When we think of Kuwait not many things come to our mind. An oil rich country, overvalued-currency and the Gulf-War, Kuwait has a lot on offer. As of late, this country (or at least its rulers) are tirelessly working on a PR campaign to make it sound more like a "tough-little" country. Is Kuwait suffering from "Napoleon complex"?
When I heard of the news that Kuwait was (indefinitely) banning Pakistanis along with other five nationalities from entering the country, I was surprised. The countries that were banned from entry were Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Interestingly, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan were not kept on the ban list (as the list was put on due to security risks). It was also surprising to see the reaction of Pakistani Politicians who went to Kuwait (one of Pakistan's donor countries) to beg them to lift the ban. Showing not much dignity, Pakistani politicians gave in to their "brotherly" friends.
If the same step had been taken by a western democracy, the politicians in Pakistan would have been the first to call them racist. Why is that Pakistan's “dignifying-ly-patriotic” politicians never called Kuwait a discriminating country? Is it because it is a “brotherly” Arab country? And so it happens there is an entrenched inferiority towards Pakistan’s brotherly Arab nations. On the contrary, if a western-state had banned Pakistanis; the politicians would have eagerly protested. Would I be correct to assume that Pakistanis know the fact that a western democracy is more likely to take them serious? As opposed to a country where democracy means nothing-all!
Kuwait never fails to surprise me. Just yesterday, I learnt that they are also introducing a ban on transgendered and homosexual expats in the country. Kuwait will introduce tests at the airport to check if the incoming passengers are gay. For starters, they couldn’t take DNA samples to look for the “gay gene”. It is because that would defeat Kuwait's stance on homosexuality (learnt behavior vs genetic). I am speculating a two step test process based on the scientology's "stress-o-meter" model.
They could use the help psychometric questions. By asking questions, they could check what side of the meter the answers lead to. For example, They could say the word Britney Spears, and then observe if the meters leads to “sexually attracted to” or “idolizes”. If the meter remains in the middle then the person is bisexual.
To further scrutinize the application, the confused bisexual expat could then be made to watch pornographic photographs.The confused bisexual could be shown immodest photographs of both men and women, to see which one would get them excited physically. Satire apart, it is not up to a government to determine one's sexuality.
Talking of government, Kuwaiti government is shutting down mixed coffee shops due to (uncontrollable) immorality. And by immorality I mean, women alongside men enjoying a smoke of Sheesha. Clearly, the connotative meaning of morality in my mind is very different to theirs. Conversely, according to UNDP, Kuwait ranks the highest (in the middle-east) for gender equality. Despite the fact, that it was only recently that women were allowed to hold a public office position in Kuwait. I wonder if the definition of “gender equality” changes the same way the definition of "morality" changes as it travels to the middle-east.
With all the attributes discussed above, I am happy to declare that Kuwait is suffering from "Napoleon complex". It is small, it does compensate for its small land and it does make non-sense decisions. I Just hope that (not) many little other countries (in the middle-east) fall into that complex.
Written by Fahad Sher Hussain
When I heard of the news that Kuwait was (indefinitely) banning Pakistanis along with other five nationalities from entering the country, I was surprised. The countries that were banned from entry were Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Interestingly, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan were not kept on the ban list (as the list was put on due to security risks). It was also surprising to see the reaction of Pakistani Politicians who went to Kuwait (one of Pakistan's donor countries) to beg them to lift the ban. Showing not much dignity, Pakistani politicians gave in to their "brotherly" friends.
If the same step had been taken by a western democracy, the politicians in Pakistan would have been the first to call them racist. Why is that Pakistan's “dignifying-ly-patriotic” politicians never called Kuwait a discriminating country? Is it because it is a “brotherly” Arab country? And so it happens there is an entrenched inferiority towards Pakistan’s brotherly Arab nations. On the contrary, if a western-state had banned Pakistanis; the politicians would have eagerly protested. Would I be correct to assume that Pakistanis know the fact that a western democracy is more likely to take them serious? As opposed to a country where democracy means nothing-all!
Kuwait never fails to surprise me. Just yesterday, I learnt that they are also introducing a ban on transgendered and homosexual expats in the country. Kuwait will introduce tests at the airport to check if the incoming passengers are gay. For starters, they couldn’t take DNA samples to look for the “gay gene”. It is because that would defeat Kuwait's stance on homosexuality (learnt behavior vs genetic). I am speculating a two step test process based on the scientology's "stress-o-meter" model.
They could use the help psychometric questions. By asking questions, they could check what side of the meter the answers lead to. For example, They could say the word Britney Spears, and then observe if the meters leads to “sexually attracted to” or “idolizes”. If the meter remains in the middle then the person is bisexual.
To further scrutinize the application, the confused bisexual expat could then be made to watch pornographic photographs.The confused bisexual could be shown immodest photographs of both men and women, to see which one would get them excited physically. Satire apart, it is not up to a government to determine one's sexuality.
Talking of government, Kuwaiti government is shutting down mixed coffee shops due to (uncontrollable) immorality. And by immorality I mean, women alongside men enjoying a smoke of Sheesha. Clearly, the connotative meaning of morality in my mind is very different to theirs. Conversely, according to UNDP, Kuwait ranks the highest (in the middle-east) for gender equality. Despite the fact, that it was only recently that women were allowed to hold a public office position in Kuwait. I wonder if the definition of “gender equality” changes the same way the definition of "morality" changes as it travels to the middle-east.
With all the attributes discussed above, I am happy to declare that Kuwait is suffering from "Napoleon complex". It is small, it does compensate for its small land and it does make non-sense decisions. I Just hope that (not) many little other countries (in the middle-east) fall into that complex.
Written by Fahad Sher Hussain
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