Author: MandarinTangerine

I recall when I returned to Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion. My purpose was to find what was left of our possessions in our residence in the Jabriya section of the city (not much).

But the point here is the taxi driver who picked me up. At that time, after the US had run off the Iraqis, Americans were heroes to the Kuwaitis, and the cabbie was delighted to talk with me. He opened the trunk of his cab and showed me his AK-47. He was clear that Kuwait was not going to allow itself to be invaded again. About the weapon, he said, “Everybody has one.” The weapons were taken from the Iraqi weapons storage facility in Kuwait.

Kuwait law does not specifically give the right to bear arms to its residents. They allow possession to persons over 25 years of age after a background check.

The University of Sydney conducted a survey of guns and violence (Alpers, Philip and Marcus Wilson. 2018. Kuwait — Gun Facts, Figures and the Law. Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney. GunPolicy.org, 22 February. Accessed 30 March 2018. at: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/kuwait). There are many facets to the study. The rate of civilian gun possession in the US is listed at approximately four times the Kuwait rate. I question the accuracy of these statistics. After the war, there was a Kuwaiti program designed to confiscate the weapons in the community. Very few weapons were turned in, and the actual number of weapons remaining is unknown. Thus, the number of civilian guns in Kuwait is probably considerably higher. One aspect of Kuwaiti culture is celebratory gunfire at weddings, usually on Thursday nights. Take my word for it, there are a lot of guns in Kuwait, and the real rate of gun possession likely approaches the US rate.

Here’s the interesting statistic. The rate of homicide per 100,000 people is more than ten times higher in the US than in Kuwait. So, what’s the deal here?  Certainly, guns play a role, but they’re not the whole story.  As Americans we have to face up to the fact that we, as a people, are prone to violent solutions. Maybe we  can blame it on our history. We tend to use war as a solution. How many wars have there been in the last 100 years? I can’t count.

Mental illness is blamed, but our rate is no higher than that in Kuwait.

I don’t know why Americans seek violence as a solution, but I think that’s the real issue. If there are ideas to address the problem, I’d like to hear them.

On my website you’ll see three publications, Faith in Crisis – How God Shows Up When You Need Him Most, Diwaniya Stories, and Kuwaiti Seeker. I’m afraid their theme is a bit complicated, and life if complicated. But the message of these publications is simple. I’ll get to that in a bit.

First, let me say I have great respect for Islam and Muslims individually. I’ve studied Islam, and I know many Muslims. The Muslims I’ve known I consider friends, honorable and sincere persons, all of them. I’d be OK with them in a foxhole.

The only difference between them and me is Jesus.

Faith in Crisis deals with my family’s experiences during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The Lord preserved our family through his infinite  grace. But if I had not survived, his grace and mercy would be no different. Even in the worst of that episode, I experienced, yes truly experienced, his love.

Diwaniya Stories is an odd little volume told my fictional character Yacoub. Yacoub delineates much of the history of Islam in these stories. I think it’s an honest rendition. I did not intend to be critical but simply factual.

Kuwaiti Seeker, soon to be published, tells Yacoub’s story. Yacoub sought the truth in Islam. Whether he failed or Islam failed, I will not say. In any case, he fell into sin, even though the precepts of Islam were there for him to follow. He failed and he knew it. He had no intention of following Jesus. But Jesus, once again in his infinite grace, pulled Yacoub from the brink. Nothing Yacoub did warranted Jesus coming after him.

So, that’s the theme: Jesus, the Lord, rescues us whether or not we are in the market for it. Jesus is the difference.

Check it out: the complete story is Genesis through Revelation.

The oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar has suffered a multi-pronged blockade by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt. The reasons offered for their blockade are stated as Qatar’s sponsorship of terrorism, support for Hezbollah,  support for Iran, and interference in local politics which might lead to regime change. The proof for these allegations has not been offered.

But here’s the rest of the story. Qatar is the birth place and home of Al-Jazeera. Al-Jazeera has been the primary Arab attempt at quality, fair journalism. The four countries who support the blockade cannot afford the reporting of their countries’ politics by Al-Jazeera.

The blockade, in my view, is politically motivated.

And the other interesting part of the story: Kuwait supports Qatar. What’s going on in the Gulf?

The all-powerful Iranian theocracy struggles to suppress the marvelous diversity  of their country. Al-Jazeera  recently outlined the conflicts between the Gonabadi dervishes and the hardliners who control the country.

