Per in Egyptian Press

Per's detention and deportation news reached to our Egyptian press whether unofficial or official. The unofficial press did not give much details but it seems that the official press has its own version of the story based on what I read in Al Gomhouria. As usual Mohamed Ali Ibrahim is fabricating his own news , he claims that Per was arrested because the security forces knew that he came to participate in strikes and protests !!!!!!!!!!!

He knew that from the aviation editor in the newspaper and he wonders who pays for these foreign journalists to come and mess around !! We must take care !!  

It seems that Ibrahim ignores lots of facts like that Per is a freelance Journalist who has been already in Egypt for quite a time and he did not come to mess with our national security !!

Can't we just deport Ibrahim and Keep Per in Egypt !!??

Daily World Chronicles 09/30/2009

• By 2050, 25m more children will go hungry as climate change leads to food crisis | Environment | The Guardian

  Report says food shortages will hit developing world and global warming set to bring back malnutrition
  And we are wasting our agricultural land and water in useless tourism projects for the A Class !!
  

  tags: Environment, World, Economy, Daily Links, In the Wind's direction, International

• Editorial: Egypt, stop the rot | Editorials | Jerusalem Post

  Egypt's media is intensifying its abiding hostility toward Israel. This editor from Jerusalem Post indeed is interesting indeed. I am so interested in the personal relations between Mubarak and Bib
  Anyhow I just want to say something , Israel is proud to be the oasis of democracy and freedom of expression in the Middle East ,why it is so angry from our press ??
  They are expressing their point of views as simply as that !!

  tags: Egypt, Israel, Daily Links, In the wind's direction

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What if He Were a Normal man !!??

Roman Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland , a news that made headlines and also diplomatic crisis between the United States and France. Honestly Polanski managed to win over Mackenzie Philips' bombshells. Now France is attacking the decision of Switzerland as Polanski is a French citizen and Europe is standing by his side.
Hollywood is also standing by his side along with his fans.
Now may I wonder one thing : What if Mr. Roman Polanski were a normal person ?? A Polish immigrant who raped a 13 years old girls "OK 14 years old as he claimed in the trial" and fled the States to Europe to live for 30 years ?? What if he were not a director that presented films like Rosemary's baby, Chinatown and the Pianist !!??
I think things will be different ,people will think in a different way.
Some people will say that his victim ,that 13 years old girl who became a woman has dropped the charges , well may be because after feeling sick from that judicial system that did not give back her right , may be because she got sick from being blamed in Hollywood as the little girl who banned this film genius from entering the States !!
FYI there was a financial undisclosed settlement Polanski paid to this woman, already again I wonder if he were a poor ,what would happen !!??
The thing is not about this specific girl or woman now , any other girl could be in her shoe  , it is a matter of principle !!
I am also sick of hearing Polanski's Holocaust-Sharon Tate miseries whenever this thing is brought up , Hitler and Charles Manson did not tell him to rape a 13 years old girl for God sake !!

In the end what happened to Polanski is a lesson for everyone , justice will reach you in the end !! Even if he is not extradited , the news will remind people with what he had done. 
By the way I recommend you to read this post form Salon.com before defending him.

Per Bjorklund To Be Deported

This is the sort of news I do not want to start my day with :(
Swedish journalist Per Bjorklund was detained in Cairo airport upon his arrival early today the 29th of September. Then he has been deported after hours of waiting in the Cairo airport.
Per was surprised to find his names among those blacklisted in the Cairo airport lists despite he was living and working in Egypt.
This is not the first time something like this happens in the Cairo airport recently , if you remember Travis Randall despite the differences in their circumstance.
Per was covering extensively the strikes movements in Egypt especially among the factories workers and I believe this may be the reason behind that strange and surprising decision to ban him from entering Egypt ; to keep our dirty laundry within !!
More about the deportation of Per from Arabawy. 

Update :

• Per is still in Cairo airport, he will be deported next Thursday because of flights schedules. The Embassy of Sweden announced that the Egyptian State declared Per as Persona Non grate :(
• The Embassy does not have more details on why he was detained and is going to be deported.
• As an Egyptian blogger I apologize for treating Per like this , I believe there are some Egyptians in the ruling party who should be deported from Egypt not Per !! 

• FYI today Wael Abbas was also in the airport in his way to London and he was received by the usual Egyptian security reception for bloggers, in the end he made it to his plane late , it is interesting because it was in the same time Per was detained !!
  

The Day Our Presidential Website Was Hacked !!

From couple of days ago I found a news in twitter that our Egyptian presidency official website, the official websites of our defense and information ministry have been hacked , yes they have been hacked. According to the news they have been hacked by an Algerian hacker because of football as I read in the Egyptian tweets !!
According to what I heard it seems that a group of Egyptian hackers have hacked an Algerian newspaper website despite it looks fine. “To be honest I have not heard or read anything related to this except yesterday only”
The Algerian hacker is called Kader and he posted videos on Youtube in the last couple of days to show that he did it and beat those pharaohs

Settlers Not Residents

Facebook and Golan made headlines in the past two weeks giving Syria officially another reason to block the popular social network in the country. The problem started after the Israeli rejection for Facebook policy that identified the residents of the Golan heights as Syrians living in Syria.

