Seen in Alexandria : King Farouk’s true chess set and its missing chessboard

I have to publish this post because I do not like misinformation.

For the three years, a certain photo went viral through Pro-Royal and Pro-Nostalgic Egyptian Facebook pages as the photo of late King Farouk’s magnificent chess set which he received as a gift from his former brother-in-law, late Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi.

It is a very ugly chess set and thankfully it is not the real chess set. I will share it later in this post.

Here is the real and only King Farouk’s chess set as exhibited in Alexandria’s Royal Jewelry Museum.

The real chess set of King Farouk at the Royal Jewelry Museum 

Made gold and encrusted with gemstones, that chess set is another remarkable piece of art from the East.

It was a present of Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi to King Farouk of Egypt and Sudan 

The chess set is model after Indian kings and fighters. Do you know that chess originated in India? Do you know that its name in Arabic Chaturang, directly comes from its original name in India “Chaturanga”?

MBS visits Arab countries : Officially welcomed in Cairo and Publicly not Welcomed in Tunis

After a few hours from now, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman aka MBS will arrive Cairo for a two-day visit as part of his current regional tour in the Arab world before his big international comeback at the upcoming G20 meetings in Argentina.

That’s first regional tour for the crown prince since the assassination of late Saudi writer and journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It is a cheap PR tour to show that MBS is still in control and powerful among the Arab countries especially after the support he got from US president Donald Trump.
There are few people who spoke up and did not welcome MBS in his big PR visit to Egypt.

I have to highlight those people because the Egyptian mainstream media ignored them totally and I hope that the future generations not to blame us and wonder why nobody spoke up.
Egypt’s left-leaning Civil Democratic Movement parties issued a statement not welcoming Prince MBS.

The Civil Democratic Movement said in its statement it issued on Saturday after its meeting that it rejected his visit to Cairo saying “he is not welcomed in the country”.

“The movement has not forgotten that he was one of the main architects of taking over Egypt’s strategic Tiran and Sanafir islands crime.” said the movement at the beginning of the statement reminding us with that painful unforgettable and unforgivable tragedy.

The movement also lists what it believes crimes of the distinguished guest which the Egyptian Presidency issued a statement welcoming him Monday afternoon.
The movement mentioned that his tour was an attempt to beautify his distorted image following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi "which all the evidence available show that he ordered personally its execution"

The movement slammed "the rejected visitor" for his support to Israel quoting the recent statements of both Trump and Benjamen Netanyahu of Israel supporting MBS in the Khashoggi's crisis.

" MBS' biggest crime is the war of Yemen and the air strikes of the coalition led by his regime which resulted in the Yemeni people to have the biggest humanitarian catastrophe in its history," said the statement listing the famine, disease to the rest of the disaster Yemen is currently suffering from right now.

Thankful for US President Trump’s honesty : It is all about oil and Israel

Last week US President Donald Trump spoke about Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.

On Tuesday, he issued a statement that was shocking to many people as he took office the side of the Saudi Arabian regime or rather Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.
The statement was shocking on many levels whether linguistically or politically but it started with the correct phrase “The World is very dangerous”, indeed it is.

In that statement , President Trump who reminded us that Iranian regime and Syrian regime killed and have been killing people too revealed that Saudi officials had said that  {Jamal Khashoggi was an “enemy of the state” and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but my decision is in no way based on that – this is an unacceptable and horrible crime.}

Trump and MBS in the White House in 2017 "AP"

And “Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” because screw logic !!
Aside from the fact that’s one of the worst presidential statements I have read“I read and make news out of them and let alone from the White House”, there is a phrase I could not ignore.

“The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi  Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”

So among the main reasons that Trump is okay that MBS would get away with the murder of Khashoggi is that “he ensures the interests of the United States, Israel and all other partners in the Middle East.”

Seriously speaking if we use our brains in a logic, one must answer why Trump thinks that only MBS will serve the interests of the United States and Israel !!
Then comes his media statements on Thanksgiving Day.

In a press conference and a teleconference with the Military on Thursday, Trump was on fire for real.

