After Mohammed AlJasem’s first article, he wrote a second article much more critical of Sabah AlAhmad’s role in the country and his growing power.

His third and latest article continues his trend of criticizing Sabah AlAhmad’s strength.

I recommend reading all three. But the point of my post is to know what direction is he going towards? and why?

His problems with Sabah AlAhmad have been publicly known since his days as editor in chief of AlWatan newspaper.

Does he want to be the hero? Nobody else has been as critical to the prime minister as he has, so swimming against the tide will definitely help make a name for himself politically as a ‘voice of the people’.

But for a man who was paid more than 10,000KD a month as a salary from someone as contrevertial as Ali AlKhalifa, the owner of AlWatan, a member of the royal family, and someone with a really nasty reputation full of corruption from his days as minister.

So, after getting the boot from AlWatan and being replaced by Ali AlKhalifa’s son, now all of a sudden he is the most critical person of the royal family.

Does he want to annoy Sabah AlAhmad and test his limits to become some sort of hero if they tried to quiet him? Is he testing Sabah AlAhmad and seeing what he might be offered to stop (such as a wazara)? Is he betting on someone other than Sabah AlAhmad and hopes to be on top if such a thing happens? Or he just trying to change the really bad reputation he got from his days at AlWatan for many years??

It really is confusing, and ironic, to see him write all that! And who exactly are the shabaaab he keeps talking about?! Could it be the same shabaab who ousted him from his position?

I’d love to know what you guys think about this recent revelation by Mr. AlJasem?!

Is it just me or does this sound weird to anyone else??

Saw this in a bathroom in the airport in Istanbul from my last trip. I have a feeling I’m missing something….?!

First off, after giving women their political rights, we finally have our first woman minister! Dr. Maasouma Mbarak was appointed as Minister of Planning and Minister of State for Administrative Development Affairs.

Great choice! The perfect person for the perfect position! So Mabrook to us all for this great day in Kuwait’s history!

But wait….there’s more!! (same tone used in tv infomercials) It gets better!

He finally quit!!!!!

Great news! But why do I have a feeling we will get a ‘young’ member of AlFahad brothers to replace him?! hmmmm?! I dont care, let me enjoy the few hours I have for now before they announce it!

I just finished reading the new book by the Nissan and soon to be Renault CEO, Carlos Ghosn, called Shift.

The book is an excellent read. Dont expect a detailed explanation of how he helped Renault and singlehandedly saved Nissan. He gives the general views and ideas on how he did it, and I personally thought it was very insightful on how to run a company in the modern days of globalism!

Anyway, this is not a review of the book, but while reading it, one sentence especially made me smile. Ghosn talks about the Japanese business culture, and criticizes the way a job in Japan used to be considered a life long guaranteed thing.

He says,

“Economic life consists of destruction and creation, of change. It’s all part of the normal functioning of an economy. To consider employment as an immutable good is profoundly contrary to the way an economy evolves. When you try to save a job that’s been condemned by market evolution or technological progress, all you succeed in doing is weakening the business as a whole.”

I say to Mr. Ghosn, during your visit to Kuwait last week, you shouldve taken a small trip to a little place call mujamma3 al wazaraat!

Job security 3ala 7saab our country hal maskeena illy everyone is abusing for their own benefit!

This is an issue that has been puzzling me for a while now, but I always forget to write about it….

There are several non-government organizations here in Kuwait, and all of them have their headquarters somewhere in a residential area. Most of them are basically a house turned into an office, but a few (mainly a couple), are huge!

The two I was wondering about are -

جمعية الاصلاح
(Ikhwan backing)

جمعية إحياء التراث الإسلامي
(Salaf backing)

Jam3iyat AlIsla7 have their main headquarters in AlRawda area, right on the highway, and its probably bigger than the huge Rawda jam3iya.

