Follow Ups : The University strike and the Badr Vessel Saga

Ok there are new updates about the University Strike and the Badr Vessel Saga

First of all the University strike of last week , I got new photos for the strike from Cairo University Campus thanks to blogger Friend Mustafa Mahmoud , I showed before the photos from Helwan University Campus . By the way wait for more strikes coverage in April.

Second If you remember in February I spoke about the sudden and mysterious disappearance of an Egyptian Vessel called Badr I in the Red Sea , till now it has not found yet , it seems to me that the media just forgot ,well I have not and I just like to remind you about it

Technorati Tags: University,Cairo University,Photos,News,Citizen Journalism,Egyptian X-Files,Strike,Follow Ups

Leave the messenger

The Egyptian regime's foreign affairs policies show how fragile and stupid the regime became nowadays , the foreign affairs are not only about the present but also about the future. I do not know really who is shaping the Foreign affairs policies and on what bases , already to be honest I do not know who the really FM is Ahmed Abu El-Gait or General Omar Soliman.

The Foreign ministry now is in the worst days ever and here I am not speaking about the ministry itself but how it plans for the future.

I will not go through the regional alliances and policies ,it is enough to see our latest fiasco in the Arab summit at Damascus but I will show you a little example on how short sighted the Foreign ministry has become just like the regime.

The Egyptian state  is fighting the next U.S Ambassador Scobey who attacked Mubarak and his regime in the American Congress ,you can not imagine the level of attack this woman is facing right now in the media now and she have not come to Egypt yet .

They are attacking the Ambassador and wondering how they are going to deal with her and ignoring the American elections in November 2008.

With my all respect Scobey will be changed if the Administration is changed ,especially if this administration is Democrat one.

The Egyptian Official media does not discuss the American elections from the angel of "how this will be good for us " no but from the angel of "wow this is the first elections with a black man and a woman running for a president"

They do not care what this black man or this blond woman's policies towards the middle east will be.

I am afraid that the Egyptian regime is acting towards the American administration in the principle

"I call the one who marries my mom my uncle"

The Egyptian regime does not care whether the democrats or the republicans will take the white house for 4 years as long as it believes it has something to offer to ensure its control on the country and it has nothing with the myth that the different American administration have the same policy towards the middle east.

Technorati Tags: America,United States of America,Egypt,Ambassador,Margaret Scobey,Mubarak,politics,Mideast,Middle east,news,media

The 20th Arab summit : 3 Syria : 0 U.S and Co.

The 20Th Arab summit was finished yesterday and I think that this summit was not a bad or weak as usual like the rest of the other summits at least this what I think.

I believed that Syria did something unexpected to host this summit and make it work despite all the American and Western involvements that wanted to prevent it.

For the first time the American administration said directly that it did not want the summit to be held in Damascus , the first direct public interfere in the Arabic affairs yet all its plans failed.The Syrians played this round well and won.

The American administration wants to isolate Syria in the region in order to weaken Hezbollah for the Sake of Israel and it is doing this by the help of its gang in the region : Saudi Arabia ,Egypt "the past allies of Syria" and Jordan. These countries sadly are using all their diplomatic and undiplomatic connections in order to isolate Syria and  in the past few weeks they tried to debunk the Arab summit in Damascus but they failed.

Even the nosey Sarko "and he is really Nosey" did not want the Arab Summit in Damascus commenting boldly on it ,already I wonder why is he interfering the first place ??

I really respect the Foreign policy of Syria and its Foreign policy makers, this old respect is from the time of Farouk El-Shar'a showed the old wanted British poster of Yitzhak Shamir in Madrid. Walid El-Mallam made it with help of Amr Moses , whom I respected more and more after his speech; Moses is another winner in this session , because he worked so hard to make it work ,proving that he is not an Egyptian employee in the end of the day working for the Egyptian regime .

Holding the Summit in Damascus in its time is one for Syria, so the Score is 1 Damascus: 0 D.C and sister cities

And so with all that interfere and psychological war against Damascus, the Syrian regime succeeded in holding its temper. Seriously The U.S administration wanted the Syrians to lose their temper in the summit attacking and accusing the other Arab countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia of lobbying the Arab countries against them to create wider gap, but this did not happen. The speech of Bashar Al-Assad came peaceful, respectable and quiet on the contrary of speculations. FM Mallam accused the U.S administration is putting a lot of Pressure on the Arab countries like Egypt and Saudi preferring to put the blame on the States and excusing the Arab countries.

The Americans are ignoring that they are dealing with hard nerve Shami , it is well known in Egypt that Syrians like the rest of Shami people in the north have strong cold nerves, they can't lose their temper easily unlike us.

The U.S administration thought that even if the summit was held, they would have the opportunity to blow it by increasing the Arabic - Arabic differences thanks to its allies.

Well I do not think that they succeeded in that either despite the fact the press is saying that Mofid Shahab did what he is good at the Parliament attacking Syria in the closed session "May be he thought that Syria is like the MB in the Egyptian Parliament" !!! 

The Syrians tried to keep the level of the differences between the Arab brothers in its current level and they did not want to escalate it despite they have the right to do so. They are facing what is like extortion.

This is another score 2 Damascus: 0 D.C and sister Cities

Bashar Al-Assad called this summit "The Summit of honesty" as for the first time in the history of the Arabic summit and the Arab league the Arab countries admitted that there are huge differences and gaps between each other.

I think that this is great because the first step in mending our Arab-Arab relations is to stop repeating the brotherhood slogans and face the bitter reality that Egypt has stronger relations with U.S.A than with Syria and Libya , Syria has stronger relations with Iran and China than with Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Libya has stronger relations with Italy than with Tunisia and Egypt just like what Momar El-Qaddafi had said in his speech "it was the best thing he said after it's your turn after Saddam and Arafat".

