US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT5061

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 005061 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, ANET, ASEC, KU 
SUBJECT: KUWAIT DEMARCHE DELIVERED: PREVENTING AL-MANAR 
BROADCASTS 
 
REF: STATE 216186 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) NEA DAS Gordon Gray delivered reftel demarche during 
a December 6 meeting with Ministry of Foreign Affairs Acting 
U/S Ambassador Khaled Al-Babtain.  DAS Gray emphasized the 
insidious nature of Al-Manar broadcasts and urged the GOK to 
remove the station from Arabsat, of which Kuwait owns a 
14.59% share.  Al-Babtain said the Arabsat "council" would 
have to decide on the issue, but in any case the impact of 
Al-Manar on Kuwait was "very limited."  Al-Babtain was unsure 
who administered the Kuwaiti share of Arabsat, but promised 
to get more information.  DAS Gray stressed the importance of 
removing Al-Manar from the airways.  (Note: Post understands 
that Kuwait is represented in Arabsat by the Ministry of 
Communications and the Kuwait Investment Authority is the 
funding mechanism.  End note.) 
 
2.  (C) The Ambassador also delivered reftel demarche points 
to Minister of Information Dr. Anas Al-Rashaid and provided 
the Minister with a non-paper outlining the U.S. position on 
Al-Manar in a December 7 meeting. 
 
3.  (U) This cable has been cleared by DAS Gray. 
 
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LEBARON