An Israeli group was formed in the Facebook demanding the social network to recognize the international recognized occupied heights as Israelis. In order to reach for a solution that suits everybody Facebook administration decided to give for the residents of the Golan two options for their nationalities : Syrian or Israeli. Accordingly the residents will be living in two countries Syria and Israel.That holding the stick from the middle solution was not good for Damascus and I understand their anger very well.

I believe Syria should not block Facebook on the contrary it should encourage the Syrians to form groups to prove the Syrian identity of Golan heights to the whole world in the same way the Israelis managed to force the Facebook administration to change their policy !! Why fear the confrontation if you know that you are right !!?? Seriously I am calling the Syrians abroad who have access to Facebook to form groups in English and other foreign languages to express the Syrian point of view and rights in Golan heights.

This reminds me with the dispute that had been in Wikipedia last June if you remember it.

By the way if the Israelis believe that the Golan heights is part of their country and their land why do they bury nuclear wastes in mount Hermon ?? Yes I do believe the Syrian and Egyptian press regarding this point . I wonder where is the Arab league and IAEA from this ??

If they are really residents of Golan they won’t do it but of course by the end of the day they are settlers.

Again I call the Syrians to go to the Facebook and defend their rights , let them try to restore Golan even if it is virtual restoration.

Technorati Tags: Syria,Geek,Facebook,Mideast,Middle East,Arab,Israel,History,Golan heights,Social networking,Politics

Names and Places Please

Dr. Hala Mustafa's case is still making the headlines especially with the loss of Farouk Hosni and the decision of  Al Ahram as a corporation to investigate the incident "as if they did not know !!"
Even without hearing or reading Hala Mustafa's defense , I believe her despite what you may think about her ,she is being the scapegoat if she were not set up.
I do not think that Ambassador of Israel moves around in Cairo so freely , for God sake they closed down town last week when some Israeli diplomats went to buy Eid cookies !! Not to mention it was announced over and over that many people wish to see Shalom Cohen dead and the Egyptian Security services rescued him over and over , so I do not know how he would go to Al Ahram without notifying the whole world in Cairo from the security services to secure his parade to the foreign ministry...etc
Hala Mustafa is not a soft woman ,she knew what she is facing and is standing in front of it affirmatively , she did not do something wrong from her point of view especially that the ministry of foreign affairs was the one that suggested or rather gave her the order to invite the unwanted isolated Cohen !!Of course Mustafa should record from now on her telephone calls to provide a stronger evidence.
Hala also is threatening to expose all those journalists in Al Ahram that used to received Israeli diplomats in the famous building, we already know some of them like Abdel Monam Said and Anis Mansour but we would like to know the rest.
From his side Cohen knows "and I bet enjoys" the controversy he made , he did not leave Mustafa alone in the storm as he told her that he did not visit Al Ahram only in that week , it seems that he visited another public press house secretly !!!
Cohen seemed to tell Mustafa which printing and publishing house was and she is keeping it may be for the right time to come.
There are not too much public printing and publishing houses in Egypt  , he Visited Al Ahram , then he would have visited either : Akhbar Al Youm or Al Tahrir "Al Gomhouria" or Rosa Al Youssef or "Dar Al Marefeh". 
I still believe that she is being punished for her clash with Ahmed Ezz in NDP ,it was perfect time to attack and discredit her after the sympathy she won last year.
Hala Mustafa's case came at very critical time, beside the NDP factor I do not role out the Farouk Hosni  UNESCO Fiasco from it , it is just like hinting two birds with one stone.
Al Ahram administration can't and dare not to issue a decision banning all Israeli diplomats from entering its building expect by the orders of the State.

Dress To Impress

The Spanish first daughters Laura and Alba Zapatero  managed to create a buzz in their first world appearance. The 13 and 16 years old girls took a memorial photo with their parents and the Obamas in NY appearing for the first time in international media breaking the Spanish laws of privacy concerning the politicians’ offspring and their exposure to the media. The White house had to remove the photo from its Flickr stream and the two girls photos were blurred by the request of the Spanish government despite it is too late , it hit the net.

The image created much more international buzz and it is not about privacy but about how Laura and Alba looked like or rather dressed in their photo with President Obama

Como Se dice en Espoñal “Gothic” ??

I think Mr. and Mrs. Zapatero are very open minded to let their teenage girls meet  presidents and Kings from all over the world like that. I understand it is their personal freedom to dress whatever they want but it is not a matter of personal freedom when you represent your country in a global meeting like that where all eyes are on you . I know that they are teenage girls but they are the first daughters !! Ironically I know that after several years both girls will regret this photo !!

