Kuwait Installs New Government

Kuwait has a new government as of Tuesday, with new faces at the Defense, Foreign, Finance and Interior ministries, according to KUNA, the state news agency. Most notably, Ahmad Mansour al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the new defense minister, replaces Nasser al-Sabah, the son of Kuwait’s ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. The emir fired Nasser and another minister last month after mutual allegations of corruption broke into the open, leading to the resignation of the prime minister, Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah, and his replacement by foreign minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah. Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah is the new foreign minister, Anas Khaled Nasser al-Saleh the new interior minister, and Mariam Aqeel al-Aqeel, who previously held the post of acting finance minister, the new finance minister. Kuwait is considered to have one of the more liberal political systems in the Gulf, and public family spats over affairs of state are fairly common.