COMMUNICATIONS MINISTRY ON BLOCKING ARABSAT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 001337 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA/RA FOR MONOSSON, NEA/ARP FOR JACKSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2017 TAGS: PREL PTER KU SA IZ SUBJECT: COMMUNICATIONS MINISTRY ON BLOCKING ARABSAT TRANSMISSIONS OF AL-ZAWRAA REF: A. STATE 84112 ¶B. KUWAIT 953 Classified By: CDA Alan Misenheimer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). (C) In a 3 September meeting with CDA, Assistant Under Secretary of Communications for the Information Systems SIPDIS Sector Ali Al-Zaben said that as the Kuwaiti representative at the most recent Arabsat board meeting, he had raised the issue of blocking the transmission of Al-Zawraa. Al-Zaben said Arabsat President and CEO Khaled Balkheyour responded that the USG should shut down Al-Zawraa since the U.S. military "controls" Iraq. Under Secretary of Communications Abdulaziz Al-Osaimi said the Arabsat board tries to stay out of politics, preferring to leave decisions regarding politically-sensitive content to the host nation of the station in question. Al-Osaimi said Kuwait would be willing to raise the issue again at the next Arabsat meeting in October, but he stressed that it would be more effective for the Government of Iraq to first raise the issue of blocking Al-Zawraa and then allow other board members to support the Iraqi proposal. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * MISENHEIMER