My mom was shocked to see those two girls to dress like this in an official dinner not to mention a dinner attended by more than 100 presidents and ministers from all over the globe. If they want to wear black , fine , but there are some good black dress and shoes than these for such event !!

In the end I would like to share this link from an American Christian evangelist forum discussing this photo .

Technorati Tags: America,Europe,Media,in the wind's direction,photos,politics,Women,Society,Spain,Zapatero,world,Flickr uploadr

Did Anyone Notice This ??

From couple of days ago , on the 23rd of September 2009 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia inaugurated KAUST and strangely all the media focused on the university and the fact it will be the first mixed University in the Kingdom ignoring a very important guest in its inauguration.

President  Bashar Al Assad of Syria was among the distinguished guests of the big event in a very powerful political regional move.

The Syrian-Saudi relations were moving from bad to worse in the last couple of years where Syria joined the Iranian camp in the region and Saudi Arabia along with Egypt formed a pro-Western alliance.

For sure the new page between Washington and Damascus paved the way in front of this Saudi invitation , still it was a very big move concerning the role Saudi Arabia plays in Lebanon.

I expect that Mubarak will follow the King and invite Al-Assad on something very soon especially now officially the Egyptian state is angry for the loss of Farouk Hosni because of that devilish American-Jewish-Zionist-European plot against him !!

Technorati Tags: Bashar Al Assad,Saudi Arabia,Syria,Egypt,KAuST,Culture,Iran,Farouk Hosni,Politics,Mideast,Middle East,Arabs,America,Obama

Daily World Chronicles 09/28/2009

• vagabondblogger: Islam On Capitol Hill

  Must read , I did not know that there were radical Christians protesting the event in this way

  tags: Daily Links, In the wind's direction

• مزيكا وبس: ثلاثة أسئلة وإجابة واحدة عن أمّ كلثوم

  Some Q&A for those who do not much about Thuma's history ;)
  

  tags: Daily Links, In the wind's direction, Music

• The best croissant in Cairo

  Searching for the best croissant in Cairo. Well there are other places you can find good croissant too

  tags: Daily links, In the wind's directions

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Suzanne Tamim’s Unknown Husband

It turned out that Suzanne Tamim’s unknown husband whom Nedal Al-Ahamdia considered as her bombshell in Ramadan is Tamim’s first husband Ali Muzannar !!

I thought that she was divorced from that man or may be she was but suddenly she became his wife and the mother of that so-called son after knowing she got millions of dollars in her bank account !! Of course Ali did not introduce to us her son.

And of course her second husband whom Suzanne left Muzannar to marry in Paris , Adel Matouk is furious and is suing both Muzanner and Al-Ahamdia. Matouk by the way made an interview with Wael Al-Abrashi in Cannes from two months I believe , I wonder if working as an agent and an organizer for the Arab singers concerts in Europe is that profitable to have this palace in Cannes!!
This is turning in to a terrible and silly TV soap opera.
By the way here is a very rare photo for Suzanne before all those plastic surgeries.

She looked so beautiful

and here she was after the surgeries

Technorati Tags: Lebanon,Suzanne Tamim,Society,Gossip,Nedal Al Ahmadia,Hisham Talaat Mustafa,Lebanese,Women,Ali Muzanner,Adel Matouk,France,Cannes,Arab,Citizen Journalism,Photos

First Will You Marry Me and Now I Am Sorry Baby

I found this through Twitter , it was taken by Ahmed Galal in some street

A message from a girl to her lover :

Baby I am really sorry , I swear to God I am mad in love with you , I am sorry

Salama

It seems that Ms. Salama’s boyfriend is angry because something she had done and she decided to reach to him in all possible ways !! Wow that guy seemed to reject all her calls and facebook messages that she put that message in his way to work or to school to wherever he usually goes in public !!

I bet her boyfriend will ask her hand in public too and it won’t be the first time nor the last as I see !!

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Citizen Journalism,Twitter,Photos,Culture,Society,Women,Egyptian Life,National,Mideast,Middle East

Black Coffee

Ladies and Gentlemen I am proud to present to you Egypt’s best play of 2008 “Black Coffee”

“Black Coffee” is a social political comedy that discusses the terrible conditions Egypt is suffering from whether on the cultural level or the social level or the economic level ; “Black Coffee” refers to the black coffee presented in our memorial services in Egypt.

The play despite being a fine product of the experimental theatre yet it met a huge success. The success of the play proves that the audience do not look only for cheap jokes in theatre on the contrary the audience is searching for a fine 

The play is directed by Khalid Galal and is starred by a fantastic group of talented actors. The acts are more like sketches , each sketch discusses a certain problem like for instance the illegal immigration , the bread crisis, and the late marriage.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Arts,Culture,Egyptian Life,Black Coffee,Video,Media,Theatre,Play,Expertimental theatre,society,Economy,Egyptian life,Khalid Galal

Who Will Pay The Bills ??