Jam3iyat I7ya’ AlTuraath have their headquarters in Qurtoba, in the middle of the area, and its probably 3 times as big as the new jam3iya, which is huge!

Both organizations have several other houses around Kuwait, many of which are unlicensed (thats not the issue here for now). My question is…..how the HELL did they get that land?!?!??!? As real estate, both plots of land are worth several millions im sure!

When and how did they get that land?? Did they apply to it as a nonprofit organization?? Did the government just decide to give it to them?? Do they pay rent? and how come its only those two that got that land and no other organization?!

I would love to know an expert’s opinion on this issue, and what the current value of that land would be about!

Out of the other organizations that I can think of, جمعية الخريجين، الجمعية الثقافية النسائية، الهلال الأحمر، جمعية المحامين الكويتية، جمعية الفنون التشكياية ….. and any others I can remember, none of them is even 20% the size of the first two I mentioned!! How come?!

منتخبنا و رياضتنا كلها مثل وزاراتنا و مثل ثقافتنا و مثل فننا و مثل تعليمنا و مثل أي مجال آخر يحتاج الى تخطيط من الدولة …… عايش على البركة

دولتنا ديناصور يحتضر! العنصر الوحيد الحي في بلدنا هو الاقتصاد. و للأسف ليس بسبب التخطيط العظيم، بل لأسباب خارجية كارتفاع سعر النفط و انفتاح السوق العراقي

حال منتخبنا حال أي وزارة، اذا ذهبت لأي وزارة لوجدت فوضى و سوء ادارة و انعدام تخطيط و عدم وجود أي أهداف!! من ستلوم؟ الموظف الذي يستقبلك و يأخذ أوراقك؟ اذا كانت المسألة بهذه البساطة لتعدل الوضع بمجرد استبداله. و لكن أن يبقى الوضع في جميع الوزارات هكذا باستمرار فهو بالطبع مسؤولية الادارة! الحال نفسه مع المنتخب، سيتغير الفريق و سيتغير المدرب و لكن الفشل سيستمر!! و للأسف، المسؤولين عن تدهور الرياضة الكويتية و وضعها في الحضيض معصومين عن الخطأ، و النقد كفر أو انتحار مهني

سؤال بسيط، ماذا سيقنع المسؤولين عن الكرة الكويتية بالتنحي عن كراسيهم؟؟ كأس الخليج في أرضنا و حصلنا على المركز الأخير بدون احتساب اليمن!! الكأس التالي احرزنا المركز الرابع!! خسارة مذلة من المنتخب السعودي 3-0 مع الرأفة!! خسارة أقوى ب4-0 أمام كوريا على أرضنا و أمام جمهورنا!! احراز هدفين و دخول 10 أهداف علينا في خمس مباريات بالتصفيات! نوادينا تعتبر لقمة سائغة لأي فريق عربي أو آسيوي! منشآتنا الرياضية تقارن ببنغلادش! ملعبنا لاستضافة كأس الخليج يعتبر أسوأ ملعب استضاف البطولة منذ دورات عديدة!! وعدونا ببناء استاد جابر الرياضي ليستضيف كأس الخليج في ديسمبر 2003! و ها نحن لا زلنا ننتظر! اخفاقات متتالية تزداد سوءا كل عام!!؟

هل يعقل أن تكون الكويت، التي كانت رائدة في المنطقة، أن تكون الآن مثالا للفشل و التدهور في الرياضة و المسرح و التعليم و … و… و؟!؟

الطاقات موجودة، و الطموح متوفر، و الشباب الكويتي متعلم أكثر من غيره، و من الممكن أن يحقق المعجزات اذا توفر الجو المناسب. لكن للأسف .. الدولة ديناصور متهالك، و انعدام النظرة المستقبلية المتفتحة محبط

من سيطلق رصاصة الرحمة؟ و متى؟

I am currentlyin Qatar for a few days, and today while reading the local newspaper, I read something that made me smile and thought I had to post this!