We must admit that our countries are conspiring against each other and our secret services are messing up with our countries.

To make the patient admit there is something wrong in him is the first step towards the cure.

This is another score Damascus achieved again; 3 Damascus: 0 D.C and sister cities

Yes may be the 20TH Arab Summit was not a successful one on the results level ,there is nothing new in it ; may be because we put too much hopes on it , there are some matters that will not be solved by the decisions of the Arab summit like Iraq and Palestine still I think this summit succeeded because already it was not supposed to come out to light as if it were a Love Child of the Arab countries , but Syria was brave enough to defend it as legitimate Child and this is not something easy or usual  in this part of the world today.

Technorati Tags: Syria,Egypt,Damasus,Arab League,Arab summit,Politcs,Regional,Saudi Arabia,Mideast,Middle East,America,American administration,news

We still have it

I have come from outside from a terrible traffic congestion ,it became a daily routine , I rode with an old taxi driver ,you know the famous type of Cairo Taxi talkative drivers , well he was one of them and he kept telling me these hilarious political jokes that made my day and remind me that we still have this famous sense of humour.

It has been awhile when I heard a new political joke .Several newspapers reported that Egyptians are losing their humour touch and can't come up with new powerful political jokes thanking to the increasing depression rate between ; as result of the terrible political and economic situations they live.

Well it seems that they were wrong because we still have it according to my cab driver.

Oh boy I did not speak a word only laughing "I could not stop myself" and he was like a radio saying these jokes , most of them were about Mubarak and sons , mostly about Mubarak .

I really needed some laughs.

This cab driver from the working poor class discontent with Mubarak shows how much people are angry from him and his regime .

Technorati Tags: Cairo,Society,Citizen Journalism,democracy,Egyptian Life,Egypt

What speech are they speaking about ??

The hypocrite official newspapers Al-Akhabr and Al Ahram newspapers have nothing in the headlines to speak about today except the Mubarak Powerful's speech that Mofid Shahab said on his behalf  in the Arab summit in Damascus yesterday !!

This is so strange because Mofid Shahab did not say a world yesterday in the opening nor the closing  ceremony of the Summit in Damascus because the Syrians were crystal clear when they said that only Presidents and Kings are allowed to say a speech , their representatives are not allowed to speak on their behalf !!??

I do not know who they are fooling !!?? Spreading lies about things that did not take place !!?? did they become so desperate ?

Of course they think that they could get away by this as the national TV did not transfer the summit as usual on air !!??

Stupidity

Technorati Tags: Mubarak,Syria,Damascus,Regional,Arab,Politics,Media,Press,Arab Summit,Mideast,Middle East

McCain and the autocratic rulers of Egypt

I have just read this interesting post about John McCain and his policy towards the so-called "The threat of radical Islamic terrorism" in The Pakistan Policy blog , experts are right when they are saying McCain may be worse than Bush .

The post was about the Speech McCain had said to the Los Angeles World Affairs council about his views regarding the international affairs on March 26, 2008

Here is the original complete speech from John McCain's official website
McCain mentioned Egypt in his speech among other countries like Iran,Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Here is what he said :

For decades in the greater Middle East, we had a strategy of relying on autocrats to provide order and stability. We relied on the Shah of Iran, the autocratic rulers of Egypt, the generals of Pakistan, the Saudi royal family, and even, for a time, on Saddam Hussein. In the late 1970s that strategy began to unravel. The Shah was overthrown by the radical Islamic revolution that now rules in Tehran. The ensuing ferment in the Muslim world produced increasing instability. The autocrats clamped down with ever greater repression, while also surreptitiously aiding Islamic radicalism abroad in the hopes that they would not become its victims. It was a toxic and explosive mixture. The oppression of the autocrats blended with the radical Islamists' dogmatic theology to produce a perfect storm of intolerance and hatred.

We can no longer delude ourselves that relying on these out-dated autocracies is the safest bet. They no longer provide lasting stability, only the illusion of it. We must not act rashly or demand change overnight. But neither can we pretend the status quo is sustainable, stable, or in our interests. Change is occurring whether we want it or not. The only question for us is whether we shape this change in ways that benefit humanity or let our enemies seize it for their hateful purposes. We must help expand the power and reach of freedom, using all our many strengths as a free people. This is not just idealism. It is the truest kind of realism. It is the democracies of the world that will provide the pillars upon which we can and must build an enduring peace.

This is not a new talk and to be honest what he said is true of course he and the other Neoconservatives do not want a real democracies in the Islamic countries still it is true that the United States lost a lot by depending upon autocratic rulers.

It was great to find that the McCain considered Presidents Sadat and Mubarak from the autocratic rulers despite their alliance with the United States , I included President Sadat because he used a plural word "rulers" , it is strange because Sadat opened the door for the United States in the region.Of course I did not include President President Nasser because he was not that friendly with the U.S at least publicly.

McCain says clearly that he does not want to deal anymore with the autocratic rulers of Egypt , they should be changed for the sake of the American National security and the autocratic rulers of Egypt do not care because they think that they own winning games to keep them on the table .

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Mubarak,Egypt,Nasser,Sadat,Politics,America,Democracy,Middle East,News,Mideast,american presidential race,the President elections 2008,speeches,Candidates

The Arab Summit in Damascus

I watched the opening ceremony of the 20th Arab summit in Damascus ,the summit that would not have seen the light except for the persistence of the Syrians and this something I respect them for.

For your record I am already feeling sick and not well ,I always got sick in this changing weather and I missed most of the speeches except the important ones at least from point my view.

