The best photo indeed to represent #Egypt

This photo won the first prize in a photo competition held by the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs.

It was taken by the embassy of Netherlands in Cairo at the famous Friday market "Flea popular market". 
This photo is remarkable , old mirror used to be at some rich house in Egypt , a kid seems to be from working class and the iconic Nasr128 car in the reflection all in a flea market !! 

One must wonder if the Ministry of foreign affairs in Egypt can hold such competition for our diplomatic commissions abroad.

#Syria : Big things always start small

Last Monday October 1, 2012 something took place in Qardaha , the home town of Syrian President/tyranny Bashar Al Assad and his infamous clan , the Alawite stronghold in the mountains of Latakia.
8 people have been killed in the city of Qardaha after a fight between "El Assad clan" and two other clans in the city "Othman and El Khayar". There are two versions of the story as usual.
The first version is popular among many some Sunni Syrians who can't stomach the Alawites : 
It has nothing to do with the revolution but rather with the regime thugs "Shabiha" hired by El Assad regime. Allegedly the two families supplies Mohamed El Assad , another member of the infamous ruling clan with men who worked as thugs for the regime and they got in to fight for something financial !! It seems that Mohamed El Assad did not pay them well.
The second version which is popular among Alawite Syrians who support the revolution  : 
It has to do with the revolution and political differences between "Othman" and "El Khayar" clans from one side and "El Assad" clan from another.
Mohamed El Assad is believed to be the main source of Shabiha in the country and amazingly from couple of weeks I read that he was killed by Free Syrian army some where !!
The family of Othman is related to  Ramy Makhlouf , El Assad's cousin and big crony. Makhlouf's father in uncle is former Daraa's governor and member of Othman clan Walid Othman .
The Othman clan has already lost 5 in that armed fight last Monday according to Syrian Alawite activist and writer Samar Yazbek on  her Facebook Page. Yazbek is from the famous Alawite voices supporting the revolution that has been calling her sect to revolt against El Assad. She is also from Othamn clan and wrote this status message on Facebook on Monday that was copied by Alawites in the revolution FB page :
El Khayar family on the other is said to refuse to engage in the current war refusing to let its youth to carry
The family of El Khayar is influential one among Alawites in the city as I have read.
I do not know why I believe that the second version is true , may be because it is supported by more concrete testimonies on the ground.

#6Oct1973 : It is never late to honor them

On the occasion of the 6 October 1973 war anniversary President Morsi has awarded both late President Sadat and General Saad El Shazly today the Order of the Nile, Egypt’s highest state honor after decades of neglect.
Morsi awarded late General El Shazly the Order of the Nile for his role in 1973 according to Presidential decree No.238 after nearly 35 years of neglect and neglect. El Shazly was awarded by Sinai Star but it was taken during Mubarak’s era. The family of El Shazly received the order of the Nile , his wife  Mrs. Zeinat and his daughters.

El Shazlys receiving the general's Order of the Nile 

El Shazly’s wife Mrs.Zeinat burst in to tears,I can imagine why.
Morsi awarded Sadat both the Nile order and the Star of Honor which is the biggest military order in Egypt after 30 years. Anwar Sadat’s son Gamal Sadat received the honor alone and he was so touched to the level I felt that he was going to cry.

Gamal Sadat receiving his dad's president Sadat Order of the Nile 

I am not surprised at all. He believes that his father being recognized after 30 years of neglect. I am shocked that Sadat did not have the order of the Nile.