From today’s AlSharq newspaper in Qatar -

أخبار محلية
50/50 زاوية ترصد الأخبار شبه المؤكدة وتحتاج الى التأكيد أو النفي
تاريخ النشر: الثلاثاء 7 يونيو 2005, تمام الساعة 03:27 صباحاً بالتوقيت المحلي لمدينة الدوحة

رغم قرب انتهاء المهلة المحددة للتقدم بطلبات الترشيح لشغل وظيفة الأمين العام بالمجلس البلدي يتردد أنه لم يتقدم حتى الآن أي مواطن أو مواطنة لشغل المنصب، وترجح بعض التفسيرات أن السبب الأساسي في ذلك يعود إلى ما سبق وأشارت إليه الشرق بالمحاولات الجادة لإقناع شخصية قطرية ذات الكفاءة في العمل البلدي لتقديم ترشيحها. ويبدو أن جميع الراغبين في انتظار ما تسفر عنه المحاولات ومن ثم النظر في التقدم بترشيحاتهم من عدمه.

This is from AlQabas two days ago -

باقر: الوضع «ملغوم» والمرشحون صاروا ألفاً!
صراع بين «الكوتا» والكفاءة في تعيينات البلدي
كتب زكريا محمد ومبارك القناعي:
استبعد وزير العدل ووزير الدولة لشؤون البلدية احمد باقر ان يحسم اختيار ستة اعضاء لتعيينهم في المجلس البلدي في جلسة مجلس الوزراء اليوم، مشيرا الى ان الوضع «ملغوم» لان الاسماء كثيرة، حسب ترشيحات الجمعيات المهنية، وشخصيات اخرى.
واشار باقر الى ان عدد الترشيحات لستة مقاعد بلغ الف مرشح حتى يوم امس، وربما يتصاعد العدد الى اكثر خلال الايام المقبلة، مشيرا الى ان جمعية المحامين بعثت بخمسمائة اسم هم عدد اعضاء الجمعية العمومية.

Funny, no?? Im not saying this is right or this is wrong, I just thought it was funny and worth mentioning!

The most interesting and direct article I have read this year….from the unlikeliest of sources!!

The first word that comes to mind when reading this article by Mohammed AlJassem, the ex-editor in chief of AlWatan Newspaper, is “brave”!

The second thing that came into my head was “سبحان مغير الأحوال”!!

ٌRead this article….and I want to know what you guys think!

I personally think he has a great point, and the balance of power in the AlSabah family is something that should always be considered because it affects everyone as Kuwaitis. It is an issue that has been discussed repeatedly by shabaab ساحة الصفاة and its an interesting view from someone who has been a direct employee of AlSabah family for many years.

This is the list of winners of the Baladi elections. Congrats to them!

Also, a personal CV is written next to each one of them. I was actually impressed with a couple of them! Anyway, look through them, and then look at the two I picked out!

CV’s

Example 1

Example 2

This means -

• 20% of our Baladi members have a middle school degree
• 30% have a highschool degree
• Only 2 engineers!!
• Apparently being married is something that makes you a better member?!

These people might be really nice decent people, but does that make them qualified to handle our Majlis Baladi?!?!

I just posted this on the other blog I contribute in, Qadam. And since I havent posted anything in a long time, I will post this here also, and will resume normal services of posting as of today! Sorry for the delay and enjoy your stay

What a game! As previously mentioned, I was lucky enough to attend the 2005 Champions League Final game between Liverpool - Ac Milan at Istanbul. I was there to see history! I have alot to say about it, which I will later (I promise)!

I will keep this post limited to pictures. This is a pictorial of the trip in cronological order. There are many more pictures but I will stick to these! These include celebrity sightings since I was sitting next to the media boxes.

Istanpool

Pilgrimage

Outside

Franz

Hakan Sukur

Daum

Opening

Forza Milan (only when they’re up 3-0)!!

Liverpool banners

final