Sunday, October 31, 2010

AUC Strike Follow Up : And The professors Joined The Students And the Workers too

The AUC workers strike has moved in to another level especially today the professors have joined the students and workers in their strike to get back the workers rights.
There is currently a meeting between the administration and a delegation of the workers who are hoping to get something by the end of the day.
Again follow Salma , Ahmed and Jihan in their twitter updated follow up from the new AUC campus.
Here are couple of photos from Salma at the time being.

An Interview Made In Heaven : Thomas Friedman Speaks To Rosa Al Youssef

Rosa Al Youssef Daily published an interview with Thomas Friedman and it was an interview made in heaven where Friedman praised Gamal Mubarak and that was enough for the newspaper to disregard all his neocon views about the war on terrorism , the occupation in Iraq ..etc.

I believe the coming presidential elections in Egypt will be more freely and if Gamal Mubarak runs for the elections and wins in free democratic elections , it will be great because Gamal Mubarak is progressive compared to the other presidents’ sons !!

It is interesting that he mentioned Gamal Mubarak in one answer only and yet that answer made the highlighted headlines of the interview. I do not know why I remember his 2008’s letter from Cairo now.

Friedman also slammed the the Islamists experience in Turkey despite it has proved its success so far , for him it has not proven its success yet . We all know that it will be a powerful successful experience if the AKP throws itself in to the arms of Israel.

Another Neocon answer that made stop to think when he was asked if he fears that the Arabs would use the oil boycott again against the States and this is why he calls for using alternative energy sources. Friedman answered with all confidence that if the Arabs use the oil boycott weapon again , they will be its first victims because the Arab regimes will use it against its own people !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why is that Mr. Friedman ?? Well from what I understand Friedman believes that if there is no oil export to the States or the West the Arab regime will be able to depend on the taxes to spend on both the people and the regimes as well and this will not bring progress !!  I did not get his answer , I think there was typo or translation mistake.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Pray For General Shazly

General Saad El-Din Shazly is currently ill and he needs all our prayers. President Mubarak sent an envoy to visit at his home yesterday. His Facebook group contacted his daughter whom said that he was not that ill and he is fine , still I think he needs our prayers.
You may agree or disagree with this man but you can’t deny that this man presented a lot to Egypt and we owe it to him , he was not really honored as he should.

This photo is from his Facebook group with the group’s admins in June 2010
By the way do you remember when we were all shocked after knowing that the picture of General Shazly is not there at the Panorama museum through Yousri Fouda’s column , well guess what according Fouda that op-ed about Shazly’s little recognition was going to be banned !! Freedom of expression in its finest forms !!?? Why on earth a column about one of 6th of October heroes and makers could be banned in a private newspaper !!??
Some thought that we would forget this great noble man if the media whether official or unofficial ignores him , well they are wrong and we know him and we love him. You can’t change history especially when you speak about a history maker like Shazly.

AUC Workers Follow Up : And The Strike Goes On

The AUC workers strike is till since last Wednesday and the fantastic students joined the workers their strike on Thursday and today Saturday , seriously hats off the AUC students for their stand with the workers. The students and workers made banners and signs today and the students have planned for what is going tomorrow.

The fantastic Jihan , Salama and Ahmed Naguib are covering the strike live on twitter.

The demands of the workers that were presented to the administration and they are :

1. Receive a gross minimum monthly wage of LE1,200 ( less than LE1000 net) with equal pay for all workers who hold the same position.
2. Have Saturday as an official holiday for the AUC workers as it is for all those employed in the maintenance, service departments and the administration. If one is to work on Saturday they shall receive overtime pay for their work.
3. Receive LE200 as meal compensation (or an adequate meal) in addition to the salary.
4. Receive annual salary raise of no less than 10% on the original wage of each worker. This percentage is subject to be increased by the administration.
5. Receive Social Insurance coverage that includes all the years of service to the AUC.

Here are video clips from the AUC campus from last Thursday till today you can watch below.

Ruby Is Not Really A Mubarak

Believe it or not some do believe that Ruby or Karima Keyek has some connection with Mubarak and that there is something fishy about going on !!
My dear ones Berlusconi is a big short liar , Karima Keyek aka Ruby has nothing to do with Egypt whether officially or not officially, the Egyptian embassy in Rome did not lie when it issued a statement after all !! Karima Keyek is not a Mubarak from near or far !! She is a pathetic girl who escaped from her poor family in Morocco to live in Italy as a belly dancer who became a showgirl and the rest the whole world knows.
For the conspiracy theorists , here is an interview from the Republica newspaper with Karima Keyek aka Ruby who is currently in London. “in Italian”. Here is also another report about her life and Daily Mail as a respectable tabloid has published a report about her Ruby. The Daily Telegraph which is really respectable than the Daily mail published report about her sorrow for what she caused to Berlusconi !!?? What about the embarrassment you caused to the president of Egypt Young lady !!?
Ruby’s non pixelated photos from the Facebook have hit the internet since yesterday. There is nothing in the Egyptian media yet as far as I could tell.
Cairo needs a huge explanation or to be accurate an apology from Rome !! This has become the joke of the week in Egypt online for God sake !! There is a #RubyMubarak hash-tag on twitter for God sake !!
The big question now : With all his sex scandals , why is Berlusconi still in his place !!?? American and British politicians lose their political history and career with one single extramarital affair !??

