Category: Information

The shining history of leaders, particularly those who had a great impact on the destiny of their peoples and whose achievements stand as objects of praise for successive generations, is very difficult to be summarized in a few pages. History cannot but proudly record their leadership in achieving the development, welfare and prosperity of their nations.

His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, AMIR of Kuwait, is one of those leaders who did their best to serve both their people and nation.

Hence, he is beloved and greatly appreciated by everyone as the leader of the state and the shepherd of the community at critical times in the modern history of Kuwait.

It is, therefore, worthy to record his success as Chief of Public Security in the Oil Regions, Head of the Finance Department, Minister of Finance and Economy, Prime Minister, Crown prince, and finally as AMIR of a country made up of a small area and population, yet great in future aspirations. When describing the period in which Kuwait managed to become a truly civilized and democratic state, this was the true rule of the cherished Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. We are going to mention His Highness’s way of thinking, education, and diplomacy, in addition to his career, leadership activities and his future aspirations.

Name
Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah
Amir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad Al Sabah
Amir Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah

Personal Information
Born – 1929.
Marital Status – Married, up to four wives, large number of children.
Education – Home taught (Local private schools and palace tutors).

Personal History
Emir of Kuwait, Jabir al-Ahmad succeeded his cousin, Sheikh Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah, as Emir of Kuwait in December 1977, having been prime minister (1965-78) and Heir Apparent from 1966.The rule of Jabir has been full of dramatic events. There have been many internal battles over democratization of the society and freedom of the press. The economy has seen much instability, there have been demonstrations and assassination attempts on Jabir’s life. But most dramatic was the invasion by Iraq in 1990, where Jaber was driven out of the country for a period of 7 months.

Political Activity
Jabir al-Ahmad is the current Emir of Kuwait. He became Chief of Public Security in the al-Ahmadi oilfields in 1949. In the late 1950s he dealt with the oil companies in various capacities, and in 1959 became head of the Department of Finance, which in 1962, after Kuwaiti independence, became the Ministry of Finance. In 1963-65 he also was a Deputy Prime Minister, while remaining Minister of Finance and Industry. In 1977, after the death of his cousin, he became the Emir of Kuwait. In 1979, following the Islamic revolution in Iran, and demonstrations among the Shiias of Kuwait, Jabir put more restrictions on freedom of the press in Kuwait. He has been a decisive leader, having allowed the National Assembly to reform in 1981 and dissolving it in 1986 as disagreements arose over its right to question the ability of ministers. During the invasion by Iraq, he fled to Saudi Arabia, where he established a government in exile, returning home in March 1991 after Iraq’s withdrawal. During his exile he gained the support of Kuwait’s opposition leaders in return for his agreement to restore the National Assembly. He did this in 1992, and in 1999 he gave women the right to vote.

Additional Information
Jabir al-Ahmad has survived an assassination attempt in 1985.

[source]

Wow I wasn’t expecting that much of an interest in Newsvine. I sent out an invite to the first 19 people to comment since Nibaq sent me an SMS at like 6AM asking for one. If I get anymore invites will send them out to the rest.

So I am sitting in my hotel room flipping through the channels on the TV when I fall upon the Lebanese station New TV. There was a game show on where they ask a question and if you call in with the right answer you get a chance to win up to $20,000. So I watched it a bit and it was really funny. No one was calling in and the chick who was hosting the show seemed really bored. I was thinking what a fucking stupid show, how the hell do these guys make money. Anyway someone finally called in after 30 minutes of no phone calls and gets the question right and won like $100.

The next game comes on and its basically a puzzle. There are six letters scrambled that when they put together should form a countries name. The answer was easy, Russia so I decided to call in and answer it. I call and get an automated machine telling me that the phone call was going to cost $1 a minute, no problem. Then I got another voice telling me sorry, I am close to winning but I should call again. So I do, and I get the same two voice messages. Turns out everytime you call in you randomly might get through but every time you call you pay $1. So I kept trying to call since the least I could win was like $100. I kept calling and I kept getting the fucking voice mail and I kept trying again. Now I just realized I must have easily tried over 50 fucky times! I am actually still trying to call in now while I am typing this post. Its like I am addicted and I believe I have a chance to get through. I can’t fucking stop!! I can’t!!

