Yesterday, Angry Arab's correspondent on Bahrain posted some questions on Kuwait. A reader who does not wish to be identified gave some answers:
"I hope this email finds you well.
"I hope this email finds you well.
Below, I attempt to provide some answers to your wonderful correspondent
in Bahrain.
If you think they are useful and you wish to use them, please do not
attribute it to me.
1) Yes, it is the same Sheikh Nasser that the opposition outed last year,
particularly over claims of corruption (apparently, Sheikh Nasser had bribed a
number of MPs in order to sway their no-confidence votes over time...and
ironically some of the suspected MPs include members of the opposition). Why is
he 'helping' the opposition now, that is a very good question and perhaps the
reasons arises from the internal struggles within the royal family such as the
conflict between Ahmad al-Fahad who does not like Sheikh Nasser, and so on.
2) I don't think it is weird that the emir is letting Saudi Arabia play a
big role in Kuwait. Since the Iraqi invasion in 1990, the Kuwait royal family
has been closely tied with Saudi Arabia because of the latter's support of the
Sabah. They may disagree on certain policies (ie Kuwait isn't as aggressive on
Iran as Saudi Arabia, and there is a fear of Saudi hegemony) but they are slowly
becoming closer in the last couple of years, particularly after the various
uprisings in the region - the populace scares them more I figure. In terms of
Bahrain, Kuwait was less driven about challenging Saudi hegemony in Bahrain and
more concerned about not pissing off its own hefty Shia community (I think it's
around 30% of the local population). They did send a navy after all (which is
funny because Bahrain didn't need a Kuwaiti navy since they have the American
Fifth Fleet...) and the state media here constantly presents the Bahraini
regime's narrative of violent protesters and Iranian meddling.
3) On Sheikh Mishal - I refer to this WikiLeaks cable document for some
background info on him:
4) On the stance of Kuwaitis on the opposition, it is a very mixed bag.
Some support them because they like their challenges and rhetoric on corruption
and other problems in the country, some are driven by tribal concerns, some are
driven on constitutional concerns, some do think that the opposition is being
driven by external forces (saudi, qatari, and in one case i heard of in a
diwaniya, masonic forces...yes...i know...) and some do not like the opposition
or the government but support the protests because they were appalled by the
actions of the Special Forces and the way the Emir has decided to change the
voting system (again, it is the way the emir went about it, and not the new
voting system per say)."