The LSD inventor passes away

Albert Hofmann , the Swiss Chemist who discovered the LSD had passed away in his country in the age of 108. I think that he did not know how danger the substance he discovered suddenly would be and that it would destroy a whole generation , sorry generations. He used to defend and argue till his last day in Life that LSD is not that bad and it is fine as a treatment for psychological diseases and disorders despite what it causes from psychological diseases and disorders itself.

I think Albert Hofmann was a lucky one because there are many  drugs in the world we do not know who invented them still may be because this man did not intend to invent a destructive drug that would destroy a whole generation just like Alfred Noble , still he did not regret it or was sorry for how his discovery had a bad effect.

I found an American magazine in my grand dad's library which was dated to August 1966 I think , it was called Pageant , it had many interesting topics regarding the War of Vietnam, the American politics and social life then , its main topic in the issue which made the headline was "I saw God through LSD" , there was a complete interesting report  about a Minister in the Neo-American Church "a psychedelic Church found in 1964, lasted more than other psychedelic churches from 1960s " who considered LSD as a way to come closer to the Lord. The minister name was Rev. Arthur J. Kleps and used to be called the Chief Boo-Hoo ,already he used to call his local ministers Boo-Hoo because they did not take themselves seriously as he said in the report.Kleps and his church did not identify the LSD as drug as they considered it holy divine substance , already I do not want to go in to much details about this neo-American church because it was just 1960s mad cult thing.

{By the way one of my favourite topics I read in my spare time is the cults of 1960s, I love the 1960s in general , it was total madness despite all the fiascos we suffered from in Egypt then}

Strangely when I read to Kleps I found myself remembering the claims of those who want to legalize the cannabis in Egypt saying the Sufi orders used to take it to become more closer to God to the rest of this illusions with my all respect to the Arab weeders , all these drugs destroy God's greatest gift to the human that separate us from animals : The mind

Back to Hofmann many people cursed him but I think to be fair it is not his mistake that many people misused the LSD because they wanted to live in a fantasy , because they were lost and could not find the path they should take, because they were sick people.

Hofmann wrote a book called "LSD: My problem Child" and surely he was successful in choosing the title , it was his problematic child that brought too much for his father .

Very interesting facts about the LSD is something I found in the NY Times archives

- The C.I.A planned to purchase in 1953 10 kilograms of  LSD enough for 100 Millions doses and worth to $240,000, they wanted to study ,test and also use them.

- In 1958 the C.I.A also conducted a LSD experiment on mental patients in a Canadian hospital using a foundation as a cover .

- They even tested it on 142 sexual psychopaths at Michigan during the 1950s in order to see whether the substances would unlock their most secret thoughts in an experiment

Further reading :

• Psychedelic therapy
• Albert Hofmann ,the father of LSD dies

Amazon.com: LSD: My Problem Child

Amazon.com: The Boo Hoo Bible, The Neo-American Church Catechism and Handbook

Images: Albert Hofmann from Corbis , Pageant cover from Zeinobia's pictorial archives

Technorati Tags: LSD,Albert Hofmann,1960s,Medicine,drugs,News,Science,health,world,international,Europe

More about Ras El-Bar battle

It is a real battle , a historical not between the people and the regime but between the people Vs. Corporation in time of globalisation
Here are more news, more historical info ,pictures and maps about the city.
News :

• There was very huge protest today in Ras El-Bar against the factory "I working to find photos and videos"


• The Egyptian Parliament formed a committee to investigate the case , this committee was going to visit Damietta today in a field trip to listen to the people and to the inspect the situation closely ; suddenly the head of the Egyptian Parliament Dr. Fatahi Sorror cancelled this trip with no explanation.


• Some people are saying that the Canadian Ambassador threatened the Prime minister on the phone that the case will go to the international courts because of the contracts between Agrium and the Egyptian Government , it seems that Agrium paid a lot of commissions and bribes , and they do not want to it to go in vain "again the Ambassador interfere , I know he is doing this because he is trying to keep his natives interests , but he and the company should know better that they should not have such deals with corrupted governments like us"


• The Egyptian government can pay $ 400 Millions as a compensation for the company if it goes to international court , yet some international law experts said that Egypt's position is solid because it is doing this to protect its environment according to international environmental agreement and the fact that Ras El-Bar is a natural reserve


• There is unconfirmed news that the factory will be transferred in couple of days and the Prime minister will announce this in the coming 48 hours "along with the bonus news to make people happy"


• The new location will be either at Ain Sokhana or in Kafr El-Sheikh "which already refused to host the factory before" .
  
• The People of Damietta are still hanging the black flags and cloth on their houses,windows and balconies , not to mention the stickers on their cars and buses .
• The Egyptian and Foreign banks that financed the factory is thinking of pulling its loans from the project , it is not yet confirmed nor denied that the 11 banks would pull back its US$ 11 Billion , but I am sure from business perspective banks are watching carefully what is going on

These are some light historical info about the city of Ras El-Bar :

• The history of the city started in 1823 when the Sufi orders followers used to visit the area to celebrate the birthday anniversary of famous Sufi Sheikh called "Al-Griby" at the south of Ras El-Bar { There is a Mosque called Al Griby and you can see it in the pictures in the slideshow} , also the merchants came to check on their ships


• Some families began to come in the Summer and enjoy the wonderful weather and location , the Nile on your left hand and the Mediterranean on your right hand.


• The people came in boats from the Nile , they began to build huts from Papyrus and go to picnics, swimming and fishing.


• In 1865 Ras El-Bar became a Summer resort , the Huts began to be spread , also they began to be developed from the simple way to become more sophisticated from simply Papyrus fragmented huts to organized rows between the Nile and the sea to cabins made of wood.


