Blogging the democratic revolution
As Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz es-Saud meets with Turkish leaders this week, the Sunni Arab world’s desperation should be kept in mind. Though economic concerns have been paramount in Turko-Arab relations for many years, and have grown since the election of the Turkish PM Erdogan, the Saudi King made a few remarks indicative of the Sunni Arab world’s fearful position. At a meeting with the Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer, Abdullah called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, obviously aimed bolstering Turkish support for the Arab position on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He then stated that ???????Like you…
There may be an Arabo-Iranian Cold War brewing, if the Arabs make themselves relevant again As the Arabs furiously try to guilt Syria into curbing Hezb Allah????????s activities and ???????rejoining??????? the Arab world, one cannot help but see an almost laughable, but certainly pathetic, last ditch attempt at salvaging what influence the Sunni Arab states have in the Middle East. Ever since the American invasion of Iraq, the strong men of the Sunni Arab world have become less and less relevant in a region that has become increasingly polarized on various fronts. On the one hand, with the liberation of…
The Amir of Kuwait, Amir Sabah al-Ahmad, has dissolved the Kuwait parliament with new elections set for June 29 (the constitution requires that they be held within two months). This follows a week of intense conflict unprecedented in Kuwaiti history brought about in response to a government proposal to limit the number of voting districts from 25 to five. Opposition members of parliament – formal parties are not allowed under the Kuwaiti system – are protesting because, they allege, the new system will allow the government to redraw the boundaries in a way that hugely favors a minority of the…
Source: AP, via Yahoo! Kuwaiti election volunteers in Salwa, Kuwait, during yesterday’s first-ever municipal election that allowed women’s participation. Draw your own conclusions.
It looks like the Kuwaiti government has made good on its promises. When women got the vote, they promised that they would appoint women to the government. Bingo. KUWAIT (Reuters) – Kuwait named its first woman cabinet minister on Sunday, less than a month after giving women the vote, a key plank in its democratic reforms. Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah announced rights activist Massouma al-Mubarak’s appointment as planning minister and minister of state for administrative development affairs, the state news agency KUNA reported. “Naming a Kuwaiti woman as a minister … is a special step we had longed…
The wording of the election law amendment is vague on some points, but it appears that the women of Kuwait have been granted the right to vote and run in elections. The prime minister, Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, said that he planned to name a woman minister. “I congratulate the women of Kuwait for having achieved their political rights,” he said. Kuwaiti women join their counterparts from the neighboring Gulf countries of Qatar, Oman and Bahrain in having the vote. The amendment, which was finalized after several years of debate and struggle by Kuwaiti women, passed by a vote of 35…
Tip of the hat to The Emirates Economist for letting me know about this item. Two weeks ago, the parliament voted 24-20 to give women the right to vote in municipal elections. This was heralded as a great first step, but skepticism still remained. And for good reason. The bill failed to pass the second round of voting. Kuwait City: A Bill granting Kuwaiti women the right to vote and contest in municipal council elections failed to pass muster in the second round in the parliament yesterday. The Bill was passed in principle by the parliament on April 19. However,…
I know that the third round of municipal elections in Saudi Arabia are coming up, so I checked out Arab News, which has a lot of material up, but I came upon this article noting that legislation had been passed in Kuwait allowing women to both vote and participate in municipal elections. KUWAIT CITY, 20 April 2005 ???????? In a first step toward granting women full political rights, Kuwaiti lawmakers agreed yesterday to allow women to vote and run in local council elections, but the measure requires more legislative action before it would become law. The measure was taken on…
Arthur Chrenkoff has a special roundup of recent events in the Middle East that he has dubbed the “Pro-Democracy Edition.” And in that respect, you should definitely check it out. For an older post in this same regards, check here if you haven’t seen it already.