As much as I criticize Saudi Arabia and its leaders, I have to salute them on what they have done today with their live telethon with all the money going to the tsunami victims.

As of time of writing this post, they have raised more than $45 million, which is more than the $30 million pledged by the Saudi government. Lets hope it comes close to the $150 million for the families of suicide bombers that was raised in a previous telethon!

Was this even suggested here for Kuwait television?

UPDATE - Now it reached $65 million with Prince Waleed Bin Talal and his family adding the extra $20 million

UPDATE - Final figure…………………. $82 million, not as much as the earlier telethon, but hem ya36eehum il3aafya ilsi3oodiyeen ma gassaraw, hope we can follow suit!

While browsing through Zaydoun’s blog, I stumbled on to this post with a link to an online quiz entitled “What Kind of Movie Are You?”

Try it out, its fun, and this is my result….

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What Kind of Movie Are You?
Q, if you were a movie, you’d be a Groundbreaking Documentary

If you think documentaries are boring, think again. Like your movie match, you’re an intelligent individual who makes people think. Documentaries span all sorts of topics, from the trivial to the profound. Perhaps your interests do the same, but one thing’s clear — you’re a smarty and you like to learn.

We’d guess you’re the person at the dinner table or the water cooler who stirs up lively debates about the latest news or tidbits from the Discovery Channel. Part of you probably gets a kick out of creating controversy and getting people fired up about their beliefs. Another part probably likes opening people’s eyes and sharing your thoughts. And for that, you get two thumbs up for trying to get to the bottom of things and making waves!

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You know whats funny about this? This is pretty accurate, to the point where its scary!!

I actually love watching the discovery channel, and what Im really addicted to is Discovery Civilization, now THAT is a kick ass channel!!

And obviously I enjoy stirring things up, opening people’s eyes, and sharing my thoughts….hence this blog!

Was it just me or was there a loud blast somewhere, and then what seemed like gunfire?? Either that or someone was playing with fireworks at 2:30 in the morning!!

Maybe my mind is playing games on me? maybe my post about the terrorists is making me paranoid?? But im sure i heard something, the gunfire Im sure of, and it wasnt continuous! Wait Im not really sure…..I think im going crazy!

I think im losing my mind, I cant sleep, I only had a total of 6 hours of sleep the past 2 days!!

The tsunami disaster will probably end being the worst tragedy in our recent history. The plague in the 1340’s killed a third of Europe at the time, but that was in a span of three years.

I’m not sure if there is a disaster that killed as many people from one day’s events. The death toll to date reaches around 16o,000 I think, with millions homeless and hundreds of thousands missing. Expect that number to rise dramatically within the next few weeks from the missing, and add to that the disease that will spread all around from the lack of medical services and clean water, plus the fact that these people are living in crammed refuge camps.

Some examples of the damage is seen in these pictures, its really scary, the houses and buildings on the left pictures, totally disappeared on the right.

When it comes to relief, Kuwait pledged $10 million. This isn’t really as big as I was expecting, which really is a shame, since Kuwait has always been one of the biggest donators in the world for charities. This is a chance to really help people in need and in the same time would have been great PR for the country.

• Japan pledged $500 million
• Germany just raised their pledge to $670 million apparently
• The UK pledged to match and add to the total given by the UK public, which reaches more than $150 million til now
• The US pledged $350 million.
• Kuwait pledged $10 million.

Now I know its a good amount compared to other countries, but we’re talking about Kuwait in a year where the surpluss has surpassed any expectations with the rise in price of oil and so on.

Another point which surprised me, was the lack of effort from the private sector in donating money!! Maybe I’m missing something, maybe some companies did but didn’t publicize it? In the US, private donation already top $200 million!

Is it lack of commitment? lack of organization? It isn’t lack of money, thats for sure! Im really confused! Its incredible how much money is wasted on projects all over the world by Kuwait, which Im sure are very valuable projects in the long term, but this is humanity aid, people who are dying, families that are destroyed, economies devestated, this is URGENT need for money!

Now that most of you already have the 200 KD, think of what is happening there. We are all living a decent life thank God, and we should be thankful for that, the new phone or trip can wait a couple of months or even a year, but the many children who are dying from lack of aid cant wait that long. You can save several lives with the donation, or you can get a new phone….its up to you in the end…

Yes, I’m back, the agony and wait is over! I promised to post back on Monday, and at the moment, it is 11:44 pm, so technically it is still Monday, even though I have a feeling that by the time Im done, it will be Tuesday. Anyway, I promised to post about my trip, but that will have to wait a day or two, something else caught my attention as soon as I got back from my trip.

I got worried, let me try to illustrate my point clearer with reasons for my worry -

• Leaving the airport, I noticed the check point outside the airport, which wasn’t there when I left the country 4 days ago! hmmm…..interesting!
• Driving back home, I saw an increased number of police cars. On the highway between Adeliya and Khaldiya, there usually is a traffic police car parked on the Adeliya side, but today, it wasn’t the blue and yellow traffic car, it was a black and white police car…..hmmm….interesting again!
• Later this day, on my way downtown, I noticed an armored vehicle on 1st ring road, also interesting!
• I called a friend who was here during New Year, and I asked him if there was anything else interesting that happened, he said that the number of military cars all over is not normal, reminded him of the times when the Iraq war just started….interesting!
• Back home visiting my family, and I mention this, so my younger brother says that they have raised some sort of baracade in the school where the cars park, and he said that they used to have it during the war too……interesting and scary too!

So to make things short, I have reasons to worry, and I have a bad feeling about the few coming weeks to come! Some of you may say that this is normal with the trouble up north…but now listen to this, and again, you read it first here on Kuwaitism……..

A very reliable source told me that Amn ildawla has caught 8 individuals from the army, who apparently belong to some sort of tantheem, ya3ny Qa3ida. One is a ra’id, the other is a naqeeb, the third I forgot, and the other 5 were lower ranked. They were planning an attack on American soldiers, on a رتل somewhere. Apparently, someone leaked the plan, and they were caught thankfully! So expect tighter security, more threats, and tense days ahead. I was also told that the reason all New Year celebrations were cancelled was not bcz of a decision from Abu AlHasan or someone like that. It was a decision from amn aldawla, they were on very high alert and were trying to prevent people from gathering for security reasons. So again thank God nothing happened and noone was hurt.

Now, if we have people in the army who we have to be careful from, who are we supposed to look for to help us if anything bad happens? These traitors (yes, TRAITORS), have infiltrated our own army, and they are thriving in our schools, in wizaraat, in majlis al umma, everywhere!! Anyone who puts bin shit laden and his followers ahead of Kuwait is a traitor!

An iron fist is what is needed now by the government. What is happening now is the result of their own miscalculations since the invasion. When you play with fire, you’re fingers get burnt!

God help us o Allah ya7fith liKuwait o ahalha inshalla!