Flotilla Follow Up : And The Freedom flotilla has won

This much more updated and comprehensive post than the first one I posted earlier.

1. The commandos attacked happened on humanitarian vessels in international waters , the flotilla had not entered the Israeli water.
2. The organizers had been rising White flags
3. The commandos started to open their fires while they were going down from the helicopter. 
4. There is no clear news on what happened exactly to Sheikh Raed Salah, since the morning there has been contradicting news on what exactly happened to him.
5. No news about the archbishop Capucci either but Nobel Prize Mairead Corrigan Maguire has been captured.
6. There are updates from Israel except that 16 activists are detained and transferred to Beersheba and the rest will be deported to their countries after promising not to do this again !! There are rumors that Israel wants to exchange the detainees with Shalit.
7. 3 hospitals in Ashdod , Ashkelon and Tel Aviv are in full alert just like the rest of the country .
8. The Israeli commandos had detailed list with certain people with pictures, you can see it here

The target list from a Turkish TV

Here is a very early report from Marmar after the attack.

The target list from a Turkish TV

I do not know how the Israelis think but I believe all their plans have failed as the whole world is against them now in a rare moment , real rare moment when the ugly face of the IDF and the racism of the Israeli administration are shown to the whole world naked with no masks what so ever. Bibi had to cut his visit in Canada and return back immediately to Tel Aviv cancelling his highly anticipated meeting with Obama which to be held tomorrow. The white house has already released a press statement which is ambiguous and very diplomatic in its own way if I may say. 
That operation whatever silly name the Israelis call it proved to be a big fiasco whether politically or from media point of view.  Israel is forcing the people and the world to isolate it more and more , academically many international universities and academies are boycotting Israel , many markets and trade associations are boycotting Israel and I believe more associations and groups will boycott Israel .
Now to international and regional reactions starting with Turkey which considered the attack on Marmar is an attack on the Turkish waters in Marmar sea.
The Turks are on fire , they are very extremely angry and politically all Turkish parties are against the attack of Marmar especially with the Turkish death toll. Since last time the Turks were protesting in front of the Israeli consulate after knowing that the Israelis were following the flotilla with bad intentions. It seems that they stayed till the morning when they knew what happened and tried to storm the consulate building in extreme anger. Turkey has summoned both its ambassador in Tel Aviv and the Israeli envoy in Ankara. Today there was an attack on a Turkish base at the same time the Prime minister is abroad, the President has met with the defense minister and let's say that there is a lots of jazz in Turkey.
Here is a video showing the Turks protesting in front the Israeli consulate

From Press TV : Turkish protesters try to storm Israeli consulate.

Ironically the flotilla has united for the first time Turkey and Greece as both countries decided to cancel their military exercises with Israel which were to be held in the coming months. Greece also summoned the Israeli ambassador along with almost all the European countries that have got citizens on the flotilla.There are also protests in these countries in front of the Israelis consulates and embassies.


In Egypt in a very rare scene about 600 activists and protesters gathered in front of the Foreign affairs embassy to condemn the attack including the Muslim brotherhood whom for the first time shouted against Mubarak.

There was another protest on the famous journalists syndication staircase. The Muslim brotherhood called for huge protest which starting point is El-Fatah Mosque in Ramses St. If I am not mistaken. There have been about 5 protests in 5 governorates today in the country.
Officially Mubarak in Paris has condemned the excess use of power calling and called for an end to the siege in Gaza and please do not ask me what he meant because I do not understand it at all. The arrest of two MB MPs in Israel for sure makes the NDP happy especially the Shura elections are to be held tomorrow.
The league of Arab states has condemned as usual what happened and they are going to meet tomorrow in order to discuss it. Protests are held in Lebanon ,Syria, Palestinian territories and Mauritania.
Please follow this post this post as it will be updated accordingly.

Technorati Tags: Freedom Flottila,Politics,Human rights,America,Israel,Egypt,Lebanon,Palestine,Video,Gaza,activism,IDF,Raed Salah,Turkey,Ragab Tayyib Erdogan,army,Mideast,Middle east,follow up

Breaking News : And They Attacked Flotilla After all

I do not want to start my day like this but the Israeli Navy has just attacked the Gaza flotilla in its way to Gaza killing at least 10 activists , unarmed peace activists. 
This so coward , so disrespectful and so uncivilized not to mention so IDF if I may say.
The Turks are extremely angry , already 9 Turks are reportedly killed in the attack. Arabs were killed also. There are 4 Egyptians in the flotilla among them a member of parliament
Here is a live stream from one the ships in the flotilla
I hope that you follow my twitter account to get the updates

Updates : 

• First of all you must know that this attack happened in international water. 
• Second and most important thing you must know that the commandos had lists with names and photos to target for certain action

And Al-helou Circus and liver restaurants are innocent After All !!

From couple of weeks ago Alexandria was living in terror when donkeys' heads and remains were found in one of the gardens , there was a fear that with the increase in meat price , butchers and liver restaurants would go to other alternatives than beef : Donkeys and dogs !!

That fear was the talk of the town when they found the dead donkeys' remains but thank goodness there was another suspect than the restaurants and butchers : Al-Helou Circus !!

Al-Helou Circus was in town and its major stars , the lions eat donkeys and so all fingers were on the most famous lion trainers in Egypt and probably in the Arab world : Al-Helou dynasty.

Glamorous and fearless Faten Al-Helou defended her lions and her circus

     I do not feed my lions donkeys despite lions do eat donkey , my lions eat chicken everyday

She said it on air defending herself and her lions still the crime was following her till at last the police in Alex managed to solve the mysterious case and found the real motive : Feeding  lions but not circus lions but rather pet lions !! pet lions with diplomatic immunity too as it seems !!!!!!!!