• During his visit to Egypt in 1883 to inspect the Cholera epidemic , Dr.Robert Koch* had visited the resort and had written a report about Ras El-Bar saying the following :
  

Ras El-Bar resort can be one day the king of the resorts and the most famous one of all as it is gifted by its beautiful location, its pure weather and golden beaches ,its location faraway of noise and it is less humid than other Egyptian beaches and its air also has iodine"

• In 1891 ,the real beginning of Ras El-Bar began a French man called "Buclan " along with with a French Called Madam "Kortil" had built a restaurant and a bar beside El-Sheikh Youssef fortress, then they built the first standard hotel in front of the light house in the city , "Buclan" had a vision to make this city , the new "Nice" of the orient , he wanted to attracted the new high class of rich people in Egypt from foreigners to Pashas to visit this area


• Sooner others began to built hotels


• In 1902, the first geometrical map was setup for the summer residence, Clarifying huts regions, its numbers, markets , also the rental system decided to be added to the city , its streets were lightened by lanterns and Nile ships to transport people and posts from Damietta to Ras El Bar and vise versa.


• Since then Ras El-Bar became the high class Pashas summer escape year.


• The city began to fade starting from 1960s ,it was not any more the city of elite .


• Years passed away and it became the resort of the "C" Class*


• The city was neglected for some years but lately as you can see from the photos the people began to care again for their city ,you can see in the pictures


• More information from Wikipedia
  

This map will show you a show you the location of E-Agrium in Ras El-Bar . "The square on your left hand"

This slideshow will show a collection of photos about the beautiful city of Ras El-Bar .

By the way it turned out that my great grand father had a wooden cabin there and my grandfather's family used to go there in Summer.

This is a very beautiful painting I found in Chafik Charobim official website, one of Egypt's forgotten painters "to be honest I did not know him before searching for material to this post"

* One of our old relatives who lived in America for decades decided to return back , he already is suffering from Asthma , of course he did not stand Cairo and its polluted air nor Alexandria with its humidity ;his American doctor asked about this place Dr.Koch spoke about !! Currently our dear relative is living in Ras El-Bar because of its air

* *Is it because the resort of Class "C" the government does not care Ras El-Bar ?? I know that the Cabinet cares sooooooooooooooo much for their exclusive resort @ Marina

Updates : The governer of Damietta told yesterday the angry masses "estimated by thousands" that surrounded his office yesterday that President Mubarak gave his order to transfer the factory to Suez , the People there demanded to see this order a official presidential decree in the newspapers and official TV to believe it.
Here are the photos from yesterday Protest From AP

Technorati Tags: Damietta,Ras El-Bar,Egypt,Nile Delta,Enviroment,photos,Nature,Pollution,Sea,Rivers,Mediterranean,Slideshows,Agrium,Canada,Citizen Journalism demcocracy,Arts,Egyptian Life,Follow Up,Society,Middle East,Mideast,Corporations

Follow Up : Pre 4th of May Strike

This is the main national news of the day

The Muslim Brotherhood group is going to participate in the 4th of May strike  to celebrate the President's birthday in the most suitable way.
I think the MB thought that it would not harm either ways they will be arrested and they will be attacked and after been accused of planning the 6th of April strike even when they had no hand it ,so it is either ways

The MB had to participate in this strike , we can't deny that its popularity was affected by the decision which many disapproved and considered as evidence on the unclear MB nature of having under the table deals with the regime , still we were all surprised with the unjust military court rule in the infamous MB members trial.

Anyhow I welcome them , some people do not want them , on the contrary I want them to join the strike because in the end they are Egyptians and this is strike for Egyptians to participate in

On the other hand the puppet parties like Al Wafd started its attack on the strike ,strange because their daily newspaper is attacking the cabinet on a daily basis , sorry after little thinking it is not strange after all the head of the party is the brother of Amin Abaza , the minister of Agriculture.

Technorati Tags: MB,4th of May,Strike,Egypt,Mubarak,Muslim Brotherhood,Democracy,Freedom of Expression,National,Politics,Citizen Journalism,Mideast,Middle East,Africa

The day routine

The IDF launched an operation against the Palestinians in Gaza and as usual most of those who were killed in that operation were civilians; including the family of Abu Maateq at Beit Lahia ; a mother and her five children who did nothing wrong except may be they were Palestinians eating their supper when they found the IDF attacking and shelling their home !! Only one little girl  7 years old Shaima survived the attack taking her share from wounds and losing her mommy and her sisters ; the oldest one in her sister was 5 years old, her sisters were aged from 1 to 5 years old "1,2,3 and 5"

This is a slide Show containing very shocking images. The photos of the little girls  in the morgue are terrible ,at first I thought that I am used to seeing these photos thanks to the IDF routine killing of civilians especially children and I will not be not sad with eyes on the break of crying but I think I am just a human , I could not take it especially when I see the body of a young girl wearing a little tiny blue jeans and her sister the baby with that colourful sweater and their unclosed eyes.

The story is not over ,it is containing since the Deir Yassin whose 60th memorial passed in silence ,this is another war crime to added in the very long ledger of Israel in War crimes.

Again why they think that our people are less precious than their people , do they accept that the father of this family will accept their Peace terms !!

Update:

The IDF decided to open an investigation regarding the incident !!

