FOLLOW-UP DEMARCHE REGARDING CONTINUED ARABSAT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000953 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA/RA FOR MONOSSON, NEA/ARP FOR JACKSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2017 TAGS: SA KU TC KPAL KPAO ETTC PREL PTER SUBJECT: FOLLOW-UP DEMARCHE REGARDING CONTINUED ARABSAT BROADCAST OF AL-ZAWRAA AND AL-MANAR REF: A. SECSTATE 84112 ¶B. KUWAIT 749 ¶C. KUWAIT 278 Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Timothy A. Lenderking for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Ministry of Information Assistant Under Secretary for Technical Affairs Nasser Al-Safar on 18 June. Al-Safar said the points would be forwarded to the Information Minister prior to his departure for the meeting of Arab League Ministers of Information in Cairo. ¶2. (C) Econoff spoke separately on 18 June with Under Secretary of Communication Abdulaziz Alosaimi since the SIPDIS Communications Ministry represents Kuwait on the Arabsat Board of Directors. Alosaimi agreed that these transmissions are dangerous but said that the Board of Directors does not get directly involved in the management of Arabsat. He suggested that the best way to influence Arabsat policy is through Arabsat President and CEO Khaled Balkheyour. ¶3. (C) In a previous meeting with Poloff on 30 April, Al-Safar said it is technically impossible to block the downlink of satellite broadcasts, so the only way to block a particular transmission is to prevent it from reaching the satellite (uplink). According to Al-Safar, if a broadcaster were technically savvy enough, he could examine which frequencies a satellite was not using and then beam a signal up to it on one of those frequencies. Once the satellite administrators learned that one of their frequencies was being "hijacked," that particular frequency could be blocked, but the broadcaster could then simply shift his transmission to another available frequency. ********************************************* * 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/ ********************************************* * LeBaron