Awhile ago I was making fun out of this stupid fucking game show and now I have spent over $50 trying to fucking participate! Nats going to kill me when I get back to Kuwait.

Update: Some fucking dickhead from Saudi Arabia got through and won $200. I feel like such a fucking loser. I hate gambling.

Temperature in Kuwait right now: 13 degrees celcius
Temperature in Lebanon right now: 19 degrees celcius

If you have done a lot of shopping on Amazon.com you might have noticed that the prices of products on Amazon go up and down like the stock market. You might find and buy something today for $100 but check again the next day and the same product might be $90 or $110.

It really isn’t fair if you buy something today for a price and find it cheaper the next day and thats why Amazon has a policy where if you buy something for lets say $100 and within 30 days of your purchase the price goes down to say $90, Amazon would credit you back the difference of $10.

Keeping track of the products you buy and their prices can be a pain and this is why the site RefundPlease.com is very handy. This website keeps track of your purchases and the price you paid and within 30 days if the price of the product goes down they will email you with the correct url which you could use to request credit from Amazon. I have already added some stuff I purchased this christmas and hopefully I might get some cash back. [Link]

For Lebanese in Kuwait I have some good news, Malek al Taouk is opening a branch in Kuwait. For those of you who don’t know Malek al Taouk, they make the best taouk sandwich in the world which is also the largest sandwich in the world. I will try to take pictures of the sandwich today.

Yesterday morning it was five degrees celcius where we are staying at. On my way down to sea level I saw cars coming down from higher up the mountain with snow on their roofs. Its tradition that when it first starts snowing in your area you pile up as much snow as you can on the roof of your car and drive around like that as a way of informing people down below that its snowing up in the mountains where you live.

All of Lebanon seems to have the flu. I think the sudden change from its hot enough to wear a tshirt to its cold enough to store your frozen goods on the balcony has caught many people by surprise. Nat is sick and I am not, but I think thats going to change today. I feel it coming.

Note to self: Chivas Regal will not give me a hangover.

I drank more than half a bottle yesterday night and I woke up early today morning without a headace. First time that ever happens.

• 1900-1909 Crayola Crayons
• 1910-1919 Raggedy Ann Dolls
• 1920-1929 Madame Alexander Collectible Dolls
• 1930-1939 View-Master 3-D Viewer
• 1940-1949 Candy Land
• 1950-1959 Mr. Potato Head
• 1960-1969 G.I. Joe
• 1970-1979 Rubik’s Cube
• 1980-1989 Cabbage Patch Kids
• 1990-1999 Beanie Babies
• 2000-Present Razor Scooter

[source forbes]

I am going to pass by Aramex after work to pick up some packages. I just used google maps to figure out how to get there since the directions and map didn’t exactly help me that much. Pretty cool. [Link]

Thanks to Pearl’s post I found the Yellow Pages online website and its actually pretty cool. I already tried finding a couple of numbers and they all worked. [Link]

The other day I mentioned there was a competitor for Aramex, I just got the details now by email so here it is:

Dear Valued Customer,

IEC forwarding services eliminate the difficulties encountered when purchasing from US retailers. In particular:

– Many US retailers will not ship overseas.

– The US retailers that do ship internationally charge very high shipping rates.

With an account at IEC, these problems are solved!

IEC provides you with a genuine US street address that is unique to you. This is not a Post Office Box! This is your own street address that US retailers will accept as a valid shipping destination.

Account holders at IEC also enjoy very low international shipping rates, much less than rates from US retailers. Save up to 70% on international shipping!

Or should I say “was” in Kuwait. According to a reader of my blog, Vince Vaughan was in Kuwait at the end of September and he was staying at the Radisson SAS hotel. Is there anyway of finding out when celebrities like that come to Kuwait and where they would be staying AHEAD of time???

I got a video of some girls getting harassed by what I understood were some Saudi guys. The video was shot with the phone of one of the guys. I think I read about a similar incident sometime back in the papers but I am not sure if its the same incident. [3gp 1.1MB]