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On Sisi’s Latest Speech –

By on Mar 7, 2014 in Politics | 0 comments

Sisi basically told people that Egypt ‘cannot afford healthcare’. So basically, if you get sick, just die quietly anddon’t complain about it. In this incredible Shades-of-Morsi speech, he asked (in that supposedly calming tone of his..but which seems more sinister and patronizing by the day) “How many of you have considered walking to university so that you can save for Egypt?” How idiotic is that? First of all, anybody who’s close enough to walk to his university DOES, because traffic SUCKS, and anybody else is too damn far to travel, and also – how exactly does ‘walking to university’ help the economy? By NOT spending money? By not giving money to cab drivers or the transport buses? He’s either incredibly naive or massively disingenuous. He tells the youth not to expect healthcare, not to expect to be able to afford to get...

Egypt: Story Arcs

By on Feb 1, 2014 in Politics | 0 comments

Obligatory recap It’s difficult to know how far back to go – but let’s just say this; it’s January 2014, the Post-Morsi constitution has passed, with a (ridiculously) high approval, but a relatively low turnout. Now a Field Marshall (just promoted a few days ago, and active today), El-Sisi, the man who was instrumental in removing Morsi from power on July 3rd, is expected to become the new president. Plot Points To Consider El-Sisi had initially stated that there would be no military candidate, and that having one would imply that the army had performed the coup for personal interests, and not as a means for fulfilling the popular demands of June 30th. Despite having obtained a popular mandate on July 26th to wipe out terrorism, Egyptian today feel less secure than they ever have since the revolution began. It has not been reassuring for them to see that the response of the security...

Awakening and then Revolution!

By on Dec 29, 2011 in Politics | 0 comments

To be clear, this is not a post about the past, it’s a post about the future. It’s a post about tomorrow. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (henceforth SCAF) is trying to impose a supposition; that the revolution happened and is done with – and that we are now suffering it’s consequences. The revolutionaries, on the other hand, are convinced that the Egyptian revolution continues and has not yet ended – because they are painfully aware, as are we all (whether or not we like it) that the regime that Egyptians went out to destroy still stands. My supposition is that the revolution has not yet begun.  What’s been happening in Egypt since January 25, 2011 and up to the present day is an awakening, no more and no less. It is because our slumber had been so long and so deep that our awakening was so jolting and abrupt and, so far, has cost many, many...

Sultans and Scarves

By on Jul 30, 2009 in Media, Politics | 0 comments

Three weeks ago, an Egyptian Muslim mother and wife, four months with child, was stabbed to death in Dresden, the civilian city bombed to the ground by the allies during World War II. She was stabbed in full view of her son and husband, and when her husband rushed to defend her, he himself was shot by the German police because they assumed him to be the attacker. Go figure. For the last three weeks, I’ve heard people say, and I’ve said it myself based on what I’ve seen – that the international media hasn’t found this story quite as interesting as that of The Death of Neda Sultan. I’ve now done the numbers: As of today, a search for Neda Sultan on Google, brings up about 1.14 Million results (I’m accounting for spelling variations by adding up the results for ‘Soltan’ and ‘Sultan’ – so this is the total of the two) for Neda. A similarly conducted search for Marwa Sherbini (with...

Obama In Cairo

By on Jun 9, 2009 in Politics | 0 comments

Well, here he was. Massive hype, of course, an event touted as a game-changer for American/Arab relations and something that a lot of people were eagerly expecting. Even before the event, certain facts were being highlighted within the region – Unlike most, if not all, US Presidents of the last few decades, Obama would not be visiting Israel and would not be driven straight from the airport to the Holocaust Museum. Obama would make his speech from Cairo, not from any of the other Middle-Eastern U.S. Buddy Nations of Arabia. This, in itself, is seen to augment Egypt’s arguably waning influence within the region. And so he comes, with a security details of around, apparently, 3,000 Americans – most of whom entered the country with no visa or who were given rushed, no-questions-asked visa’s in the airport as they landed, putting in a more embarrassing light the humiliation and...

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