Back to the Future: Kuwait Looks Past Oil – and Democracy
NEED TO KNOW
Back to the Future: Kuwait Looks Past Oil – and Democracy
KUWAIT
Since he took over from his half-brother in late 2023, Emir Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait arguably has shown little patience for the trappings of democracy.
He finds them annoying.
Last year, the Emir dissolved the 50-member National Assembly a few months after elections were held. Disputes between the Emir’s executive branch of the government and legislators had been hampering the reforms he wanted to implement to decrease the Middle Eastern country’s reliance on oil revenue, explained Al Jazeera.
Now, the chamber’s future is unclear, wrote the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Has a governing system that seemed to offer so much noise and motion but little movement come to a full stop,” the think tank wondered. “Or will Kuwait instead simply revert back to its old system after a cooling-off period or in response to popular pressure – as happened twice in the past? At this point, it is uncertain whether Kuwait’s style of parliamentary democracy will be restored, reformed, or repudiated.”
Kuwait has always had a reputation for respecting human rights and diversity, the Washington Post editorial board noted, making it easier for the US to maintain its links to the emirate as an ally. Around 13,500 American troops remain in Kuwait – 34 years after the US arrived to liberate the country from invading Iraqi forces. Kuwait is also a big buyer of American weaponry. American officials recently approved the sale of upgraded Patriot missiles to Kuwait for $400 million, Reuters reported.
But Al-Ahmad, 84, has maintained that the National Assembly and other democratic institutions have become corrupt and sclerotic. In the process, he’s also flouted human rights norms.
Recently, for instance, news broke that the Emir had stripped 42,000 Kuwaiti citizens of their nationality since September, rendering them stateless, wrote France 24. Among those targeted were individuals accused of “moral turpitude or dishonesty, or for actions aimed at threatening state security,” including criticism of the Emir or Islamic leaders.
“They made me stateless overnight,” one of the Kuwaitis who lost their passports told the Financial Times. “Now all I think about is leaving and setting up in Dubai. I want to escape here because it’s starting to feel like a dictatorship.”
The anti-democratic, authoritarian drift in Kuwait is unmistakable, said Jean-Paul Ghoneim, a research fellow at the French think tank IRIS. When he dissolved parliament, for example, the Emir also suspended certain articles of the country’s constitution for as long as four years. The revisions he is now planning “will not move in a more liberal direction,” wrote Ghoneim.
Al-Ahmad has liberated regulations, however, causing the country’s stock market to increase 10 percent so far this year, noted Semafor, adding that Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund is now worth more than $1 trillion. The Emir is hoping to leverage that money to diversify his emirate’s economy beyond oil.
Still, the Emir and his allies have monopolized economic power in Kuwait. Analysts say that unless they allow ordinary Kuwaitis to direct where some of that capital goes, growth will remain anemic.
“The new Emir has put a focus on recovering the economic dynamism of the past,” wrote the Atlantic Council. “Whether he succeeds will depend on his ability to formulate a vision for transformation, including to diversify away from oil, with the cohesive support of the population.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
The Yin and the Yang: Anger and Joy Erupt After South Korean High Court Ousts President
SOUTH KOREA
Thousands of protesters took to the streets across South Korea over the weekend following a constitutional court decision to oust President Yoon Suk Yeol from office for his attempt to impose martial law last December, with some demonstrators celebrating the ruling while others denounced it as a blow to democracy, Al Jazeera reported.
On Friday, the country’s top court unanimously ruled that Yoon’s decree on Dec. 3 violated key constitutional principles, including civilian control over the military and the neutrality of the armed forces. The eight-judge panel said the conservative president “shocked the people” and “caused confusion in society, economy, politics, and diplomacy.”
It added that Yoon’s action “brought back the history of abusing state emergency decrees” in the country and ruled that dismissing him better protected the constitutional order than allowing him to remain in power.
Over the weekend, anti-Yoon crowds celebrated the ruling, with participants weeping, dancing, and marching through the streets of the capital, Seoul. However, the president’s supporters gathered outside his former official residence and near government buildings, chanting “Impeachment is invalid!” and “Nullify the snap election!”
A protest organizer shouted, “Anyone who accepts this ruling and prepares for an early presidential election is our enemy,” according to the Associated Press.
Yoon, who became president in 2022, had defended the decree as necessary to counter alleged threats from North Korea and what he called “anti-state forces” within the opposition.
His decree sent special operations troops to the opposition-controlled parliament, election offices, and other key sites. Soldiers clashed with lawmakers and protesters, drawing sharp criticism and evoking painful memories of the country’s past military regimes.
The legislature voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, and he was later indicted for rebellion in January – a charge that carries the death penalty.
Following Friday’s ruling, Yoon expressed “deep regret” at falling short of the public’s expectations, but stopped short of accepting the verdict.
Acting President Han Duck-soo vowed to maintain stability and oversee the transition to the next administration, with new elections expected to take place within 60 days.
Analysts said the court’s decision marks a historic turning point for South Korea’s democracy, but warned that the deep polarization exposed by Yoon’s removal could intensify in the lead-up to the upcoming vote.
The ruling comes as South Korea is also navigating a series of uncertainties, including US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and an increasingly aggressive China.