It turned out an Uzbekistan embassy official , the media advisor along with an Egyptian man were keeping 8 lions in two villas in Alex near that garden where the remains of the poor donkeys were found !!

Of course they are facing several charges of raising these pets without permission and slaughtering these donkeys ..etc and the Uzbekistan embassy does not answer the phone in order to know their opinion in the involvement of their media advisor !! Already in this situation the media advisor comes to risk but he is already in legal trouble !!

What were they doing with these 8 lions !!?? Pet lions , yes I saw that heart breaking video of friendly domestic lion on YouTube but these are not one lion but rather 8 lions which eat raw donkey meat !!!

Speaking of lions , our Egyptian lions in the Zoo just like the Egyptian people are overpopulated and it seems that family planning has failed in their animal community too because there are so many cubs and old lions the Giza Zoo does not know what to do with them. I got a set of suggestions and I do not know if someone would be interested in them or not :

1. Already our Giza Zoo is suffering from shortage in other animals and birds , why we do not exchange with other Zoos in the world !!?? We can take their overpopulated animals and birds for our lions !!??
2. Distribute them on Zoos in Egypt , other than in Giza and Alexandria. I know for instance that Al Arish Zoo does not have a lion.
3. We can return them to the forests of Africa !!?? Especially the old ones.

Nice suggestions but I am sure that the Zoo administration thought of them before me and found them not that interesting for some reason.

Technorati Tags: Animals,Citizen journalism,Caucasus,in the wind's direction,nature,national,media,society,Alexandria,lions,Faten Al-Helou,Al-Helou Circus,restuarants,meat,food,Giza Zoo,mideast,middle east,Uzbekistan

Turkish protesters try to storm Israeli consulate

Here is a video from Iranian Press TV showing both the attack on the Flotilla and the Turks' attempt to storm the Israeli Consulate.
In the first part you can see the Israeli Commandos crystal clear

ElBaradei tours old Cairo

Mohamed ElBaradei has visited this morning Old Cairo along with a group of his supporters. His group invited those who were interested to join them in their tour yesterday despite it was not Friday but rather Sunday and no one for instance like me can leave his job to tour Old Cairo , why not Friday or Saturday !!!!!!!!!

First of all I must respect his decision to be treated like any other Egyptian citizen while visiting old Cairo. He visited the famous Hanging Church , Egypt's oldest Church , Ben Ezra synagogue and Amr Ibn Al As Mosque , the first Mosque in Egypt. I do not know if the choice of these locations has a specific message.

Here is a video from the Daily News Egypt

Be Our Guests

I read this post by Khadija Sharife at the Globe and Mail online where she criticizes and attacks the Mubarak regime as expected and there is a small part that stopped which I want to share with you :

    It came as no surprise then, when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak advised Israel to reject Qatar’s offer of reconstructing the Gaza Strip in exchange for Israeli recognition of Qatar’s political weight in the Middle East.But in doing so, Mubarak Inc revealed the regime’s vulnerability as a “sub-imperial” power already in decline. Simply put, Egypt’s draconian state cannot survive Qatar’s proposal — normalising free movement of goods and material through Gazan borders religiously sealed by Egypt: Mubarak’s regime depends on it.

First of all why does Qatar need the Israeli recognition for its political weight ??

Real regional countries with real political weight do not need recognition of anyone , they impose themselves as regional powers just like Turkey and even like Brazil which imposed itself in the region with the Iranian Nuke deal.

Look I am tired from that sort of talk that Qatar wants to take over Egypt's role and how jealous the prince of Qatar from Egypt and Mubarak …etc to the end of this talk and honestly I invite whoever wants to take our role to take it , be our guest !!

Yes we are moving from bad to worse but I do not think that the Egypt as regional power will be replaced so easily by a newly regional political power like Qatar and this is why I do not understand why there is huge fear that it would take our place in the region. Already the regime through its media showed several times that Egypt has suffered enough from its regional power position which made it lose a lot from their point of view , so what is the harm of taking a little rest and back again to the arena when we are strong !!??

The prince of Qatar is not angelic nationalist as portrayed , do not believe the crocodile tears of a man that hosts foreign army bases in his country and asks a country like Israel to recognize his country as a regional power.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Politics,regional,national security,Qatar,Israel,Gaza,Mideast,Middle East

Between Ganz' Egypt And The Bulaq Crazes' Egypt

GanZ aka Ahmed Ganzouri , a name most Egyptians from the middle and low class ignore despite they have been introduced to him briefly in the new Melody Drama advertising campaign where as it is a well known name in the high A Class ; Ganzouri aka GanZ is an event planner and restaurants owner whose parties are the talk of the "A Class" towns for many years now.

Al Wafd Party's Elections : It is too Good to be true

El Wafd party has a new chairman, businessman ElSayed El Badawy Shehata who owns Hayat TV Network and Sigma Pharmaceutical according to the elections that were held last Friday in the party's HQ in Giza after a strong media battle with Mahmoud Abaza , the ex-chairman.
These elections are considered as a breakthrough in partisan life in Egypt as just the majority party the official parties believe that till death do us apart when it comes to its chairman.