#egydocstrike : Better health care please “Updated”

I support the Egyptian doctors strike and I pray for its success because I know as a citizen I need this strike when I speak about my rights in better health care in Egypt. You must know that this is just a partial strike “for 12 hours per day” in public hospitals following the ministry of health in Egypt excluding the emergency unit and neonatal units. The strike is controversial and I am afraid that the media is not giving the whole truth , the whole image for the public. The media does not tell the public that the starting salary of the doctors starts in Egypt from LE 300 "about $50" and the medical hazards' allowance is LE 20 !!!!! The media does not tell the public that healthcare in Egyptian's state budget is considered from the lowest worldwide , it is 4.8%
Those doctors standing behind the strikes are the doctors working in the public hospitals following the MOH who got no private practices and who do not work in the private hospitals. Actually the doctors who are standing against the strike are mostly those working in the private hospitals and private practices with big price tag. Already imagine if we have a real healthcare suitable for humans in Egypt , imagine how much they will lose.
About 50% of the Egyptian people can not afford to be treated in private hospitals or clinics what so ever. Do you know that many children die in children
The doctors in Egypt have decided to have a partial strike in Egypt in the hospitals and external clinics of non emergency cases following the ministry of health alone starting from October,1st , 2012
In last 21/9/2012 Doctors’ general assembly  held a meeting in the doctors' syndication and reached to the following :

• There will be partial open strike from 1/10/2012 in the public hospitals and its clinics excluding the emergency units, neonatal units and emergency cases. "All emergency cases will be treated for free according to a ministerial decree issued in 2001"
• The universities, police and military hospitals are excluded from the strike. Private practices and private hospitals are also excluded. 
• Securing the public hospitals against the thugs' attack. 
• This just the first step of escalation. 

This strike is for the following demands : 

• Increase the portion of the state's budget allocated to healthcare from 4.8% to 15%
• Better the quality of healthcare service presented in the Public hospitals. 
• Increase the minimum wage for doctors and medical teams "including nurses"

According to activists online the estimated numbers of hospitals following the ministry of health participating in this partial strike is 540 hospitals.

A very late and modest honoring yet it is beautiful

The Morale department in the Egyptian armed forces has released a short documentary about late legendary beloved general Saad El Shazly on the anniversary of October 1973 war.

The documentary included very rare footage and photos I have not seen before. It also ignored his fight with Sadat and what happened later in his life.
Anyhow this 8 minutes documentary was better than this 1 hour crap produced by the GIS !!

Trouble in Salafist heaven “2”

And there are lots of development taking place in the Salafist heaven since last I spoke about there here in the blog , I mean lots of developments by all measures as there are splits in that heaven !! We are speaking about a drama that has not finished it .

Al Nour Party , a way to drama !!

On Tuesday the Supreme committee of Al Nour party “Borhami front” held an urgent meeting to withdraw confidence from its leader Emad Abdel Ghafur and to appoint El Siyad Khalifa , the former vice president as the leader of the party for the current time. The Supreme committee issued a statement later thanking Abdel Ghafour later claiming that they withdrew confidence from him because he has become President Morsi’s advisor and that position needed him more than the leadership of Al Nour Party. “Despite the upcoming escalating developments between the two fronts , Borhami and Abdel Ghafour, Al Nour’s Supreme committee thanked him officially on the party’s official website.” Khalifa , a former MP from Suez was the vice president of Al Nour Party.
On Wednesday we found the party official twitter accounts announcing the following :

صدق الدكتور عماد عبد الغفور على قرار الهيئة العليا باقالة اشرف ثابت من الهيئة العليا للحزب و اعضاء اخرين

— حزب النور (@alnourpartyeg) September 26, 2012

Emad Abdel Ghafour has ratified the decision of the Supreme committee of the party to dismiss Ashraf Thabet and other members from the membership Supreme committee of the party.
This decision was presented officially to the Parties’ commission . It was followed by this tweet announcement

#Syria : And history is being destroyed now

The people of Aleppo are not asking the world to save them anyone , they lost hope in the people but they are asking the world to save their history. The fight now between the Free Syrian Army and Syrian Arab army is in the old Aleppo which has been declared by UNESCO as World Heritage Site. The people are asking the world to press both fighting parties to move outside this year.
Already many sections of Al Madina souq was destroyed in the fight. Allegedly 600 to 1000 shops are in that soup.

ِA photo taken on 22/9 showing Souq al Ebe

Here are also collection of videos filmed last week showing the amount of destruction in the old souqs

On 21/9 Souq Mwazin