I’m no politician

Mon, Jan 23 2012 10:33 PM

Ahead of reading the following, this article in no way reflects buzberry’s point of view.  The blog was not intended for political reasons nor is it siding with any political parties.  The article is merely my personal point of view.
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Let me get one thing straight: One, I’m no politician; Two, I care nothing for politics; and Three, I am one of many individuals in this society that cared nothing about Kuwait’s National Assembly in previous years.

Don’t get me wrong, I developed this way not because I am ignorant nor that I don’t want a better Kuwait or a better future for all of us, however, I became this way because I truly believe that the National Assembly also known as Majles Al Umma not only lost its prestige, but has been utilized for propaganda as well as ulterior motives by several of the prior politicians.

I honestly care about my country and I do think that we deserve a more stable environment more so now than ever; however, after witnessing a million dismissals of the Majles in previous years, I reached a point where I genuinely believe that the presence of this “Majles Al Umma” has become more of a burden in Kuwait than a haven.  It has become a cause for segregation, a cause for unnecessary violence, but more importantly a cause for a pessimistic mentality within our country which is becoming an epidemic.

I must admit I do fear my future as well as my children’s futures.   However with that said, I have come to witness a glimpse of hope these couple of weeks, a sense of joy, optimism, and history-in-the-making I must say.  I have attended a couple of dewaniyas the past month, during which several candidates would visit and enlighten us with their backgrounds while clearly defining their agendas for the upcoming national assembly elections. I wasn’t impressed with what I saw, perhaps my standards were high, but perhaps the candidates weren’t that good as well.  However, one candidate struck a chord and I am proud to admit that had he run in my district, I would be the first in line to vote for him.

His name:  Mr. Mishari Mohammed Al Osaimi

I must admit, his father-like presence won me during the first 20 seconds of him speaking.  More significantly when he spoke, I felt a sense of pride, an immense amount of culture, but most importantly history was right in front of me.  His wealth of experience, unquestionable knowledge, and his elegance was extremely vivid.  All of which are characters that we are missing vastly nowadays.  I envisioned a better Kuwait with his presence, and further a better Majles with him in it; as he will not only add value but he will revert the prestige (الهيبة) back to the Majles again.

He spoke of the time he questioned the Minister of Finance back in one of his runs, and emphasized that even though the grilling took place, it happened in a civilized manner, which is why his relationship with the Minister remained intact nonetheless. That example in itself bolstered my confidence in him.

It is also important to note that the last time he was elected to the Majles was in 2003, and he has returned after 9 years to the scene which proves that Mr. Al Osaimi does in fact see a bright future ahead, and so should we.

If you are interested in reading more about Mr. Al Osaimi, please visit the following website:  http://www.m-alosaimi.com

BOQ

Araa.com

Wed, Jan 11 2012 08:54 AM

Araa.com comes in the perfect timing for all of us to have a say on what’s rocking the world from politics to sports. Araa (opinions in Arabic) is backed by one person who had an idea and worked on it to come true. Launched just days ago, Araa.com is not only the place to check-out news; seriously the idea is to interact with the news, and above all with editorials.

You can’t label Araa as a forum, because it’s not; nor is it a dull-electronic newspaper. Sure it is more fun reading a hard copy newspaper, but if you comment on that will you be heard?

At Araa.com you will!

Alvaro

Kingdom’s Knight

Tue, Nov 22 2011 09:42 AM

The year that Prince Saud al-Faisal was appointed foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Gerald R. Ford was president of the United States, the Vietnam War ended and Microsoft had just opened its doors. (link)

I’ve developed a special admiration for Prince Saud Al Faisal recently. Never knew the strength, power, and intellect he possesses. I started reading and watching videos about him lately, and was struck with one quote above all by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein when asked about the one man he feared: ”Saud Al Faisal is the shrewdest person I’ve ever met, during the war with Iran he made the whole world support me, when I entered Kuwaiti he turned the world against me. If I had someone like Saud Al Faisal on my side, I’d conquer the world.”

What’s strikes me more is that a 71 year old Saudi foreign minister, who happens to fluently speak more than 6 languages – one of which is Hebrew, still works tirelessly and reportedly moves around with minimal security. For the past 36 years the world has seen politicians come and go, fail and succeed; but Prince Saud’s willpower grows year-on-year. He does have great influence, but sadly not the final say. One can argue the degree of success or failure measured by peace in the regoin during Saud’s time. One definite fact: the place would’ve been worse without him.

Facts that moved me on a personal level is Prince Saud’s desire not to waste time, making him sleep less and work more; rumors state that he has no personal photos of himself as he believes it’s a waste of time!

Yes I have issues with time.

NYT Article 2009 

Alvaro

In the right place

Thu, Nov 3 2011 01:26 PM

The Ministry of Interior is one of the most vital departments in any government, if not the single most important in my own opinion. Add to that, the character of the head of that Ministry plays a vital role in that department’s success in governing the civil society. We are privileged to have Sheikh Ahmed Al Humoud Al Sabah as the Kuwaiti Interior Minister. Nevertheless, the job remains hard to accomplish as corruption remains evident in corners of the ministry - being an essential ministry in the country where everyone wants to have a hand in.

Another critical dimension which the ministry overlooks is traffic. It is beyond any doubt that Kuwait needs a cumulative traffic solution to improve the current chaotic situation. Shiekh Ahmed is not, and will not, be held responsible for the recent deterioration of traffic flow as the issue has been accumulating since the late 90’s if not before.

We believe that we will only start seeing significant results when ALL the Ministries work hand in hand to put an end to our traffic disasters. Handing the Ministry of Interior the sole responsibility to run pillar-to-post in order to preserve street order is a ‘mission impossible’ in my honest opinion. Until everyone cooperates with Shiekh Ahmed, we will not see significant improvements overnight.

