Kuwait up for me

Three interesting news items having to do with Kuwait and Israel:1) Kuwaiti analyst: Best if Israel, not U.S., destroys Iranian nukes

But when asked in an interview with the daily Al-Siyassah about the consequences of an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear reactors, analyst and former government adviser Sami al-Faraj said it would not be such a bad thing.”Honestly speaking, they would be achieving something of great strategic value for the GCC by stopping Iran’s tendency for hegemony over the area,” he said, adding that “nipping it in the bud by Israeli hands would be less embarrassing for us than if the Americans did it.”

Al-Faraj said Tehran was interfering in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories, and inciting strife between Sunnis and Shiites.

“The question is what would it do if it were a nuclear nation? We have to call a spade a spade and say that burying the military nuclear Iranian project is in the interest of GCC states, and other countries in the area,” added al-Faraj, who heads the independent Kuwait Center for Strategy Studies.

I would agree that this is a case of self-interest, but I’m not sure I see the hypocrisy that Simply Jews does unless of course they resort to item 6 on his list.

So let the Zionists do it – then we can always say that it’s another dastardly atrocity by the usual dastardly Zionists

2) Kuwait appeals for unity over Hezbollah tensions

Kuwait’s government appealed for unity on Monday amid rising sectarian tension in the Gulf state following demonstrations in support of the slain commander of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.The government has become increasingly concerned after hundreds of people took part in a rally last month to mourn Imad Mughnieh, killed in a Damascus car bomb.

The rally caused uproar in the oil-rich emirate because Mughnieh was accused of hijacking a Kuwaiti plane two decades ago.

LGF sees the glass as half empty.

Our so-called allies in Kuwait are doing their best to keep the lid on public demonstrations in favor of a mass-murdering terrorist.

But the government is discouraging these rallies.

3) Kuwaiti paper denounces Yeshiva attack

The writer goes on to assert that “the terror attack must prompt the free world to comprehend the magnitude of terrorism and its threats and to realize that a clear and unequivocal stance must be assumed against it. There can be no negotiations with terrorism that indiscriminately aims itself at students, women and babies without any consideration for the means and the targets.”Contrasting the terror attack with the IDF’s operations in the Gaza Strip, the writer explains that “there is no link between a murderous terrorist act and the inadvertent killing of civilians in response to the firing of rockets by Hamas.”

The piece presented a stark contrast to the main current in the Arab press, which presented almost sweeping praise for the “heroic operation.”

(via memeorandum)

This is a far cry from the equivocation of “moderate” Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas.

I’m not expecting an alliance between Kuwait and Israel anytime soon. I remember in 1990, that a member of the Kuwaiti royal family expressed sympathy for Israel in Time magazine, saying that after seeing his country occupied by Saddam, he understood why Israel sought, tried and executed Eichmann. But that didn’t mean that once the liberation of Kuwait was achieved by the United States and its allies that Kuwait would reject the “Zionism is racism” resolution.
I’d find it easy to dismiss any of these stories if they happened independently. Taken together it shows a softening of Kuwaiti attitudes towards Israel. I’m guessing that it’s more do to fear of Iran than of love for Jews.

Still it’s an interesting development.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.