Crown Prince... and an Embrace of Destiny
I am enthusiastic about the presence of His Highness the Crown Prince, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, in New York at the start of the new session, representing His Highness the Amir, may God protect and guard him, as the leader of Kuwait’s path in the influential global arena within the halls of the United Nations, where the entire world speaks of its hopes and its nations, articulates its dreams, and records its sorrows and tribulations. This is the only chamber that gathers all human voices and expresses their aspirations.
I spent ten years at the United Nations amidst this vast human stage, where peoples place their dreams, voice their grievances, share their sorrows, and present their hopes. It is a unique phenomenon that recurs annually in one location, through the voice of one person, who expresses his aspirations, complains of his ailments, and awaits a cure, hoping that someone will move to alleviate the suffering endured by the majority in our unified human family.
The reality is that the presence of His Highness the Crown Prince, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, who is well-versed in the complexities, realities, and painful climate and environment experienced by most peoples, underscores the enduring hope for treating the ills of poverty and need through collective human solidarity. Since I value the necessity of collective humanitarian participation and the affirmation of human solidarity to mitigate the ills and tribulations of poverty through collective human solidarity, there is no doubt that the presence of His Highness the Crown Prince, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, confirms the translation of Kuwait’s participation in the battles waged by the United Nations to defeat poverty and need, through continuous, effective, and collective human connectivity aimed at eradicating the ills of the needy and the wounds of poverty.
His Highness the Crown Prince, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, spent long years within the United Nations when he served as a diplomat in Kuwait’s Permanent Delegation. He became familiar with the most important achievements the United Nations strives for, foremost among which is combating hunger and volunteering to satisfy every human’s need to live on this planet. The truth is that the scale of responsibility resting on the shoulders of the United Nations is immense in its requirements and exhausting in its arrangements, influenced by political considerations and interest priorities, especially concerning major powers and their priorities. Nevertheless, political elements and interests infiltrate the assessment of different countries’ levels of giving and donation, and political considerations interfere with decisions on generosity, causing the drive for effective human unity to vanish from the course of donations. There is a presence of stings from political considerations and assessments by political war professionals. Despite this, the state of donations and contributions records a rare role for the United States and industrialized and advanced countries, while Gulf countries have enhanced the volume of their contributions. Industrialized countries remain at the forefront, and communication between countries continues to increase contributions.
The truth is that collective will has managed to contain crises that pose a threat to daily human security, and has succeeded in providing necessities for various needy communities. There is no doubt that the United Nations has succeeded in securing global awareness that interacts with the humanitarian concept of collective participation and achieving security and safety for the global community. There is a general reassurance that there will be no return to famine, and that the world has achieved comfort in this path. However, risks have not ended, and the world does not possess complete reassurance, as political conflict and the sensitivity of interests and their protection remain among the priorities. The world is still far from being convinced that peace is permanent and that stability will not disappear. The temptation of interests persists, security is imposed by the size of power, and calmness is the result of fear of destruction, not born from convictions about the beauty of détente. Competition will continue, and the search for expanding benefits and security will rely on the generosity of capacity, not on the nature of tranquility. Competition in weapon innovation continues, and the desire to innovate in combat technology and war mechanisms persists.
Nevertheless, we do not deny that the existing global comfort will greatly enhance the philosophy of coexistence and replace competition with the pursuit of greater virtue in peace and stability. The important thing is that the international community be able to deepen the benefits that the entire world enjoys from the dominance of security and reassurance in every corner of the globe, and to savor the virtues of peace and the fruits of coexistence. We are now in a climate devoid of ideological competition, which began with the end of World War I. Events have shown that violence generates destruction that eliminates production and renewal. The entire world has tested many models of ideologies and philosophies, and followed the approach of certain systems that dominated the world map, especially the role of the United States and a group of countries that adopted the approach of freedom for populations and humans, and sought to market it to everyone. Then, wars of competition between ideologies faded, and the role of innovation and encouraging human creativity in various life paths—politics, trade, industry, and all avenues of life—dominated the world in this era.
These observations stem from my experience at the United Nations, which lasted ten years, including Kuwait’s presence on the Security Council in 1978–1979. I witnessed a unique situation involving the Iranian Revolution’s seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran and its occupation for several months, an unprecedented state of apparent rebellion against global discipline. The Iranian Revolution’s state is unusual in its challenge to the global system that regulates relations between states. Iran continues to challenge the global rules that regulate navigation in international maritime passages, and no one can predict what may happen tomorrow.
Abdullah Basharahil