I know that you got sick of Farouk Hosni but believe it is nothing we have been sick of him for 25 years !! Believe me this is just the start

Farouk Hosni in his first interview with Egyptian Nasserite Nationalist Mustafa Bakery claimed that his UNESCO campaign’s expenses did not exceed than 24,000 Euros !!

I do not know why I do not believe him especially when I know that he and his accompanied Egyptian delegation members stayed in 5 stars hotels all that time !!?? Who Will the bills of their 5 stars hotels !!??  The man traveled to China and other countries to win their votes !!?? Who will pay for all those travel expenses !!??

BY the way in the same interview  Hosni believed that he is bigger than the UNESCO , which makes me wonder why he ran for the position if he believed that he is bigger than the UNESCO !!??

Ironically Mustafa Bakery used to attack him fiercely in his newspaper !!

Also We all recall that he said that he would resign if he lost , well he lost and he has not resigned yet as he is not man of his word !!

Technorati Tags: UNESCO,Farouk Honsi,Citizen Journalism,Economy,Mustafa Bakery,Media,National,Politics,Culture,News,Egypt,Mideast,Middle East

He Did Not Go For Shopping Only !!

I do not know why obnoxious Kuwaiti Fouad El-Hasham hates Mubarak and his regime in Egypt unlike his native journalist  Ahmed El-Jarallah who is from the few Mubarak’s regime speakers in the region , not to mention both of them were dishonorably listed in the Israel’s friends list if you remember. May be El-Hasham hates Egypt too much and that’s why he is attacking Mubarak’s regime !!??

May be this is the reason why he spoke last month about that son of an Arabic president who was recently in a visit with his father to the States and paid a visit to AIPAC with Rahm Emanuel according to one of his so-close European sources. That son promised to fight Hezbollah and bring it down …etc !!

You do not need to guess who that son is , he is Gamal Mubarak.

Of course Gamal Mubarak’s first defender Abdullah Kamal did not leave him alone  and accused him of fabricating the whole story. Already this shows you the stupidity of Kamal as without attacking El-Hasham I would not know what the later wrote about Gamal and Rahm’s so-called visit to AIPAC

Both Kamal and El-Hasham are assholes and whether the story was true or not , one thing is for sure ; Gamal Mubarak did not go to the States for shopping only !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,AIPAC,Israel,Media,Politics,Gamal Mubarak,National,Rahm Emmanuel,America,News,Mubarak

Bibi Does Not Like His Cartoon

The Israeli Embassy objected on a cartoon portraying Bibi as an evil elf as I see it  , this cartoon was published in Al Ahram weekly. The artist /cartoonist behind it is the famous Fathi Abu Ezz whose political cartoons are very famous among the Egyptian blogsphere.

Here is the Bibi’s evil elf cartoon.

I do not know why they are so angry , in the end Bibi is not holy man , he is just a politician who is oftently criticized in his own country !!?? Also this is not the first time he is mocked in the Egyptian press , I believe the Israeli Embassy knows very well how the Egyptian press sorry the Egyptian people like Bibi so much !!?? I do not see that Abu Ezz crossed any line in his cartoon.

Via : Nawara Nagm’s front

Technorati Tags: Netanyahu,Israel,Bibi,Egypt Fathi Abu Ezz,Egyptians,Politics,Media,Cartoon,Mideast,Middle East,Press,Freedom of press,Al Ahram Weekly,Art,cutlure

The Last Ottoman

Ertuğrul Osman aka the last Ottoman to have the right to head the dethroned the house of Othman since 1994 has passed in New York from two days ago.

The former prince who could have been a sultan lived a very modest life compared to his ancestors in NY City with no political ambition what so ever. In a rare interview with Al Jazeera channel he avoided any criticism to Kamal Ataturk not for love or admiration of course but for fear of the consequences .

Of course Osman is not the last Ottoman , but he was the last Ottoman to born in Turkey ; Bayezid Osman is now a Sultan in exile who was born in exile , ironically this sultan has served in the U.S army !!

Technorati Tags: Turks,Turkey,Ottoman Empire,Otthomans,Royals,Mideast,Middle,Regional,History,Politics,America,In the wind's direction

The Photos of The Week : Treki Should Have Known better

Ali Treki , the current president of the UN general assembly should have known that it will be an international show when his president or his leader Qaddafi took the stand for the first in the UN to address the world and its representatives !!

After hearing  and watching Qaddafi in his historical speech I can imagine what Treki was feeling during that long speech, I bet it was a mix of feelings !!

Honestly there is something logic point he mentioned but unfortunately with his craziness ; the Security council system should be changed for real ; at least this stupid Veto system.

Other than that , well it is enough brother Qaddafi kept repeating his ideas over and over

Where Is The Vice Police ? Where is The Women’s council ?

An anonymous commenter has left me this disturbing link from the international sex guide forum where perverts gather online to know where they can find hookers worldwide. Yes perverts , this is what I think about those who hire prostitutes.