Ibrahim Eissa Speaks To The Dostor Journalists


Here is a video clipping from Ibrahim Eissa’s meeting with the Dostor Journalists yesterday.
Ibrahim Eissa to Dostor Journalists : We Will be back
Ibrahim and his son Yahia 
Ibrahim came along with his son Yahia who looks like his old man Smile.

Original Dostor is coming back online next Sunday at 2 PM Cairo local time.
By the way Mustafa Bakery is presenting a TV show on Al Hayat TV network owned by Sayed El-Badawy now.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Ruby Is Not A Mubarak

Ruby
I should have read the full news at the Guardian but honestly I got bored from following Silvio Berlusconi’s sex scandals ,I though that there was nothing new except may be that his mistress this time is a Moroccan underage girl but I was totally wrong because the newest Berlusconi’s sex scandal can create a drift if not a diplomatic crisis between Cairo and Rome.
Ruby or Karima , that underage mistress of Berlusconi was arrested in Milan and the office of Berlusconi interfered as you know to get the girl out of jail by claiming that she were the granddaughter of President Hosni Mubarakin other versions the niece of Mubarak”
Friends
Using his friend's name 

The Original Dostor Will Be Back Folks

Good news in fact great news , the best news of the day to be accurate : Ibrahim Eissa has met with the original Dostor journalists who are currently on strike at the syndication of journalists in Cairo and has told them that he will return back soon to take them to the new H.Q of their new newspaper.

Another thing starting from next Monday Insh Allah the Original Dostor website will become an independent news website , already as a reminder Ibrahim Eissa owns the Domain Smile 

The Dostor website has been chosen by Forbes magazine as the second most visited news website in Egypt after Youm 7 and the 17th most visited news website in the Arab world. Hopefully insh Allah after the big return of website it will be no.1.

What happened to Dostor newspaper and the reaction of its journalists is a turning point not only in the Egyptian press but the Arab press.

Mohamed Alaa Mubarak Foundation

Mohamed Alaa Mubarak foundation announces its big contest for Quran recitation
A scan 
Without any introductions we found this strange ad in Al Ahram weekly issue first page today.
Mohamed Alaa Mubarak Foundation announces its Quran recitation contest under the supervision of the Al Awkaf ministry.
Did not the presidency express its refusal for the use of late Mohamed Mubarak JR name !!??
By the way this ad is very expensive , considering the facts that it is in the Al Ahram’s first page , colored and on Friday aka the weekly issue which most people buy because of its ads and classifieds.

Our Wheat Saga Follow Up : Wait For Self Sufficiency in 2017

Do you remember from couple of months ago when the minister of agriculture Amin Abaza and Mr. Gamal Mubarak of NDP told us over and over that it was impossible and it was uneconomical to seek wheat sufficiency like other countries in the world !!??

Do you remember that !!?? Because if you do , then you must know that this week on Tuesday Amin Abaza promised President Mubarak that Egypt will reach to 70% wheat self sufficiency in 2017 , yes 2017 and it is documented officially in the media and the presidential records !! Of course Abaza said before that we could reach 70% self sufficiency after lots and lots of criticism.

This is the third minister of agriculture that promises Mubarak we will try to achieve self sufficiency , of course we should not forget that we had only 3 ministers of agriculture in the 29 years of Mubarak’s rule !!??

I wonder if President Mubarak asked the minister of agriculture and the chairman of the agricultural research center about the fate of project No.30061800 , already Dr. Sakina Fouad from last month revealed that the intelligence was interested in knowing what exactly happened and it was enough to know that Dr. Zeinab El-Deeb came back from Paris to testify in front of the general attorney.

By the way I fear that our wheat cause has lost a very important forum with the loss of the Dostor newspaper , Sakina Fouad  used to write there and before kicking Ibrahim Eissa of the paper he founded she used to write about the wheat issue keeping us updated with her campaign. Nevertheless I will continue her work in my blog here. Hopefully insh Allah we will restore Dostor back , Fouad will continue her campaign to restore our wheat back.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Meet Marwa El-Sherbani's Brother

Meet Marwa El-Sherbani’s brother : Magdy Kamal Kalada , a 19 years half Egyptian-half Iraqi boy who has been killed by two skinheads in the city of  Leipzig yesterday.
Late Magdy
According to Egyptians who spoke to Youm 7 , the 19 years old boy was returning to his home with two of his friends when he was attacked by two Neo-Nazi skinheads who stabbed him 9 times in his stomach.Magdy was transferred to the hospital but it was late. The German police arrested those Neo-Nazis and the funeral of Kalada will be held next Monday.
It seems that those two bastards were angered by Magdy’s eastern look. I remember that the Marwa was killed by a Russian skinhead too. That growing mix of xenophobia and Islamophobia is giving Neo-Nazis a life team opportunity to return back to Europe as far as I could tell. 
Why would a 19 years old kid get killed in this horrible way ?
Marwa then Magdy, who will be next !!??
May Allah bless the soul of Magdy and bring patience and solace to this parents and beloved ones.

Julian Assange On Al Jazeera

It was not a surprise or a scoop to found the Wikileaks’ Julian Assange speaking on Al Jazeera Arabic after the publishing of Iraq logs , it was logic especially that the website chose Al Jazeera from all channels in the world to launch the logs to the Arab world.