Technorati Tags: Palestine,Gaza,Photos,Human rights,regional,Arab,mideast,Middle East,Politics,news

Follow UP : The Canadian Agrium blackmail

The Canadian Agrium does not want to give up and stop operating its toxic factory in Damitta , the factory is not operating anymore but the greedy company is trying to have the last word despite the refusal of the people of Damitta and its governor.
Last week the CEO of the Canadian company had talks with the prime minister ,strangely the meeting was attended by the Canadian Ambassador , I know that the company is Canadian but why he attends a meeting like this ?? Is the Canadian Ambassador with the company against the people ?? Is the Canadian Ambassador in Cairo agrees on polluting our environment for the sake of his native company !!??
A question : would Mr. Ambassador agree on having a similar factory with similar wastes in his own country , threatening the Canadian environment , threatening its forests,rivers and oceans !!??
If the situation was vice versa , Agrium is a huge Egyptian company and it wants to build a factory that will threat environment , will the Canadian people do nothing about it ??
The Canadian CEO appeared on TV very calm threatening us the Egyptian people directly that if this factory was closed , this would affect the foreign investments in Egypt giving it the image of a country that discourage foreign investments !!! I am sorry but is it because we are a poor country !!???
well nice looking CEO I have something to tell you
First we are not that POOR ,
Second Even if We are poor ,We still got dignity and have the right to protect our nature.
Third Mr. CEO if I were you I would not count upon a rotten regime like that current one in Egypt that seems in its way to fall down , and if it falls down "insh Allah it will " , your factory will be closed
I am here requesting all my Canadian readers to send to their media about this blackmail from their native company.
The People of Damitta along with the rest people of Egypt are refusing this factory .
According to our experts and scientists this factory will have dangerous effects from its chemical wastes on the following :

• The River Nile.
• The Mediterranean Sea and Egypt can be in critical legal position from other neighbour countries.
• The Wild Life "The Marine life".
• The air
• The destruction of Ras El-Bar which was considered as a natural reserved area from couple of month by the ministry of Environment "despite the claim that it did not happen, they are lying I read the news by myself"

These are the environmental effect but there are other effects , economic effects , the results of these environmental effects economically on the people there

• The fishermen will lose their main source of income.
• The city of Ras El-Bar is seasonal city , its people income comes from the three months of the summer vacation "June,July and August" ,with the destruction of Ras El-Bar because of the pollution of beaches and air the city will suffer from unemployment .

Look our cabinet , the business men cabinet does not think about anything in their lives except how they can enlarge their bank accounts in Bahamas , so if they approve this factory then you must there is something fishy and it is enough to know that the Governor of Damitta is against the Factory and the NDP MP members there are heading the campaign against Agrium.

Please help us , send emails to the media in Canada.

Send emails to the Green Peace , I do not know where the people of Green Peace and their representatives in Egypt from all this .

Help the people of Damitta.

Help our planet .

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors but we borrow it from our children

Native American proverb

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Ras El-Bar,Agrium,Canada,Factories,Enviroment,Green Peace,Mediterranean,Nile River,Citizen Journalism,Egyptian Life,Nature,Rivers,Seas,follow up,news,Mideast,Middle East,pollution

For the Spring day

What we eat around the world

This is a very nice and interesting pictorial report about the diet of average families around the world . Take a look to the size ,diet and price of the family.

Egypt is represented here by the Ahmed Family from the working class consisting from 12 persons ,their food expenditure in the week is L.E 387.85 that is $68.53 . Looking to their food I knew that some of it is subsided

Click here

Anyhow we are much lucky than other people in the world , you can see that in the report.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,World,Photos,Food,eat,Society,cultures,Economy,international

The Jubilee of the UAR: on a personal level “Nahed Riyad”

Today is Sham Al Nassim "The Spring day in Egypt" and so I will keep it light today :)

The union between Egypt and Syria whose 50^th anniversary passed in Silence in both countries and very few people remembered ; was not a fiasco on the public’s level like the political level, on the contrary it depended on how the idea was appealing to the people in the first and last place, the charisma of Nasser and how the Arab Nationalism was as rebel as a wild horse like the Syrian Poet Nizar Qabbani once described played an important role to unify the feelings of two people to accept the idea of becoming one.

I do not know why I remember a lady that I have never seen in my life whom I only heard about when I began to read more and more about this important event.

Mrs. Nahed Riyad, An Egyptian Cairiene lady who was born in 1930s , she was a friend to my grand mother from the French School “Saint Vincent et Saint Paul” ,a sweet brunette petite young girl whom in 1940s her parents agreed on a daring decision to let her join the Cairo University to complete her education , a real daring decision during the time most families believed that the girls future in their husbands’ houses , including my grand mother’s family whose father believed that his girls were beautiful and should be married soon. Nahed entered the Cairo University and strangely she did not join the faculty of law or the faculty of Arts as it was common for girls, she entered the faculty of agriculture, strange choice I think, I bet that all those families and old ladies surrounded her talked about how fool she was a, but fate was preparing something strange and unexpected for her.

A Syrian young man studying in the same university and in the same faculty asked her hand for marriage and it seems that she liked him too that she accepted him , they got married and she left Egypt . Till that she was a close friend to my grand mother. My grand mother once described me that Syrian groom as a tall blonde young man who reminded her years later by the Syrian hero who was killed in 1956 defending Egypt Jules Jamal.

Nahed did not stay at home in Syria, she worked as an agricultural engineer, visiting the Syrian country side, much chiller ,less muddy than our Nile Valley country side, she was happy by the reception of the Syrian people to her even before the Union.

She gave birth to two kids, a boy and a girl, my grand mother remembers her girl till now, a beautiful cute girl who speaks Arabic in a Shami accent whose pronunciation for “TH” letter in Arabic was perfect one “anyone who knows Arabic language perfectly and comes to Egypt will understand why my grand mother noticed it”

The last time my grand mother met her in Egypt was in mid 1970s, after Hafiz Assad and his brother took the rule and began their Baath discrimination to anyone who would say no , and when the clashes between them and the MB began , My grand mother remembered that Nahed was sad and Scared , she told her about the terrible stuff the Baath party members did to their opponents especially to the Sunni people , how the Baath girls would take off the veil from the heads of old ladies walking in the streets , how the Baath secret service men would throw men allegedly members of the Syrian MB from balconies .

