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Showing posts from February, 2008

The Additional Protocol

In his recent report to the Board of Governors , the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei states (under item 56) that Iran has expressed its readiness to implement the provisions of the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the modified text of its Subsidiary Arrangements General Part, Code 3.1, “if the nuclear file is returned from the Security Council to the IAEA”. It is an unprecedented opportunity for the UN Security Council to de-escalate this sensitive standoff, as CASMII states : “Nuclear inspections by the IAEA have proven to be the best and only non-violent safeguard against nuclear weapons proliferation. No country in the world has been able to develop nuclear weapons while its programme has been under the inspections of the IAEA. In the case of Iraq, nearly the entire weapons program was exposed and neutralized in the 1990s through a rigorous inspection process.” It’s high time now to take the cha

Happy National Day! Happy Liberation Day!

A well-loved song from the 1960s by the late Kuwaiti singer Saud Al-Rashed about the Kuwaiti flag.

They’ll Never Forget!

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On the 2nd of August 1990, Kuwait, the small country in the corner of the Persian Gulf was invaded by Iraqi troops. The tanks overran the tiny post at Abdaly, about 50 km north of the Al Mutlaa ridge. Saddam Hussein was pretty certain that the US would not interfere. He had enjoyed, for many years, a sort of friendship among rogues, and the handshake with Donald Rumsfeld is unforgotten, when the first war in the region, against America’s arch-enemy Iran, culminated with poison gas on one side and children with little plastic keys sent into the mine fields on the other. Stunningly, both parties, Iraq and Iran, had been eagerly supported by the West. Israel had even sold arms to Iran. It was a worldwide desire that both bastards, Saddam’s and Khomeini’s regimes, should better bleed to death, and vanish. But dictatorships do not vanish easily. One million had died when this war, which saw battles in trenches and usage of mustard gas, 70 years after WWI, ceased in August 1988. As other Ar
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Lunheim, Nord-Norge, February 10, 2008

Spring in the Desert

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The fragrance of the desert flowers is in any case a sudden and unexpected sensation in late spring. Temperatures are still in the thirties and air is fresh after a few thunderstorms and showers. This is the season for breeding, and the Masked Shrike ( Lanius nubicus ), larks and other migrating birds are attracted by the cliffs of Jal Az Zor. They may inhabit the tiny holes and caves within the strata of limestone. Shrikes rest in Kuwait on their way to the wintering areas in tropical and southern Africa. The silence of the desert (if not trucks pass by), the serene sounds of the blowing wind, which is usually coming from the Northwest and is called the Shamal, and the mellow twitter of larks; all of this may contribute to a grand and deep feeling of peace, and unity with Nature. Pillows and carpets of Purple Wall Rocket (Diplotaxis), wild mustard, will fill the foothills of Jal Az Zor in late springtime. They usually assemble with the yellow Desert Daisy (Rantherium). Blooming of the

The Land of Dhub

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In late March, the flower head of the Broomrape, or Desert Hyazinthe ( Cistanche lutea ), erects from the sand. It is a root parasite hosted by the salt bush in front of it. The blossoms (male and female) are visited by the plenty of insects which feed on its nectar. The days of the Broomrape are numbered as temperatures dramatically rise within weeks. In springtime, reptiles have their season. The attentive and curious visitor will soon stumble over plenty of anxious sand-runners, such as the Sand and Fringe-toed Lizards ( Acathodactylus ), or Short-nosed ones ( Mesalina ). There is the Land of the Dhub, far east of Jal Az Zor, where plenty of grass and herbs will grow in April after a rainy winter providing enough food for this herbivore, prehistoric monster-like looking creature. It is a Spiny-tailed Agamid ( Uromastix microlepis ) which lives in burrows but loves lying in the sun in the middle of the day when it changes its color from grayish to bright yellow.

Al Buraq

A Giant Leap Forward , a just wonderful commercial of Saudi Arabian Airlines

When Night Suddenly Turned Into Day

"The attack was especially dramatic because the Israelis used bright magnesium illumination flares to light up the target before the bombing. Night suddenly turned into day." Seymour Hersh has given an interview to Al Jazeera about his investigation of the September 6, 2007 Israeli bombing of a Syrian site long suspected of being nuclear. On Monday next week, his article will be published in The New Yorker . What was actually the meaning of that air strike doesn’t become clear at all. IAEA DG Mohamed ElBaradei expressed his frustration after the strike, saying: “If a country has any information about a nuclear activity in another country, it should inform the I.A.E.A.—not bomb first and ask questions later.” But there wasn’t a nuclear facility to be built. There wasn’t any construction site for producing chemical warfare. There were North Korean workers, but most probably they were engaged in constructing missiles. One possible reason for Bashar al-Assad better keeping pret

Mosques in Kuwait

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Kuwait’s Masjed Al Kabeer, the Grand Mosque, boasts a 74 meters high minaret and can accommodate almost 12000 worshippers in the main hall and courtyard. The dome is 26 meters in diameter and 43 meters high. Asma’ Allah Al-Husná, the 99 Names of God, will decorate it. The mosque is not far from the Sief Palace of the Amir of Kuwait, and Sharq’s old dhow harbour and fish market There are so many different mosques in Kuwait, and many of them are quite small and charming. The Shi’a branch of Islam is observed by about 30 per cent of the Kuwaiti population. One beautiful example of a Shi’a mosque can be found in Jabriya. It resembles in some way the mosques in Iran.