Nowhere To Call Home: Tens of Thousands Protest In Spain Over Housing Crisis
SPAIN
Tens of thousands of people marched across Spain over the weekend to protest soaring rents and a deepening shortage of affordable homes, as the country grapples with the effects of tourism-driven demand and stagnant wages, the Guardian reported.
On Saturday, demonstrations erupted in about 40 cities, including the capital, Madrid, and tourist hubs such as Barcelona and Seville. Organizers estimated that more than 150,000 demonstrators joined the protests in central Madrid.
Protesters rattled keychains – now a symbol of housing discontent – and chanted slogans like “Stop the housing racket,” and “Landlords are guilty, the government is responsible.”
Many called for stronger rent controls, including indefinite leases, a 50-percent reduction in rents, and an end to apartment conversions for tourists.
The unrest comes as Spain has experienced a 44-percent increase in house prices and a doubling of rents over the past decade, while wages have failed to keep pace.
In tourist-heavy regions like the Balearic Islands, average rents have risen by 40 percent in five years, now surpassing the average monthly salary of hospitality workers. In Barcelona, rents have increased by 70 percent since 2015, while salaries have risen only 17.5 percent.
A Spanish youth council study found that 85 percent of people under 30 still live with their parents because they are unable to afford independent housing.
The supply of rental housing has halved since the Covid-19 pandemic, and official data shows only about 120,000 new homes are built each year – just one-sixth of pre-2008 levels – worsening the already acute housing shortage.
The boom in tourism has intensified the crisis: Spain welcomed a record 94 million tourists in 2024, making it the second most-visited country in the world, Reuters wrote.
Major cities such as Madrid and Barcelona have reported tens of thousands of unlicensed tourist apartments, while others are vowing to curb short-term rentals. In Barcelona, the city council says it will not renew any of the 10,000 existing tourist apartment licenses after 2028.
Amid the crisis, representatives of tenants’ unions are calling for rent strikes.
Jaime Palomera of the Barcelona Urban Research Institute told the Guardian that the housing business is “rigged in favor of anyone with assets while tax incentives encourage them to acquire more and more property … (while property speculation) is sucking money out of the middle class.”
CAR Demonstrators Oppose President’s Third Term – and His Russian Mercenaries
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Central African Republic’s capital over the weekend to denounce President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s rumored plans to seek a third term and accuse his government of relying on Russian mercenaries to suppress dissent and cling to power, Africanews reported.
On Friday, around 5,000 demonstrators – many of them young people – marched in Bangui, waving banners reading “Stop the Third Term,” and chanting patriotic songs.
The demonstrations were organized by the Republican Bloc for the Defense of the Constitution (BRDC), making it one of the largest opposition-led protests in recent years.
The protests come amid growing speculation that Touadéra – whose second term is almost over – may seek to extend his time in office under a 2023 constitutional referendum passed with support from the Russian mercenary outfit, the Wagner Group. Opposition leaders have claimed the referendum paves the way for indefinite rule and undermines democratic norms.
The Central African Republic is one of the first countries in Africa where the Wagner Group established operations, the Associated Press noted.
Wagner fighters have served as presidential bodyguards and helped Touadéra retain control of Bangui during a 2021 rebel advance. Many protesters and opposition leaders have accused them of raping and killing indiscriminately, while adding that the mercenary group and the president have “trampled upon” the country’s sovereignty.
The demonstrations also underscored some of the government’s failures, including collapsing public services in education, health, and water access.
The BRDC has vowed to continue mobilizing in the coming weeks to block any third-term bid, warning of deeper unrest if Touadéra attempts to prolong his rule.
DISCOVERIES
Spinning Solutions
City life comes with its challenges, especially the cacophony of traffic, crowds, and construction.
But while most people cope with noise pollution by cranking up the volume or investing in noise-canceling headphones, some spiders are spinning their own acoustic solutions.
In a new study, biologists Brandi Pessman and Eileen Hebets of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln found that funnel-weaving spiders can fine-tune their webs to cope with human-made vibrational noise.
These arachnids, the size of quarter coins and commonly found in both rural fields and urban corners, rely on their webs as a kind of external eardrum to detect prey, predators, and potential mates. But when blasted by the sound of traffic and machinery, they adjust their webwork.
“These spiders have come up with an incredible solution – they are able to use their webs as both a hearing aid and hearing plug,” Hebets told the New York Times.
In their experiments, the researchers collected 60 spiders from urban and rural environments and exposed them to either loud or quiet vibrational noise while they built webs over several nights.
“One of the most interesting things that we found is that urban and rural spiders are reacting differently when they’re put into a noisy environment,” Pessman explained in a statement.
Their findings showed that city arachnids spun quieter webs when bombarded with noise, dulling vibrations near the center funnel where they sit in wait – similar to padding on the walls to get some tranquility.
In contrast, rural spiders exposed to the same racket responded by building webs that amplified biologically important vibrations, as if turning up the volume to pick up on crucial cues in an unfamiliar noise storm.
The study highlights the spiders’ behavioral flexibility and opens avenues for exploring how other animals adapt their sensory reception, especially in noise-polluted environments.
Pessman added that future research will examine how exactly spiders change their webs, such as via silk tension or structural design.