After that meeting my grand mother did not see her or hear from her again, but she remembered her from couple of years when she sat beside a Syrian lady “a political refugee” in her cousin’s memorial service and it seems that talking with her about Syria and the status there from discrimination against the Sunni majority by the Baath refreshed her memories. When she returned back from the memorial service, she wondered what happened to Nahed and her husband, strangely she does not recall the name of her husband at all, and for her he was that Jules Jamal.

I do not know if this related to the UAR as this marriage happened before the UAR, strangely most of the marriages between Syrian Men and Egyptian women during the UAR did not last and ended disastrously creating a social problem that was solved from couple of year “The Citizenship of the Egyptian Women’s children”. I just wanted to write it down as I remember this lady whom I send my greetings and my grand ma’s where ever she is now.

Technorati Tags: Syria,Egypt,UAR,History,Egyptians,Syrians,Arabs,Nostalgia,Mideast,Middle East

Happy Easter ....but

Happy Easter to all the Eastern Christians who celebrated it through this weekend and today

Warning : The following is direct attack on the Pope Shounda III ,so if you are a devoted Egyptian Orthodox Christian , Please bear in your mind I respect your religion and Church but the following is not an attack against your religion

Still I feel so sad and angry from what the Pope Shounda said and did this Easter from praying for Mubarak to have longer life !! and warning his people from listening to those vandals over the Internet who will be sent to hell !!??

For your information there were restricted orders to the Islamic and Christian religious men from the regime to warn and make the people scare from joining the 4th of May strike. For the Muslims this is something usual ,I know from long time that the speeches of the Emam in the Mosque in our neighbourhood are approved by the security , so I do not care much for what they said , not to mention that the religious men in Islam do not have this holy status of the religious men in Christianity.

But for someone like Pope Shounda in his position comes and says these nonsense about those facebookers who will be roasted in hell , then we need a stand here .

Look this is not the first time Pope Shounda kisses the  regime's ass , we all know that he stood with Mubarak and the NDP in the elections, some Christian will come and say it is for fear of MB and I will say that the Pope is experienced enough to know  that these are nonsense.

I just want to ask the Pope something : Do you see Egypt is flourished under the NDP and Mubarak rule so you are praying for him ?? 

It is strange because Pope Shounda III was against President Sadat and till now many Egyptian Christians hate the late President where as Egypt is suffering more under Mubarak's rule than under Sadat's rule and I will dare and say that Egyptian social Peace between Muslims and Christians is in more danger in the time of Mubarak than in the Sadat with all what happened there !!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no excuse for the Pope or the for Sheikh of Al- Azhar in fact I will dare and say that they should fear the Lord not the President

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Egyptian Christians,Orthodox Church,Religion,Democracy,Citizen Journalism,Egyptian Life,Christainty,Pope Shenouda III,Mideast,Middle East,Africa

The El-Ghad X-Generation

The El-Ghad party was thought to be destroyed after the unfair imprisonment of its founder and leader Dr.Ayman Nour and the struggle and fight over the leadership between Nour's front and the regime's front yet I think it came out of the ashes just like phoenix  , the liberal party is not dead yet and it is operating effectively thanks to the younger Generations in the party.

The generations which joined the party after the arrest of Ayman Nour , who joined his front in the party.

To prove what I am saying I found out that many of the young people who were arrested because of the 6 April strike are member in El-Ghad party.

You also should remember both Israa Abdel Fatah and Balal Diab are members in the El-Ghad party

I just notice this and I thought I would share it with you. I think Ayman Nour is proud of his children in the party.

Anyhow Here is the clip from Mona El-Shazely's interview with Balal Diab , I share the prediction of Mona that this young man will be something in the future.

Unfortunately it is in Arabic

P.S : I am not supporter nor a member in the Ghad , this is just a remark

Technorati Tags: Egypt,El Gad Party,Israa Abd El-Fatah,Ayman Nour,Liberal,Citizen Journalism,democracy,Video,Media,Mona El-Shazely,Egyptian Life,National,Politics,News,Middle East,Mideast,Africa

Even the POWs

Even the injured POWs in wars are not cuffed in their hospital beds!!

The photo is not from war field and it is not for an enemy trooper but it is for an Egyptian in Mahalla injured and currently is accused by the security forces of vandalising the city !!!

This is against the law in Egypt

just a nice question : Where will he go and he looks so ill ??

Technorati Tags: Egyptians,POWs,Photos,Mahalla,6 April Strike,News,Citizen Journalism,democracy,Human rights,Mideast,Middle East

Fouad is free.

Fouad El-Farahan ,the Saudi Blogger who was arrest since last December in Saudi Arabia was Freed :)

Congratulations for Fouad and his family.

Hopefully all the other bloggers detained in the Arab world will be free soon and return to other families especially Tarek from Syria.

Technorati Tags: Saudi Arabia,Fouad Al Farahan,Blogging,Middle East,News,Freedom of Expression,Mideast,Arabs,blogging,blogs,Syria,Tarek Biassi

Follow Up : Pre-4th of May updates.

Ok here are the updates and news concerning the upcoming 4th of May Strike insh Allah.