Julian Assange was interviewed by Ahmed Mansour last night on Al Jazeera news channel for nearly an hour on air from London. Assange was invited to come to Doha for the interview from three weeks ago but he declined and preferred London for security reasons. Assange is aware for the extradition agreements and knows very well how Doha hosts the largest American military base in the region. Ahmed Mansour has good intentions but Assange I believe knows well how the Qatari regime can sell him in one second to the Americans. The man does not deny that he is living a security nightmare.

You can watch the interview below in Arabic after the break

Strike At The AUC New Campus

As it has become the habit across the country , there is a new strike somewhere and this time time , it is at the AUC new Campus.
The angry employees this time are the workers at the AUC new campus and they are angry after the failure of their negotiation with university’s administration for weeks on the promised salaries increase , as a result the workers started their strike today.
According to what I understand the matter went from bad to worse when the AUC reduced their salary from LE 650 to LE 450 , the excuse was that the administration dedicated a pension ,a meal and also a transportation means. Honestly what LE 450 or 650 salary can do in Egypt for God sake !!??
Anyhow here are photos from the strike held on Wednesday thanks to the wonderful Gigi Ibrahim who covered for the past 48 hours two strikes and really needs to take a rest.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Fury At The Faculty Of Engineering At Shubra

The students of the faculty of engineering at Shubra , Banha university are furious and angry because of the ministry to close the faculty and sell its land; yes the ministry of higher education has decided to close the faculty of engineering at Shubra and transfer and merge the faculty in to the Benha university technology institute.

The students refuse this decision , hundreds of students have been protesting this decision already. The students refuse this decision because according to them they chose this faculty not the technology institute , already institute graduates are looked down in Egypt unlike university graduates. This is of course beside the location and transportation problems as the institute is in Banha outside Cairo.

You can find photos here from Youm 7.There is also video clip in Youtube showing the protest that was held yesterday which you can watch  after the break

You Sold Yourself To The Devil , DO not Blame Anyone Except Yourself

Because some did not believe the claims that the Egyptian regime is behind the Salafi channels and the Salafi trend in the country , the suspension of the Salafi channels revealed very interesting facts.
Sheikh Safwat Hegazi revealed in a press conference at the syndication of journalists in Cairo that the regime asked from the Salafi trend to attack the Shiite from 5 years ago !! The man is even amazed why now the regime wants them to stop their attack on the Shiite accusing at the same time the regime of trying to get close to Iran to tease the States as the later wants to monitor the elections.
Back in time from 5 years or to be accurate 4 years ago Hezbollah won over Israel in the Lebanon 2006 July war and it had this tremendous support in the Egyptian streets. I remember how the posters of Hassan Nasrallah were everywhere and people gathered to listen his speeches.
The jewel of Hegazi’s statement is not his revelation that the regime ordered the Salafi channels to attack the Shiites day and night , the jewel is in his ultimatum to the regime :
With one phone call you can tell us what to say and what not to say , we are now in your lap , do not force us to go to other lap !!
I do not know under what this statement could be classified, may be political lap dancing category perhaps !!
The government has put 4 conditions for the religious Salafi channels to return back on air :
  1. Do not speak in politics , do not tackle Christian or Shiite related issues.
  2. The religious shows should represent only 20% of the shows “do not ask me and they are supposedly religious channels”.
  3. Beard men are not allowed to present TV shows .
  4. The TV hosts should have an experience in media or have a certificate to work in the media “ first time to know that there is a certificate you must have when it comes to TV hosting in Egypt !!”
Impossible conditions if I may say still some religious channels have returned back on air , already I do not know if they abided by the new rules or not.
The Salafi channels or trend made a deal with the devil and it had to know that this is what was going when you make a deal with the devil.
Still Believe it or not , I think the decision of suspending these channels is unfair despite what I think of these channels , if you believe in freedom of expression , then you must respect the others’ opinions. Of course the Salafi trend does not respect others’ opinions but this is their issue.

Reader’s Guide To Israeli Newspapers’ Political Line

Noam Sheizaf at +972 magazine has made a wonderful comprehensive reader’s guide to the famous Israeli newspapers  , it is a must read for anyone interested in the Middle Eastern media.

I knew some general information about the political lines of Haartez , Yedioth and Maariv but Sheizaf’s info are more than great to understand what the Israelis read and shape / reflect their public opinion.

Via Mohamed our traveller within Smile 

By the way I am thinking of doing the same thing for the main Egyptian newspapers.

How Can You Plot For A Revolution In Egypt If You Are Not There

Mohamed ElBaradei has got an interview in the daily beast , his interviewer Reza Aslan chose a very interesting headline for that interview “ Plotting a revolution in Egypt !!”

Very catchy headline for sure but how can you plot for a real revolution in Egypt if you are not there !!??

I would like to clarify something here I support Dr. ElBaradei  since day one and I will continue to support him, I proudly signed the petition and made my family signed too but I began to be frustrated because of Dr. ElBaradei’s absence from Egypt where he is supposed to be plotting for a revolution against +50 years regime and system.

Dr. ElBaradei has become the most famous opposition leader in Egypt according to what I read in several international media websites and yet I feel lately that his fight against that decaying dying rotten regime in Egypt does not seem to be among his busy schedule’s priorities. 

Most of the Egyptian people whom he is aware of their misery more than the current regime , do not have twitter accounts to follow him not to mention only few of them read newspapers to know his whereabouts.

