By John Galt
November 16, 2011 – 17:50 ET
In an article back on March 25, 2011 and on several podcasts, I warned about the ring of fire surrounding Saudi Arabia and the instability being instigated by the Iranians and their Shiite allies working to weaken the House of Saud and its influence over the region. Fast forward to the news from the Kuwait Times today and the exploding corruption scandal which appears to be awakening an Arab Spring type of demonstration in one of the most crucial nations for the West in the region:
Protesters storm Assembly after clashing with police
Published Date: November 17, 2011
By B Izzak, Staff Writer and Agencies
<Excerpted>
KUWAIT: Thousands of Kuwaitis stormed the National Assembly yesterday after police and elite forces beat up protesters marching on the prime minister’s home to demand he resign, an opposition MP said. “Now, we have entered the house of the people,” said Musallam Al-Barrak, who led the protest along with several other lawmakers and youth activists also calling for the dissolution of parliament over alleged corruption. The demonstrators broke open the Assembly’s gates and entered the main chamber, where they sang the national anthem and then left after a few minutes.
The police had used batons to prevent protesters from marching to the residence of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Witnesses said at least ten demonstrators were injured and treated on the site. Some activists said they will continue to camp outside the Assembly until the premier is sacked. Chanting “the people want to remove the prime minister,” the protesters started to march to the nearby premier’s residence when police blocked their way.
This was the first political violence in the state since December, when elite forces beat up protesters and MPs at a public rally, though activists have been holding protests since March. Tension has been building in Kuwait over the past three months after it was alleged that about 16 MPs in the 50-member parliament received about KD 100 million in bribes. The opposition has been leading a campaign to oust the premier, whom they accuse of failing to run the wealthy nation and fight corruption, which has become wide-spread.
Earlier yesterday, members of the Opposition Bloc boycotted the Assembly session in what appears to be a new policy for the 20-MP bloc. The opposition on Tuesday attended parts of the session until the government and its supporters decided to start voting on the scrapping of a grilling against the prime minister, which the opposition said was a breach of the constitution.
Nevertheless, Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi opened the session in the presence of a small number of ministers and MPs who began the debate on the Amiri Address which was delivered by the prime minister on the opening day of the Assembly’s new term on Oct 25. Despite the absence of opposition MPs, the session did not lack some fireworks when MP Saadoun Hammad began exposing what he claimed property held by veteran opposition MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun in Qatar.
Hammad however failed to show the documents and he later claimed that he did not reveal them out of respect for Al-Khorafi and that he distributed them to other MPs. Hammad did not fulfill his promise to expose what he claimed illegal financial transactions by Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei. Al-Tabtabaei later described Hammad a “liar” and said he will sue him for a smear campaign against him. Liberal MP Saleh Al-Mulla strongly protested when Hammad began to speak and the two had some harsh exchanges. Al-Mulla’s colleague in the National Action Bloc took part in the exchanges and then both of them walked out of the session.
All it takes is a reminder of the map as to why this nation in particular is so crucial in the coming war between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Kurds, and Iran that will engulf the entire world in the end.
This could be the start of the grand destabilization process envisioned by the Iranians to expand their influence in the Basra region of Iraq and to cause more issues for the ailing Saudi King to test his nation’s resolve. Oil prices will be the first clue as to how this plays out but the news to watch beyond the protests inside of Kuwait is an uptick in violence from the Shiites in Iraq coordinated with the Kuwaiti uprising and more trouble in the Eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia.
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