This link made me so angry to find people speak about Egyptian women like that even if they were prostitutes , I wish that the vice police is active online as it is claimed and it tracks down those places and those people.

Of course that link is nothing compared to what Youm 7 has published from prostitutes photos in our historical landmarks !!?? “Warning : NSFW” This time I do not wonder where the vice police is but where the supreme council of antiquities and the ministry of tourism are from all that ?!!??

I do not know when minister Moshira Khateb will focus on the prostitution issue in Egypt and will consider part of her job to fight prostitution as part of the human trafficking problem , she and the regime she represents refuse to admit it for real.

For those defenders of prostitution mainly from men , if you accept for your mother or your daughter or your wife to become a prostitution then call for it for real , do not call for its legalization just because you want to enjoy it. Even on the human rights level , you do not know how women and girls are pushed to this route and how they suffer in it for God sake !!!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,National,Prostitution,Human rights,sex,Women,Society,Mideast,Middle East

Not A Good Sign

For the first time in history someone from the Mubaraks of Egypt is a candidate to become in the Time magazine’s world’s most influential people of the year aka Time 100 and that someone is Gamal Mubarak !!
Yes Gamal Mubarak is a candidate to become one of the world’s most influential people of the year and the pros mentioned in his favor are disturbing to me :

He used a recent U.S. visit to push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to repair lukewarm relations between Egypt and the U.S.

Is the United States rethinking about junior again or what ?? And with my all respect since when a partisan official “which is his official position in Egypt as far as we know” visits another country to push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian !!??
Appearing in the Time 100 list of the year is a big push for Gamal Mubarak for sure even if he does not reach to the finals , already up till now surprisingly he received “832,844 votes” !!
Gamal Mubarak is influential in Egypt indeed, he is currently ruling indirectly.
I would thank again My dear friend Ahmed Shokeir for posting the news first in his blog , dear Shokeir is also asking Egyptians to choose our Egyptian most influential people of year list.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Gamal Mubarak,Time Magazine,America,Media,National,Politics,democracy,Middle East,Mideast,The Time 100 2009,World,International

Do Not Blame The Jews, Blame Yourself

Farouk Hosni is back and he is whining like a lady on the conspiracies made by the Jews of the world against him as Egyptian, Arab,Muslim !!

  It was clear by the end of the competition that there was a conspiracy against me

There are a group of the world's Jews who had a major influence in the elections who were a serious threat to Egypt taking this position !!

Strangely from two weeks ago he was trying to show the world that he is the best friend the Jews have ever got , it is ironic , is not it !!??

Now Farouk Hosni is turned in to a national hero who lost because of the west and the Jewish lobby , I could not believe myself to find a number of the so-called nationalist writers and intellectuals standing behind him against this plot even the Muslim brotherhood !!?? I understand their position from Zionism but I can’t understand their position from Hosni who has been always accused to be pro-Israeli and Pro-western not to mention his long history in the Mubarak regime not to mention for years they used to hate and despise !!

Were not they angry and furious over the comprises Mubarak had to present for both America and Israel to win their support to Farouk Hosni !!?? 

Why can’t you remember this if you are so jealous and angry for that American- Jewish role in making Hosni lose after all that ??

Why were not you angry when Ismail Serg El-Din lost ??

Why are not you angry from the money Farouk Hosni has spent in this useless campaign ?? This money is not from his pocket money but from our public money !!??

Rosa Al Youssef daily is reporting that there is a prejudice and bias against Muslims from the UNESCO despite the  fact Farouk Hosni can’t be considered the true ambassador of Muslims or their civilization or their arts !! Was not he the one who supported El-Qemenay  from less than two months !!??

Again I am insisting on my opinion , he did not and does not deserve this position because it will be like a reward for his crimes against the long culture and history of this country for 22 years.

I believe it is from the wisdom of God to make him lose because of America and Israel which he and the regime kept kissing their asses to win their support on the expense of Egypt and the Arab world.

Let him cry , let him whine like a lady ; already I am waiting for him to act like a man and resign as he promised !!

I dedicate his defeat to the soul of those people who were burned alive in Bani Sawif theatre, to all those monuments stolen from Egypt in the past 22 years where as he was busy in his arts !! To all those historical palaces and houses destroyed in Egypt in the past 22 years !! To all those rare paintings stolen from Egypt !! To all those museums neglected and to the citizens of Egypt whose public  money was wasted and stolen in the ministry of culture in the past 22 years.

Do Not make your hate to Zionism and Israel mislead you , Do not make him a hero, he got what he deserved.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,National,Politics,Culture,Israel,Jews,Farouk Hosni,America,UNESCO,International,Middle East,Mubarak,Media

Dr.Mahathir Mohamed Blogs

Yup Dr. Mahathir Mohamed , the famous former prime minister of Malaysia blogs regularly in his blog in both Malay and English. I really enjoy his English posts especially in global economy and politics.

Of course I enjoy his blog because his mind is rich unlike our politicians, already I do not know if I may call so or not.