The dervishes are a Sufi order of the Shia sect of Islam. When we think of dervishes, the usual image is that of white-robed men dancing in a rapid, circular motion, hence the term whirling dervishes. This dance is an attempt to seek God in the spiritual dimension by losing oneself. The dervishes are a subset of the Sufi order. Sufis seek God through an ascetic life-style with meditations in the spiritual realm.

The conflict came to a head on February 19 when the dervishes clashed with government security forces in Tehran over arrest of one of the group’s leaders. More than 300 hundred of the sect were arrested after the encounter.

The Gonabadi dervishes are the largest of Iran’s Sufi groups, with estimates of perhaps five million followers. Because of their large numbers, and the fact that their theology is not consistent with the mainline of Shiism, the central government fears the group. They are numerous enough to have potential for mobilization against the government. Their places of worship have been destroyed in Qom and Isfahan. President Hassan Rouhani acted to suppress the Gonabadis  in anticipation that the group might be large enough to affect the outcome of upcoming elections.

The Gonabadi story is another example of an attempt by the theocracy to downgrade any sort of diversity in the remarkable Iranian culture. The central government has stated that outside forces perpetuate the Gonabadi uprising, a claim for which there is little support. How long will they be able to hold back the tide of change that is occurring within?

My novel, Kuwaiti Seeker, will appear this spring.

Russia has a clearly defined strategy in the Middle East. Their strategy is to appeal to Shia elements of Islam and to utilize Iran as a base of operation. Through Iran they can interact surreptitiously in Yemen through Iran’s interventions there.

Through Iran they work with Shia elements in Iraq, sowing discord where possible.

The strongest recent evidence for their Iranian influence has been their use of Iranian air bases for attacks in Syria, where they have been able to secure Assad’s victory.

In contrast, but to a much weaker degree, the US utilizes Saudi Arabia as its intermediary.

Al-Jazeera has reported that the US has floated an idea to solve the Palestinian problem. The Palestinians would have to give up 50% of the West Bank in return for Egypt allowing them a sanctuary in the Sinai.

What an idea! The Palestinians would need to take up residency in an area infested by terrorists of all sorts. And the Egyptian government would be happy to get rid of the responsibility, one they been unable to manage.

A prevalent strategy now extant in the Middle East is governmental attack on news media. We’ve recently commented on Egypt’s prolonged detention of Al-Ajazeera reporter, Mahmoud Hussein.

Now we see the same phenomenon elsewhere. The Lebanese Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the editor of Ad-Diyar, Charles Ayoub, for insulting the King of Saudi Arabia. Not long ago the Attorney General also filed against a local TV personality for stating that the Saudi Arabia Crown Prince should “eat less.” (see https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/lebanese-journalist-faces-prison-time-insulting-saudi-king/).

Ayoub was also arrested in the UAE on similar charges.

There is nothing new in the Middle East about trying to silence the press. But here we have the attacks occurring across national boundaries. Do these episodes reflect strange alliances, for example, Lebanon with Saudi Arabia, or simply fear of the Saudis?

And as this stuff spreads in the Middle East, are we due to see more of it in the US?

The Middle East is the home land of the three great monotheism faiths: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Judaism flourishes in little Israel. Islam dominates the region. But Christianity is threatened. Only in Egypt are the Christians (mainly Coptics) protected, and oddly so by the Sisi dictatorship.

Iraq and Syria were formerly home to many Christians. Christians are leaving the area in large numbers.

H.R.390, “Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2017” has languished in the ineffectual congress. The urgency of this bill is apparently unrecognized. Without this legislation, or some similar iteration, the trend for the Christian diaspora from the Middle East is unstoppable (see ForeignPolicy.com for more details.)

Al-Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein has been held over one year now in an Egyptian prison. Hussein has worked for Al-Jazeera in Cairo since 2010. In December 2016, while on holiday in Cairo, he was arrested and accused of disseminating false news detrimental to the regime. There has been no trial.

Reports indicate there are approximately twenty journalists held in Egyptian prisons.

There are estimates that as many as 60,000 political prisoners are held in Egyptian prisons.

As a country, we have little choice but to support the Al-Sisi government of Egypt. They are our critical allies in the area. We have no way, other than stopping financial aid, to influence their internal behavior. The by-product of this relationship is our tacit support of the Egyptian government’s suppression of political disagreement.