Seen in Cairo : Al-Sayeda Zeinab Mosque on Moulid eve

Here are couple of photos of the Great Al-Sayeda Zeinab Mosque on the Mawlid Nabawy or Moulid eve “as we say it in our Egyptian Arabic accent”.
I wanted to snap photos on Tuesday for Al-Sayeda Zeinab’s famous seasonal market beside her famous mosque and shrine but I realized that I was too late and I could not go it on the Moulid’s eve because it is the climax of celebration.

Al-Sayeda Zeinab Mosque on the eve of Moulid 

Luckily I snapped a couple of photos for the great Mosque and Shrine for Al-Sayeda Zeinab “Lady Zeinab”, the grand-daughter of Prophet Mohamed “Peace upon them” in the heart of Cairo.

The old mosque which was renovated in 1940 by orders of King Farouk was beautifully decorated with green lights "Sufism plays a role here" for the religious occasion.

The mosque receives many visitors on such occasions

Wikipedia says inaccurately that the mosque was demolished and rebuilt in 1940 but according to an old photo I found that dates to 1890, the mosque had the same façade.

Happy Mawlid Nabawy 2018 From Cairo

Happy Mawlid Nabawy from Egypt to the Whole Muslim world.

Tonight, a billion and a half Muslim celebrate the anniversary of Prophet Mohamed “PBUH” ‘s birthday according to the Hijri Date “Rabi’ I 12, 1440”.

Egyptian Chronicles wish that this anniversary will bring so much peace and stability to all people especially in places like Yemen, Syria, Rohingya, Uyghurs and Palestine where they cannot truly celebrate this beautiful occasion, which is equal like Christmas Eve.

Here is a photo I captured Monday night at famous Siyada Zeinab Quarter where Egyptians buy the famous “Halawat Al-Moulid” aka “The Mawlid sweets” at very ate time.

Buying Mawlid sweets in the streets of Cairo 

By the way, due to economic reasons and the high prices of Mawlid sweets “The prices are higher from a year to another”, mothers began to share recipes on how to do it at home using nuts, peanuts and other stuff with caramel.

Mawlid Sweets go back to to the Fatimids era and I feel happy when I find it continues year after year whether we got caramel coated peanuts or marshmallows.

Yes a modern Mawlid doll with Nutella
Maltesers and marshmallows 
"Islam Salheen" 

Media Empires of Egypt : Ghada Abdel Razek Vs. Egyptian Media

Earlier Saturday, I found people sharing a screenshot of a famous Egyptian actress boldly attacking Egyptian Media Group, Egypt’s biggest empire on social media asking whether the army or the intelligence was behind it only because she wanted a higher pay as usual.
Late Friday, famous Egyptian actress Ghada Abdel Razek posted a post with the photo of her daughter and two granddaughters “Yes, she is a granny” with an unrelated surprising caption. "She removed it"

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ياجمهور انا بتحارب من مجموعة اسمها#الاعلام للمصريين مش عايزنى اشتغل السنة دى فى الدراما مش انا بس ناس كتيرررر جدا فنانين وبيقولو هنعدكم فى البيت ولو عاجبكم ولو سالتهم بتتكلموباسم مين يقوللك باسم الجيش أو المخابرات هلل دة صحيح مجرد سؤال علشان الوسط الفى كلة بيسأل معايا دة حقيقة ولا كذبة ارررررررجو الرد عنى وعن زملائى وشكرااااااا

A post shared by Ghada Abdelrazek (@ghadaabdelrazek) on Nov 16, 2018 at 1:19pm PST

Dear fans , I am being fought by a group called Egyptian Media that does not want me to work in drama this year. It is not only me but many people including artists and they say that we will make you stay at home if you do not like and if you ask them on behalf of whom you speaking , they will say on behalf of the army or the intelligence. Is that true ? This is a question because the whole field “actors”are asking with me whether it is truth or a lie. Please someone answers.

The actress who became a fixture in Ramadan drama annual race with a TV series posted that on her Instagram wisely closing the comments.

A screenshot of the controversial Instagram post

In no time, a screenshot of that post was shared and went viral. Some say she is outing the truth about the media empire whose alleged affiliation to the General Intelligence service was brought up over and over.