Do Not Damn The Dam

This is a very old newsreel showing the commence of high dam construction works , you can see late President Nasser of Egypt and King Mohamed V of Morocco as a guest of honor. "From British Pathe Archives"

WORK COMMENCES ON THE ASWAN HIGH DAM

Of course we can't remember these days now and I bet some of the anti-Nasser camp will say that we should not have built that dam which saved us from a whole decade of droughts and deadly floods we can't imagine because we are very lucky , well we were very lucky . Already historically Adrian Daninos had proposed the high dam project to the government pre-1952 which refused its project as it seemed to huge too implement and crazy then,w hat will be those haters' reaction if it were built by the orders of his majesty king Farouk of Egypt and Sudan; here I am speaking about the "We hate the Dam coz it is a Nasser's achievement" not about the serious experts who oppose the high dam for its cons.
I believe the high dam is not fully used by us so we can get benefit from , we still have villages with no water nor electricity access at all , the basis elements of living in any country. For 3 decades sewage has been using for irrigation in Egypt and the ministry of agriculture along with the regime kept watching. The dam built to improve and upgrade life conditions in Egypt but all those years the regime regardless of the president did not adopt policies to do so , the welfare of the citizen and the country has not been the number no.1 priority I am afraid at least in the last years of the country.
I still believe we can solve cons of the high dam if we as citizens want to ,we can form a public committee from scientists ,experts and ecologists to search for solutions ; it is never too late to do anything. That committee can use the new media to deliver its message and force the regime in to its findings. This is not a romantic dream but rather a suggestion for whoever interested and God is my witness.
The dam may save us if we want to save ourselves too , we should not waste the water of the Nile saved by the dam , we should start to construct real eco-friendly water infrastructure in the villages with no water access in the first place , we should cut off the water from all those fancy useless swimming pools in the North Coast and new communities in 6th of October governorate and the 5th Compound not to mention the Orabi Palaces city !!  We must demand the government to start recycling grey water for irrigation and the reclamation of the desert starting from Sinai , the old plan of Sadat which for some reason was forgotten.
Do not blame the dam or its builders but blame the regime which does not plan for tomorrow and for once start to act.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Economy,Follow Up,History,Media,Video,Nostalgia,Politics,Nile crisis,Nasser,Sadat,Mubarak,democracy,Mideast,Middle East

Follow Gaza Freedom Flotilla live

You can watch the progress of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla live below here. Up till the moment of writing down these lines the flotilla has not reached yet to Gaza despite its arrival is expected today.

1967 memories : the personal victories and defeats

the anniversary of the six days war is on doors and the usual Karbala actions of self crucifixion and blame will hit the Arab world from the Gulf to the ocean. It is frustrating when I look to it now as some Arab brothers are insisting on living the illusion that the IDF is the invincible army and that we can't restore our lost 1967 land whether through war or peace. In Egypt I believe we learnt our lesson very well as people and as an army too , we restore our land through war and peace thanks to the Yom Kippur war but still remember the defeat in 1967.

Anyhow aside of this introduction I want to share you the personal memories of Amira Nowaira at the Guardian's CIF. Nowaira is former chairperson of the department of English at Alexandria University and is currently professor of English literature in the same department. She wrote her personal memories as a teenage girl in June 1967 and what she wrote is exactly what my family used to tell me about how the people received the news of the defeat and how the people used to mock and even attack the army men return from the defeated front which had become the invaded front forcing the army to issue an order to bar its men from wearing uniforms for quite some time and forcing the defeated pharaoh Nasser to ask people to stop mocking their men.

The 1967 defeat according to the revolution generation was the breaking point in their way of thinking and their beliefs about the nation , it is undisputed truth according to all those I met , all those who woke up from a great dream some consider an illusion on a fearful reality and continued to live in it. That generation knew that dictatorship was what brought to us this huge horrible defeat and yet when the turn on this generation came to rule , it continued to support dictatorship leaving us a defeat that is even greater than a loss of land !!

And like every year this is just the start of our modern Karbala celebration !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Guardian,CIF,Amira Nowaira,Politics,Egyptian army,History,National,Media,Nasser,1967,Six days war,Mideast,Middle East,Democracy

Follow Up : Inmate no.202130

Thanks to Egyptian Chronicles readers I found the recorders Dr. Usama Zaghloul in Hudson county jail , here it is.

Now these are the charges he is being accused of :

1. Endangering Welfare of Children "2C:24-4"
2. Abuse of Child {Neglect and Cruelty} "9:6-3"
3. Sexual assault " 2C:14-2B"
4. Aggravated sexual assault " 2C:14-2A"
5. Terrorist threat charges "2C:12-3"

According to the second charge , he was accused of child abuse in specific neglect and cruelty and according to the description of the neglect charge he must have a custody of a certain child in front of the state

The third charge , sexual assault is a second degree crime with a maximum penalty up to 10 years in jail. Sexual assault is the legal term for rape in New Jersey and indicates a sexual penetration. The victim should be related to the accuser whether professionally or occupationally or custodian relations. He is being accused of raping a victim that is less than 13 years old.

The fourth charge , aggravated sexual assault the accuser should be related to the victim or has official has supervisory or disciplinary power over the victim. The penalty of the fourth charge is a first degree crime under the New Jersey law with a maximum penalty up to 20 years in jail.

Did he marry and have a family in the States without his family's knowledge !!?? The only son he has according to our knowledge is in Cairo and has never visited the States nor did he see his dad since he was a baby for once in person !! Did he marry in the States some woman with a child !!?? 

He was accused 6 times of terroristic threats charges and in New Jersey these charges are common and grave , he needs to have a lawyer

A good question asked by the readers in my previous post : Why have not we hear about this crime in the mainstream media especially with the Mid Eastern roots of Zaghloul !!??

