Today was the celebration of the 64th Anniversary of the National Day and the 34th Anniversary of the Liberation Day of the State of Kuwait. To honour the day, a reception was held at the Westin Hotel hosted by Chargé d’Affairs a.i. of the Embassy of the State of Kuwait, Mr. Abdulrahman Alothaina, with the guest speaker being Mr. Alexander Lévêque, Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) – Europe, Arctic, Middle East, and Maghreb.
To see all the pictures, CLICK HERE.
There’s really not a lot to report on as the Chargé and the ADM were the only speakers and neither spoke for long but did make note of the strong friendship between Canada and Kuwait as well as the opportunities for the two nations. Mr. Lévêque made note of shared ideals such “ … as dedication to international law, importance of territorial integrity, belief in multi-lateralism, and a commitment to consensus building”. Mr. Lévêque also alluded to the over 4,500 troops that took part in the liberation of Kuwait of which four were in the room including Mike McGlennon and Senator Rebecca Patterson. After his remarks, Mr. Lévêque was presented with a small silver statue, of what appeared to be a falcon, with the compliments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the State of Kuwait.
The reception carried on from that point with plenty of chit-chat, lots about our friends to the south. I asked a couple of the Kuwaiti people if they thought that the current Trump American government would have led the charge to free Kuwait and it was unanimous in the negative. Even some of our own politicians were outraged at the antics of Trump to the point where the word “traitor” was used only because there was not another word strong enough or that could be used in polite company to describe his actions. The phrase “Peace in our Time” was used linking the once failed attempts to appease Hitler to Trump only Trump’s not smart enough to get the link on his own. People said they couldn’t call him an “asshole” only because the rectum is actually a useful organ used to expel the excrement that is Trump. I could only agree.
Photographically, there was a plethora of lovely ladies in Kuwaiti dress and I found myself taking quick portraits of some of the younger ladies (like 4-8 years old) and some older. And I don’t know what they teach young girls in Kuwait but everyone one of the ladies in attendance had makeup perfectly applied and blended which makes taking pictures, even quick portraits, so much easier.
Prior to leaving the reception, I tried some of the Tikka Chicken kabobs and I could have stayed all day eating those. Yum yum. And although I can’t eat gluten, my wife can so I brought her home some of the iced sugar cookies and I got a big thumbs up as one disappeared.