I did not and I would not have missed the speech of Bashar Al-Assad ,already he was heading this summit this year and he spoke as the President ,I love Bashar's speeches in the Arab summits since he became the president of Syria after his dad , yes he is one tall dictator ,son of a dictator but he speaks in a wonderful wise way , first of all in the previous summit he talked without reading any paper ,this is time he was reading from paper but still it was a good speech and less firing than I expected , I thought that Bashar would take Egypt and Saudi Arabia whether directly or indirectly like what he had done in the urgent summit after the Israeli invasion to South Lebanon in 2006 but he did not,it was quiet speech. "Seriously this young man can be a great leader if he just gets rid from daddy's entourage  and adopts democracy"

I like what he said and agreed on several parts regarding that Arab League and its summits can't solve the conflict between the Palestinians or the Iraqis if they do not want to solve it in the first place. They must solve by themselves not by the others.Regarding the Peace process he said that there was no use from Annapolis and he is true and that they "Syrian"  are holding to their right in the Golan heights even after all those years.

About Lebanon well he said that all the pressures on Syria now were to make it involve again In Lebanon and that was something Syria would not accept as Syria is careful Lebanon independence.

Here is his speech from BBC Arabic ,it is not translated but I tried to summarize above the important points that he said.

Next was Amr Moussa ,the Secretary general of the Arab league, the man whom after listening to his wonderful firing speech. Moussa was  under the fire of the official Egyptian Press as he stood against all the Egyptian-Saudi Western attempts to cancel the Summit this year or even transfer it to the unofficial capital of Egypt Sharm El-Sheikh, seriously I read awful attack against him in the official newspapers saying that he is good at nothing except speaking  to the press ,well I thought that what Abu El-Gait is only good at !!! Amr Moussa in front of the TV gave a summary for the activities of the League in the past year and it was one hell of a summary , I think that he wanted to send a message the people saying that it is not the fault or guilt of the Arab league that the Arabic conditions reached the bottom like this still the league is trying to do its best , at least this is what I got .

Moussa assured throughout his speech about the importance of this summit at that critical time just like What Al Assad JR had said , he stressed over and over on this point and the fact that we can't deny that our conflicts as Arabs between each other reached to unacceptable level.

He also reminded us by several important issues other than the Presidency in Lebanon like the Palestinian agony , the on going river of blood in Iraq , Sudan,Somalia and even the Comoro Islands.

Moussa ended his speech in a very Egyptian way sending a direct missile to those who understand and I think they are many in the Arab world

I would like to remind you by what President Hosni Mubarak said from two years "I think" that the Arab Summits should be held twice a year !!

Of course Mubarak was not there ,you already know that, he did not even send his rude FM but the a junior minister , the minister of legal affairs and Parliament issue and the tailor of anti-freedom laws Dr.Mofid Shahab , the official statement is that Mubarak is objecting on the Syrian interfere in Lebanon ,just like the king of Saudi Arabia and the rest of the American gang allies in the region like The king of Jordan ,the President of Yemen and the Prince of Bahrain.

The best thing Shahab prepared a speech to say it in the summit ,surprisingly the Syrian FM came and said that only Presidents and Kings are allowed to speak  !! "I love Mr. Walid El-Mallam , by the way he was graduated from the Cairo University , Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences"

To be honest after Amr Moussa ,I went to sleep then I woke up on the big star of the Arab summit , the annual show on the Arabic TV stations , the Gaddafi Speech , the complete madness.

already I have question who was that foreigner western behind him when he was saying his speech ?? Second why was he wearing

About his speech , Well it was as usual strange one , some parts you will find him speaking in a very logic way and in the other parts you do not understand and in other parts you will find a complete madness.

He repeated again his One Palestinian-Israeli solution after some reasonable talk about Palestine.

He spoke about Iran and why should not we be good with it , then reminded us with a strange fact that 70% of the Emirate People are from Iranian decadent !!

He spoke about the Arabic relations then he said that those Arabs in Asia are minority that would disappear !!!

His top moment this year was when he said the following :

Saddam was hanged , Abu Amar "Yasser Arafat" was poisoned and you are next !!

Seriously this guy sometimes said good things ,like how the Arab countries have better relations with western countries than the other Arab countries ,then suddenly he returns back to his mad talk like Isratine !!

I did not complete with the rest of the speech , I think Abu Mazan was next ,I did not hear him because I am sick enough to listen to him ,already the guy was attacked indirectly in the previous speeches.

Anyhow I think those 8 presidents and Kings who did not attend saved our time , no more repeated useless speeches from Mubarak or Abdallah II of Jordan .

Sometimes I feel that this summit may reach to something because all the American gang allies are absent

I will go to bed now coz I am so sick

Technorati Tags: News,Syria,Arab Summit,Damascus,Lebanon,Egypt,Libya,Saudi Arabia,Iraq,Iran,Israel,America,Peace Process,POlitics,regional

And what will the sorry do ??

President G.W Bush is regretting at last for the murder of an Egyptian citizen by the his troops in the Suez Canal , in an accident the Egyptian regime could not hide nor could it use its technique to divert the people's attention from,how can they do it ??

Believe it or not they tried to do it ,but they failed it is not a martyr of bread queue but a man who was killed by foreigners in our Egyptian territorial waters , not any Foreigners but American navy members in the Suez Canal ,the Suez Canal that drunk a lot of Egyptian blood.

The people of Suez are very angry ,really angry those people saw lots of wars , saw their children got killed by all the invaders who came in the modern time to get Egypt , this accident opened some wounds in the Egyptian memory , Yes the U.S is not officially an invader or an occupier but for many it is already invading us without armies , thought economy , through culture and most important through politics , through the puppets they gave their orders to.

You must know that the Bush's regret came very late and it has no use , except for of course the regime , which was already did not need this regret , this regret which was near to apology was only to calm the people down, because simply this is a regime that does not respect its citizens , this regime whose people are tortured and killed by police, who are killing each other for 2 loafs of bread do you think it would care if one of its citizens is killed by the fires of a foreign army !!

For God Sake how many Egyptian citizens were killed on the borders by the IDF in Al- Arish and the regime ignored these crimes as if it took place in another country in another life time !!