Technorati Tags: Mahathir Mohamed,Malaysia,Blog,Blogging,geek,Politicans,Politics,Economy,Asia,Muslims,Islam,world,international,In the wind's direction

Breaking News : Farouk Hosni Lost The Elections

Yes boys and girls Farouk Hosni has lost the UNESCO elections in front of Bulgarian Irina Bokova who has become the first woman to head the international organization :)
Farouk got 27 votes and Irina got 30 in the final fifth vote.
Now there is uncertain news that they busted some member in the Egyptian delegation trying to bribe the delegates , the sum they are speaking about is $50,000 !!
Now I wonder if Farouk Hosni will be a man of his word and resigns as he promised to do or he will resign and Mubarak will not accept it as usual or he won’t resign and stays in his position !!
Man I am so happy but I am sad on that money spent on his campaign and the humiliation and comprises Egypt had to pay all those month to win the minds and hearts of the United States and Israel.
Of course he will return and keep bitching about how biased the UNESCO committee is to stand with an European woman and not with an Egyptian Arab Muslim man and surely the official media will go on with him complaining about the American Israeli conspiracy against patriot Hosni !!
Man I want to see his photo now !!

Update : 

It seems that Hosni did not lose in the UNESCO but also in Egyptian Chronicles' poll whose results came as follow :

• 82% from 172 votes "142 votes" think that he did not deserve this position 
• 18% from 172 votes "31 votes" think that he did deserve this position. "ironically Bokova won by 31 votes !!"
  
• I really thank dear Ahmed Shokeir who posted this poll in his wonderful blog.
• I also thank all those who participated in it from Egypt and from the world.
  

Technorati Tags: Farouk Hosni,Irina Bokova,Egypt,Bulgaria,Citizen Journalism,Culture,International,World,News,America,Israel,Politics,Mideast,Middle East

A Tie For Hosni

Now it is either Egyptian “unfortunately” Farouk Hosni and Bulgarian Irina Bokova after their tie in yesterday’s fourth round in UNESCO elections for 29-29 votes.

The last 48 hours were tense for Hosni , after all what he got 4 votes compared to Bokova who got 16 votes. The United States and France for sure are standing behind her along with the European countries that believe Hosni does not deserve this important cultural position.

The international press continues its attack on Hosni who always felt that the national press was attacking him , let him taste the really media attack is ,  French Le Monde attacked him and NY Times introduced a new disturbing unknown fact to the Western reader about Hosni : While being the Egyptian cultural attaché in Rome, he helped to organize the escape from Italy in 1985 of the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro !!

This  fact was taken from an Elaph’s website article that I can’t determine whether it is with or against him.I believe this last so-called revelation can really cost him the UNESCO chair. Of course there must be some corrections to be made here , he was not our Egyptian cultural attaché ,he was heading the Egyptian academy in Rome and he did not know whom he was going to host in the academy when the order came to him from Cairo to prepare couple of rooms but sooner he realized to know those guests included three wanted Palestinians along with Egyptian commandos and GIS secret service men during that crisis. Unfortunately I can’t consider him an accomplice according to the American-Israeli standards or a hero according to nationalist standards because he was ordered , he did not volunteer , he did not have much a choice if we are speaking in a realistic way; I am not defending him heavens forbid but the secret services men would stay in the academy hostel with or without his approval and do not tell me that this does not happen in any country in the world !!

Hosni is not anti-Semitic , this is not his sin , his sins , his weaknesses that prevent him really from that position is that he did not contribute in 20 years for real in our Egyptian culture !!

Technorati Tags: UNESCO,Follow Up,Farouk Hosni,Achille Lauro,National,Culture,Media,France,Le Monde,NY Times,History,Jews,Italy,Rome,Citizen Journalism,Irina Bokova,Israel,Europe,Politics,International

Why Do I Smell A Conspiracy In This !!??

Yesterday I was shocked to find a photo in Al Dostor newspaper’s first page for kids inside the rare birds cage in the Giza Zoo !! One of these kids was carrying a very rare  peacock in his hand as if he was holding a chicken or something !! Terrible photos and terrible start for the morning after being sick for the past 2 day !!

The report spoke also about the poor salaries of the guards who can’t protect the cages from similar attacks , after all they take only about LE 240 monthly /LE 8 per day “ $44 per month/$1.45 per day !!” , how will they protect the cages !!??

The newspaper goes today with its reports on that black day in the Zoo with experts warning that the day will come and we will find lions roaming in our streets !!?? Not to mention the diseases the animals they will transfer !! Strangely the Zoo had much more animals in the past and they did not transfer any disease to anyone !!??

