LOCALARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2019

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US envoy applauds Kuwaiti medical facility’s progress

‘Center has close rapport with American hospitals’

KUWAIT CITY, July 1, (KUNA): US Ambassador to Kuwait Lawrence Silverman on Monday heaped praise on a Kuwaiti medical facility for its sublime primary healthcare program, saying the center has a close rapport with American hospitals.

Amid a visit to Dhaman Health Assurance Hospi-tal, Silverman said Kuwait and the US have stepped up cooperation in the health-care sector, pointing out the progress the Kuwaiti facil-ity has made is a testament to the growth the country’s healthcare industry has seen.

Dhaman Health Assurance Hospital is eager to work closely with American medical facilities, its deputy chairman Hamid Al-Bassam told the press, saying the American envoy’s visit is part of efforts to interact with diplomats in the country.

Dhaman strives to provide patients a world-class quality healthcare plan, said its Opera-tions Division Consultant Brian Flynn, emphasizing that improv-ing the local healthcare sector re-mains the primary goal.

A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION

DIWANIYA

Workshop fails to achieve targeted outcome by both

‘They only know language of might’“THE Bahrain workshop was held under the title ‘Peace Workshop for Boom’, in Manama with a media momen-tum less than expected,” columnist and former director of the Culture Department at the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters Waleed Al-Rujaib wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“But the workshop failed to draw the attention of the public away from the Arab Peace Initiative or the solu-tion based on the establishment of two states in Palestine (one for the Palestinians and the other for the Israelis) in spite of the allegations that this workshop is an introduc-tion to peace in the Middle East region.

“However, in spite of the tremendous US pressure on the Arab states to participate in the workshop some of these states were exposed to cheap blackmail such as Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt by promises of American economic support for their par-ticipation in the Bahrain work-shop, but this workshop failed to achieve the targeted outcome by both – America and Israel.

“But for the sake of countering the fi rst obstacle currently facing the so-called ‘Deal of the Centu-ry’, the Palestinian National Au-thority (PNA) and all Arab states must participate in this workshop and react positively to the na-ivety promoted by the advisor to the US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, who in fact is still a junior politician and a Zionist agent.

“In spite of the above, the Bahrain workshop was fi rst of all turned down by the Arabs and secondly the Pales-tinian National Authority although the latter is the most relevant Arab party concerned with the issue. Moreover, some other Arab countries topped by the State of Ku-wait refused to participate in this workshop.

“For his part, Kushner showed his biased side favor-ing Israel as well as his non-recognition of the two states solution (based on founding two states one for the Pal-estinians and the other for the Israelis).

“In this context, we cite what he said in his speech during the inauguration of the Bahrain workshop. He never mentioned even for once the word Palestine or the State of Palestine, rather he said the people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

“Not only that, Kushner appeared proud and arrogant about the parties which did not participate in this work-shop, but he added these parties, shall at last participate and this for him means these parties shall succumb to the American-Israeli pressures.

“Meanwhile, some Arab popular circles, have re-vealed the fact of Bahrain workshop by describing this workshop as a practical step to impose the status quo to normalize ties with Israel and this has been categorically rejected by all Arabs and this is like hitting the big nail in the coffi n of the US peace plan which the US Presi-dent Donald Trump attempted to enforce by shifting the American embassy to Jerusalem followed by his deci-sion to consider the Syrian Golan Heights part of Israel in addition to ‘gifting’ the West Bank to Israel as if this part of Palestine is one of his farms.

“As a matter of fact, the Kuwaitis through their politi-cal organizations and civilian institutions and educated elite and writers have expressed their principled rejec-tion to the normalization of ties with Israel.

“Apart from the above, we would like to cite here the statement that has been issued by Kuwait’s Parlia-ment which actually refl ects the attitude of the Kuwaitis. Likewise, the principled attitude of the government of Kuwait expresses the attitude of the State of Kuwait towards the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian people’s right to return to their homeland and the establishment of the Palestinian state on Palestinian territories.

“In this context, we would like to state that the State of Kuwait has always remained committed to the issues of the Arab nation and as such it will not accept any solution that is likely to be rejected by the Palestinians.

“Consequently, the rejection of the government of Kuwait to attend the Bahrain workshop was actually in harmony with the principles and the rights of the Arab states and peoples in addition with the principles of the Arab solidarity which the Kuwaiti foreign policy is committed to.”