I dream every day and night to meet Shiekh Ahmed as I think I can offer valuable inputs as I’ve been discussing and drafting solutions for the past couple of years. If you can make my dream come true, please do!

Alvaro

Oil Barrels for every Kuwaiti

Sun, Oct 30 2011 11:05 AM

It has been years since I’ve flown on Kuwait Airways. I believe many people try to avoid flying on Kuwait Airways for obvious reasons that start from value of money and end at continuous delays. I’ve flown back to Kuwait just a day before the Kuwait Airways recent strike took place. It goes without saying, the flight was full-off “overseas-government-sponsored-patients,” and for some reason everyone thinks it’s his/hers dad’s private jet. The superintendent* thought I spoke Mandarin Chinese when I complained about noise. After the rubbish (expected) experience, I started to think why do the employees even complain?

We can argue all day whether the Kuwait Airways staff deserve a pay-raise or not, I am personally not aware of the grounds for such demands. They’ve seen an opportunity (government responding to demands) and they definitely seized it.

I have no issue with all that. But if everyone is calling for equality in the latest strikes, then I think that Kuwait Airways staff should be deprived from free tickets; or else I would like to have a free ticket too. So does the Oil sector – I heard they’d like to have free oil barrels every now and then!

Absurd.

* The superintendent took part in chaos on board as he stayed for 30 minutes socializing with a passenger.

Alvaro

Mosque Hunting

Mon, Aug 22 2011 12:45 PM

Just like every year, you/we try to find the best environment for qiyam prayer. Some look for the best Qur’an reciter, others are on the search for speed; people always look for a mosque that suits their lifestyle.

Last year I posted about how there was No Place For Me at a mosque that pretty much suited me. Well this year, that same mosque is no longer crowded but the problem now is that Qiyam prayers conclude late at night, unlike last year.

So kindly do reccomend the mosque you attend to, of course only if you think it’s good enough (you wouldn’t reccomend something that isn’t good enough anyway).

Alvaro

North London riots

Mon, Aug 8 2011 12:00 PM

I only new Tottenham for its football club Tottenham Hotspurs. Everyone is busy with Ramadan and events going on in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the U.S debt crisis has overshadowed every other headline.

It all started when the police shot-dead a 29 year-old father of four. After that protests turned into chaos and the protesters took advantage and started breaking into stores for goods.

Did the Middle Eastern revolution wave reach Britain? I’m sure it didn’t but is that even a scare for whoever planned to go to London during Eid?

Click here for a full events round-up.

Alvaro

Ramadan Kareem

Mon, Aug 1 2011 10:49 AM

Eat less, pray more, forgive, forget, remember, greet, smile, love, clean up, connect, inspire… Ramadan Kareem:)

P.S. We have uploaded the Fajer & Maghreb prayer times on the side Bar!

Buzberry Team

Sun, Jun 19 2011 09:12 AM

A while ago I heard about this Mosque which had the Friday prayer (sermon) in English. It sounded pretty interesting, so I went for a trial.

Before I reached there I was imagining what it could be like. Scenarios that crossed my mind included a Kuwaiti Imam lecturing in the Kuwaiti-English accent, “You see my brothers – Ya’2ni (Ya3ni) – we have to … .” Or I thought it might be the Egyptian-English Accent of “Zis and Zat” (this and that).

So none of my scenarios were right. As I entered the mosque, I realized that the Imam was of an African nationality, and articulated excellent Arabic and English! What was really amazing is the effort he (the Imam) puts forward, stating Qur’an phrases or other quotes in Arabic then going on to translate them into English and ending by the message was his way of lecturing. So if you spoke only Arabic or English you wouldn’t face any difficulty understanding. Now although the Imam was quoting phrases, translating, and lecturing over and over again all at once, he did not have any paper in front of him! It was really stunning! I also tried my best to try to translate the Arabic phrases he spoke before he started translating: could not beat the guy – not in speed nor the choice of words.

Astonishing performance. If I had the chance to go back again I would definietly do so because it’s a really unique experience and way different from Imams that keep on yelling or the other ones that keep you day-dreaming.

Mosque is located on Gulf Road just after the National Assembly.

Alvaro

Violations in the last 24 hrs.

Mon, May 16 2011 12:47 PM

The Ministry of Interior (in the form of police vehicles) has failed yet again to not only abide with the law, but also set an example for people. Last night a police car from the Traffic department decided to park over the side curb at Coffee Bean Seif Palace, right in the middle in front of the seating area. If you were wondering, nothing was going on at Seif Palace last night, not to mention how the damage he caused the car as he came off the side curb (I have it on video!) 

Another guy decided this morning it was okay to park where a clear sign tells you that your car will be towed. Instead of towing other cars, he just joined the party (1st photo on top).

Sorry for the poor quality photos.

Credit for SRK (guy on the left – 3rd photo)

Alvaro

Twitter dashboard by Al Jazeera

Wed, Mar 9 2011 11:26 AM

Al Jazeera  launched a twitter dashboard that shows the daily the number of tweets about the political developments in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain. So far, most of the tweets are still about Egypt with around 42 tweets per minute, where Libya comes in second place at about 38 tweets per minute, Bahrain in third place at 14 tweets, and finally Yemen at around 10 tweets per minute. Click here to checkout the dashboard.

via HalaWala

FAH

Kanellos of Athens

Mon, Mar 7 2011 11:40 AM

According to the Guardian, this dog has showed up in most of the national protests in Athens over the past 2 years. Kanellos, the dog, joined the gang once again during recent protests!

More photos at the Guardian.

Thanks BoM7md

Alvaro

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