its empty coffers, the PA has funded the trip for al-Zahar and his entourage.

Iran's Reactors

'Radioactive dreams'; Spare Region 'Another War'
by Amer Al-Hilal
Reprinted from Arab Times (24th April, 2006)

Dear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,

Please allow me to interrupt your latest preparations for the bizarre "Holocaust: Myth or Fact" conference and congratulate you on your active and vibrant Presidency. Iran continues on its path of enlightenment, its respect for human rights, combating terrorism, its support for freedom of speech, the Middle East Peace Process, security in the Gulf and the international arena by continuing to thumb its nose at the West and the Gulf countries by pursuing a nuclear program.

During the Kuwait invasion, Saddam "I Invaded Kuwait But All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" Hussein torched over 700 oil wells, literally making us live through Joseph Conrad's Darkness at Noon, local lax environmental regulations on factories and the oil industry, leading to an increase in asthmas rates and cancers.

So Mr. President, you are just speeding up the inevitable; we are now on the path of an uninhabitable Kuwait, one shrouded in cancers and innumerable deaths due to the radioactive smorgasbord - due to a potential earthquake, human error a la Three Mile Island or a smart-bomb attack - from your strategically-placed-on-the-Kuwait-border nuclear reactors.

Of course placing such reactors around Teheran or your major cities would have alarmed citizens, so they got moved to our neck of the woods (ie the Busher plant).

You were well aware that our Ministers would run to you with open arms, with their gleaming, toothy smiles, and hug you and treat you like a visionary head of state when you visited us. You knew we'd make statements "supporting peaceful nuclear work."

We also embraced your envoys (ie. Rafsanjani) but what use will their words of reassurance be when people are getting chills and fever due to environmental radiation?

You actually went one step beyond an invasion. This won't be seven months of torture, rapes and killing (featuring over 600 POWs missing); rather Kuwait will be uninhabitable, not for one month, or seven months or three years, but for decades. It's genius. You will actually manage to do something Saddam never dreamed of: create a ghost town - fueled by alarming cancer rates and innumerable deaths - where human life is worthless and billions in revenue whether earned (oil) or spent (infrastructure, investments) will be worthless. The history, heritage and land of a country will be erased, not in name but in reality. Who would want to live here under those conditions? Mr President if you don't believe me, I'll try to make this easier for you: watch Stanley Kramer's 1959 motion picture 'On The Beach' (you can order it from Amazon.com). Listen to Fred Astaire's monologue.

Oh, I just realized that you - as a former American hostage-taker during the Iranian revolution - are probably not "cool" with the idea of watching Western films, unless they are 'Wag The Dog' or 'Fahrenheit 911.' Take the Russian deal. And spare the region another war. Kuwait is tired of being in the eye of the storm every decade. We've had enough. Otherwise its welcome to Radioactive Dreams, Mr. President. And that will be all due to your sheer genius and respect for human life.

You may have noticed a lack of fresh articles and features on Hilaliya.

Guilty as charged. I am on my way back from a business trip to Dubai.

Last time I was in Dubai was in 1992; of course it's a complete different beast now. Quite simply, it is an amazing desert metropolis built on magnificent infrastructure and thriving due to its embrace of economic liberalization, strong laws, tourism. They are constantly raising the benchmark here: hotels, resorts, malls, entertainment facilities, and so forth, topped off with the quality control, sound planning and excellent customer service.

I love the fact that - unlike Kuwait where people are fixated on politics and officials - people here focus on the economy, making money, building something, while attempting to offer the best products and services to the public that money can buy.

Following the bureaucracy, narrow-mindedness and corruption prevalent in most facets of Kuwaiti society, it is so refreshing to visit an Arab country where the roots of bigotry, extremism and fatalism are ripped from the ground before being allowed to taint society.

'Business Bay' Project

The last week has been very hectic, an assortment of meetings and work-related activities. Stay tuned though, much more stuff coming your way including a controversial, hard-hitting article I penned for the Arab Times concerning Iran's uranium enrichment program and the environmental danger it poses to Kuwait.

I just returned from the U.S.A. National Day bash at the American Embassy. It was marvelous fun, a great mix of people from all walks of life in Kuwait, with delectable food represented by major companies and the very talented New Orleans All-Star Brass Band. The theme of the night: Celebrating the Spirit of New Orleans.

As I walked into the grounds of the American Embassy I was given a straw hat, some beads and an illuminated shoulder pin in order to get into the Mardi gras spirit!

I saw many business acquaintances and old friends; including a former boss that I worked for a while back (it was great seeing him again, it certainly brought back good memories). I also got a chance to touch base with some Foreign Service officers that I had not seen in a while as well as some American military personnel serving here.

I don't usually eat at official functions although the food stands and platters looked appetizing and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

U.S. Ambassador, Richard LeBaron and his staff were very patient and friendly doing the social rounds and guests were offered a chance to take a picture with Ambassador LeBaron if they so desired.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and classy night; a fitting tribute to the United States and the State of New Orleans, who were devastated by the hurricane Katrina last year.

According to a Reuters article The International Monetary Fund has warned Kuwait about its future economic growth. Despite a strong increase of 7.5% in its GDP in 2004-05, low inflation and a budget surplus of $24bn for the fiscal year just ended, the IMF has urged Kuwait to undertake key structural reforms. A report published on the IMF's web site this week states that Kuwait needs to encourage a wider role for the private sector in its economy.

An Excerpt:

But the IMF said progress on structural reforms remained slow in the Gulf Arab state. "The authorities have adopted some measures to allow for a broader role of the private sector in the economy but ... implementation of the reform agenda has been slower than expected, in part, due to difficulties in reaching a political consensus," said the report, prepared after talks with Kuwaiti officials.

If I were Disney/Pixar I'd have sued. Not just for this.

But for ALADDIN, LITTLE MERMAID, THE LION KING and all the other Kuwaiti Disney ripoffs we've seen here throughout the years.

Expect the Kuwaiti children's theatre version of Pixar's CARS next year, played by rotund, bearded men in skimpy latex outfits with cardboard dashboards on their heads.

It is imperative that films such as UNITED 93 be seen in the Arab World - and especially in Kuwait - so that the "man on the street" can see first-hand how fanaticism and terror at the hands of some warped, demented criminals have overshadowed the true Islamic values of compassion, tolerance and the pursuit of peace (that the majority of the Arab and Muslim world embrace) and how it destroys innocent lives.

The Ministry of Information seems to conclude time and again that audiences cannot or should not handle films dealing with real life subjects matters such as Middle East fanaticism and corruption (SYRIANA), adultery, drugs, among other issues. They think 4 year olds should watch the same kinds of films an adult watches - they are one audience according to the Censorship Bureau.

I hope the Ministry of Information does not ban UNITED 93 or edit any major sequences. Nevertheless, expect the unexpected with them; they banned THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (the only Gulf country to do so), DODGEBALL, BRIDGET JONES: EDGE OF REASON, BE COOL and a myriad of other films that should have never been banned. They also banned HELLBOY, a tongue-in-cheek comic book adaptation because it featured "a character from Hell."

UNIVERSAL PICTURES Official UNITED 93 site is here.

The Trailer is here.