Technorati Tags: Usama Zaghloul,Citizen journalism,America,Egypt,Human rights,Geek,sexual assault,Follow Up,New Jersey,hudson county jail,geek

Chomsky In Israeli channel 2

Noam Chomsky was banned from entering Israel during his Middle East as you may know and it caused a huge scandal in the so-called oasis of democracy in the region.
Now Israeli Channel 2 made an interview with Chomsky in Jordan , the channel sent our Mona El-Houssainy Israeli twin to interview him !! You can watch the interview below

Chomsky in Israeli Ch.2

Chomsky in Lebanon

I do not know if that woman were trained in the ERTV's News sector or not but certainly she got that style of our official TV hosts . I believe that the TV host should present the other view like in case of the famous interview of ElBaradei on Dream TV2 still to alienate itself from the cause's of the other view  or his own views in order to be unbiased in the eyes of the viewer and also the guest but in our case here we got the opposite !!
From interruption to justification to offensive facial expression , it was not an interview but it was a public trial for Chomsky and his views ; I do not have doubt that many Zionists in Israel were so happy with her.
Chomsky visited Lebanon after Jordan where he attended Hassan Nasrallah's speech at the inauguration of their war museum in South Lebanon.
I believe Chomsky is a reasonable man and he really cares for Israel unlike what it is claimed

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Democracy,Israel,Freedom of expression,Human rights,Video,Regional,Politics,Lebanon,Noam Chomsky,TV,Interviews,Middle East,Mideast,Peace process,Nuclear

Egyptian X-Files : Inmate No.202103

Last week Egyptians were introduced to the case of Dr.Usama Zaghloul , the Egyptian American, they were introduced to his old mother who no one wants to see her crying and begging for help on TV again and they heard officials speaking briefly about him in TV channels and printed media.

Zaghloul

Dr. Zaghloul is an Egypt American Nuclear researcher who is currently accused of pedophilia and is awaited for trail in jail according to the Americans. Of course pedophilia charges are dangerous and according to the supreme court the federal government has the power to keep some sex offenders behind bar indefinitely if they may prove to be dangerous in the future.
His family believes that he is innocent and that the Americans sent to jail because he wanted to return back to Egypt for a visit and they do not want him to do so according to his phone calls. They are insisting on his innocence demanding help from the ministry of foreign affairs which by its turn stated that the Egyptian consulate tried to help but he rejected that help !!!!! The whole matter seems to be a mysterious especially with the curse that follows our nuclear scientists and researchers.
But first who is Dr.Usama Zaghloul , prisoner no. 202103 in Hudson prison , New Jersey ??
Usama Hosni Mustafa Zaghloul is a nuclear researcher who moved to the States in 1994 after working NAMRU-3 in Cairo, he worked in a unit following the American Navy then moved to the university of Washington according his family. He did not visit Egypt for once since then even to attend his father's funeral. According to his family back in Cairo he was rich as he has $ 7 million in his account which were confiscated !!
I do not know the background of Zaghloul's case and whether he is an innocent or not but there are certain details that stopped me like for instance why he did not take his wife or son with him or why he did not invite his mother to visit him in the States if he was more than stable financially.I found research papers by his name specifically in nanotechnology field he published prior to his arrest , I also found that he was a PHD student in LAAS along with other Egyptian and Arab researches till 2009¹. I will be lying if I claim I understand his work.I tried to do a quick people search on him and I found two Usama Zaghlouls , one in Brooklyn and another one in Schenctady; well both in the big apple thought. I tried to locate him in jails using the inmate locator search engines and his inmate ID no. but I failed too.
His family is accusing the Americans of fabricating that grave charges against him in order to stop him from coming Egypt without giving any solid reasons but if we do believe that he is innocent than we do have to search for reasons ; is it the famous Egyptian Nuclear scientists and researchers curse which is more deadly and more real than the pharaohs curse !!??
Besides the enigmatic deaths of our Nuclear scientists starting by Mustafa Mosharafa and Samira Moussa , I recall that there was a promising Nuclear researcher who was beaten till death after being accused of sexual harassment in London from couple of years , unfortunately I can't remember his name nor the exact date of his case.
There are lots of questions with no answer in this case I am afraid , starting of how a man so rich does not bring his family with him especially that his son has not seen him for once in person for 16 years since his birth , even those who work in area 51 bring their families to Nevada, another thing his family says that he was accused of raping a woman then he was accused of raping about 16 child which is much worse and more dangerous charge.
A new session in his trial was to be hold on last 20th May yet I could not find anything online about it nor about the case and so I am asking for help from my dear American readers because our sensational media made us interested to know more about the trial and the story of that nuclear researcher then as usual left us with any follow ups 
The whole matter can be resolved by the ministry of foreign affairs , if he is a real pedophile then he should be in jail till death and  if he is an innocent , God will be with him because I do not think that this regime will help him I am afraid
Notes
1. European Associated laboratory's PowerPoint slide 

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Politics,Nanotechnology,National security,Geek,America,Usama Zaghloul,Egyptian X-Files,Nuclear,Nuke,LAAS,sex offenders,Samira Mousa,Media

The Religious Societies : The Shiite

The Religious Communities Series is still on , there are still religious communities we need to know more about in the world. This time the religious community is from with in our religion : The Shiite , the second biggest religious community after the Sunni and the most diverse group from with in.

Here is the Al Jazeera Documentary Production : The Religious Societies " The Shiites"

Pray As You Want , No Human Lives Forever

It is an old news : the Israelis are scared on the health of Mubarak but will their prayers to the rais be accepted !!? They know that he will not live forever or even worse he could be an ex-president by a revolution or a coup.

The Iranian example of the Shah is hunting the Israelis and they believe that the American administration will stop any one they dislike from taking over the throne of Egypt, I am afraid it is not up to them nor to the Americans especially now.