• The main official parties declared that it will not participate in the Strike , these main official parties are Al Wafd and the Progressive unionist party
• I do not know yet about the the Nasserite and Karma parties but I think they may decline under the security pressure.
• The MB position from the strike is not clear yet ,as usual they will postpone it to the last moment , I think now after the unfair imprisonment of their members they should participate still this group has its own calculation.
• Kafya announced that its official participation in the upcoming strike officially opposite to what some newspapers announced today.
• The regime is fighting the Strike in a pro-active way ,warnings and attacks in its official media outlets.
• I feel that the regime may block Facebook in the end of the time despite the fact the technology minister denied this and also let's not forget that there are other ways to overcome this.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Citizen Journalism,democracy,4th of May,Follow Up,National,politics,Facebook,Kafya,MB,Communists,Al Wafd,Mideast,Middle East,Africa,News

Syrian 'Reactor Site' Photos Faked

Because I did not buy it easily the first time they announced !! Bush is trying to replay the Iraq game with Syria , Lebanon instead of Kuwait, Hezbollah instead of Al Qaida and now the North Korean Nuclear reactor for non peaceful uses instead of WMD "I think N.Korea had it shares also in this fairy tale"

Already I do not know what Bush is trying to do now , he has only few months in the office and clearly the world and the middle east especially is in no need for more tension , Iraq is enough.

It is no wise to attack Syria because Syria of Al Assad is not Iraq of Saddam

Anyhow I found these photos in Jeff Rense Conspiracy theory website, it is not bad to check these sites ,You can find sometimes truth

www.data4science.net

Syrian 'Reactor Site' Photos Faked

Click on the link and check the photos

I do not have to comment , the Syrian Ambassador and blogger in  the United States said it well , it is ridiculous talk 

Technorati Tags: Syria,North Korea,Nuclear,America,Bush,National Security,Photos,Regional,Middle East,Mideast,News,Politics,Iraq,WMD,Saddam Hussein,Bashar Al-Assad

Scream Balal

The official media has left Israa alone and started its attack since last week indirectly against the daring university student who embarrassed the prime minister in Cairo University.

The story started last week when Ahmed Nazif was a guest of a lecture in Cairo University as part of its centennial  celebration of its inauguration.

Nazif spoke with the students , I do not care what he said because it is in the end repeated boring speech about what he is doing to the country , the  challenges we are facing and the importance role of youth "I was surprised to find someone actually listening to him "

anyhow during his boring lecture ,a very interesting thing happened , a young student broke the silence in the hall when he scream

"Release the detainees , release the detainees

Release Egypt

Release the youth who stood beside you in Davos*

The University is great , the education process in Egypt is great,the bread loaf and democracy are there , the steel is there so why is Egypt Sad ?? "

The Young man is called Balal Diab and he said what 78 Million Egyptians feel and think , he screamed with we all want to say.

What is great is that most of the students clapped their hands in support to what Balal was saying and Nazif tried to ignore it as usual. You can see it here in Arabic .

Balal Vs. Nazif "From Wael Abbas"

*Davos : World Economic forum

Some people may think that this is the first something like this to happen in the history of the Egyptian Universities ,well I do not think so because I read once that one of the MB students I think he was Dr. Abdel Manam Abu El-Fatouh also did something similar during President Sadat speech in 1970s.

Balal was interrogated by the University security after the lecture yet he was released.

Now the official media is attacking him as rude student who does not know manners to interrupt those who are older and wiser than him !!!

Look Balal said what he believes in , he could not take any longer the lies and the fantasy world the prime minister is living in.

Nazif must be thankful to this regime and the security state because if any other democratic country he would have a cake on his face !! In fact I would like to remind you with the what the Iranian students did to Najed last year.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Citizen Journalism,democracy,Egyptian students,Egyptians,Media,Photos,Video,News,Freedom of Expression,Mideast,Middle East,Ahmed Nazif,Africa

Who is exactly the bigot here ??

Israel's UN ambassador calls Jimmy Carter 'a bigot' , I do not why and how dare he to say such a bad false accusation , what Carter had done to become bigot , and for which party he is biased to??

Is this the new charge after being anti-Semitic !!?? This shows you  how biased and unwilling to Peace Israeli officials are . They only want Peace according to their terms .

Carter since the beginning made it clear that he went to sit down with Hamas and the Syrians to find a way to put an end to the missiles and the attacks against Israel !!

Is it because the man treated Hamas and the Syrians as humans !!?? is it because he attacked the inhuman siege of Gaza and described it as a crime ???

Is it because the man is talking about Fair Peace that suites all parties??

Or is it because he managed to reach to near Peace initiative Promise from Hamas  when everybody failed !!??

Technorati Tags: Jimmy Carter,Palestine,Hamas,Israel,UN,USA,America,United States of America,Syria,Mideast,Middle East,Politics,regional,Peace,News

The Jordanian 4th of May

To my dear Jordanian friends is that true that there is a call for strike in Jordan in the Facebook on the 4th of May 2008 because of the increase in prices ??

wow our President Mubarak's birthday will be a regional one , if this happens it will be a real historical strike in two countries.

I do not know much about the internal affairs of Jordan but I know one thing Egypt is really the leader of the Arab world.

Update : Here is the URL of the Jordanian Facebook group that is calling for a strike

Their demands are :

• The Government put limit for the increase in Prices.
• Fixing the prices of Electricity and Gas.
• To end privatisation of public properties .
• To raise the salaries in the private sector.

As you see there are some similarities between the Egyptian Strike and the Jordanian strike , the main similarity is the economic factor.

They are not calling for protests , just stay at home

It is not Egypt is changing but the rest of the Arab world too

Technorati Tags: Jordan,Egypt,4th of May,Arab,Regional,Mideast,Facebook,Democracy,Economy,citizen Journalism,Middle East,Mubarak

No country for old women !!

With an apology to No country for Old men "by the way the title was changed in Egypt because it seemed to be offensive to our traditions and culture that respect old people despite the fact if you read this post you will know that this just an assumption and no one respects old people in Egypt as it should be anymore"

Amal Fahmy , a Media icon not only in Egypt but in the Arab world and I would dare to say not only in the Middle East but in the Whole World.

