EU envoys visit Failaka
Every year, archaeological research missions from EU Member States - currently France, Denmark, Poland, Italy and Slovakia - come to Failaka to join efforts to preserve Kuwait's treasured past, from the Bronze Age to modern times. Among these, the new Franco-Kuwaiti archaeological mission, led by Mathilde Gelin (ArScAn–CNRS/CEFREPA), is currently undertaking excavations focused on the Hellenistic fortress, a site once known as 'Ikaros' during the time of Alexander the Great. This mission, carried out in close partnership with NCCAL and the Department of Antiquities and Museums, aims to deepen knowledge of this period and ensure the preservation of this unique cultural heritage.
During the visit, the ambassadors were accompanied by Hassan Al Failakawi, a native of the island and local expert, whose deep-rooted knowledge of Failaka's history greatly enriched the delegation's understanding of the site and its significance. EU Ambassador Anne Koistinen said: 'I am thrilled to begin Europe Month activities in Kuwait this year with this field visit to Failaka. This beautiful island reminds us of the deep cultural ties between Kuwait and Europe. I would like to thank the NCCAL, the French Embassy and the French Research Center for organizing this visit.'
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Arab Times
14 hours ago
- Arab Times
Is this thing on? Accidental authenticity of Trump's hot mic moment is latest in a long global list
LONDON, Aug 20, (AP): Behold the power of the humble hot mic. The magnifier of sound, a descendant of 150-year-old technology, on Monday added to its long history of cutting through the most scripted political spectacles when it captured more than two minutes of U.S. President Donald Trump and eight European leaders chit-chatting around a White House news conference on their talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine. The standout quote came from Trump himself to French President Emmanuel Macron even before anyone sat down. The American president, reflecting his comments after meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin: "I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand, as crazy as it sounds.' How politics and diplomacy sound when the principals think no one is listening can reveal much about the character, humor, and humanity of our leaders - for better and sometimes for worse. As public figures, they've long known what the rest of us are increasingly learning in the age of CCTV, Coldplay kiss cams, and social media: In public, no one can realistically expect privacy. "Whenever I hear about a hot mic moment, my first reaction is that this is what they really think, that it's not gone through the external communications filter,' said Bill McGowan, founder and CEO of Clarity Media Group in New York. "That's why people love it so much: There is nothing more authentic than what people say on a hot mic.' Hot mics, often leavened with video, have bedeviled aspiring and actual leaders long before social media. During a sound check for his weekly radio address in 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan famously joked about attacking the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. "My fellow Americans," Reagan quipped, not realizing the practice run was being recorded. "I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.' The Soviet Union didn't find it funny and condemned it, given the consequential subject at hand. Putin, too, has fallen prey to the perils of a live mic. In 2006, he was quoted in Russian media joking about Israel's president, who had been charged with and later was convicted of rape. The Kremlin said Putin was not joking about rape and his meaning had been lost in translation. Sometimes a hot mic moment involves no words at all. Presidential candidate Al Gore was widely parodied for issuing exasperated and very audible sighs during his debate with George W. Bush in 2000. In others, the words uttered for all to hear are profane. Bush was caught telling running mate Dick Cheney that a reporter for The New York Times was a "major-league .....' "This is a big .... deal,' then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden famously said, loudly enough to be picked up on a microphone, as President Barack Obama prepared to sign his signature Affordable Care Act in 2010. Obama was caught on camera in South Korea telling Dmitri Medvedev, then the Russian president, that he'll have "more flexibility' to resolve sensitive issues - "particularly with missile defense' - after the 2012 presidential election, his last. Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's rival that year, called the exchange "bowing to the Kremlin.' "Sometimes it's the unguarded moments that are the most revealing of all,' Romney said in a statement, dubbing the incident "hot mic diplomacy.' Live mics have picked up name-calling and gossip aplenty even in the most mannerly circles. In 2022, Jacinda Ardern, then New Zealand's prime minister, known for her skill at debating and calm, measured responses, was caught on a hot mic tossing an aside in which she referred to a rival politician as "such an arrogant pr--' during Parliament Question Time. In 2005, Jacques Chirac, then president of France, was recorded airing his distaste for British food during a visit to Russia. Speaking to Putin and Gerhard Schroder, he was heard saying that worse food could only be found in Finland, according to widely reported accounts. Britain's King Charles III chose to deal with his hot mic moment with humor. In 2022, shortly after his coronation, Charles lost his patience with a leaky pen while signing a document on a live feed. He can be heard grousing: "Oh, God, I hate this!' and muttering, "I can't bear this bloody thing … every stinking time.' It wasn't the first pen that had troubled him. The British ability to poke fun at oneself, he said in a speech the next year, is well known: "Just as well, you may say, given some of the vicissitudes I have faced with frustratingly failing fountain pens this past year.' The American president is famously uncontrolled in public with a penchant for "saying it like it is,' sometimes with profanity. That makes him popular among some supporters. But even he had trouble putting a lid on comments he made before he was a candidate to "Access Hollywood' in tapes that jeopardized his campaign in the final stretch of the 2016 presidential race. Trump did not appear to know the microphone was recording. Trump bragged about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women who were not his wife on recordings obtained by The Washington Post and NBC News and aired just two days before his debate with Hillary Clinton. The celebrity businessman boasted "when you're a star, they let you do it,' in a conversation with Billy Bush, then a host of the television show. With major supporters balking, Trump issued an apology "if anyone was offended,' and his campaign dismissed the comments as "locker room banter.' On Monday, though, the chatter on both ends of the East Room press conference gave observers a glimpse of the diplomatic game. Dismissed unceremoniously from the White House in March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now sat at the table with Trump and seven of his European peers: Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump complimented Merz's tan. He said Stubb is a good golfer. He asked if anyone wanted to ask the press questions when the White House pool was admitted to the room - before it galloped inside. The European leaders smiled at the shouting and shuffling. Stubb asked Trump if he's "been through this every day?' Trump replied, "All the time.' Meloni said she doesn't want to talk to the Italian press. But Trump, she noted, is game. "He loves it. He loves it, eh?" she said.