Let the Israeli government fears the Muslim brotherhood despite they likely will not rule insh Allah for many reasons the brotherhood knows very well. I just hope both the Americans and the Israelis back off from what ever is going to happen in Egypt because the Egyptians are reaching to a point of no return in their anger according to many indicators.

Israel claims to be the oasis of ultimate democracy in the Middle East where as it does not wish for Southern neighbor to have a real democracy , is not this selfishness !!??

By the way did you notice the part where it says Bibi does not want to remind the world that Mubarak is participating willingly in the siege of Gaza !!

Technorati Tags: Politics,Haartez,Citizen Journalism,Mubarak,Obama,Bibi,Follow Up,America,Media,National security,Health,Succession,Muslim brotherhood,Mideast,Middle East

Scheherazade Must Die !!

Poor Scheherazade , she made it and her life was spared by her tales in the ancient times where as in the modern times some are trying to ban the tales that saved her and the daughters of her nation for 1000 and 1 nights !!

The cover of the 1935 edition

You may have read or heard that there are a group of lawyers trying to ban a specific edition from the world famous One thousand and one nights aka Arabian nights because of its sexual explicit content !!! It is not NSFW book as they realized and thus it has to banned immediately to save the society and its morals from its evil. This was not the first time as it happened before in when 1985 some lawyers wanted to ban that edition from the book. .
First of all you must know that the edition they are speaking about is the oldest edition printed from the book in modern Egypt during the time of Mohamed Ali pasha at the famous Imbaba printing house and it was printed after the approval and the revision of Al Azhar ; yes approved by the Al Azhar in the 19th century with its bad NSFW words and imagery !!! Already the last edition available from the Imbaba printing house is the 1935 edition which is not even in Cairo or at the Bibliotheque Alexandrie but rather in University of Toronto !! "Do not ask me how or why !!"

Second of all I believe that group of lawyers should search for something much more important and vital for the Egyptian people , like for instance the lost rights of workers and farmers or the sick ...etc We got much important issues in the country than a 100 years old edition from a book most people prefer to watch as a series and not to read because they do not read now !! They do not have time to read nor money to buy that big edition nor they can read and understand the difficult Classic Arabic of that edition if they buy it !! It is ironic because those imageries and words those lawyers are angry and fear on the society from may not be easy to understand for the average Mohamed in the Egyptian street who does not have proper education in the first place !!
The Arabian nights book despite its importance and value was always fought as danger on the society's morale even in the west before the east , when the book was translated to French and English it caused a lot of uproar in 18th century due to its sexual content too.
Already I read the full Arabian nights , the original which I will believe is uncensored , it was published in 4 book by the Dar Al Kotob Al-ilmiyah in Beirut and despite this publishing house is specialized for Islamic religious books yet I believe from what I read they did not remove anything from it as far as I could tell. I do not know what edition I have read thought. My own judgment is that this book is amazing with its stories inside stories , a complete different world and yes there is a lot of sex but there are even more racism towards other races too that made me uncomfortable. But other than that well it is fantastic , really fantastic and you would be surprise with the poetry,the proverbs and even the historical incidents mentioned in the book. I can't easily describe or explain this book but if you are a bookworm like me that I recommend you to recommend to read Dr. Sohair El-Kalmawy's doctoral dissertation about the book because no man has analyzed the nights like her. I swear there full pages I want to share it with you especially the rule and authority.
Since my childhood I was prepared for the Nights starting with the simplified clean versions complied for children by Kamel El-Keilany and it was among my biggest wishes to have the complete collection , the original collection regardless of the sexual imageries. The Arabian Nights book is not a sex book for Teenagers despite you have explicit sexual imageries yet they were employed dramatically and the book did not encourage this practices on the contrary you find that the consequences of these actions are always bad. Already I wonder why this book did not cause all this controversy in the past and approved by Al Azhar where as now we got all that jazz.
The nights book is not the only book with explicit imageries yet for some reason it is only remembered. What we see in TV is much more worse for God sake , just tune in to Melody TV and you will know what I mean.
Scheherazade gave life lessons to her husband over 1001 nights especially in Politics and the art of rule , this is why many people wish to see her dead. 

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Books,Culture,Arab,History,National,Arabian nights,Scheherazade,1001,One thousand and one nights,Mideast,Middle East

Now You Know That Israel Has Nuclear Weapons

Now the world has known that Israel got a Nuclear weapons arsenal from long time that in 1970s Israel offered to sell nuke arms to South Africa according to declassified secret Southern African documents that go back to 1975.
Now the world has another evidence of what we have been saying from a long time , what is going to happen !!??
Nothing I am afraid , nothing will happen as the big countries know from a very long time about the Israeli Nukes arsenal , in fact they did help Israel a lot in its nuke program , this is from one side. From another side Israel does not have to defend or open its nuclear facilities for inspection because it has not and will not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Israel does not have to obey anyone accordingly and thus aside of the noise nothing will harm it from this exposure regardless of their official denial.
Mohamed ElBaradei was often criticized for keeping his eyes shut on the Israeli Nuclear activities during the IAEA and he fired back saying that the IAEA could not do anything to Israel because the later did not sign the treaty unlike the Arab countries  Egypt which he wondered why they signed the treat in the first place.
Despite the fact that the Israeli Nuke arsenal will not be used against us in perfect world but in real world we have to wonder why we have signed the Non proliferation treaty so early especially how uninterested our regime is in reviving our nuclear program in the first place. I believe President Sadat did a mistake by signing this treaty.

Abu El-Gait Fights Freedom of Expression

Ahmed Abu El-Gait is suing famous Egyptian TV host and member of NFC Hamdi Qandeel for libel.Abu El-Gait is angry from what Qandeel wrote from two weeks ago in his op-ed at Al Shorouk newspaper , it seems that the minister reads for the famous opposition icon.