Amal Fahmy is from the early generations that worked in the Egyptian Radio even before the revolution. Her program "On the corner" is from the longest running programs in the Egyptian Radio since the 1950s till now. She was from the people who discovered Abd El-Halim Hafiz in that program and even appeared in his film "Nights of Love" in 1950s as the famous Amal Fahmy ,this woman hosted the stars of the Arab world in her show from Presidents to ministers to celebs to Queens like Queen Farida , this woman is just like Larry King yet she is not that rich or influential like him strangely , well after all she is a real lady.

Amal Fahmy's show is semi live one , she goes down with her famous Microphone and asks people about their problems , about what is on their minds and what they think about certain things from international events to local ones, she does not use extras in her show and she does not present a cheerful picture for the country , she is not opponent for the regime but she is trying as much as she can to present the truth. She fought the censorship many times and her show was stopped then it returned back . She does not speak about politics but in the general affairs of the society from economy to culture to arts to religion, as I said she is a female version of Larry King. In the last years she became somehow very critic concerning the Egyptian society and the corruption it faces from all sides ,she believed there is a real freedom and sometimes she crossed lines in the point of view of some parties in regime. She is a conservative old respectable lady that I respect so much and many many Egyptians may be millions think the same thing ; do not base your judgment on the listeners of Nogoom FM .

Any how this fine lady found herself humiliated and threatened to be fired and dismissed in the most disrespectful way by some employee who was not born yet when she was the famous Amal Fahmy because she dared and aired a complain of a citizen regarding the security measures of the interior ministry parade when he comes or goes to his work !!!

The interior ministry considered her criticising the interior minister !!

Look as Egyptian citizen who lives and works in Mohendessin from time to time I get stuck in the street for hours because the interior minister is going to the ministry or coming back to his house in Lebanon Square , people Lebanon Square is fu*ked up since he has lived there !! When the minister passes ,especially the interior minister streets paralysed in Egypt !!

From two weeks I could not find a taxi to drive me home from the Batal Ahmed Abd Al Aziz because the traffic police changed the traffic and emptied the street from cars ,the street looked as if we were in the Eid or in Ramadan minutes before the breakfast , you know when it is too empty !! I found a suicidal taxi who took me as fast as he could and got away before he would get a fine and listen to some nice languages , strangely the officers saw that I wanted taxi for half an hour to go home , of course it is not their freaking problem !!

Any how back to Mrs. Fahmy , as you see she tickled an issue we suffer from in Cairo and Giza , of course the mind set of the interior ministry did not understand this , now Fahmy is in a black list , especially she aired after the complain a very patriotic song for legendary Shadia "My love Egypt" which the later sang after six days war and broke the hearts of Egyptians , I think it was excellent choice.

This shows you how much the interior ministry control the media in Egypt.

I swear if I were in the place of Fahmy , I would leave it for good till the regime is changed and I would go and make my own podcast .

Technorati Tags: Amal Fahmy,Egyptians,Egypt,Media,Radio,Egyptian Radio,Women,democracy,Citizen Journalism,media,Mideast,Middle East,Africa,Freedom of expression

Do not blame Israa !!

Israa Abd El-Fatah was released yesterday at 8.30 PM and strangely she made an appearance in the national TV that same day in El-Bit Batik ,I have not watched but as soon as I knew she made appearance in that pro-regime TV show I knew that what she would say would shock many. As I expected the girl appeared on the TV show saying that she was sorry regretting what she had done and that she did not expect it would go this far.

I know it is shocking but let's agree something ; she is not an actual activist nor political leader , she is a simple Egyptian girl who spent couple of weeks in a nightmare in jail , I will not dare to guess what happened to her there or what kind of pressure was practiced upon her or what kind of blackmail she and her family suffered from in order to be free from jail.

Do not judge Israa now.

Do not expect her to speak now about her terrible experience.

Do not expect her to become an activist.

Israa will come in TV shows now thanking the officials from the President to the Interior minister.

Israa will come in TV shows now speaking about how nice the interior ministry was to her.

Israa will not speak truly about what happened to her except when this era is finished , when this regime is down. After all whether she likes it or not Israa officially became known worldwide as the Facebook activist from Egypt

Updates :

Cairo Today made an exclusive interview the moment she went out of jail.

You can click here to watch , it is in Arabic, still the most interesting part is what she said that she thanked God every night that she is still a girl.

Amr Adib also made a fast interview through the phone with her

I am sorry but I do not trust Orbit or Amr Adib

Here is the first video,I found now in Youtube.com

Technorati Tags: Cairo,Cairo Today,TV,Shows,Israa Abd El-Fatah,Egyptians,women,Facebook,activists,politics,Citizen Journalism,democracy,Follow Up,Egypt,Strike,National,media,mideast,Middle East,Africa

The new Governorates maps

I do not know but I think some people will be interested to see the new maps of the new Governorates , the new borders of the Governorates.
Anyhow here it is from the Egyptian Government portal , look I criticize the government all the time but fair is fair their electronic portal is not bad in fact it is good.
It is a PDF file in Arabic includes six maps , the first one is for all the Governorates that had been changed ,the second is for the new Governorate of Helwan , the third is for Giza,the fourth is for Cairo, the fifth is for 6 October and the sixth is for the Arab Republic of Egypt :)

Technorati Tags: Maps,Egypt,Governorates,Giza,Cairo,Helwan,6 October,Websites,Portal,E-Government,Mideast,Middle East,Africa,National

Follow Up : Israa

Israa is currently as I hinted before in the Qantar women Jail in Qalyubia Governorate. She is said to be in the Crimes section with criminals , not with the political prisoners according to her lawyer Mr.Amir Salam!!
Also I read in Masrawy.com that Israa is sick , she was transferred to the jail's hospital, she is suffering from high blood pressure "hypertension"
I hope she is fine now and that she will be released soon
To be fair today Al Masry Al Youm Chief in editor Magdi Al-Glad wrote a very power criticising column concerning her
Update#1:I found another news in Masrawy.com saying that she was released from jail by the orders of interior minister after the rapid and dangerous deterioration in her health still I could not find any confirmation concerning this news from any reliable sources
Update#2 : Israa was freed last night at 8:30 PM Cairo Local time according to the news