Kuwait Times
15 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Putin may not want to make a deal on Ukraine, Trump says
Zelensky hails Trump summit as step towards peace; US security guarantees uncertain WASHINGTON/LONDON/KYIV: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he hoped Russia's Vladimir Putin would move forward on ending the war in Ukraine but conceded that the Kremlin leader may not want to make a deal at all, adding this would create a 'rough situation' for Putin. In an interview with the Fox News 'Fox & Friends' program, Trump said he believed Putin's course of action would become clear in the next couple of weeks. Trump again ruled out American troops on the ground in Ukraine and gave no specifics about the security guarantees he has previously said Washington could offer Kyiv under any post-war settlement. 'I don't think it's going to be a problem (reaching a peace deal), to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they're all tired of it, but you never know,' Trump said. 'We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks ... It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal,' said Trump, who has previously threatened more sanctions on Russia and nations that buy its oil if Putin does not make peace. Ukraine and its European allies have been buoyed by Trump's promise of security guarantees to help end the war during an extraordinary summit on Monday but face many unanswered questions, including how willing Russia will be to play ball. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the talks at the White House as a 'major step forward' towards ending Europe's deadliest conflict in 80 years and setting up a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump in the coming weeks. Zelensky was flanked by the leaders of allies including Germany, France and Britain at the summit. His warm rapport with Trump contrasted sharply with their disastrous Oval Office meeting in February. But the path to peace remains deeply uncertain and Zelensky may be forced to make painful compromises to end the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Analysts say more than 1 million people have been killed or wounded in the conflict. Russian attacks While the Washington talks allowed for a temporary sense of relief in Kyiv, there was no let-up in the fighting. Russia launched 270 drones and 10 missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, the largest this month. The energy ministry said Russia had targeted energy facilities in the central Poltava region, home to Ukraine's only oil refinery, causing big fires. However, Russia also returned the bodies of 1,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow received 19 bodies of its own soldiers in return, according to the state-run TASS news agency. 'The good news (from Monday's summit) is that there was no blow-up. Trump didn't demand Ukrainian capitulation nor cut off support. The mood music was positive and the trans-Atlantic alliance lives on,' John Foreman, a former British defence attache to Kyiv and Moscow, told Reuters. 'On the downside, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the nature of security guarantees and what exactly the US has in mind.' Ukraine's allies held talks in the so-called 'Coalition of the Willing' format on Tuesday, discussing additional sanctions to crank up the pressure on Russia. The grouping has also agreed that planning teams will meet US counterparts in the coming days to advance plans for security guarantees for Ukraine. NATO military leaders were expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss Ukraine, with US General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expected to attend the meeting virtually, officials told Reuters. 'We are now actively working at all levels on the specifics, on what the architecture of the guarantees will look like, with all members of the Coalition of the Willing, and very concretely with the United States,' Zelensky said on X. 'Tiptoeing around Trump' Russia has made no explicit commitment to a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow did not reject any formats for discussing peace in Ukraine but any meeting of national leaders 'must be prepared with utmost thoroughness'. Putin has said Russia will not tolerate troops from the NATO alliance in Ukraine. He has also shown no sign of backing down from demands for territory, including land not under Russia's military control, following his summit with Trump last Friday in Alaska. Neil Melvin, director, International Security at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said Russia could drag out the war while trying to deflect US pressure with a protracted peace negotiation. 'I think behind this there's a struggle going on between Ukraine and the Europeans on one side, and the Russians on the other, not to present themselves to Trump as the obstacle to his peace process,' Melvin said. 'They're all tiptoeing around Trump' to avoid any blame, he said, adding that on security guarantees, 'the problem is that what Trump has said is so vague it's very hard to take it seriously.' — Reuters
Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
Crackdown on Jleeb, Khaitan intensified by the Kuwait Authorities
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 19: Kuwait's Cabinet on Tuesday looked into the progress on a national crackdown against rampant real estate violations in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Khaitan areas, spearheaded by First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al- Sabah. Kuwait has intensified security campaigns in a bid to uphold the law and crack down on widespread real estate and commercial violations in these two areas, the Kuwaiti interior minister told the Cabinet amid its weekly session presided over by His Highness the Prime Minister Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, citing the need for greater cooperation across state bodies to address the matter. The traffic congestion in the two densely-populated areas, along with violators' attempts to circumvent the law, are major impediments to the efforts of security forces to push forward the crackdown, the minister underlined, emphasizing that state bodies would do their utmost to restore order and enforce the rule of law. The Cabinet then looked into a report by a ministerial-level public services committee over donations given by state bodies and private firms in support of a national green initiative, thanking them for their contributions towards efforts aiming to add an aesthetic touch to roads and areas nationwide. Letters addressed to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah from the leaders of friendly nations were among the matters discussed during the session, which dealt with efforts aiming to ratchet up cooperation and bolster relations between Kuwait and these countries. The Cabinet also approved a decision to strip Kuwaiti citizenship off several individuals, based on the works and findings of a national committee formed to investigate the matter.(KUNA)