Honestly I do not know why I feel or I smell a conspiracy theory in this scandal !!?? Why do I feel that this may deliberately take place so the ministry of agriculture has to close the Giza Zoo in front of the visitors and transfer the animals to 6th of October , keeping parts of the Zoo which will be a garden as a national heritage and the cages area will be sold to the private sector like the original plan. Believe me it is not my conspiracy theory mind but there are many signs that make me predict this , after all from couple of weeks ago I found a writer in Al Ahram , in the second page “Not Ahmed Bahget Nor Said Ali” calling for an immediate transfer to the animals for some open area in 6th of October !! This was in Official Al Ahram , of course when it appears in unofficial Al Dostor even indirectly it could be more convincing for the people !!

Back to the main incident , the Zoo always suffer in Eid because the wrong practices of the people which are permitted by the Zoo administration in order to get more income but this for sure was totally unacceptable , if we put the conspiracy theory aside , I do understand why those boys acted in so inhuman way , they are not raised nor taught to respect other creatures , even other humans , where is the ministry of education ?? Where is the family ?? And more important why did those who were watching did not stop those boys from getting in to the cages !!??

In all my visits to the Zoo in the past I have never seen something like that but may be this was in the past. Man I feel too old !!

I asked Mrs.Dina Zulfikar in an email about her opinion regarding the incident and the fact that the guards get very small salaries and she told me that the incident was just any other attack on our public attractions resulted from the lack of guards ; and the lack of guards is caused by the the small salaries and allowances which are determined by the ministry of finance.

I disagree about the role of the ministry of finance because both the Zoo administration and the ministry of agriculture can raise these salaries because they are part of their budget.

The salaries of the guards and their living conditions are very important , you can’t expect a guard who lives a terrible life to feel , protect and care for an animal. I do not know why parties ignore their agony and why no one is helping them by showing them the way , to form some union or something.

Regarding the Zoo , I believe the only solution to restore its old glory is to form an independent council from curators to administrate it as the government has failed in the last 20 years.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Zoo,Giza Zoo,National,Environment,Nature,Animals,Eid,Corruption,Mideast,Middle East,Society,Dina Zulfikar,Culture,Al Ahram,Al Dostor

Do Not Blame It On The Pigs

Michael Slackman has decided that the latest garbage problem in Egypt is the result of Mubarak’s decision to kill all the pigs despite the direct reason “which he mentioned in his report in a fast reference if I may say" is the disagreement between the foreign garbage companies and the governorates.
Just put things straight here I would to mention some points :

• The main reason of this problem is the disagreement between the foreign garbage companies with the governorates.
• Another main reason to be honest is how our government is dealing with the crisis, if the government wants really to solve this problem ,it could do ; after all when Gamal Mubarak visited Agouza, the streets had been cleaned for him and I saw it by my own eyes !! Sometimes this regime like previous regimes creates crisis for its own people to make them busy from things that really matters.
  
• Not all the pigs were killed , this is a fact Mr.Slackman forgot to mention , for some reason suddenly the decision was frozen  from several months ago and now the President has decided to allocate 282 acres for pigs raising
• Again and again the WHO supported our decision to kill all the pigs than it turned its back on us , I will be judged one day for this but I saw and heard the representatives of the WHO supporting that decision in their press conference which was recorded and aired on the same day.
• The current crisis opened a discussion in Egypt about recycling , if we want to a real and serious recycling , I am afraid Pigs won’t help us even in the organic wastes.
• The poor communities and areas have always have this garbage problem for years even when most of the pigs were there

I think it is an insult to the government to be blackmailed by the garbage collection companies and the garbage collectors.

Laila Abdel Salam Speaks For The First Time on TV

Honestly I wish that Mona El-Shazely did that interview with Laila Abdel aka the Real Samia Fahmy who is currently working in Al Ahrar newspaper.
Laila Abdel Salam speaks with Amr Adib along Ambassador Dr.Rafaat El-Ansari who had his share in the real spies war. Ambassador El-Ansari has very interesting story which insh Allah will be featured in Egyptian Chronicles after my recovery ;)

She revealed more information about her story which is simple and so short , her trip in Italy , it only took about a month or even less to arrest Mario , the Spy of Israel in Egypt , yes he was not in Rome but in Egypt.
By the way here is Laila in early 1970s, she looked like Nahed El-Sharif more than Menna Shalby if I may say.

The Next Minister Of Culture Will Be…

There are too much speculations about who the next minister of culture will be if heavens forbid Farouk Hosni wins the UNESCO elections and even if he does not win , the sources of Egyptian Chronicles say that he may resign for real this time.

I got three names and three different scenarios related to each other somehow :

1. Mohamed  Salmaway : The current editor of Chief of Al Ahram Hebdo and the heads of the writers’ union , the Orientation of the ministry won’t be different than Honsi’s time. “It is something well known”
2. Dr. Zahi Hawas : He will not head the ministry of culture but the newly found ministry of antiquities , there are rumors that either the ministry of culture will be cancelled and replaced by the supreme council of Culture or it will continue as it is either with Salmaway or someone else.
3. Dr. Mohamed Kamal : I told you that the famous NDP figure is a candidate for a ministerial position before !! Gamal Mubarak’s aide will surely change the policies of the the ministry of Culture , expect something like in the Soviet Union or like Nazi Germany.If this happens , it will be a very strong sign that Gamal Mubarak is accelerating from his inheritance plan

These are the names I got , if you have other names , please share.