Technorati Tags: Israa Abd El-Fatah,Women,Egypt,Cairo,Protest,democracy,Freedom,citizen Journalism,Egyptians,follow Up,News,Mideast,Middle East,Africa

Interesting fact Mr.Carter

Former U.S President Carter , the Peace Maker said a very interesting fact in his lecture in the AUC at Cairo last Thursday "I wish I were there". He spoke about the American aid to Egypt as it started in his time. He said that President Sadat did not request any sum of money at all , he did not request any weapons at all , all what he had requested was the Wheat for the Egyptian people as they were exhausted from War and the population was increasing year after year and that's what he took from the Americans : Wheat.

So from this I understand that Mubarak changed the rule and requested financial and military aid starting from Reagan's cabinet !!??

Egypt is the second country after Israel in the size of the annual American aid . The sum of money we took from the Americans can build a whole nation.As Egyptian people the American aid is useless to us "not the Wheat" but the money, we do not see any change because of it.

Now the American aid is used by the congress and the American administration as means of pressure against the Egyptian Regime which is scared from decreasing its billions !!

Look to tell you the truth I do not think that we are going to die without it and I know that I am sure the people in D.C know very well where it goes and they shut up as long as their interests are kept safe in the region but... I do not know what to say !!??

Technorati Tags: Jimmy Carter,Cairo,Egypt,Mubarak,Sadat,history,Reagen,Politics,Internaitonal,national security,American aid,mideast,Middle East,America

What you know !!??

A new spy was caught in the United States , he was accused of spying and giving secrets of nuclear weapons, fighter jets and air defense missiles to Israel during the 1980s !!!

His name is Ben-Ami Kadish; as you see he is a Jew and he believed that he was helping Israel according to his confessions. The FBI reached to him I think through Jonathan Jay Pollard as it turned out both men were reporting to the same Mossad handler.

Connecticut-born U.S. citizen ; Kadish worked as a mechanical engineer at the U.S. Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey.

He started to spy from year 1979 to 1985 still his contact with the Mossad did not stop there , the last contact between was last March through the phone, it seems to me that when ever he knows a valuable information he shared with that handler who is very interesting personality "oh boy as if you are reading a novel for John LeCarre."

The Israeli Mossad Handler or like the American Media likes to call him the Israeli government handler is given the code of CC-1. CC-1 seems to me specialized in the scientific hardcore stuff. He worked for the Israeli government as consul for science affairs at the Israeli Consulate General in New York, from 1980 to November 1985 leaving it when Pollard was arrested . "Do we have such position in our Embassies ?? "

There is interesting part where Kadish gave documents and info to his Israeli handler concerning a modified version of an F-15 fighter jet that the United States had sold to another foreign country; they did not mention which foreign country in Public but I wonder what Country it was ??!!

Strangely Kadish did not get money for this , only few meals at restaurants , I think he did this for religious reasons to help the Hebrew State. Seriously what other reason this man would make him to do it if it were not for money or sex !!??

Read more about this interesting story here from Yahoo! News based upon Reuters report , it is full of very interesting details from the confessions of Kadish, also here another report from AP

I also did a little Internet research I found this from the NJ Jewish News from 2006 , a report about some Jewish Celebration held by Kadish and his wife Doris "The name and place can't be twice !!""

Update : Here is the photo of Mr.Kadish , did you know that he is currently 84 years old !!?? The photo I Found it at L.A Times Middle East Blog : Babylon & Beyond

 

Now I am just wondering is not American the number one friend to Israel ?? All that history and Israel is spying on the United States !!??

Technorati Tags: Israel,America,Spies,FBI,Spying,espionage,Security,News,Politics,Ben Ami Kadish,Jonathan Jay Pollard,Mossad,international

Zemanta

Zemanta is Firefox add on which adds to blogging platforms like blogger,wordpress and Typepad more options from adding articles from wikipedia and from all the internet ,photos from flickr , links based on words and even labels. It is a great add on , but there are short comes

1. It is for Firefox only.
2. It is for English language only.
3. It only works when you write specific number of characters. "300 Characters"
4. I hate that Zemified button

To tell you the truth I rarely use the HTML editor of blogger.com because I use instead Windows Live Writer all the time , even in my wordpress blogs , it was only recently I began to use the rich editor in wordpress because they developed it so much , not to mention the attractive GUI , still I love WLW because of the plugins features , you can add endless stuff in your post through it but fair is fair I think Zemanta is not that bad

By the way I am not only testing Zemanta in this post but I also testing the scheduled post feature in Draft blogger as it was fixed too.

I will try Zemanta in Wordpress and say if it is working or not especially that one of wordpress blogs is in Arabic

The UAR Trivia

This is very late post, please pardon me, I should have posted before, but I wanted to find a very special stamp I proudly own which was issued from 50 years ago for this occasion , already I saw it in that nice Syrian blog from 2 months ago and I know that I have it. I wanted to add it here and this is why it took all that time because I kept searching for it over and over till I found it, it is never too late to share it with you, this is number one reason of why I am posting this post now

Reason Number two I need these light nice info from the past, I do not know why may be it is nostalgia

By the way this comes in the memory of the independence of Syria

These are funny light information about the United Arab Republic:

• Among the members of the Syrian military group  that worked against the Union was Hafiz Al-Assad; he worked against the Union while being stationed in Egypt and he was detained by the Egyptian authority after the break up in 1961 . "Strangely Mustafa Talas in an interview with the Egyptian TV from couple of years ago said that both believed in the Union and Nasser and that were jailed because they were against the Separation!! Mustafa is big fat old liar".
• The names of Egypt and Syria official in the Union were as follows respectively: The Southern territory “Egypt” and the Northern territory “Syria”.
• Egypt changed its Green Crescent and Stars to the Syrian Flag, we entered the Red, White and Black phase, that first time there were two green stars represented the two territories. “Many Egyptians regretted till now as they believe the Green flag was a lucky one”
• The Governates were called not called Governates before the Union, they were directorate, and they became Governates “Provinces” to match the Syrian system.
• Also the “Kilo” measurement was used instead of the “ounce” measurement in food like vegetables and fruits “It pissed off some Egyptians”
• In 1960 before the Spilt the Arabic TV was opened and it included beautiful Syrian TV host called “Rasha Madina” who died last year “I swear all my life I thought she was an Egyptian because of her accent but then my grand ma corrected my info”
• President Shukri El-Quwatli was Arabic citizen No.1 and President Nasser was Arabic citizen No.2 “It reminds me somehow with General Naguib and Nasser!! “
• The current flag of Syria is still the flag of the Union.
• This was the special stamp issued for the occasion of the poll and unity between Egypt and Syria.

By the way here are a very nice wallpaper I found in the Syrian blog of "Alloush" ,

 Click here to download no.1 and Click here to download no.2.

Do not be surprise but there are still two more posts regarding the United Arab Republic I believe that I should share it with you.

Technorati Tags: History,UAR,United Arab Republic,Egypt,Syria,1958,Hafiz El-Assad,Gamal Abd El-Nasser,trivia,middle east,Mid East

On the Earth's day : A victory for Ras El-Bar

Ok today is the Earth's day , the 22nd of April , many blogs around the world is dedicating their posts today to speak about environmental issues and this is what I will do , I will speak about very good news , very promising to all the green world supporters.
The people of Damitta have won the battle against the ugly Agrium factory.
The factory stopped its operations and the news is saying that they will announce tomorrow the transfer of the factory to another place. Yes they will leave Damitta; Ras El-Bar is saved folks
The bad news they are going to transfer to another location on the coast of the Red Sea to pollute the area there and threaten nature and sea life there.
Anyhow I am happy for Damitta and its people. Already I think what happened there is historical , for the first time the people succeeded in doing something like this to stand against a company and against a terrible regime and succeed .
I am so happy because actually the people of Damitta they were the one who did it ,no body was behind them like the Regime media claimed as usual from MB and Kafya , no it was the people , the simple people from the beginning to the end !!
The simple people who hanged black cloth label in their balconies and their windows , who protested, who gathered signatures and petitions , who sent delegations to the Presidency with statements and who offered to buy the land of the factory with a price twice its original value.
The people of Damitta acted in a very civilized way , seriously a real civilized way .
This is a victory for Earth and it should be mentioned today in the Earth's day .
Updates : Unfortunately the factory is not closed yet , its operations were only stopped , the battle is still on

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Damitta,Earth's Day,22nd of April,world,Enviroment,Nile Delta,Pollution,Nature,Sea,Mediterranean,Citizen Journalism,International,Society,Follow Up,Agrium,Mideast,Middle East,Africa,Canda

Another stupid presidential decree

President Mubarak issued another stupid presidential decree in the weekend . Mubarak decided to divide Egypt more and more municipally , he divided the Governorates in to another new Governorates , new Governorates came to life like the 6 of October Governorate  and Helwan Governorate !! Some areas were taken from their old Governorates and included in other Governorates.
People are very angry especially the locals , you may have heard that the people at the Baharia Oasis were so angry and protested , about 5000 citizens in this very far away place because of the new arrangement that made them follow the Mania Governorate instead of Giza ,  of course the interior ministry had to deal with the protests by its way , they sent their infamous anti-riots forces there , thank God the army was not involved.
The Security forces went there to secure the iron mines , oh yes we got Iron mines and the security was afraid that they would be closed
The people protested because according to the Presidential Decree they have to go 600 KM south of their Oasis to Mania to finish their paper work !! This shows you how they plan in the regime. Thank Goodness a new presidential decree was taken yesterday to correct some mistakes in the old recent decree based on studies and according to it the Oasis now follows the 6 October Governorate. I think this fast correction came to avoid the people anger there especially with the existence of Iron mines.
Cairo and Giza now officially are without any desert except may be Pyramid Plateau. I do not think that 6 October deserves a stand alone Governorate. I am against this decision totally and I think I made that clear in the blog title
To understand this decision you must know very well it is faraway from developing and solving the problems of the Governorates and municipals , the corruption will increase thanks to it.
This decision I am afraid is taken to increase the security power in Egypt locally. By the way the interior ministry demands L.E 364 Millions to establish security headquarters in the new Governorates of 6 October and Helwan !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also I think the decision of having 6 of October as a new Governorate is made only for the business men tycoons interest , already the name of minister of housing and urban development / Businessman tycoon Ahmed El-Magrabhi is mentioned over and over in the opposition and independent newspapers in the last 48 to be behind this decision.
Again I am against this decision because it will not solve any problem , the problems of Egypt ladies and Gentle men will be solved only through democracy , democracy will assure justice and Justice solves any problem. From the organizational local point of view the experts of Urban planning said that it was so stupid too.
Of course this will happen in the life of this regime and thus I wish that who ever comes next this regime will cancel this stupid decree , you know there are so many presidential decrees that should be canceled.
I think this move was made because they wanted the people to be busy in something unfortunately as usually their plan came with an opposite result and people got another reason to hate the regime more and more

Technorati Tags: Egypt,National,locals,citizen Journalism,democracy,News,life,Society,Politics,Mubarak,Middle East,Mideast,Africa,Giza,Cairo,Helwan,6 October