This crime came to make the Egyptian people hate the United States of America more and more .

In the next few lines I will tell you what happened according to the Egyptian version and please complete to the end.

Last Monday the Global Patriot vessel was crossing the Suez canal, it was in the Eastern Waiting area number 11 in the Suez Harbour ;when three "Bambotis" approached it in their speed boat "Sidi Shabal" to sell their goods to the sailors. "Bamboti" is an 100% Egyptian term called on those who sell small goods from cigarettes to antiquities to the passengers of the ships that cross the Suez Canal , it is traditional old profession as old as the Canal and it is regulated now by the State , the Bamboti needs a permission from the harbour authority to carry out his job , last piece of information is that the national dance of the Suez Canal cities is the Bamboti's dance

The Global Patriot is not a military ship,it is an American cargo contracted by the U.S Navy and according to eye witnesses there was nothing on it indicated that it was a military ship or working for the military.Already "Bambotis" do not approach or sell to military ships regardless of its nationality, it is well known rule.

As soon as they came near the American Ship about 9 AM the U.S Marines on the ship opened their fire on the speed boat with no previous warning , it turned in to a marine battle field according to the eye witness , the only problem one party had guns where as the other was unarmed civilians!!

The unequal battle ended by the death of one and the two were badly injured , already the captain of the speed boat was lucky enough to get away from the fire ,of course after it was too late .

The name of the Bamboti who was killed was Mohamed Fouad Afifi , strangely the international press agencies wrote his name wrong , his correct name is Mohamed Fouad Afifi , he was the owner of the speed boat owner , he was married to "Saada Mohamed" and he had two kids Rahma "5 years old" and Fouad "5 months".

What happened next made us as Egyptians feel more angry , the American Embassy at first denied the shooting and the American navy said that the fires were only to warn the Egyptians with no apology what so ever to the murder of one and the injury of two !!!

Immediately the Egyptian security ordered the burial of Afifi before any medical examination ,the Egyptian regime tried to keep it low but it failed due to the people's anger and the wonderful full coverage of independent and opposition newspapers. Next day the body was taken from the tomb to the morgue to a medical examination that was transferred on air to the States and do not ask me why !!??

It turned out that Afifi was killed by bolts from international forbidden weapon !! According to eye witness those who opened their fires were drunk.No one knows the truth except one innocent died for no reason , yes for no good reason , do not tell me fear !!

Till now we do not know to where this vessel went ,it left as soon as possible.

I do not understand why the American Embassy denied the accident at first or the arrogant reaction of the U.S Navy . Bush apology came late as usual after the damage had done thanks to his embassy in Cairo and his Navy commandership which does not respect the Egyptians.

Updates : There are rumors saying that the Global Patriot was carrying Nuclear wastes and was going to dump them in some country "not Egypt" but of course it crossed the Canal and the Egyptian authority should have an idea about this , till now the destination of the Global Patriot is unknown and what its cargo was is still unknown and that is why people guessed the bad thing and said that it was carrying nuclear wastes

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Suez Canal,photos,National security,Citizen Journalism,News,America,Bush,Mubarak,Middle east,Mideast,Arab,Africa,Global Patriot,U.S Navy

What a reception

I do not want to write about Sarko and his private life but every now and then I found something in the newspapers about his private life and his wife Carla that makes me blog about it.

Sarko now is visiting the UK and you may know that in the same time of his visit Christie's announced that it is going to sell his wife's nude portrait in an auction in New York at !! It was taken from 18 year during Carla's modelling days and of course the British tabloids found it a good opportunity especially Sarko is French man.

Carla by the way looked so elegant and classy when she met queen  Elizabeth II yesterday ,really she was chic , I wasn't surprised to know that this gray high-waisted coat was designed by Dior's John Galliano , I really love it with that small hat ,she looked like a real First lady not a crazy model swinging from a man to another. BY the way that elegance was a smart move from her to confront the auction news. Seriously I love her 1950s look.

I found this cartoon in the Times newspaper and I could not resist myself from posting it here , in fact it made me write this post ,already I feel that Rude prince Philip must have commented on the issue

Some photos for Carla in her gray coat I really love this retro look

Technorati Tags: UK,France,Carla Bruni,Nicolas Sarkozy,Sarkozy,Queen Elizabeth II,Dior,John Galliano,Fashion,Media,auctions,Christie,photos,London,New York,Newspapers

No Comment

Technorati Tags: Photos,Bush,America,President of United States,U.S,international,news

Follow Up : Egypt and Kosovo

At last the Egyptian Official reaction was announced concerning the independence of Kosovo. The FM assistant for European Affair Ambassador Fatimah El-Zaharah said in front of the foreign affairs committee  in the Parliament that Egypt supported a self rule solution for Kosovo but not a full independence

Dr. Mustafa El-Faky the former president advisor and current MP said that it was not about religion , it was about politics.

Well good for Egypt , Egypt is trying to hold the stick from the middle

To understand why Egypt was late and also why its reaction came like this I would like to read from the archive these two posts if you have time :

1. Egypt and Kosovo
2. It is not my conspiracy theory mind after all

Source :Masrawy

Technorati Tags: Kosovo,Egypt,Serbia,Mideast,Middle East,New Middle east,Europe,America,News,politics,Follow Ups,international

No big difference , but not that kind of similarity

President Mubarak is insisting on making the headlines in the Russian newspapers with his strange statements , it seems to me that he is insisting on saying strange stuff there in Russian "He speaks Russian as he was trained in the ex- U.S.S.R" .

First he wanted Putin to run for another period despite the Russian Constitution limits the Presidential period to two periods for each president.

And Now he sees no difference between Putin and the new Russian President Medvedev !! No he did not mean that difference the world is speaking about from the same policies after all Medvedev was chosen by Putin because he knows that he would be a good follower to his policies and advices.