Qandeel wrote an op-ed where he criticized as usual Mubarak and his regime. There is no mention for Abu El-Gait except in the end when he said the following :

    Before our fall the ambassador of Egypt in Israel assured that he is not staying in an enemy state denying a statement where the FM described Israel as an enemy , and he would not deny except if the statement was not spelled by accident from the minister's mouth from which words spell out as trash spell out from a garbage bag.

This is a strong tough comparison for sure but let's agree that the statements of Abu El-Gait are provoking and do not suit a diplomat but rather a thug who will cut the leg whoever crosses our borders !! I understand how angry a Nasserite Nationalist like Qandeel is from Abu El-Gait but I can't blame him because this man did not do any good to our foreign policy

Honestly I do not know why Abu El-Gait is angry from Qandeel , this is not the first time he is being attacked or criticized , in fact others criticize and mock him harshly like for instance Gamal Fahmi in Al Dostor !!

Is not this action against the freedom of expression the Mubarak regime claims to protect !!??

Hopefully insh Allah he will lose the case.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,democracy,media,national,politics,Israel,Abu El-Gait,Hamdi Qandeel,Freedom of expression,Gamal Fahmi,Shorouk,Dostor

What Do You Expect From An Invader ??

"Future gay terrorists" this is how Robert Rodriguez called two Iraqi boys whom he mocked in a video in his Facebook account. The Alaskan solider decided to entertain himself in the boring war time by mocking two little Iraqi brothers asking them stupid questions in English and they would nod without realizing their meaning till the older brother felt that they were being mocked by a foreigner.

The video caused little disturbance when it was posted in the Facebook , it seems that someone reported that video thankfully and the case is being investigated. Rodriguez made his account private after the media began to speak about it yet the video seemed to find its way in other soldiers' account.

See Saint Antony Monastery

You can see the historical Saint Antony Monastery now and enjoy a short tour in that old historical monastery which became a touristic attraction of its own now.
Last Saturday Misr El-Nahrda and Mahmoud Saad took the viewers in to the monastery and discovered the Christian monasticism , here the tour in Arabic with no translation I am afraid.

Let's Close The Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Then

Word is circulating that the file of Nile basin countries and Egypt's Nile river share is transferred from the ministry of Foreign affairs to the General intelligence Service aka GIS.
I think this is the fourth file to be transferred to the GIS from the ministry of foreign affairs after the Palestinian file , our relations with Levant countries "Syria and Lebanon"  file and the Sudanese file !!
I understand the national security dimension of these files that demands the role of intelligence agencies as source of information not as a decision maker regardless of the negotiation talents of General Omar Soliman and his men because crisis requires diplomacy in the beginning and in the end , yes a little bit of dirty work is not bad on the short run but on the long run we need a solid basis for mutual relations with our neighbors in the South.
Already I do not know the GIS can do after the deal has been made in the South , what Soliman can possibly do with his men if diplomacy does not work ; Shall we play on the political instability of these countries ?? I do not think that we should play this game because the reason I mention in the previous paragraph and also we are not that strong country anymore to play this game to be honest.
Transferring the file to the GIS means that the civilian ministry foreign of affairs is suffering from sort of problem because this is not the first file to be transferred to the GIS , the problem seems to be in its minister to be accurate because since Abu El-Gait's appointment our diplomacy is moving from bad to worse to worst. Abu El-Gait seems to achieve nothing at all I can recall , unlike for instance his colleague minister Faiza Abu Naga of international cooperation for example. The ministry of foreign affairs seemed to be a burden on the state in time of Abu El-Gait , it does not provide help or stand with Egyptians abroad , it is following the orders of the regime blindly and the important foreign relations files are transferred to the GIS where Omar Soliman is technically our acting minister of foreign affairs ; tell me what is the use of having that ministry especially it has huge costs.
By the way I have question , Does not the GIS have its share from that fiasco of our Nile river share along with ministries of Foreign affairs and water source and irrigation !!?? I mean I can't believe the GIS was away from what is happening at the South as logically the ministries back in Egypt could not move without intelligence information. Of course Abu El-Gait had misused the intelligence he was given, there is no doubt in that.
Another question if the GIS does not save the day in the South , will General Omar Soliman face the public in the parliament and confess his fiasco !!?? Of Course not because we do not have this type of parliament in the first place.
I am very angry because the ministry of foreign affairs of those men like Mahmoud Fawzi and Ismail Fahmi has reached to that level.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Africa,Nile,Arab,media,National,National Security,Politics,Abu El-Gait,Omar Soliman,Faiza Abu El Naga,Mideast,Middle East

Follow Up : Regarding the Mercedes Scandal

I do not know why our press is ignoring the facts that the Mercedes Daimler bribe scandal is related to the ministry of trade and industry when it is related to the ministry of military production according to the official files from the Justice department in the United States itself. Why does our media ignore these facts while it is being announced abroad !!?
I understand that the regime should have some self esteem and declare the name of this official instead of hiding it but why the complete right details of the scandal are not announced.
By the way I respect Ibrahim Eissa's concern with this huge scandal and how he reminds the people before the officials with it every 48 hours on air.
Up till this moment contrary to the official claims the Egyptian State has not requested officially the name of that official from the justice department in the United States.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Politics,democracy,economy,follow up,media,national,daimler,mercedes,ibrahim Eissa,On Tv,mideast,middle east,corruption

A Violent Reaction For Silly Thing

Yesterday there was a match in Alexandria between "El-Hoddod" club and "Ghazal Al-Mahala" where the later lost the game and also points. "Al Mahala" fans were extremely angry and started to protested against the loss of point as accordingly their club was demoted from the premier league. It was the usual expected anger and violence from football fans but what was unusual was how the security forces reacted to , they attacked unarmed citizens violently against laws and norms. The video clip was snapped by a journalist from Alexandria Photo News blog.