In a few hours, “#Ghada_Abdel_Razek_is_most_failed_actress” topped Egypt’s Top Twitter trends amazingly to the level I wonder when it had all that time to top all other hashtags.

Aside from the people who make fun of her and the people who gloat, most of the tweets in the trends are repeated by twitter e-flies “as Jamal Khashoggi used to call them” aka trolls attacking in the most disgusting way sharing infamous inappropriate photos of her to the rest of that crap.
Ghada Abdel Razek has been pro-regime since the time of Mubarak.

She already was the celebs who led the infamous Mostafa Mahmoud square protests “demanding Mubarak to stay in the rule” when the world was echoing Tahrir square’s call for him to leave.
Abdel Razek then supported Egypt’s strongman Abdel Fattah El-Sisi since he was a minister of defense and publicly supported him in a way that made Bassem Youssef make fun of her in that famous episode that he paid its price dearly.

She did not change her hear or her political beliefs but according to some of her problem with the Egyptian Media Group is not its monopoly but rather her paycheck.

Jamal Khashoggi Murder : Saudi Prosecution’s presser and the narrative that always changes "Updated"

Earlier Thursday, Saudi Prosecution general held its first official press conference to declare the latest findings in the Jamal Khashoggi’s murder investigation.

The Saudi prosecution announced that it was accusing 11 suspects in the murder of Khashoggi and that it was seeking the death penalty for five suspects in the case for ordering the murder of Khashoggi and killing him. We do not know the rest of the charges in the case.

The infamous doors of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul "Reuters" 

The prosecution added that there 21 detained person in the murder investigation above them the former deputy Saudi intelligence chief “Ahmed Al-Assiri” whom it did not name directly as the man who gave orders to “negotiate with Khashoggi to make him return back to the kingdom”.
The prosecution used the following expression in Arabic that amazes me “to restore Jamal by force !!”  literality.

The word “abduction” is bad but anyhow any good Arabic speaker would be astonished on the level of terms used in that presser to sugarcoat and whitewash a horrible unimaginable act.

A new narrative for the crime is presented this time too.

That team or rather three groups were sent by Al-Assiri to “restore” Jamal back to the Kingdom aka to convince him to return back but things developed in to fight and he was injected by a sedative agent then he was suffocated. The hit team then dismembered his body transferring those parts outside the consulate by 5 suspects with the help of local Turkish contractor.

The crime was planned on 29 September 2018 and that former deputy Saudi intelligence chief “Ahmed Al-Assiri” ordered the formation of that hit squad. He was aided by the media adviser aka Saud Al-Qahtani who believed that the victim posed a danger on the Kingdom because of how he connected to international organization aka "traitor".

Jamal Khashoggi’s body was dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul then those pieces left the consulate through the help of local Turkish man, the prosecution shared a drawing of that suspect. “Turkish prosecution asked for his phone number and his name but got none according to Turkish press”.
It is worth to mention that the Saudi prosecutor general denied that there was a local contractor from Turkey as far as I remember.

Gaza under attack : Lost count of broken Egyptian-sponsored truces

Right now things are escalating between Gaza and Israel after the Israeli decision to end the Egyptian-sponsored cease-fire and truce that took nearly a month to reach if I am not mistaken.

Another familiar brutal scene in Gaza tonight from the airstrike on Al-Aqsa TV channel 

It all started when at least seven Palestinian people including a leading military El-Kassem figure were killed earlier Monday in a failed Israeli special military operation in Khan Younis.

The Palestinian fighters killed a high-ranking Israeli officer during the failed Israeli military operation that made Bibi return from France ASAP.

 Israel was showered by nearly 200 rockets or something targeting the illegal Zionist settlements on its borders as a retaliation after that failed Israeli military operation so Israel fired back with airstrikes

Days at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo : Animal Mummies "Updated"

Last Saturday, Egypt’s ministry of antiquities announced seven new tomb discoveries at Saqqara area. It is a huge announcement.
Three of the tombs belong to the New Kingdom era while the rest four tombs belong to the Old Kingdom.
Very beautiful artifacts were found at those tombs.
Now interestingly those three New Kingdom tombs were used at cat necropolis.