Of course you won’t find between them for instance another Tharwat Okasha , no no no my dear friends , do not forget that this regime hates real culture which rises the standard of awareness in the country, this is a regime pretends to call for “reading for all” while it does not really fight illiteracy in the country so it would continue in its domination on it and its people.

Technorati Tags: Minister of Culture,Mohamed Kamal,Mohamed Salmawy,Zahi Hawas,Citizen Journalism,Politics,National,News,Middle East,Mideast,Farouk Hosni

She Needs Your Prayers

Former Princess Ferial Farouk is currently in a critical condition in Switzerland , she needs our prayers now so much more than any time.

I know for sometime now that she fought cancer for a while in her life where she conquered it with a very high price : part of her digestive system was removed :( . For some reason it was not declared ; may be because she considered something personal and I respected this decision from her side .

Yet unfortunately it seems that in the past few weeks the cancer has returned back in vengeance.

She has returned back to her simple home in Switzerland after being in the hospital , she is currently 24/7 medical surveillance.

The former princess had visited Egypt earlier this year and made an interview with Ahmed El-Muslamany which I am currently looking for to post here.

Ferial Farouk needs your prayers now , this woman had seen a lot and remember she went and other Republican princesses came and enjoyed the wealth of this country more than any Mohamed Ali Royal Family princesses had enjoyed and you know whom I am speaking about !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Europe,Health,National,Egyptians,Egyptian Princess,Ferial Farouk,King Farouk,Egyptian Royalty,Media,Photos,Cancer,Switzerland

Farouk Hosni Official Website

Farouk Hosni has launched an official website : Farouk Hosny which includes his news, his biography , his personal photo gallery, his so-called achievements, his speeches and interviews…etc !!

Ah and his terrible , really terrible paintings !! Strangely he did not include that criticism in his website.

Did he mention that he used to spy on Egyptians and Arabs in 1970s among his achievement ??

Technorati Tags: Egyptians,Farouk Hosni,official Website,UNESCO,Politics,Culture,Geek,Arts,Paintings,History,Citizen Journalism,Mideast,Middle East

Another Blow To Independence Judicial System Movement in Egypt

I am still shocked and I can’t understand or classify what has happed except that it is another blow to the independence of the Judicial system movement in Egypt : The famous and honorable Judge Mahmoud El-Hadiry has resigned from his position as the vice head of the cassation court  !!

Judge El-Hadiry known for his support to the independence of Judicial system movement in Egypt is also the head of the Judges’ club in Alexandria. This resignation comes after 46 years of working in the judicial system in Egypt , 20 years of them were in the cassation court ,Egypt’s finest and highest court !!

The main reason behind this sudden resignation is the objection on the intervention of the regime in the judicial system !!

I respect this reason very much but with my all due admiration to the honorable ex-judge move ,the regime will welcome this resignation so much because it does not want these types of judges working in the current system , men like El-Hadiry are like obstacles in front of the regime regardless on how much it interferes in that system. I know many people will welcome his resignation.

Still may be El-Hadiry wanted to deliver a strong message to this rotten regime before his retirement next year , he is 69 years old and next year will be his retirement year !! I do not know seriously , I feel more and more that movement of reformist judges is facing more pressures and losing more battles in a long battle :(

I just hope that this honorable judge did not face any kind of blackmail or pressure from the regime like Judge Hisham El-Bastawasi

El-Hadiry is going to open a law office in Alexandria according to his statements in Al Masry Al Youm , adding  that he will continue working for the independence of the judicial system. I do not know if it is going to easy while being a lawyer not a judge

Honestly I did not see this coming nor did I want it to happen.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Egyptians,Judges,judicial system,Alexandria,Judges' Club,Mahmoud El-Hadiry,Politics,National,Ali Mar'ee,Middle East,Mideast

Meet Queen Fatimah of Libya

For the first time since a very long time Queen Fatimah of Libya , the last living Queen of the Senussi dynasty was the subject of an Arabic newspaper report  .
I understand why the Saudi-owned Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat made a report about the 91 years old Queen in exile in the same Qaddafi was celebrating the 40 anniversary of his so-called revolution which is a military coup to be accurate.
Queen Fatimah has been living in exile in Cairo since the revolution in 1969.
Currently, the former Queen is in hospital.
Hopefully, she will get well. I wish time will come and she will see the day her country without Al-Qaddafi.
The former Queen has won recently a lawsuit against the State in Libya to restore her old palace in some Libyan city , I do not know if it were Benghazi or Tripoli but I know that currently this palace is the new HQ of the British Embassy in Libya if I were not mistaken.
Here was Queen Fatimah of Libya  several years ago along with her late husband King Idris's advisor in the Holy land.

Queen Fatimah of Libya in Holy Land 

Here are some photos for the former Queen in the past :