Kuwait's Oil Reserves

The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) released its 31st Annual Report which showed that Kuwait ranked fourth in the list of countries with highest oil reserves for the year 2004. Saudi Arabia ranked first, followed by the UAE then Iraq. To view a copy of this report click here. To view the Annual Statistical Report for 2004 by OAPEC click here.

Kuwait Coach Srecko Katanec

Kuwait has recently announced that Srecko Katanec will be the new coach of the national football team hoping to salvage a doomed world cup 2006 qualification campaign. Who is the new coach? Following are some tidbits.

• Born July 16, 1963 in Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Started playing at 7 years of age with Ljubljana (1970-1981)
• Transferred to Olimpija (Slovenia) from 1981-1984
• Joined Dinamo Zagreb, Croatia, from 1985-1986
• Joined Partizan Belgrade, Yugoslavia, from 1986-1989
• Joined Stuttgart, Germany, from 1989-1990 (Loan then transfer)
  
• Joined Sampdoria until 1994
• Played in the Yugoslav national team from 1983-1990 then continued in the Slovenian national team from 1991-1994
• Coached Slovenian U-21 team, HIT Gorica, then Slovenia's national team
• Left Slovenia after an argument with player Zlatan Zahovic:

• Zahovic is believed to have said in the dressing room after a match against Spain, "I can buy all of you, I can buy the whole association, I can buy Smarna Jore (Katanec's home town). I can't stay in a team like this where you (Katanec) will substitute me in a game like this in the World Cup."

• Coach Srecko Katanec's name translates as "lucky"
• "Luck can decide a lot of things." (Srecko Katanec)
• Only non-playing reserve players to have been sent off in finals: Yugoslavia's Srecko Katanec on 30/6/90 and Argentina's Claudio Caniggia on 12/6/02
• Likes aggressive and pressing football

Details of Saddam's Life in Prison

• Saddam Tame Behind Bars
• After more than a year in jail, more details about Saddam's life behind bars are coming out. In its July issue, GQ magazine interviewed American soldiers who were responsible for guarding Saddam in his prison. Following are some highlights:
• Saddam tried to flee in a taxi cab when American troops were closing in. Saddam stated that "U.S. planes attacked the palace to which he intended to escape rather than the one he was in, injuring some of his bodyguards. But then he started laughing, recalls Reese. Saddam said America, they dumb. They bomb wrong palace." - Kudos to Saddam for smartness!
• In one conversation, Saddam compared himself to Jesus, saying "that's how it was for me. If his Judas never said anything, nobody ever would have found him, he said. Saddam claims that the only man who knew where the dictator was had ratted him out for money.
  
• Saddam loved Cheetos in prison and would get grumpy if he did not get any. Doritos corn chips soon won out. Nice!
  

5th Annual Trafficking in Persons Report

The U.S. Department of State released on Friday its 5th Annual Trafficking in Persons report. Kuwait has been highly criticized and placed as a Tier III country, which could trigger economic penalties. Other countries placed in Tier III include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Sudan, Togo, Cuba, and Ecuador. The section on Kuwait states that the country is a main destination for men, women, and children trafficked from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Phillipines, for labor exploitation. Other comments from the report

• "The Government of Kuwait issued public declarations against trafficking, but there is no evidence of judicial action against traffickers, despite ongoing reporting of physical and sexual abuse of domestic workers, physical abuse of laborers, and physical abuse and exploitation of trafficked child camel jockeys."
• "Kuwait made minimal efforts to protect trafficking victims over the last year."
• "During the reporting period, Kuwait took limited actions to investigate and prosecute traffickers."
• Notes:
• The repoort provides a narrative for almost all countries except the country issuing the report. With serious trafficking issues in the U.S., the authority of the report seems to be diminished.
  
• The report is useful for highlighting issues that need to be addressed. However, a serious effort requires naming names, and identifying major traffickers. But since these traffickers are mostly billionaires who pay-off many government officials, it would not be morally acceptable to release their names!
• The report fails to provide statistics to clearly and systematically highlight the problem. Again, this diminishes the credibility of this report, especially since it describes countries with imperfect governments who can spin this any which way they want.