Last month we knew that Dr. ElBaradei was going to settle down in Egypt for good this month and here we are at the end of month ; ElBaradei is in Canada in some conference and then will head to Asia for a Nobel prize winners meet up. We know now that Dr. ElBaradei will not be here in Cairo during the Parliamentary elections. Of course he thinks that it is a charade and may be this is why he will not be in Cairo during that silly charade still he has to be in Egypt.

I understand that Dr. ElBaradei wants to change the pharaoh or the savior concept in Egypt but he has to know that all over the world there are those pushers who push and lead the people towards revolution and change, these people through history dedicated their time to the people just like MLK and Gandhi.

Again I support Dr. ElBaradei and believe in his cause , this is why I wish he will return to Egypt today not tomorrow to start roaming Egypt , the real Egypt like Snorus in Fayoum where the NDP does not dare to go to remind the people with their rights.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

This is Called Plagiarism Dear al Ahram

I believe that Al Ahram newspaper whether offline or online must have a clear policy when it comes to plagiarism , especially online plagiarism. It is sad and pathetic when the biggest newspaper in Egypt and the Arab world uses photos without the permission of its owners not to mention photos owned by other newspapers.
This is not an expression art we are going to debate about , this is about crystal clear plagiarism in the online edition of the newspaper.
Yesterday we found out Al Shabab portal following Al Ahram used a photo taken by Egyptian socialist activist Mashad and used it without permission in a report about the university guards debate. You can see below a screen cap from Al Shabab.

Keep An Eye on Mona El-Shazly

The gypsy madam/ Sheikh AbKamal aka Abdullah Kamal is speaking in his daily column in Rosa Daily as if the turn will be on Mona El-Shazly after Ibrahim Eissa.
Mona El-Shazly , the popular TV hostess of 10 PM TV show is not loved by the regime media because they consider her biased as she hosts opposition icons and figures like Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei and the guide of MB in their HQ in a very rare incident in Egyptian TV history.
Mona El-Shazly 
When the media crack down started El-Shazly gave hints on air that she could be next and now Madam Ruby is telling that El-Shazly is having a lot of trouble with Dream TV owner because of expense , the same thing he said about Ibrahim Eissa before 24 hours of the Dostor saga.
If El-Shazly is forced to leave her on air show then you must know we are not imagining things when we say that we are living the autumn of fury Mubarak’s edition.

The Egyptian Refusenik

Maikel Nabil Sand is an Egyptian activist young man from Upper Egypt , he identifies himself as liberal, secular ,capitalistic,pro-west,pro-Israel, atheist.. anti-mandatory military service in Egypt.Maikel refuses to serve the Egyptian army , his time has come and he had to apply on last 22nd of October but he did not show up and he is ready for the consequences ‘including a trial and jail sentence’
Of course he will not go down without a fight as he launched an international crusade sending emails to international human rights organizations , already he is a political activist so it is not difficult for him to start this crusade. His emails and faxes seemed to catch the attention of the Israeli media and last Sunday we found him speaking in Yediot Ahronot. Of course because this is unusual finding in Egypt , it is translated in English in the Ynet News website. Now his crusade has turned in to a new level , another new level for sure. The Israeli commenters of course are proud and happy that they found someone like Maikel and they even fear on his life from the wrath of the awful Egyptian army especially he is from the Christian minority .. blah blah blah.

And The Madness Goes On : Fire Shooting in Ramses Street

There was another mass shooting incident today in down town Cairo in Ramses Street. 8 civilians were injured , one is currently in a critical condition.

We got two stories about what happened it all started at automobile spare parts shop when the owner of that shop had a fight with a customer that wanted to return back some spare part he had bought , the fight ended that the shop owner pulled his gun and opened his fire injuring 8 persons ,one of them is currently in a critical condition. Another story says that this fight was about a parking space !!  A guy wanted to park in front of the shop and the owner was against it , they started a fight ended with thugs and gun shots.

I don not know what the investigation will reveal but I am not convinced by both stories. You can watch a video report from Al Masry Al Youm about the incident  after the break “Graphic discretion”

Monday, October 25, 2010

National TV Refuses To Air Wafd Party Elections Campaign Ads

The Egyptian national TV , the state owned TV which represents the people and originally funded by their taxes has refused to air the Wafd party elections campaign ads !!
The Wafd party has launched a LE 14 million advertising campaign for the parliamentary elections. The party is working on Egyptian TV and Radio channels besides newspaper ads in a campaign “ Our country, the time has come”.
Only the Egyptian national TV and El Mehwar Channel have refused to air the ads of the party , of El Mehwar channel is owned by a proud NDPian who covers the NDPC every year so it is logic that it would refuse the Wafd campaign but it is not logic that the National TV refuses to air it !!??
If this is the parliamentary election , what we are going to do in the Presidential elections !!??
I know many people are angry from the Wafd party because of Dostor and will be happy for this but I urge them to think twice and look to the bigger picture. As much as I am angry and disgusted from the due of El-Badawy and Edward and what they had done in Dostor newspaper yet I feel sorry for Wafd party because I know that the regime wanted to hit it along with Dostor.
Update : 
Osama El-Sheikh, the chairman of the ERTU denied the news that the Egyptian national TV refused to air the ads , insisting that the TV is obliged to air all paid ads and that the Egyptian National TV will air the ads after receiving the approval of the high committee of elections.

