Word: kuwaiti
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...began flowing seriously in the 1950s, the Sabahs were suddenly the wealthiest of all, and the power relationships inverted. A succession of farsighted emirs distributed billions of dollars to the populace, and Sabah-generated patronage is still central to the family's power. "These days," says a Kuwaiti minister, "the smart businessmen come to me and my colleagues, and we direct them to agents. No decisions are more important than who gets to share the pie. Those who charge corruption are the ones who feel left out -- and those who bitch loudest are usually calmed by our sending agency commissions...
Little of the current largesse would be possible if the government had adopted a novel reconstruction plan drafted during the Iraqi occupation. A small group of Kuwaiti technocrats had proposed creating a Kuwaiti-run corporation to oversee the postwar rebuilding. "For years we have sought to expand beyond our oil base," explains Fawzi al-Sultan, a Kuwaiti who serves as an executive director at the World Bank in Washington. "By taking charge of the reconstruction effort ourselves, we would have cut costs and developed an expertise we could have then marketed worldwide. But the politics was wrong. Agencies and other...
...Saad's statement had little impact in Washington, it has scared hell out of his constituents at home. A call to turn in weapons has gone unheeded despite the promise of a 15-year prison term for harboring arms. "Why should we turn in our guns?" asks a Kuwaiti merchant. "The government couldn't protect us the first time. If the Iraqis come again, we're better off fending for ourselves, especially since the Arab states can't agree on a common security policy...
...Prime Minister's analysis, repeated as a mantra by his subordinates, has also had a damaging effect on Kuwait's economy. With the exception of automobile dealers, who are thriving as Kuwaitis rush to replace more than a quarter-million stolen or trashed cars, most Kuwaiti businesses were moribund even before the Prime Minister spoke. Uncertain about the size of the postliberation population until the de facto deportation policy runs its course, businessmen are leery of replacing lost inventory. The government's inexplicable failure to set a reasonable compensation policy for goods lost during the occupation has aided stagnation...
...Kuwaiti government is behaving as would most regimes in similar circumstances. Its overriding priority has been the reassertion of its authority. But its decision to disband the resistance groups that kept the peace in the weeks following liberation has been "a colossal error," in the words of a Western diplomat. "Embracing those who stayed and fought, using their expertise and praising their willingness to help, could have gone far toward uniting the nation...