He sees no difference between Putin and Medvedev from the Physical appearance !!!

Mubarak said this to Medvedev before heading to meeting Putin

"Your appearances are very much alike "

And said this to Putin

" When going to meet Medvedev , I saw you on the television and felt at a loss as to who is who" !!!

I do not know if it is the old age factor or something wrong with his sight as I can't find a physical similarity between them , Putin is blonde and pale with big round blue eyes and Medvedev has dark hair with boyish features !!

I do not know how he sees them lookalike

Mubarak did not only make headlines in the Russian media with his strange statements but also the international media.

From Yahoo! News :

• Russia "lookalike" leaders stump Egypt's Mubarak.
• Putin,Medvedev- What is the difference ?? Mubarak asks

Technorati Tags: Russians,Russia,Putin,Medvedev,Mubarak,Egypt,News,President,Photos,International,Mideast,Middle East,Europe,media

And the Court said its word in Ibrahim Eissa's Case

The verdict at last was announced in the famous Ibrahim Eissa case after it was delayed several times.The verdict came not surprising but disappointing .

The court ordered Eissa to be jailed for 6 months with a L.E 200 Bail to stop the implementation of this order.

L.E 200 is not a big number and surely they were paid immedaitely , still the main court order was 6 months jail !!

Jail for a journalist !! For 6 months !!

As I said it was not surprising in fact some people expected worse than this ,but it is disappointing ,to tell you the truth I thought that due to international pressure Eissa would have got away from it but whom I am fooling , this is a rotten regime.

I hate to say it but President Mubarak promised in his presidential program that no jounralist would be jailed in his period , well he said also that he would signed on the minimum wages of doctors and teachers !!

The new thinking in Bhutan

I wrote this yesterday but I could not post it because TEData cut off the ADSL service despite the fact according to the IT minister decision ,I have got a free subscription thanks to the downtime ,of course I had to remind them by that through the phone so I can enjoy a free ADSL month before renewing my annual subscription

Bhutan, a country you may never heard about it before or may be you have heard about by accident if you are a regular watcher to the Olympics . This small quiet landlocked kingdom in Himalayas mountains made the headlines rarely , but it made the headlines these days with its dragon king daring decision to shift to democracy , complete democracy breaking all the traditions and customs of that Kingdom.

The young king Jigme decided to make his kingdom a constitutional one and on Monday there was a historical poll in the country.

The people of Bhutan went to vote to choose its representatives in the Parliament , believe it or not through the newspapers today I found out that some people in Bhutan are cautious from this experience.

80% of the Bhutanese voters went to vote with their traditional customs standing in queues waiting for their turn.

Democracy may be something new in this country but people and before them the king are keen to bring it to the small Buddhist king stuck between the giants of Asia , China and India.

The elections or the polls did not include any cheating as far as I read

From Yahoo! News

The people of Bhutan did not have official media or men saying that the political reform should be on stages ,should be taken on dosages like medicine like in Egypt !!!

And so the small kingdom of Bhutan on Tuesday became a real democratic country where as the big Kingdom of Egypt is still dreaming with that day when it become a real democratic country .

Strangely that this shift to democracy ,this new thinking was fostered by 28 years old King Jigme , where as in Egypt 45 years old Jimmy has another new thinking to pretend that he would foster democracy in Egypt in order to become the next Pharaoh

Technorati Tags: Bhutan,Asia,Elections,News,Democracy,international,Politics,King Jimge,Gamal Mubaak,Himalaya,China,India

Dance Hadeiry , Shake it Hadeiry

Seriously we are people who don't learn from our mistakes ,how many times did the regime fool us and we are just watching ?? How many times did the they use the same methods to fool us and we never wake up except when it is too late ??!!

Now my conspiracy theory mind is saying to me that the last footballer crisis was a fabrication;,the El- Hadri Crisis  that made the headlines for at least two weeks , seriously all the media had nothing to speak about except the runaway goal keeper who returned back to Egypt after the interfere of the President's sons Alaa and Gamal and President Mubarak semi order for the Ahli to solve his situation peacefully , here I am not saying that the regime fabricated it with El-Hadri but they enlarged and gave to their media outlets the orders to speak about it over and over in order to divert the public attention from things that matters or to be accurate the things that were in the Oven ; Just the like crazy prices of basic food commodities : The bread and the oil where  most of the people in Egypt are busy with the El-Hadri and what he had done !! Also we should not forget the municipal elections.

It is crystal clear and it is not the first time , the policy of creating pseudo Crisis , it is from the infamous Nasserite heritage Mubarak regime has revived again. I remember in mid 1990s something similar like this happened ,the infamous footballer Reda Abd Alah problem. Reda was a footballer just like El-Hadri ,he was playing in Ahli and left it to play in another local club , something silly the people kept speaking about it for weeks.

I do not remember the main event the regime wanted to divert the public attention from but I remember the same thing happened , people suddenly understood the game so late .

Did not I tell that we are people who do not learn from their mistakes .

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Politics,Citizen Journalism,Economy,Just opinion,Sports,News,Media,Mubarak,Bread,National,Mideast,Middle East,Africa,Assam El-Hadri

Follow Ups : The University Stuff strike "Updates and Photos"

I told that I will bring photos , well Zeinobia got friends here and there in the Universities to bring her some good photos from the heart of the event itself.

First the updates and summary about the strike :

2000 University professor and teacher are estimated to be part of the strike

It is the first to happen of its kind to happen in the Egyptian Universities.

The participation based on the University was as followed:

• 100% in Alexandria and Suez Canal Universities
• 75% in Cairo and Helwan
• 50% in Al-Azhar
• 0% in Asuit and Ain Shams

The students and professors of the Islamists and MB did not participate despite the fact that the MB professors said that they were with the strike .

