Kuwait in 2005 was hailed as a budding Arab democracy, with among the freest press in the Arab world. In the aftermath of the 2011 Arab revolutions the government of the Emir began prosecuting critics in the press and even ordinary citizens commenting at blogs or on social media, accusing them of political libel.
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Ah, as the worm turns … Now that they’ve gotten rid of the hated S. Hussein, the Kuwaitis’ focus can narrow, becoming sharper, confronting issues closer to home. All sacrifices made facing a hostile enemy seeking to regain its 19th Province, Kadhima, demand compensation at some point, with the payments becoming a bit unsettling when the leaders are presented with the summary.
Yes, Kuwait (or, Kadhima) allowed the Emir with his politics, and policies to exist and survive if only to establish a unity against a common foe. Yet, the flaws in the Emirate haven’t magically repaired themselves and must be addressed at an appropriate time which, apparently, is now.
And, so, we see the consequences of removing a ‘devil’ that was well-known without considering the bargains made with the genies released who seek what is owed, their granting of wishes well received. Becoming free from one who would impose some sort of imperial rule has its price and the genies are not going back into the lamp. The spirits of liberty have amazed their corporeal audiences, exciting them for more and greater wonders.
The more mundane and temporal powers have only begun to contemplate the costs of THEIR freedom, something that seemed appealing until enlightened, learning that the expectation of a broader freedom is yet unrealised. Whether Egypt or Libya or Turkey or Syria or Iraq or Bahrain, or, now, Kuwait, the musculature of freedom is being stretched after an extended period of paralytic inactivity.
The ruling classes should realise their limits, finding themselves not so powerful as they had been led to believe. Their fears become restless, revealed by an incapacity to foretell the effects and consequences of the erosion of absolute control over information and, by extension, the lives, minds, and thoughts of the subjugated. It must be unsettling to realise that the genies (energised by modern technology) are not on the side of the traditionally powerful, instead favouring those in whose minds spirits can feel more at home. The genies know all too well that – when confined – the lamps of Truth were never lit.
The questions yet unanswered? How many wishes did the genies grant? To whom?
Criticize Sultan in Turkey and find yourself sued; express atheism and go to jail.
But now it gets worse as the Government sets its sights on curtailing or closing Twitter, which Erdogan called worse than car bombs!
link to hurriyetdailynews.com
Nice people. Sure glad I almost got my butt shot off saving them back in 1991.