Also:“The crucial attitude of the State of Kuwait represent-

ed by boycott of the Bahrain conference is brave and honorable, of which all Kuwaitis are proud. Moreover, all honest Arabs and Muslims are proud of this attitude,” columnist Abdurrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.

“This notarized attitude teaches more than one les-son, the fi rst and the most important is when you have a democratic and free Parliament, then this will inevitably mean your supporter even in terms of encountering the great powers.

“As a matter of fact, the Kuwaiti Parliament sent a strong message stressing the need to boycott the Ma-nama workshop and the government actually respected this message by confi rming that it (the government) will boycott the workshop in response to the people’s wishes and the demand of the Parliament.

“The second important lesson is that it is not neces-sary for any state to completely keep abreast with the decisions of its allies (great powers) rather any state re-serves the right to protect its independence without con-ducing to any political crisis between them.

“Certainly, the State of Kuwait as an important and strategic ally of America was and is independent in its thought and its decision-making process given the fact its relation with the sole superpower in the world has not imposed a specifi c obligation on it.

“Speaking of the third lesson, which is the most signifi cant, rests with the Zionists and will not lead to peace, because everybody knows that the Zionists have never remained committed to any covenant, but to the contrary they have always been insincere, because they know only the language of might even if they show their desire for peace and this was evident through their in-volvement in killing and persecuting the Palestinians.”

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“As soon as summer approaches, we fi nd the National Assembly behaving as though it is racing against time to end its term even if it comes at the expense of the delay of some important laws to the new term,” Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.

“Perhaps our National Assembly is one among the parliaments worldwide that holds the least number of meetings or sessions, as they are held only for two days every fortnight, which means four times a month – a rate that is very low compared to most parliaments in the world.

“We do not know what the reason is for such low rate of meetings. We also do not see any reason for hurry-ing the start of the summer vacation, even though the National Assembly does not hold its sessions in the de-sert under the sun but in an air-conditioned hall that is comfortable and tempting enough to sit for long hours for discussing the laws thoroughly, instead of passing laws in a hurry only to be rejected later by the Consti-tutional Court.

“For example, the National Assembly will hold a spe-cial session to review nine laws including one that is

considered as very important – the Public Tender Law, especially the clauses of this law regarding the promo-tion of local products, support for small and medium enterprises, and obliging local and foreign contractors to purchase at least 30 percent of local products, ten per-cent of SME products and services, and other signifi cant items. Will this law, and all other laws be reviewed and completed by the National Assembly in detail or will they be done in an urgent manner?”

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“Regarding recent discussions about the general level of education and adoption of suggestions to receive stu-dents from neighboring countries to study in Kuwait on student visa and provide them with facilities under the pretext that this proposal will improve the performance of public and private universities, and encourage com-petition among students, I must say these proposals re-veal lack of indications that we are not looking at the interests and future of our students as much as we are interested in the foreign relations and political courtesy in the fi rst place,” Faihan Al-Azmi wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“These decisions, which have become the rule of fact, mean the future of poor distinguished Bedoun and expa-triate high-school graduates is lost despite the fact that they are the fi rst and most deserving of this right instead of forcing thousands of them to move out of Kuwait an-nually to complete their education overseas. They are hosted by countries to obtain the qualifi cations of a uni-versity worthy of them and then return home to serve their homelands.

“It would be very useful if these distinguished high school graduates are accepted in the universities of Kuwait instead of bringing students from neighbor-ing countries. Those who graduated from our schools are not less effi cient than others and they therefore are better than others to complete their studies at Kuwait University.”

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“People of Egypt had elected Dr Mohammad Mor-si Al-Ayyat as the president of their country in a fair election that was monitored internationally, as it was unprecedented in the history of Egypt,” Dr Hamoud Al-Hattab wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“The elections gave hope to the country for a demo-cratic regime that will bring about development and self-suffi ciency. Egypt has effi cient economic potentials that places it within the ranks of the most developed countries in the world scientifi cally and economically. The same applies to the sister country Turkey which achieved a lot in terms of self-suffi ciency, development, and ability to overcome all natural and plotted obstacles.

“May Allah have mercy on Mohammad Morsi! Ku-wait offers its deepest condolences along with the free world that offered its condolences.”

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“Approval of the recent UN Resolution No. 2474 concerning protection of civilians during armed strug-gles is the result of efforts exerted by the Kuwaiti diplo-matic team led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid,” Dr Hayla Hamad Al-Mukaimi wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“Kuwait’s efforts in this regard are pushed by hu-manitarian reasons as well as its own experience, as Kuwait still suffers from the lack of information about 369 Kuwaiti prisoners of war during the Iraqi invasion in 1990. So far, Kuwait and the relevant international organizations have not obtained any information about these POWs or received their corpses.