The University stuff is angry from the Minister of the high education who attacked them rudely "he was so mean and rude , he forgot that in the end he is one of them , sorry was one of them

Second the photos

Here I must thank Egyptian Leftist and Egypt Sons for their photos and their help

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,University Professors,University Stuff,Cairo University,Strikes,9th of March,Helwan University,Democracy,citizen Journalism,society,Photos,Follow Ups,Media,News

who said that he was a prominent Muslim ??

As soon as I became online today ,I found most of all international news Websites are speaking about that prominent Muslim who became a Catholic and that the Pope of the Vatican himself has baptized him on Easter. Update : They mentioned it in Al-Jazeera

That so-called prominent Muslim is Magdi Allam ;the Egyptian born non practicing Muslim who lives in Italy for 35 years ; is a journalist and writer , he is a deputy editor of the Italian Corriere dellaSera , a newspaper known for its Christian right wing conservative views against Islam and Arabs.

I had not heard about him before till he wrote his controversial book "Viva Israel" that sparkled a lot of anger in Egypt and in the Arab world. Allam claimed that Hamas wanted to kill him and asked for security ..etc. This is what I knew about him ,I did not bother myself to know more about him,he was from the same kind of people like Noni Darwish , this was enough for me. "by the way Noni wrote about Allam in her book"

Seriously this man was not that famous or important to us.

I do not care if he converted to Christianity or any other religion he believes in , he is an adult who can take his decisions by himself , but I do not consider him as a Prominent Muslim either , it seems to me that Mr. Allam before baptizing was a very secular person ,he did not pray , he did not fast,going to Mecca for Pilgrimage with his deeply religious mom "I do not know what she will think about him now but as an Egyptian I know that this can create a shock for her"

Of course now some so-called Islamic extremists will appear and say let's kill him just to add more fuel on the fire of So-called Islamic danger in Europe .

I think the media should ignore this , as I said he is a free man to do what ever he wants , we got other important issues to cover and discuss than this.

Technorati Tags: Magdi Allam,Christianty,Islam,Italy,Europe,Egypt,Journalism,Easter,Religions,Corriere dellaSera,Noni Darwish,Israel,Hamas

The University strike

Ok as far as I have read and heard the strike of the University professors today was successful one,seriously all my twitter sources from inside the Universities across the Republic confirmed this.

Of course the heads of 18 public Universities refused the strikes , I am not surprised after all they were all appointed by the regime.

Here are the news of today ,I am still waiting to get some photos

• The strike was successful a good number of professors and teachers have joined it .
• There were several protests by the Students in both Cairo ,Helwan and Mansoura Universities.
• The participation in the strike differed from faculty to another

Waiting for more updates

I just want to say that the official media ignored the event and claimed that the prime minister saved the day , also the weather today is terribly hot

Technorati Tags: Cairo,Professors' Strike,Univresity,9th of March,Citizen Journalism,democracy,twitter,Mansour,Helwan,Egypt,Mideast,Middle East,follow up

Follow Ups : University strike

Well it seems that the interior ministry is ready for the Professors' Strike tomorrow , I have just known that Cairo University is being surrounded by anti-Riot forces ready for the big day tomorrow , not the usual the 365 days anti-riots but the emergency anti-Riots types .

Technorati Tags: Professors' Strike,Egypt,Citizen Journalism,democracy,Follow up,News,media,Cairo,University,education,9th of March,Mideast,Middle East

For those mothers

Yesterday Egypt celebrated its national day for Mother , the mother day ,that day which the minister of social solidarity decided to rename it to become "The Family day" ,well it will be forever the "Mother day".

Anyhow I did not write anything regarding that day yesterday because I was so tired but I think I should write something now , I will not write like the same old composition topics we used to take as home works in the school whether in English or Arabic  for example Write about your mother , the importance of the mother , the mother in religion ..etc

All of us adore our mothers , no question here

But I will speak about Mothers whom I should remind you with on this occasion. 

The mother of the 13 years old girl who was killed from two weeks ago by the IDF on the Egyptian Palestinian borders , the girl who was killed while she was playing ... This is a mother we should not forget.

The Egyptian mothers who can't find the medicine or even bread for their children because they can't afford the prices, those mothers who sell their organs to feed their children.

The mothers of the Egyptian POWS who are still waiting to get back the rights of their sons for decades now

The mothers of those who were on the broad of Salam 98 who are also still waiting for justice.

The Palestinian mothers who are watching their children die on a daily basis.

The Iraqi mothers who are living in the fear that their children may not return back from where ever they are .

The Saudi mother of Fouad El-Farahan , the Saudi Blogger , who raised him to be patriot enough to dream for a better future for his country.

And of course the great Syrian mother of Tarek , the Syrian blogger , this fantastic woman raised him alone as a single mom whose husband was taken by the security forces from 20 years ago , now her only son was taken also away from her and this time because of some comment he wrote on the web .

These mothers we should remember on this occasion , even if it was late , sorry it is never too late to remember those great women , those great mothers

Technorati Tags: Arab,Arabic Faces,blogging,democracy,Regional,Syria,Egypt,Saudi Arabia,Palestine,Iraq,Society,women,Mideast,Middle East,Fouad El-Farahan,Tarek Biassi,Tariq Biassi

Tomorrow is the big day

Tomorrow is the 23rd of March 2008 ,it is the big day of the professors' strikes whose modest demands are still not met ,the Prime Minister Nazif is are offering them an increase in the incentives !! I do not know whom he thinks that he is fooling !!?? University professors !!??

From little hobbit hole here I announce my total support to their strike , my support is part of my respect to those who taught me in Cairo University.

