Flickr blocked by Fastelco

WTF! Fastelco have blocked Flickr! Amazing.
Looks like we'll all have to use proxies now, as they do in other gulf regimes that abuse human rights.

Don't know if Qualitynet have also pulled the plug.

So, let me understand this... the Ministry of (dis)Information want to block websites to save people from themselves, because they may be tainted by the big bad outside world... so they're then forcing people to learn how to bypass their silly blocking. And as a consequence, really open up pandora's box.

It doesn't really take too many brain cells to figure out that once people learn how to use a proxy server (which in the real world isn't really necessary), you then can roam the internet relatively freely, and now you're really exposing yourself to the big bad world out there... websites that have, shock, horror,... alcohol, pork, porn (not that I would know), free speech... ...oh dear.

And finally for today...

Cafe attacked
KUWAIT: In response the Israeli attack on
Qana, which killed nearly 60 Lebanese civilians, a number of Rumaithiya
residents assaulted a local Starbucks, asking for the coffee shop to be shut
down. Hawally police arrived on scene and managed to disburse the crowd with
minimal incident. Security forces will increase their presence in areas with
large populations of foreigners.

A. If any cafe deserves to be attacked or shut down for serving a poor excuse for coffee, it would have to be the "McDonalds" of coffee. (A pet gripe of mine, though I did manage to get my local baristas to understand that a latte by definition starts with a double espresso, and is not supposed to be some insipid hot milk with added coffee flavour. And, fresh coffee means beans roasted within 2 weeks, not roasted 6 months ago and freighted to Kuwait.... I digress).

B. I thought that only local citizens frequent Starbucks anyway! Does Rumaithiya Starbucks have a totally different clientale than other Starbucks outlets?

And as for the Lebanon war, don't get me started on the media bias here. Sadly, my sympathy for the Lebanese plight is being overshadowed by the ridiculous behaviour of locals and the local media in providing moral support for Hezbollah, an organisation committed to acts of terrorism, and who least we forget, provoked Israel into launching this war! Of course, Arab leaders are not going to take any serious action against Israel and quietly live in hope that Hezbollah's power is severely curtailed. But when it comes to war, it is always the innocents on both sides, and the truth, that suffer.

Key Education posts should only be for the incompetent & inexperienced - Islamists warn

Another snippet from today's Kuwait Times...

Attempts of political blackmail in ministry
KUWAIT: There has more heated
political exchanges regarding key leadership posts in the Education Ministry.
Islamist MP Jamal Al-Kandari, who is considered a member of the Islamic
Constitutional Movement (ICM), has warned the Education Minister Dr Adel
Al-Tabtabae that he would grill him in case he excludes
(sic) competent and experienced people from key education
posts. (contd.)

Yeah, I think the reporter has got this one about right! Islamists don't want competent people in positions where they may have some influence...

Any competent Company Chairmen (or Chairwomen) out there?

In the Kuwait Times today was this odd little snippet...

State urged to take action
KUWAIT: The chairman of companies
whose share price has declined recently has explained that the losses incurred
by those companies are on the rise due to downward movement of the market. He
said: "It is a very worrying matter and disturbs the chairmen of many
companies." He pointed out that things are going to the worse unless government
takes action to stop decline in the market. He explained that share prices have
reached a very low point.

Duh! What a brainfart. Automatically, you have given proof that you are not fit to chair a company, along with your Chairman buddies... (please let me know who you are so I know not to invest in your company!... I hope it's not my employer!!).

Prices of company stocks in Kuwait, as in the rest of the Gulf were getting way out of kilter with fundamentals, as they are wont to do when easy money can be made and investors get greedy, ie. if I buy at 'x' price, it will continue going up so I can sell and make a nice handy profit, as there's always another sucker who will come in and buy when the price has gone up. As with all speculative stockmarket bubbles, eventually they pop! Stockmarket investing lesson 101.

How exactly is a reduced share price affecting your core business? Or is it that you've lost money investing in shares? And now you want the State to action... please. Next you'll want the head of the KSE! (Oh, that's already on the agenda!)

And you thought the American legal system was bad...

So much crap printed in the local media, and so little time to comment...

You never know by the reporting whether justice is being done or not. Here's a couple of examples in today's papers...

Death sentence
KUWAIT: The Court of Appeal has approved
the execution of two persons for smuggling hashish and opium into the country
from Iran by the sea. The court did not listen to the suspects' lawyer who
claimed that they did not know there were drugs on the boat. They also claimed
that there were other sailors on the boat besides them.

Appeals acquits 3 securitymen in kidnap, rape of Asian
woman
KUWAIT CITY: The Court of Appeals Tuesday overturned the verdict of the
Criminal Court and acquitted three securitymen — M. Al-Ajmi, S. Al-Otaibi and H.
Al-Shimmari - who had been accused of kidnapping and raping an Asian woman,
identified only as D.Y. On June 25, 2005, the Criminal Court had found the men
guilty and sentenced them to 15 years in jail. According to case papers the
victim was stopped by a police patrol on Aug 11, 2004 in a suburb of Nugra and
taken to the Nugra Police Station and was left in the custody of the prime
suspect, Ajmi.

After checking her identification papers, Ajmi convinced the
victim that she was in legal trouble and accompanied her to a nearby chalet
where he raped her after promising to help her with her ‘troubles’. He took her
mobile phone number and let her go. She added four days later, Ajmi called her
and told her that he wanted to ‘mediate’ in her problem. He took her to a café
where he introduced her to the other two accused. The men allegedly hit her on
the head and neck and raped her inside their vehicle because she resisted their
attempts. The victim said Otaibi took her to a desert and the other two men
followed them in another vehicle where the trio raped her. Then, Otaibi returned
her to her home. The victim then filed a case with the Chief Prosecutor. The
police station officer testified his investigations revealed the three men had
committed the crime according to a case filed by the victim. He added the men
had verbally admitted to committing the crime.

In major crimes, if it is committed by a citizen their name will most likely be withheld, yet for a similar offense, not only is an expat's name published, but the convicted criminal's photo is published (in the case of smugglers, with all their confiscated contraband).

Here's another run-in with "Justice" that's just plain funny...

‘Angry’ judge detains bedoun: A bedoun youth holding Colombian citizen and
identified as M.S, was detained for 24 hours upon orders of the Traffic Court
judge, reports Al-Rai Al-Aam daily. The youth was attending a session on traffic
violations and when the judge remarked on his long hair, he retorted saying it
was his ‘personal freedom’. The angry judge ordered the youth’s detention for 24
hours. The youth who is studying at an unidentified institute begged the judge
to delay execution of the ‘verdict’ saying he had to appear for his examination
but the judge refused to budge.

So, I'd like to know if it's illegal to have long hair, or it's illegal to talk to the judge, or what?