Kuwait is a
nominal constitutional monarchy.
The prime minister and deputy prime minister are appointed by the monarch, who ascends the throne because of birth.
The current crop of elected officials (about 70%) are all allied as "monarchists"
Formation of political parties is illegal. Suffrage is only to adult males who have been naturalized for 30 years or more. Consequently, only 10% of the nation is eligible to vote.
Human rights
http://web.amnesty.org/web/web.nsf/p...wt-summary-eng
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=mideast_pub&c=kuwait
Why did Saddam not take his grievance to the UN? Because the UN wanted nothing to do with him because of his gross abuse of human rights. But he did have one friend, the USA. He took his grievance to us.
http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/glaspie.html
Quote:
GLASPIE: We have many Americans who would like to see the price go above $25 because they come from oil-producing states.
HUSSEIN: The price at one stage had dropped to $12 a barrel and a reduction in the modest Iraqi budget of $6 billion to $7 billion is a disaster.
GLASPIE: I think I understand this. I have lived here for years. I admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait.
I was in the American Embassy in Kuwait during the late 60's. The instruction we had during this period was that we should express no opinion on this issue and that the issue is not associated with America. James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this instruction. We hope you can solve this problem using any suitable methods via Klibi or via President Mubarak. All that we hope is that these issues are solved quickly. With regard to all of this, can I ask you to see how the issue appears to us?
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