Tarek El-Bishry Speaks about The Church And Citizenship

I wondered where Tarek El-Bishry was from all that sectarian tension that happened from weeks ago , a thinker who has a huge contribution like him about citizenship and interfaith dialogue should have an opinion about that circus. In three parts Op-ed Al Shorouk daily published on three days Tarek El-Bishry shares with us what he thinks about that sectarian tension which ghost is still roaming around. El-Bishy is speaking about the state inside the state represented in the Church and its stand against the state and the citizenship in its own way. Unfortunately both parts are in Arabic and they are long too.
Of course what he thinks will not like the radical Christians at all and already they have began to attack him , it is something expected. Citizenship means equal treatment in front of the law regardless of religion, race, color and gender , citizenship means the last word is for the state.

Robert Fisk Writes About Wikileaks’ Iraq Logs

Robert Fisk has to write about Wikileak’s Iraq logs , who else will !!?

The Shaming of America must be read till the end because it is not about the shame America tried to hide but it is about many things our dear old Fisk remembers and discusses including the challenge and the future of the investigative journalism with the existence of Wikileaks and Assange. 

Speaking of Simon Hersh I wonder if we will be able to find one day the tapes showing children being sodomized in Abu Gharib which he spoke about leaked like these documents .

Like Fisk in the beginning , we knew this all the time because our people in Iraq lived and saw but it is the turn of the world to see and act as well.

Unfortunately we are not paying attention as a nation , as in Egypt , as we should to the Iraq Logs , only our regime is happy that Iran and its allies are mentioned , you know it is like Adel Emam’s scene in his play “An eye witness that saw nothing” { Is my name there!!??}  Egypt’s name is not there but Iran and its allies are there and this pleases the Gulf states and Egypt or to be correct the Egyptian regime. The Wikileaks released the Iraq War logs in Weekend and so I wonder if the League of Arab states will comment and act , in fact I hope that the Arab human rights organizations start to work on these logs just like the British and American human rights organizations.

I want to read these logs without distraction , the thing which I can’t do with all that jazz happening in my own country.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Follow Up : Khaled Said Trial

Yesterday was the 3rd session of Khaled Said murder trial in Alexandria where the court began to listen from witnesses from both sides. There is no surprises in what the witnesses said in front of the court as they said the same in front of the attorney general.
The court adjourned the trial to the next 27th of November 2010.
Outside the court there was a lot of action as usual but from one side only this time : The pro-plain clothed agents supporters or to correct the pro-MOI supporters from the families of the agents and the thugs hired by MP wannabes !! They founded something comic called the public front for the truth where in reality it is the public front for lies. Of course
Sarah Carr took a couple of photos for their show yesterday. You can see them after the break along videos from that long day in Alex.

The Ghetto Mentality Both Ways

Reuters published this very interesting report about the rise of the religious conservatism in Egypt by Yasmine Salah. I agree 100% with the first part that "Moderates are unable to enjoy their lives... We're under pressure to join one of the two extremes."

I do not agree fully with the rest of the report , first of all I do not know why the media is overlooking the other exclusive club or uptown ghetto in town with all its radicalism , yes radicalism in showing off, radicalism in imitation and radicalism in disrespecting all our traditions and values.  Already what is mentioned or regarded as extremism in this report is not considered extremism , it is not about head scarf or beaches or restaurants or showing your facing , it is about dangerous fatwas and notorious parties.

Second of all this extremism with all its kinds is not only the result of economic factors or the return of Egyptian expats from the Gulf with alien new values and traditions as much it is more than that , it is about a society that lost its identity in the midst of globalization and can’t restore it easily. People are searching to grab in something and as we have this religious nature , people now go to the extreme. 

Both ghettos are going radical because simply for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is just like the extreme poverty and the extreme wealth , it is a phase I believe we are passing through as a normal result of Egypt’s weakness.

Hopefully sooner the moderates will win over achieving the social equilibrium once again.

Ibrahim Eissa’s Speech At The Egyptian Syndication of Journalists

There was a celebration for the real Dostor newspaper and its journalists last week that was held at the Egyptian syndication of journalists in Cairo. Who attended that celebration ?? Well the real Dostor newspaper journalists , their fans from the public and public figures like actor Farouk El-Fishawy , novelist Bahaa Taher, poet Ahmed Fouad Nagm and old Dostor columnist Balal Fadel.
For the first time since being from the newspaper he founded along with Essam Fahmi , Ibrahim Eissa made a public appearance , a strong one too. He gave a speech not to the audience but to the world , he addressed the whole world revealing new information about Dostor newspaper and why he was sacked from it.
You can watch the speech below after the break

Where Is The Big Scoop Here ??

The Israeli TV has said today that in some fake exclusive sense that Mubarak sooner will choose Omar Soliman as his vice president for a year where he can prepare Gamal Mubarak for presidency and as the Egypt Sat 1 news became the joke of the day , this news has become the news of the day as if the Israeli TV is predicting something we did not expect.

That scenario is so old and there is nothing new about it , we are aware of this scenario and it is expected it so I do not know where is the scoop or the exclusivity here !!?? 

We know that as soon the the NDPC circus comes sooner , we will hear similar scenarios for this.

The time of considering the Israeli media as a reliable media source is over I am afraid and we have to be very careful.

FYI Omar Soliman according to Robert Fisk suffers from heart problems plus Mubarak is not stupid to appoint a popular military man with experience and acceptance from all the world “seriously all the world seems to fall in love with him” unlike his unpopular son in that position for one month in this tough time for God sake.