“Kuwait has a bitter experience in this regard. It still exerts efforts to fi nd out the fate of its lost citizens since the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. The fate of these 236 victims out of the total of 605 has not been revealed. The importance of the resolution is to allow the victims’ relatives to fi nd out the fate of their lost loved ones. This resolution pushes the parties involved in dispute to take relevant actions to search for the lost without any form of discrimination and any political considerations.

“The resolution also allows the victims’ corpses to be found, allocating a special force to carry out this task. The current security conditions in the region including the war in Syria as well as in Iraq, Yemen and Libya increase the importance of the resolution. It will serve the people suffering from armed disputes and terrorism in all parts of the world, not only in this region.”

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“The constant attention to the Gulf region and the Middle East due to the expectations of outbreak of wars of confrontation with the alleged US enemies in the re-gion, not to mention the continued internal collapse of a number of Arab countries by the events of the Arab Spring, opened the door wide for external interventions especially in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya,” column-ist, Professor at Kuwait University’s Political Science Department and Assistant Undersecretary at Ministry of Information Dr. Hayla Hamad Al-Mukaimi wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“However, the real crises, where the confrontation and the competitive legacy has been limited, are in ar-eas known as the former Soviet Union. It is distributed to a number of countries including the Slavic countries, Caucasus countries, and Central Asian countries. Even the waves of the so-called color revolutions have started in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. Thus, the political forces have been divided between pro-Western forces and pro-Russian forces. Some countries are trying to distance themselves by following their own national model as safeguard for a long-term state model.

“Protests at Tbilisi erupted after a Russian delegation took part in the General Assembly of the Georgian Or-thodox Parliament. Georgians did not accept the head of the Russian delegation Sergei Gavrilov sitting on the seat of the Parliament Speaker. He mentioned that he had participated in the events in Abkhazia.

“The Russian position is the most controversial. Al-though the protests came from the opposition and the Georgian prime minister, who accused Russia of being responsible for fueling internal confl icts in Georgia and of being ‘an enemy and occupier’, the fi fth Russian col-umn in Georgia represents a greater danger than blatant aggression.

“But the Russians criticized some of the forces, and they called the radical forces that reject normalization between Moscow and Tbilisi, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gregory Karasin, who de-scribed what is happening in Georgia as ‘an act prac-ticed by radical political forces in Georgia with the aim of obstructing normalization between the two countries, which used the visit of a Russian delegation to Tbilisi to stir up unrest’.

“Russia still sees these countries as gardens in its backyard that protect their national security, which sometimes extend the geography of these countries to reach the Middle East. This explains the Russian pres-ence in all areas of Arab tension starting from Syria, Iran and then Iraq, Yemen, Libya and the Arab-Israeli confl ict. This is the new Russian equation based on the equation of the use of both soft and hard forces and what we are seeing now in Georgia ... Will it continue? How will the European Union deal with these emerging cri-ses?”

– Compiled by Zaki Taleb

Al-Rujaib

KUNA photo

US Ambassador Silverman visits Dhaman Health Assurance Hospital.

Info’s request for additional budget okayed

PAM plans to implement ‘blacklist’ systemKUWAIT CITY, July 1: In a move aimed at pro-tecting domestic workers, preventing the repetition of violations, and defending the rights of sponsors and recruitment offi ces; Direc-tor General of the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) Ahmad Al-Mussa has unveiled the plan of the authority to implement a ‘blacklist’ system that prevents the sponsorship of domestic workers by recruitment offi ces or em-ployers whose records show the recurrence of failure to abide by stipulations of la-bor contracts and violation of law number 68/2015, re-ports Al-Jarida daily.

Speaking to the daily, Al-Mussa poin t -ed out it is illogi-cal to a l l o w s p o n -sors or recruit-m e n t offices to con-t i n u e

hiring workers if many complaints were fi led against them by the domes-tic workers – up to seven or eight complaints yearly.

He said this system is similar to what is current-

ly implemented in line with Private Sector La-bor Law number 6/2010 that stipulates suspending files of erring companies and preventing these com-panies from hiring work-ers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has approved a request from the Ministry of Information to transfer of 750 thousand dinars ad-ditional budget for the fi scal year (2018/2019), reports Al-Rai daily quoting reliable sources.

The sources pointed this money is required to pay the dues ministry workers in radio and television pro-grams.

Al-Mussa