Here are the demands again

1.cancelling the law 82 for the year 2000 and concerning senior professors (70 years or older).
2.an immediate increase in the professors wages by 100% as a step to archiving the wages schedule agreed upon in the professors 4th conference.
3.increasing the governmental aid to public universities as well building new ones to decrease the students concentration in the existing ones and to improve the quality of education.
4.starting a fund for the professors stipend

Source : Arabawy

Technorati Tags: Cairo University,strike,Professors,Giza,Egypt,Democracy,Citizen Journalism,National,Mideast,Middle East,education,Africa

Shabaan Abd El-Rahim Endorses Barack Obama

Move away Scarlett Johansson,Jessica Alba and Kim Kardashian ,now it is time of Shabola to endorse Barack Obama !! 

The famous Egyptian Folk Singer Shabola whose hit "I hate Israel" made the headlines around the globe and put an end for Amr Mosa's career as the second best FM we had since the independence is going to sing a song where he announces to the world that he endorse Obama to become the President of the United States of America in his coming album.

His coming Album will include several tracks , the same music but different lyrics tickling social,political and economic issues like the Danish Cartoons , the crazy prices and the battle to get a loaf of bread and his fight against drugs

The song is not released yet but I promise insh Allah I will post it as soon  as I put my hands on it.

Why would Shabola sing a song for Obama ?? It is not his elections for God Sake ,it is the Americans' elections.

Shabola is just another fame seeker

Update : 

I read this statement for Shabola justifiying his endorsment to Obama in Al Hayat Newspaper interview 

Obama is a good man not bad one like Bush

What about Hilary !!?? 

Technorati Tags: Shabaan Abd El-Rahim,Barack Obama,American Elections 2008,Egypt,Music,Cultures,Media,Arts,news,folk,President elections,American PResidential elections 2008

Islam and the use of Force

First of all Happy Molud , today marks the Birthday of Prophet Mohammed PBUH

Second in this occasion I would like to share you with something related to Islam and the myths about it ,the most universal myth spread in the world that it forces people to embrace it.

My simple answer on that based on logic ,if Islam forces people to embrace it how come there are still Christians,Jews and Zoroastrians in the Muslim World till now , how come there are still temples and churches in the Muslim world.

Some wise people come and tell me your Quran says so and so , it is contradicting itself

This myth is based on misunderstanding for verses in the Quran , Non Muslims do not know that there are certain verses that were revealed in certain occasions like during the wars between Prophet Mohammed "PBUH" and the tribes of Mecca,also we should not forget that the Quran Arabic language is very sophisticated ,western do not usual understand it and thus any translation can give wrong meaning.  

Anyhow I always wanted to tickle this subject ,try to debunk it just like the Pyramids builders ,it is my duty ,well this honour was taken from me by dear Friend Fadfadation who did a great and fantastic job in debunking this myth.

Please check his post he wrote under the title :

• Islam Forces People to Embrace it - Truth or Fiction

Please spread this link because it is so important.

Technorati Tags: Quran,Islam,Prophet Mohammed,Muslims,Jews,Christians,Myths,Truth,Fiction,religions,world

Traffic Jams and bread : Personal experiences

The newest two crisis in Egypt : Bread and Traffic Jams

You know about the bread , I do not need and I do not want to publish the pictures of the bread queues in Egypt and it is enough to say that 6 people this week were killed because of these queues ; the presidential intervention came at very critical time but I think it is better to speak about my personal experience from what I hear and see around me , well according to mom the groceries in our high middle class neighbourhood are facing shortage from "Baladi Bread" {our main type of Bread in Egypt} , you must buy them early or you will not be able to find them after 11 AM !! And that bread kind is not the best one in the market ,of course its price is higher than th common one , we now buy our stock from "Baladi Bread"  from Metro Market.

****************************

Now What is wrong with traffic these days in Cairo and Giza ?? It is terrible now , believe it or not I found four generals yesterday Wednesday  in different streets trying to organize the traffic I swear in Agouza,Mohendessin and Gamat Al Doula. Yeah I know we always have our daily share in Cairo and Giza from traffic jams but not like this ,for God Sake I stood in the sun for a whole hour to find an empty taxi , imagine for one hour ,I swear I feel so sick and tired till now .

It is not about population people ,seriously we were not like this from few months , what happened to us !!??

Technorati Tags: Bread,Traffic Jams,Egypt,Cairo,Giza,Citizen Journalism,Egyptian Life,Society,News,Mideast,Middle East,Africa

Follow Ups : H5N1 in Egypt

I did not follow up the H5N1 cases in Egypt this week as I was so busy , seriously I could not keep it but now I am back on track.
One of the important things that happened this week is that there was a H5N1 suspected case in Alexandria , a Governorate that was far way from the outbreak , still we are not sure if it is a H5N1 positive case , if it is "insh Allah it won't" the infection may have came from poultry not from the Governorate but from the country side villages near the coastal city.
On Wednesday a 3 years old kid Mohamed Adel Abdel El-Salam was detained in the hospital for suspicion in H5N1 , his samples were sent to Cairo , hopefully insh Allah it will be negative and he will be released from the hospital
The good news that made me happy is that 7 detained cases were released last night from the hospital also in Gharbia as their results came negative from Cairo , they were detained in the last two weeks , thank God it turned bad flu.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,H5N1,Gharbia,Cairo,Virus,Avian Flu,Bird Flu,Health,Citizen Journalism,Africa,Mideast,Middle East,Alexandria

And he has the balls to say it in Amman

John McCain visited Israel to show his support and also to get support from Israel. As I said he went to raise his bid and it was a mix of promises

• Hezbollah and Hamas are the enemies of the United States , bad terrorist groups "I think they are already listed in the terrorist groups of the FBI , it is not a new thing , may be it is a confirmation and a promise that he will not have talks with those groups"
• He is supporting the Israeli actions against Gaza "well he is supporting the war in Iraq"
• He support Jerusalem to become the capital of Israel "Bomb the Peace process"

As I said he went to raise his bid

The interesting thing is not McCain's statements but what he said in Amman , the man was in Arab Country Jordan when he repeated again his support to the fantasy of the Israeli capital in Jerusalem !!??