London Taxi in Giza

I was in Mohendessin trying to cross the street when I saw coming in my way from two week , a strange black car coming in to my way , it looked familiar but I could not make any connection due to the very hot weather but sooner when it passed me and I saw that sign , I remembered that this was a London Taxi !!

To be honest it did not caught my attention only but the attention of all those in the street who wanted to know what is and what brand this car is , of course all of us in the street did not know that the London Taxi service is currently operating in Egypt. I tried to find more information about the LTI service in Egypt but I could not , if my dear reader has any link to any thing , I will be more than thankful for sharing.

I always like the London taxi and surely they will add more to the taxi carnival in our streets from the old black & White to the Yellow city Cab to the White taxi ended to the new Ladies only pink taxi which I read that someone is trying to bring to Egypt. If you ask me I prefer the London taxi over this stupid useless pink taxi.

By the way if we are going to import taxis from abroad , why can't we have these funny yellow taxies aka coca-taxi in our coastal cities like in Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh.

Of course this post would have been great if it would have enriched by a shot for the London taxi in our Egyptian street if I had not been too lazy to get my mobile phone from my bag but you have to excuse me , it was so hot and I wanted to return back home as soon as possible.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Society,National,London taxi,LTI,Giza,Mideast,Middle East,Egyptian Life,Taxi,White taxi,Pink Taxi,Economy

Our Channel For Change

Mohamed ElBaradei made interview with France 24 which You can watch it here.

A wonderful to the point interview and honestly I liked the questions he was asked in that short time. He spoke about Egypt , Iran and the Israel Nukes too.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Citizen journalism,Europe,Politics,Follow Up,National,Media,Presidential elections 2011,Democracy,Mohamed ElBaradei,France 24,Mubarak,Israel,WMD,Iran

Egyptian Chronicles on Your Mobile Phone

After the newsletter and the RSS ,here comes Egyptian Chronicles invading your Mobile Phone ;)

Egyptian Chronicles can be accessed through your Mobile Phone easily :

http://egyptianchronicles.mofuse.mobi/

Egyptian Chronicles can be accessed through iPhone too :

http://egyptianchronicles.mofuse.mobi/iphone

You can have your blog readable in this way on mobile phones  through MoFuse .

Via Ahmed Abdel Fatah :)

Today your mobile ,and tomorrow the world ;)

Technorati Tags: Egyptian Chronicles,Mobile Phones,iPhone,WAP,Letter from the editor

Vodafone To leave Egypt : More Than Economic Decision

Telecom Egypt wants to buy all the Shares of Vodafone in Vodafone Egypt mobile operator

A news that made headlines in almost all the newspapers in Egypt today , a surprising news that no one has expected. The local telecommunication giant which is struggling to stand against the mobile phone operators in Egypt wants to buy 55% of the shares of Vodafone Egypt for LE 30 billion.The losses of the stock exchanges and woes of Greece made TE to think about this daring proposition.

TE is in deep trouble , it wants to secure itself in front the invasion of mobile phone operators , nobody is using the landlines now and it has to find a new way to make sure it will exist in the 21st century.

Now I do not understand Vodafone position from all this , the Egyptian market is very profitable and they have secured their place in the market indeed and it is not only about mobile phone operator but it has become more than that so what is going on !!??

According to the Guardian , the British giant wants to focus on Europe and India and this is why it will sacrifice its successful Middle East investment.

Is Vodafone going to leave the market or is it a big game for the stock markets !!?? And if it is packing for real ; is it because of economic woes only or because of the unknown political future of Egypt or both of them !!??

Capital money is coward and giant companies as Vodafone hate to invest in politically instable countries , it is not a secret if anything happens to the Mubarak regime many foreign businesses will re-think in staying in this instable time in the country.You can read the famous Reuters report about the political risks to watch in Egypt because it is related to our issue here.Those giant multi-national companies have market intelligence and market forecast to secure their investments. To enter or exist a foreign market there is a set of factors from economic to political to social factors all combined together so to have a growing fierce competition in a financial crisis time plus unknown political future ; then it is time to pack our bags and leave when it is safe.

By the way If I am not mistaken there was a big talk about corruption in the Misr phone deal, the original network Vodafone acquired and some day all these files will be opened.

I think Vodafone may find no more reason to invest in Egypt, it is better to leave now with profits before crossing the break even point.

Technorati Tags: citizen journalism,Egypt,Economy,politics,Vodafone,Vodafone Egypt,Telecom Egypt,Telecommunications,Mideast,Middle East,Geek,Mobile phones

When Was The Last Time You Saw The Egyptians Like That !!??

When was the last time you saw the Egyptians active and vocal about their rights since the 1952 coup !!??  This is a question I want to ask everyone from the opposition especially the Socialists and Nationalists who suddenly are standing against ElBaradei just because he traveled to the States and met with a group of Egyptians whom were concerned with the future of their mother nation and many of them had left it due to the regime policies.

The Language of Numbers : Our Debts and Our Losses

These are the latest national debt numbers from the CBE which follows the President :

• The external debt has reached to US$ 33 billion  which means LE 183 billion
• The internal debt has reached to LE 841 billion

Back in January the external debt was US $ 31 billion and the internal debt has half trillion Egyptian pound !! 

Our Egyptian stock market has lost LE 31 billion from due to the jazz happening in money market abroad.