This is not the breaking news of the day I am afraid my dear follow Egyptians.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Lost in Space : Egypt-Sat 1

Egypt-Sat 1 , our first manufactured satellite is lost in space  according to what is written in Al Masry Al Youm !! The National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences has lost the control over the satellite since last July 2010. Our friends in Ukraine are helping us to restore it despite this time the satellite seemed to be really lost in space for good !!
The GIS is reportedly investigating the matter because this is the fourth times it happens.
Ironically we were working on manufacturing Egypt-Sat 2 but it had to halted after the constant problem facing the Egypt-Sat 1 Egyptian team. According to Al Masry Al Youm report many Egyptian engineers had to resign from the Egypt-Sat 1 program due to the technical and administrative program.“ you may include financial problems too !!”
The loss of the satellite is the joke of the day in Egypt , many are relating this incident to the series of the unfortunate events we are facing in Egypt due to neglect like the theft of the Van Gogh painting while others are wondering how we can have nuclear stations when we can’t control a satellite on our own. I think the last group is insulting our intelligence as Egyptians , the governmental neglect does not mean we are dump.
I think we need more satellite experts to speak about this matter.

The Administrative Court To The MOI : Get Your Officers Out of The Campus Now

The supreme administrative court has ordered today government to get their police and security units out of university campuses immediately Smile 

The  supreme administrative court has rejected the appeal of the government after its historical court rule that the security forces have no place at the universities campus according to the constitution.

The question now : Will the government or rather the MOI respect the court rules or will it ignore as they always do !!??

The regime media is insisting on the importance of having security forces in campus as these forces will kick the ass of the MB students and protect the other students from evil plans to control the campus.

What About Your Food !!?

The Salafis in Egypt have launched online campaign not only to restore its temporarily suspended channels on the Nile Sat but a campaign to have their own satellite. The Salafis are having enough of the secular greedy owners of satellites like Nile Sat that fight Islam and are calling people to launch a donation campaign to have their own so-called Islamic satellite !!!

They are calling for a billion pound campaign and believe me people will pay if this campaign goes from just a suggestion online ot the real world.

I do not have a problem with donation to that satellite , I have problem with the facts that our food prices are soaring and the people only protest for the closure of these channels .I think it is luxury to protest the closure of these channels , I think it is craziness to demand  the people to donate for a satellite when they can’t afford buying tomatoes and sooner beans !!

By the way Al-Hekmah channel is back on Nile Sat and I love the fact that the Salafi sheikhs are wondering in dismay why the state is treating them in this way when the state security approves everything from A to Z in their channels !!

Also analysts say that this crack down on the Salafi channels in particular is to limit the support to the Muslim brotherhood in the coming elections , well I think this decision will create an opposite effect because now I believe the Salafi supporters will give their vote to the MB because of that decision.

There are some rumors that the radical Christian channels will follow their radical Muslim channels , I do not know if these were rumors were to control the Salafi anger or not but I believe these channels should be closed too.

The Iraq War Logs : Wikileaks Latest And Biggest Leaks

From few hours ago Wikileaks presented to the world through famous international media outlets including Al Jazeera channel the Iraq war log. Wikileaks is currently down and this is no surprise.

I am reading it at the guardian currently and I recommend that you do the same.

You can also read the war logs at the bureau of investigative journalism’s the Iraq war logs.

Friday, October 22, 2010

A Journalist Gets 15 years in Jail in Publishing case Just like Hisham Talaat Mustafa in A Murder Case !!

Did not president Mubarak promise that no journalist will go to jail because of what he writes !!?? Well I believe he did so and his regime media loves to remind us so I wonder why then a young journalist like Allam Abdel Ghafar gets 15 years in jail !!??
Allam
23 years Allam Abdel Ghafar is a young journalist who is currently working in Youm 7 and as far as I could tell from a quick search in the website he was an active journalist too. Now Allam is facing 15 years in jail because of a report he had written about a corruption case at VACSERA which I guess was in last May . Last May we found MP Hayder Baghdady and Youm 7 saying that VACSERA imported expired polio vaccine according to documents that turned to be fake. Already Allam or rather Youm 7 received a copy from these fake documents from some former employee that want to defame the company. Again Abdel Ghafar was not the only one who spoke about the matter in the media , Baghdady brought the matter up in the parliament and on TV , of course he later apologized publicly to the ministry of health and the minister when the documents turned to be fake and he was accused of forgery by the ministry of health. Now Allam Abdel Ghafar is being slaughtered where Baghdady is gearing for the next elections !!
Again I am not sure which case we are speaking here , VACSERA always has got something in the media.
I do not care if Abdel Ghafar is a member in the syndicate of journalists or not , I care that I could be in his place , in the same position facing the same thing just because I am doing my job. It is insane that a journalist gets 15 years in jail just like Hisham Talaat in a murder case !!
By th way it is disgusting how Youm 7 did not publish a single small news about this unjust sentence
P.S I do not like this comparison between the support the Dostor journalists and Ibrahim Eissa receive and Allam Abdel Ghafar in his facebook support group, already Youm 7 did not care to post a small news about him, I do not mean anything but Mohamed Ismail who wrote this attack on Eissa should think about his colleagues in Dostor because they are just like Allam.
Because I support Ibrahim Eissa and Dostor Journalists, I support Allam so stop these stupid comparisons. 