The people are amazed by this fact but I am not surprised because in the end ancient Egyptians worshiped cats and they buried them in groups in tombs like those which were discovered in Saqqara.
Now I seize this opportunity and share bunch photos I took in December 2015 and November 2018 from the animal's section at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

Animal mummies in their wooden Sarcophagi at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo
"Yes, this is moi at the reflective glass in November 2018" 

There is a whole small section dedicated to animal mummies including cats as you can see at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo's second floor.

Different Animal mummies and skeletons at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo "December 2015"

Jamal Khashoggi murder timeline : The disappearance and murder "1-2"

Some think that the World is over with Jamal Khashoggi’s murder as suddenly the media pressure on Saudi Arabia began to loose a bit.
Yes, the media pressure on the Kingdom began to a bit because it is busy in covering the US midterms but I believe that this murder, this crime will be an important catalyst for major changes in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf.

A file photo dated May 6, 2018, shows prominent
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey. "Anadolu"

It is not the end yet.
I have been working on a timeline for the murder compiling all important details as well and its planning as revealed by Turkish authorities and press in addition to a timeline to the Saudi officials’ too many statements.

I mainly complied timelines made by France 24, AP, New York Times, CNN and Washington Post as well as Turkish newspapers. I could not do it alone with the efforts of tens of journalists.

Some of the information has not been confirmed officially and they won’t be confirmed officially anytime soon like for the instance the fact that Turkish authorities knew what happened on that night in the Saudi consulate because they were spying on it or why he was killed like that.
I was planning to post this timeline after one month of late Khashoggi’s murder but I could not as at the same time we had the tragic Minya attack in Egypt.
Tonight marks the 40th day of his disappearance and murder, it is an old important day in mourning traditions in Egypt. It is a strange coincidence.
I post the first part of that timeline today and I will post other parts throughout the upcoming days.

Jamal Khashoggi’s murder Timeline “From 5 June to 11 October 2018”

The start of this timeline did not start in October 2018 but rather 18 September 2017 when Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi published his first op-ed in both Arabic and English declaring to the world that he became self-exiled citizen criticizing the policies of Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman aka MBS in the Washington Post.
Since that date, Khashoggi became a regular columnist in Op-ed section of the Post. In a year, Jamal Khashoggi became one of the most famous Saudi dissident vocal voices against MBS and his men keeping his stance at the same time to support Al Saud as well the monarchy.

• On 5 June 2018, Jamal Khashoggi speaks with Canada’s Global News about granting the right to drive to women expressing his fears of what might happen to him if he stayed in the Kingdom. The interview was released by Global News on 24 October 2018.
  

• On 7 September 2018, the British intelligence allegedly knows according to London-based Express Daily that there was something sinister being planned by Saudi regime for Jamal Khashoggi because he allegedly wanted to expose the use of chemical weapons in Yemen by his country.

• On 27 September 2018, Khashoggi speaks from Turkey to Guardian’s Iran correspondent Saad Kameli Daaghani abut how MBS and his adviser then Saud Al-Qahtani were funding London-based Iran International TV channel. Daaghani who published his report about the controversial Tv channel on 31 October 2018 revealed that information in November 2018 but for some reason he removed but I have seen it and others took a screenshot.

The screenshot Dehghan posted it last before he
deletes it.

Fighting terrorism is not a revenge game in Minya

Earlier Monday, Egypt’s interior minister Mahmoud Tawfik visited in Cairo Pope Tawadros II, the head of Coptic Orthodox to present his condolence officially for the tragic death of seven Christian citizens in the terrorist attack on Friday.

Now why minister Tawfik visits the Pope on Monday to present his condolences after three days, well he is acting according to an authentic Upper tradition: Not mourning, no condolences except after getting the revenge.

From the funeral of the victims on Saturday Roger Anis for Masrawy 

On Sunday, the Egyptian ministry of interior announced that it killed 19 suspected militants allegedly involved in the terrorist attack in the desert of Minya near Samuel the Confessor Monastery with no further details on who they were.

