In an interview with CNN, Sheikh Fahad Al Salem, a member of Kuwaiti royal family, stated that he has been calling on Arab leaders to listen to its people for years.  "If we don't start the change in a peaceful way in this very fast moment now, we will have chaos," he said. Al Salem has also called for reform in Kuwait stating that "if the way of dealing does not ...

Kuwait's cabinet submitted its resignation on Thursday in order to avoid a questioning session from parliament members.  Members of the parliament had asked to question three ministers, all of whom are members of the ruling al-Sabah family.  In Kuwaiti politics, parliamentary questioning of ministers has triggered several cabinet reshuffles and is seen as a direct challenge to the individual minister and the ruling Emir Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah. Cabinet Member Roudhan ...

Dawn McCall, State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator, concluded a trip to the Middle East during which she met with media and telecommunications industry executives and journalists as well as senior Embassy officials to discuss media trends and audience usage patterns in today's changing media environment.  McCall  traveled to the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa has denied reports that the country had agreed to let Kuwait mediate an agreement with protesters and the opposition.  On Sunday, news reports indicated that Kuwait had offered to mediate the crisis and that Bahrain's main Shia opposition party, al-Wefaq , had agreed.

Click on image for hyperlink.

Protesters outside of Kuwait's Parliament handed watermelons to lawmakers as they entered the building as a symbol of their discontent with the prime minister and the actions of parliament. The watermelon is a symbol of a person that "has a lack of understanding or holds an unrealistic point of view" in Kuwait according to Reuters. This was the first action that took place amidst plans for greater youth protests throughout ...

F. Gregory Gause III, writing in Foreign Policy, discusses the difficulties of the reform process in the Gulf countries given the large number of ruling family members in important government posts.  Prior to the uprisings in Bahrain, the prime minister, three out of the four deputy prime ministers, and 10 out of the 23 cabinet ministers were from the al-Khalifa family.  Similar proportions of ruling family members can be found in the ...

Kuwaiti youth groups Kafi (Enough) and al-Soor al-Khames (Fifth Fence) are organizing protests to coincide as the Kuwait Parliament convenes on Tuesday.  Organizers say they want the current Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah to be replaced with someone outside the ruling al-Sabah family.  The Prime Minister is the nephew of the Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. Opposition blocs within the parliament, including the Democratic Forum and the Ummah Party have also called for the ...

Writing at Foreign Policy, Mohammed Ayoob states that while Libya is important, we should not forget about Bahrain where regime change may, in the long run, be an even more momentous event.  Bahrain is  not only located in a region with around 60 percent of the world's proven oil reserves and 40 percent of it's natural gas reserves, it is also a member of the regional security organization, the Gulf ...

In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, Shadi Hamid argues that Islamist parties across the Arab world have a tendency to "lose elections on purpose."  He examines the behavior of Islamist opposition parties in six Arab countries and concludes that the roots of Islamist parties in broader social movements compel them to prioritize self-preservation over political contestation.  However, “as Islamists have grown comfortable losing elections—and with much of ...

On Wednesday, Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Ahmed al-Sabah, narrowly survived the no-confidence vote. Twenty-five MPs voted in support of al-Sabah while 22 voted against, with one abstention. Opposition politicians have vowed to continue efforts to unseat the premier, with Islamist MP Jamaan al-Harbash saying the "crisis will only end when this government reaches its end." Elliott Abrams praised the vote as a strong signal for democracy in the region: “It’s a laudable ...

In response to recent political unrest in Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia and Egypt, Marc Lynch argues that these events signal  “the accelerating decay of the institutional foundations and fraying of the social fabric across many of the so-called 'moderate', pro-Western Arab regimes.”  He asserts that these events represent the rising tensions that are building within these countries due to “authoritarian retrenchment, unfulfilled economic promises, rising sectarianism at the popular level, and ...

Kuwait’s parliament filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al Sabah on Tuesday. Opposition parliamentarians announced the move after questioning Al Sabah for eight hours about the recent crackdowns on opposition politicians and activists. The vote will take place on January 5. Habib Toumi writes that the motion may force Emir Sabah IV Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to reshuffle his cabinet or dissolve parliament.

Bloomberg’s Fiona MacDonald and Dahlia Kholaif report on growing tension between Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah and the Parliament. MPs recently summoned the Prime Minister to answer questions about the recent police crackdown on activists and opposition politicians. Al-Sabah, the nephew of Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, has clashed with the Parliament before. In December 2009, he survived a no confidence vote and he has dissolved the Parliament twice. According to MacDonald and Kholaif, the recent ...

Kuwaiti opposition parliamentarians protested the ongoing detention of legal scholar Obaid al-Wasmi outside the Kuwaiti parliament Tuesday. Independent MP Mubarak al-Waalan told AFP “We condemn the government measures against Wasmi and the brutal police beating,” while opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak accused members of the ruling Al-Sabah family of directly ordering the attack. Al-Wasmi was beaten and arrested December 8 (video here) following an opposition meeting in Kuwait City.

Prominent Kuwaiti legal scholar Obaid al-Wasmi was detained last week after he gave a speech at an opposition gathering that was disrupted by security forces. The prosecutor’s office is reportedly holding al-Wasmi on charges that he had spread "false news abroad" and was actively working to undermine the emir. The detention is the latest development in a government crackdown on opposition groups and media in Kuwait.

Kuwaiti officials have closed Al Jazeera’s bureau in Kuwait City in response to the channel’s coverage of opposition protests last week. The Information Ministry accused Al Jazeera of meddling in Kuwait’s internal affairs after it aired footage of police beating activists and interviewing members of the Kuwaiti opposition. Al Jazeera issued a statement saying that it "has adhered in its coverage of Kuwaiti affairs to hosting all parties, condemns considering its professional coverage an ...

In response to a question about the case of Kuwaiti journalist Mohammad Abdul-Kader al-Jassem, who was recently imprisoned for defaming Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah, State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the U.S. is concerned about the case and continues to follow it closely. “Our view is the ability of citizens and journalists of any country to freely and vigorously discuss, debate, and critique the actions of government does not ...

Amnesty International issued a statement calling on Kuwaiti authorities to release Muhammad 'Abd al-Qader al-Jasem, the Kuwaiti lawyer and journalist who was sentenced to one year in prison last week for a writing a blog post criticizing Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah. Amnesty’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Philip Luther said "Amnesty International believes that Muhammad 'Abd al-Qader al-Jasem has been convicted and sentenced solely for non-violently exercising ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the release of Kuwaiti writer Mohammad al-Jasim. The Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson, called al-Jasim's conviction "'one more assault on freedom of expression in Kuwait,'" adding that the decision "'flies in the face of human rights law, which prohibits governments from sending people to jail for nonviolent opinions.'" Al-Jasim was convicted of "publication of statement causing damage ...