Update : 
Youm 7 at last has addressed the matter through a statement from Labib Mawad , the famous lawyer on behalf of Youm 7 and Abdel Ghafar. 
First of all Allam was sentenced in absentia , he was not informed with the lawsuit nor did Youm 7 , the thing which makes it very dangerous. Officially Allam Abdel Ghafar is accused of forgery despite officially he did not forge these documents , he received these documents just like Baghdady.
Mawad is waiting for the merits in order to appeal , already he should work on changing the case from forgery to publishing case. 


Mubarak To Run for Office in 2011

Ali El-Din Halal told Reuters affirmatively that Mohamed Hosni Mubarak is going to be the presidential candidate of the NDP in the coming 2011 presidential elections. It is not a big surprise or a breaking news , it was expected especially with the recent absence of Gamal Mubarak and how his support campaigns turned to be the joke of the town.
It was expected and more logic because Gamal Mubarak has not yet won neither the approval of the army nor the approval of the public to go ahead and claim his inheritance. It is the army that matter to Mubarak JR and it seems that the army does not welcome yet the idea of having a civilian as a president or may be of having Gamal Mubarak as a civilian president , after this army is made of Egyptians who have got brains , eyes and ears to see to where we have reached after 29 years of Mubarak rule.
Of course the NDPians are speaking with all confidence that Mubarak is going to win the elections !! Of course he will , who else will win it as long as we have these decayed laws and constitutional articles !!?
The best reaction I have read following this news was the reaction of Magdy El-Kurday "Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egypt's poor should run for the elections away from the NDP , the next elections can witness a democratic match between the president and his son !!"

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Free Patriots Strike Again !!??

Do You remember the Free patriots and their statement no.1 ?? Well guess what they have issued statement no.2 as they promised.
Here is the statement no.2 of the Free patriots which are calling Egyptians to civil disobedience in order to topple Mubarak’s regime. Some Egyptian journalists received a copy from that statement whose title is “The Road to civil disobedience”like Ahmed Rageb who was kind to share it with us.
Now unlike the first statement ,  this statement does not have this Nasserite characteristic  but we find an Islamic characteristic in the first paragraph and my key is the first sentence in the statement The patriotic work has become a duty , they used the Islamic term  “ Fard Al Ain” to describe that duty ; this can’t be coincidence. It is not the Muslim brotherhood before you go too far , they are not underground nor they call for civil disobedience.
The direct reference to Magdy Hussein and Al Amal party can’t be ignored in the second paragraph : “The frozen Al Amal party ” and “its general secretary Magdy Hussein” and how the party called for civil disobedience before anyone else in Egypt "I did not know that", so I wonder if the free patriots are related to the party somehow. Ahmed Rageb believes that those who are behind the statement are the youth of Al Amal party. If they are the youth of Al Amal party , then they have to update their methods , sending anonymous statements like that is interpreted as a joke
The last paragraph was speaking about the arm forces and I noticed that they mentioned military leaders even Ibrahim Pasha , in fact they mentioned Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser and totally ignored President Sadat. If they were Nasserites , they would not mention Naguib and Ibrahim Pasha , if they were MBs they would not mentioned Nasser. It seems that the Free patriots do not like Sadat for some reason may be because of the Camp David which is opposed by many political powers in Egypt. In fact this paragraph is interesting because they totally neglected the 6th of October war as an achievement of the army and stopped at Gamal Abdel Nasser and the free officers, may be because they consider the free officers as rebels , well who knows !!?
Who are the free patriots for real ?? Why do not they show themselves in order to spread their ideas and gain more popularity ?? You are no longer working in secrecy when you send statements online plus you how you can gain popularity if you send these statements online to newspapers that do not publish them !!
Who ever is behind this needs to understand that things are not done by send anonymous statements , people will not obey two or three or five statements for God sake !!
Update 
I have found the "Free Patriots" Statement no.1 , you can read below in Arabic if you are interested


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

More Channels To Be Suspended , To Be Warned On The Nile Sat

Yesterday the Nile Sat co. has shut down temporarily another 12 channels on the satellite till they fix their policies and abide to the regulations of the contract between them and the company. The company has also warned other 20 channels with the same thing. This decision comes after one week over the temporarily suspension of another 4 religious channels.
The 12 channels have been accused of spreading sectarian tensions , myths and debauchery.  Of course the religious channels have been accused of spreading sectarian tensions and myths not to mention promoting unapproved fake media treatments while the chitchat channels have been accused of debauchery. Here is a full table with the channels , their owner company and their charges based upon the official statement of the Nile Sat co. that people did not stop and read fully as they should.

Parliamentary Elections To Be Held Next 28th of November

President Hosni Mubarak has issued presidential decree no.295 for year 2010 :

  The parliamentary elections will be held on the next November 28 ,2010.

  The re-elections will be held on the next 5th of December ,2010.

    The parliament will hold its first session on the 13th of December ,2010 

By the way  thanks to the wonderful Zeinab Samir we found out that there is a database search in the official website of the Egyptian Parliament where you can get the records of every member of parliament.

Also we found out that only the registered civil society organizations are allowed to monitor the elections ,of course these organizations are granted that permission from the state itself !!

Anyhow there is a a website called “U Shahid” that calls citizens themselves to monitor the elections themselves where they can send their experiences to the website through Email or twitter or SMS or through website form.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Egyptians in Diaspora To Vote in Presidential elections 2011 !!??