Mubarak visited last Thursday Greece to support it in its financial crisis !!!

Ahmed Ezz has accused us of being pessimistic , I think we are not pessimistic but rather passive. Every cabinet in the last 29 years proved that it was worst than the one before especially the economic ministerial group and because of this I will not vote for NDP campaign in the coming parliamentary and presidential elections

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Politics,Mubarak,Internal debt,External debt,National,Greece,Citizen Journalism,elections,presidential elections 2011,economy

What Was He doing In Greece ??

So President Mubarak suddenly decided to visit Greece with no earlier notice that even the Greeks were surprised and their PM had to alert his schedule and to return from Beirut to meet him , can we know the actual reason behind this visit !!??

What kind of cooperation our official media is speaking about when Greece is in a deep trouble and its prime minister was asking the Gulf countries to invest his country !!?? What kind of support Egypt which is  on break of bankruptcy will give to Greece !!?? Well it is anything but financially , probably lessons in security control and how to crack protests !!

Seriously Al Ahram headline was so provoking and comic at the same time but let's focus here on one thing :

Why did Mubarak suddenly visit Greece ??

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Politics,Egypt,Economy,Democracy,Media,Europe,Greece,Mubarak

POW Hosni Mubarak

Most Egyptians do not know that their current President was captured as a POW in the Sand war in 1963 , in fact most of them do not that we were involved in that war between Morocco and Algeria which is still a barrier between the two countries' relations.

That unknown incident was brought up in the Egyptian media for the first time by Ibrahim Eissa who compared between Mubarak the officer and the president in a very daring Op-ed last year.

Now I do not need to study psychology to know that Mubarak as a human was affected by this experience regardless of how long he was captured in Morocco and naturally his views and decisions as an officer after this incident had been changed so I wonder why as a President he seemed to forgot this incident ; in fact why he has not mentioned it for once like his official media which is ignoring that incident for no good reason. I do not think it has to do with the Algerian-Egyptian relations or the Moroccan-Egyptian relations especially the later because the Moroccans do not find it embarrassing to mention it plus how can this incident affect our relations when it was different time !!??

In fact I do not think our mutual relations can be the reason because Mubarak boosts everyday on how he gave the Israelis lessons of their lives in 1973 and he has become a great friend to the Hebrew nation according to them !!??

Is it because a bad memory !!?? Well probably but it is not worse than the bad memory of jail time President Sadat faced twice in his life and kept speaking about them proudly !!?? Plus despite he may have taken wrong decisions as any commander or any person in war time , it was the mistake of the Egyptian regime then to involve in an Arab-Arab conflict in this way.

Is it because it could encourage more people to speak about our own prisoners of opinion in the country who we do not know exactly how many. People may address him as former POW who knows the meaning of detention and abuse and this is why he is keeping it quiet.

Captivity is not an insult to Mubarak , the officer nor the president because Mubarak must realize that he is in end a human.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,POWs,Mubarak,Arab,Politics,Algeria,Morocco,Sands war,history,human rights,Media,Ibrahim Eissa,Nasser,Sadat,Africa,democracy

Indeed It is an Emergency Law for Drug dealers and terrorists !!

This just have came in from an hour ago and do not ask me why we did not know earlier , 11 activists from the national front for change have been detained in Bahaira for no reason at all except for collecting signed statements from the people !!

I do not get it , did not the regime claim that the emergency law will be applied on drug dealers and terrorists !!?? I do not think that those 11 activists are terrorists ,they want to change the regime peacefully and surely they are drug dealers as they want to change the regime and make sure that no more drug dealers find their ways to the parliament !!

The activists in Delta have been very active in collecting signed statements in a very impressive way. I remember that I read a wonderful report in Shorouk about the first field campaign for the NFC activists to gather signatures in Dakhalia governorate specifically at the Manzala lake and this report gave a huge hope , well I bet it freaked the regime so much.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Politics,Emergency law,Bahaira,Damanhur,Dakhalia,Manzala lake,Mideast,Middle east,Delta,Mohamed ElBaradei,Follow Up,democracy,News,Human rights,Middle East

Egyptian X-File : Stuart Tower , The beginning

When the 15th of May correction movement was remembered from a few days ago, I thought that I should write something about it.
I thought of writing something different about this incident aside from the usual talk about that night Sadat got rid of all Nasser's men who thought that he could easily be controlled.

I thought about writing about an Egyptian X-file associated with that night or rather associated with one of the main characters of that night in May 1971 but I was too lazy because I was too tired to do it.

Still, something happened made me more determined to open this file, the file of Al-Lithy Nassef, the first Egyptian to die in London mysteriously from Stuart tower.

ElBaradei To Return Back Home Soon

Mohamed ElBaradei is going to return back to Egypt next week insh Allah to start another round from the campaign of change against the regime. This round will be more controversial because Dr. ElBaradei will visit more than one governorate like Alexandria , Gharbia and Aswan.

The official media is still attacking Dr. ElBaradei as usual , of course when he will return back the attack will intensify again.

The number of signatories on the "Together We will change" statement have reached to 57361 contrary to what the official media claims. By the way are you going to sign the statement now !!??

I hope that Dr.ElBaradei answers my questions and your questions too. Regarding the questions I think lots of questions are irrelevant and I would dare and say that some of the participants are actually from the NDP LE 1500 online agents who spread rumors and doubts online. Many questions I ignore are related to the religious beliefs of ElBaradei in a silly , also most of the questions are asking Dr. ElBaradei as if he will run for candidacy next month !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,ElBaradei,Politics,Presidential elections 2011,Democracy,Mideast,Middle East,follow up,activism