He was in Arab country that supposedly against this , in fact Jordan and Jordanians are against this , I do not know about their regime and king but I am sure also they must be against this .

The interesting thing I did not read or hear any comment from Jordan officially regarding this statement, may be they consider him unofficial visitor saying whatever he wants but what if he becomes the President of the United States of America

The much more interesting is that he did not care or give  damn about the Arab people , about the Arab countries , he did not think about the future diplomatic relations with these countries , either he knows that he will not the President so he can say anything , or he is not the man of his word or he just simply do not care about the Arab rulers and people

Ah I got question today I saw in the news Joseph Lieberman standing with McCain along with Shimon Perez , was not Lieberman a democrat once upon time in the American history ?? Why does he support a republican ?? Oh I forgot because this republican is a friend to Israel , well it seems after all that Lieberman is not An American Jew but an Israeli American

Another interesting picture Meghan McCain , the daughter of McCain , who owns a blog "McCain blogette" with a Palestinian Scarf , Meghan says that the blog is not affiliated with her dad's campaign despite the fact I do not say anything except the photos of daddy and mom along with her friends who are helping her dad. Meghan looks her mom by the way .

Technorati Tags: Jordan,McCain,Johan McCain,Republicans,King Abdallah of Jordan,Amman,Arabs,Israel,Jerusalem,Mideast,Middle East,Politics,American Presidential Elections,Presidential Elections 2008,American Presidential elections 2008,Regional

Just to put an end to this historical fantasy

Some people in the world believe that our great pyramid in Giza along with our great monuments were not built by our great ancestors the ancient Egyptians  , you know the infamous two alternative theories : They were built by Jews enslaved by the heartless Pharaohs or they were built by extraterrestrial civilization.

I am not going to waste my time and yours in debunking the X-Files theory because I think it is underestimating the human mind intelligence.

But I am going to discuss briefly the first theory , the most famous in the Zionist world , already I received a comment in an old post attacking us "the Egyptians" saying that our great symbol "the Pyramids" are not ours !!

Well here is my brief answer :

First of all Here is the Wikipedia page about The great Pyramid of Giza ,it includes enough information about the Pyramid for non experts , also it was made by non Egyptians and of course it is revised and updated according to the newest archeological findings about the Pyramid

Second from the official website of world Famous Dr. Zahi Hawas , his own article regarding the Builders of the Pyramids based upon archeological findings .

Third please use your logic here , the Pyramids of Giza were built in the Old Kingdom , Prophet Joseph ,his brothers and their tribes came and lived in Egypt in the middle Kingdom , Prophet Moses was in the new Kingdom , the slavery of Jews is believed to be during the Ramses II era "There is no archeological evidence ,it is based on religions interruption" , during that time the Jews and also the Egyptian Believers  were enslaved to build the cities that glorified the name of Ramses , the alleged city the Jews built was in North Delta ,some believe it was in Sharqia , this city was drowned during the Nile Flood , you will not believe how many cities remains were found in that area in last years by the foreign archeological expeditions. The only pyramids that were built by Pharaohs in the new kingdom were by the 26th Dynasty aka the Nubian Pharaohs and they built them in North of Sudan.

Look I am not like Zahi Hawas who considers exodus was a fairy tale "It was not announced in Egypt for fear of religious reaction" ,I am a Muslim and I believe that Pharaoh of the Exodus regardless of who was ; was an infidel cursed dictator who is currently in hell , I feel ashamed from what had happened ,I am a Muslim and in the Quran the Exodus story was repeated over and over to remind people about how ignorant and arrogant a ruler can be  , I believe in Quran and thus I know that the Pharaoh was wrong and the Jews were right and my only condolence is that time there were Egyptian believers like Wizards of the Pharaoh who believed in God and the great Egyptian Queen , the mother who adopted Moses and was crucified for her belief in God , the wife of the Pharaoh whose was mentioned in our Quran along with the Virgin Mary.

Still I am getting sick and tired from all that nonsense about the Pyramids and Jews , it is not about anti Semitic, it is about history and accuracy.

I am sorry but this is an Egyptian Pyramid was built by Egyptian hands , was planned by Egyptian minds and mostly important it is on Egyptian land

I hope that modest post here had debunked that infamous Zionist claim

Technorati Tags: History,Ancient Egyptian,Ancient Egypt,Zahi Hawas,great Pyramid,Giza,Jews,Joseph,Moses,New Kingdom,Old Kingdom,Middle Kingdom,Mideast,Middle East

The Obama Family Photo Album

You have seen Sara Obama from Kenya but what about the family of Obama in the United States, his Caucasian white roots !!?? Oh yes Obama is half black half white and I think it is one of the things that make him special ,that different unique background

I started to collect for Obama's mother Ann Dunham because I admired this woman to marry an African black man in the 1960s ,having a child from him , then repeating  the experience with an Indonesian man ,she seemed to me as a 1960s ruler breaker for a White middle Class girl. Also I admired her parents , the Dunhams who raised Obama in Hawaii while she was in Indonesia raising a black man in a society that bases its judgements on colour and race ,from the photos I feel that that family and this lady loved this young boy who became a man and I think they would be very very proud to know this young man can be the first president of the United States .

Ann died from Cancer ,also the grand parents of Obama , but surely they are proud with their son.

Jezebel the women gossip website wrote an interesting article about Woman based on a NY Times article and they were correct when they described her as rebel bohemian , she surely was , they said that Obama is the opposite of his mom and that he married a devoted Christian woman where as his mom was somehow agnostic , they do not travel the globe with their children , well I think this can be true as a child Obama surely  did not like his mom travelling here and there.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Ann Dunham,Photos,America,American elections,Hawaii,history,1960s,American Presidential elections,Presidential elections 2008,democrats