It turns out that President Mubarak gave his directives as usual and the Egyptians in diaspora now will be able to vote in the presidential elections starting from 2011. This surprising announcement was revealed by the minister of manpower Aisha Abdel Hadi during her meeting with the Egyptian community representatives in Milan.  I do not know if we should believe her or not , she did not give a precise details on how Egyptians in diaspora could participate in the elections. I think our people abroad should go immediately to our embassies and consulates across the globe and ask for an immediate Voting ID.

Again I do not know if Abdel Hadi was bluffing or not but let’s credit ElBaradei for this because he was the first one in public to speak about the rights of the Egyptians in diaspora to vote. This was number 5 demand from the the 7 demands ElBaradei and his supporters are demanding the regime with.

It seems that after all the regime does not want rallies and protests of Egyptians around the globe during the time of elections. We can’t deny that the Egyptians in certain countries like UK, France and US not to mention in the Gulf began to speak and demand a real change back at the homeland.

Again I hope that Aisha is not bluffing as she always does , anyhow we are here and we will record her statement in Milan.

It Is An Honor Crime

A 22 years old young man working in Barclays Bank Egypt has been killed from couple of days by a police officer , he was shot down by that officer’s official state gun. The young man’s name is Ahmed Mohsen and the official story goes as follows :
    Ahmed knew the officer’s sister , he was visiting her at her family’s house at Zaitoun area to say goodbye  as she was going to work in UAE as a teacher. They were alone in the house. At the same time her brother came and  felt that was a movement upstairs , the girl told her brother that there was a thief and so officer chased Ahmed and shot him down thinking that he were that thief.
That crime took place after 24 hours of another similar crime in the Zaitoun area in Cairo. The media coverage for the incident is a bit biased and confusing at the same time , for instance here is the news from Al Masry Al Youm speaks in the first paragraph about an employee got killed then the rest of the news he is mentioned as a the thief !!??
Late Mohsen
The official story does not make sense and my only explanation that it was an honor crime , already there are new details that this girl was Ahmed’s girlfriend whom he promised to marry the next time she comes back from UAE in a vacation. She was alone with him and I think her brother acted in oriental way but it seems that theMOI for some reason wants to protect its officer’s honor in a silly way !!
It was an honor crime or at least the girl was afraid to say the truth that this is her boyfriend who wanted to marry her.
It is not a human rights crime , it is an honor crime but for some reason the MOI thinks it is better not to say the truth and is saving again one of its officer in return of losing more creditability in the street. Most of the comments following the story are anti-police if I am say condemning the murder of Mohsen.
It will turn in to a human rights crime if that officer does not get his punishment , already he was not given his gun to protect his honor and to kill a person.
Mohsen’s friends launched a group for him on the Facebook. He has not been yet buried by the way.
May Allah bless his soul.

1973 Special : Sinai Silent Heroes

"You took me back to Sinai ,oh my beloved Sinai'
By these words full of passion with a little bit of sadness reflected in the voice of an old man who was once playing a very important role in Sinai during the occupation we started to know one of Sinai's silent heroes. Adel Thabet is the son of Alexandria , a veteran of Yemen war who suffered from 60% physical disability yet refused to take a job in one of our embassies abroad and decided to work in the field by his own way. Thabet  dedicated hours and hours of his life planning and supervising from Port Said the local resistance aka "The Sinai Arab Organization" operations in Sinai during the dark occupation years.
That man is from the Sinai silent heroes whom we are rarely introduced to , many Egyptians listened to his story last 6th of October along with some other stories and wondered how many other silent heroes are there , they also wondered what happened to us in all those years !!
Last 6th of October ON TV made an all day cover special coverage for the October war with interviews and documentaries , it was a very rich day indeed and it ended with a wonderful documentary made by Yousri Fouda about the resistance heroes in Sinai. There was a local successful resistance movement in Sinai that started working right after the Israeli occupation in 1967. It started as personal initiatives from the locals before coordinating with the military intelligence in Cairo , it started as simple operations and ended in the crossing of the Suez canal
If you want how much this resistance and how the locals , our brothers and sisters in Sinai helped us in restoring back our dignity and our land , you must listen to the words of General Fouad Nassar ,the former spy chief and the head of military intelligence :
If there were not for the Children of Sinai , there would be no October war
Fouda focuses in his documentary on Hajj Hassan Khalaf who worked with the military intelligence along with other Sinai locals since 1968 after months of working in separate cells. Hajj Khalaf made several operations for Egypt , most important one of them was blowing up the Israeli military commandership HQ of Sinai in Al Arish in the same year of 1968. The importance of that building comes from the fact that all Sinai was ruled from it , everything was in it. Two simple young locals blew up it with 12 bazooka rockets and they were not caught after it. Already the Egyptian thunderbolt forces claimed it attacked the HQ from the sea in order to divert the Israeli attention and fury from Al Arish city and its people.
You can watch the documentary below , it is in Arabic unfortunately

Monday, October 18, 2010

A Kuwaiti Channel Is Attacked By Mob

In another blow to democracy and freedom of expression in Kuwait , a mob attacked a TV channel there because what they have considered an insult to the Kuwaiti royal family.
According to what I have read that TV host and executive manager of Scoop TV  channel Talal Said attacked Faisal El-Malak , who is related the royal family after accusing the channel of attempting to topple the current regime. You can watch that clip from Talal’s show “Good and bad” that caused all that stir along with that comic show that made fun from El-Malak