The MOI published graphic photos showing some dead bodies.
No one was caught alive to be interrogated or to stand a trial.
The MOI says that it had no choice to shoot them down because they opened their fire first.
Thus after avenging for the attacking of those citizens on Saturday, the minister can present his condolences !! "According to the traditions, the families of the victims should take their own revenge not the government if we are speaking per the Upper Egyptian book of revenge !!"

 The words “Avenge” and “Revenge” were used repeatedly in the mainstream media.
I am sorry but fighting terrorism according to the law books is something and taking revenge for the victims is another thing that it is opposite to the state of law.

Tut at 96 : Celebrating the Young Golden king

King Tutankhamun was brought to life again literality when Howard Carter discovered the first step of his famous untouched tomb at the Valley of the Kings on 4th November from 96 years ago in Luxor.

The famous Tutankhamun mask 

For that occasion, I share a bunch of photos of famous Tutankhamun collection at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.


The Young King and his controversial family “his father is king Akhenaten in case you do not know” were meant to be forgotten in a plan by Amun priests and the army generals who had the eye on the throne as well restoring the power of Amun in the country.

King Tut's Golden sarcophagus at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Well, history has another saying or as I believe “The Lord acts in a mysterious way” because now the King and his father they conspired against and removed their names of all records, became the most famous Egyptian pharaoh.

Between Minya and Sharm El-Sheikh , There is big distance for real !!

There is a big distance for real between the city of Sharm El-Sheikh in Sinai and the city of Minya in Upper Egypt. According to google maps, it is 557.1 km by car but earlier Saturday it seemed that there are 557.1 light years between there.

In one city, hundreds attending a mass-funeral in a Coptic Orthodox church to mourn the victims of the latest terrorist attack in Egypt while in another city thousands attend a glitzy forum on the same day.

On Saturday, Hundreds of Egyptian Christians attended in a Minya-City-Church the mass-funeral of seven Egyptians who were killed on Friday near Saint Samuel the confessor in the desert of the Upper Egyptian governorate in the second attack of its kind in two years.

Mourners at the Church by Mohamed El-Hakim 

Angry and grieving at the same, the mourners could not stop themselves to express their anger publicly when Churchmen began the usual “Thank you Egyptian government officials”.

Minya once again : At least 7 Egyptians killed in another terrorist attack , another black Friday in Egypt "Updated"

At least 7 Egyptian Christians were killed and 14 others were injured Friday afternoon in a terrorist attack near a desert monastery in Upper Egypt’s Minya Governorate Friday afternoon in one of the desert roads.

In the first early reports that unknown gunmen opened their fire on a bus carrying people coming from Minya to visit a monastery in the desert.

A child that survived the attack
and his face says everything
"Orthodox Church"

The Coptic Orthodox Church issued a more detailed statement about what happened.
Gunmen opened their fire on three buses heading back from Saint Samuel the confessor monastery in the desert of Minya using a back route.

At least Seven people on one micro-bus from Minya city were all killed whereas at least 13 people of another microbus from Minya also were all injured and currently being treated in hospitals.
A bus carrying 28 passengers from one family coming from Sohag to attend the baptizing of a baby from the family was also attacked but only 6 passengers were injured.
According to the list of victims killed in the attack released by the church, May God bless their souls, six of them were from the same family.
Many of the injured victims were women and children.

As you can see the Church is the one that issuing statements by names and details not the government as supposed because we are speaking about Egyptian citizens.
This attack is a copycat of the attack that targeted also a group of Christians heading to St. Samuel the Confessor also in May 2017 if you remember it.

You may ask where the security was and why this would happen again after a year and a couple of months. Well, security officials say that that convoy used a back unguarded route because the main guarded rout was closed down.

With my all due respect, I find that excuse is insulting because I thought along with many Egyptians that such convoys were accompanied with security vehicles. My aunt asked me that direct question as she heard the incident "Where are those security vehicles that follow them? It seems that we assumed wrong after all.

The response of the officials is always too late when it comes to the media.

The first source that spoke before anyone, as usual, is Father Makarios, the Bishop of Minya and Abu Qirqas who spoke to the media first before the Coptic Orthodox Church issued its official report or even the government officials.

Currently attending the World Youth Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi tweeted from there sending his condolences to the families of the victims asserting the intention of the Egyptian government to continue its efforts against terrorism.