Saturday, February 28, 2009

Two Incredible auctions

I won’t be surprised if there are some Egyptian antiquities being sold in the Yves Saint Laurent’s auction or the Michael Jackson auction whether from the ancient time or even from the Mohamed Ali Royal family stuff !!

I saw the photo galleries of both auctions ,the Yves Saint Laurent and the Michael Jackson ,the later will be held soon and I could not believe myself.

First of all here are some photo galleries from the Time magazine from the Yves Saint Laurent auction, please enjoy it:

Again I was not surprised by Laurent, he was a designer and French but I am surprised at Wacko Jacko stuff !!

You can see a quick summary for the most famous items of Jacko that will be sold in the auction at the Time magazine , of course I recommend that you waste some time in browsing the complete catalogues themselves.

My favourite catalogue that shocked me is catalogue No.3 “Antiques, Paintings and Fine Decorative Art”, I really like the Cleopatra last moment by the French painter D. Pauvert in 1892

michael_jackson_05

of course I expect that the Jackson auction may not be successful as Laurent’s because of the economic crisis in America currently and the fact that Wacko Jacko is the owner can be disturbing for some.

I am sure that there are some Wealthy Arab from the Gulf who were and will participate in these two auctions.

Knocking the doors of Washington

Al Shorouq newspaper revealed that Gamal Mubarak is going to visit Washington D.C next Monday. The visit will include a close meeting in the CSIS according to the newspaper.Of course he had to comment on this issue the next day in a press conference. He is going to visiting D.C to discuss the global crisis !!
I do not think that GM is visiting Washington only for this meeting and to discuss global crisis , I think GM is knocking the doors of Barack Obama and his administration, he is introducing himself.
It is expected that Mubarak is going to visit Washington in Spring as usual and despite he began to show some good gestures like releasing Ayman Nour, it is not yet confirmed that he will meet Obama officially. Mubarak and his son know very well that despite being the American Ally in the region ,they are causing lots of pain and criticism because of their dictatorship.The American administration does not want to bet on losing cards.

Five journalists were fined because of some 100 years old law !!

Five journalists from Al Wafd and Al Masry Al Youm were fined L.E 10,000 on Thursday for defying the publication ban of Suzanne Tamim murder trial !!

The 5 journalists are the chief in editors of the two newspapers and 3 journalists who were covering the trial.

Again I am surprised at this trial from the start ,why only Al Wafd and Al Masry Al Youm reporters sent to court where as the rest of official newspapers reporters were left !! They also covered the trial even more then Al Wafd and Al Masry Al Youm.

Reporters without borders condemned that verdict.

BY the way those five journalists were fined because of some 100 years old law.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Jewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism

 Jewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism - wcbstv.com

What Criticism ?? She did  not call Israel to end the siege or even attacked Israel for using WP against civilians !!??

I am tried of these accusations whenever someone opens his or her mouth with the least criticism to Israel !!

Hilary is always biased against the Arabs but after being the State of secretary in Obama’s administration, she is trying to appear to be unbiased in front of the whole world and in front of the Arab Islamic world especially. The Obama administration does not want to lose all the popularity Obama won during the elections.

Searching for a home when You are in your home !!

I read this interesting and shocking story of the Tibitis in Iraq who are sleeping in the street in order to get the Chinese visa and to return what they believe is there home in L.A Times Mideast Blog.

The family” Tibiti” for sure refers to the Tibet in Arabic , it is an Adjective,it is Tibetan  in Arabic.

It is common in the Arab world in the old day  to call someone with his nationality or profession as his last name especially if his last was difficult or his known more with his profession or with his nationality as a stranger. There are too many examples.

Anyhow back to the “Tibitis” who are sleeping in the street currently, I do not know what to say except that I know that if Iraq were in better shape and those two millions Iraqis did not live their home and the country were not on the verge of ethnic and religious division , the Tibitis would complete living in Iraq.

Already I do not know if Allia Tibiti really understands the situation in Tibet, first of all their life won’t be better in China , because they will be treated more as strangers , they will be more strangers in China then in Iraq I am afraid !!

Allia I think does not know how the Tibet currently is suffering under the Chinese rule , it is just like combining both Saddam dictatorship with the American invasion in one place.

Allia can say that she and her family are Buddhists  and that they are from Tibet for eternity and the Chinese government won’t grant them the Visa already  her great grand father came to Iraq before the Chinese occupation and so the documents she owns may not be recognized by the Chinese government.

I know that life was not nice for them in Iraq especially when the regime treats them like a strangers despite I believe they are Iraqis by birth. May be if they left they were Iraqis ,they would not want to live Iraq

If you ask me she has two other options “ Either to accept Iraq as her home and live there or she go and search for asylum in some European country.

This is so sad , I wish that the Tibitsi wake up from their dreams.

Now I fear on his life

Omar Soliman now is in a very dangerous situation folks , the West omar and most of the East believe that he will be the next President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. This can end his career or even his life .

The Egyptian media “independent of course” is speaking about  the Daily Telegraph article by David Blair. Blair predicts that Omar Soliman will be our 5th President or rather 6th President if We count Sufi Abi-Talab . Already before I speak about my thoughts regarding this article , I want to correct some points mentioned in article publishing in the famous British publication.

1//Qena is not a poor town on the Nile , in fact it is a big Governorate that includes Luxor , I do not know why a Journalist like Blair consider like like a small poor town.

2// I do not know from where Blair came with this slumdog spy chief stories from escaping his poverty by joining the army …etc,already the Israelis themselves do not know much about him !!??

3//Despite the role of Soliman in saving Mubarak in Ethiopia ,the expert in fighting what Blair considered Islamist terrorism is Habib Al Adly , this is a well known fact.

4// Soliman has nothing to do with the MB and extremism and all that Egyptian Spooks version Blair is speaking about ,this is too much ,just read the following lines !!

His life story is entwined with the battle against Islamist extremism, which, in turn, has an intimate connection with Egypt. The thinkers who gave birth to the modern strain of fundamentalism, notably Sayid Qutb, were Egyptian, and the key political force behind this ideology, the Muslim Brotherhood, emerged in Cairo's tea houses.

!!!!!??????????? I do not know what to say !!??

Already I feel that Blair some how was more like early  20th century orientalist in this report !! He is only focusing on the so- called Islamic terrorism and is forgetting that this is not the only thing that Egypt is suffering from. And strangely the man who used to attack Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe is ignoring the fact Omar Soliman won’t be chosen in a democratic process , Blair was more fascinated by Soliman as far as I see.

By the way I really loved this part about “The tall, slightly stooping man, who favours navy blue suits and has an iron grey moustache in hill8the style of a 1940s British colonel” !! Believe it or not Soliman  somehow reminds me with Sir Sean Connery in the Hill , I do not know why may be it is this 1940s British colonel moustache ,already I fear that he will share the same sad end of Connery’s character in the film in another way.

With my all respect to Blair ,Robert Fisk is still my favourite Briton Middle East expert.

Anyhow these are my remarks, now regarding to what I think , well I will say it over and over despite my admiration and respect to Soliman , he was not, is not and will not be the President of Egypt insh Allah , he is burned , too exposed not to mention that Mubarak won’t keep someone close from him like that all those years if you knows that this someone wants his chair, people this is a logic thing.

GM can sacrifice  Soliman in order to ensure the rule of Egypt , it won’t be the first time it happens in Egypt or in the world. Already I once read that Soliman was going to be the vice President from couple of years but GM and his mommy stood against it ,do not underestimate the power of jealousy!!

I know that the West is seeing a candidate in Soliman because they consider Egypt as a Military police dictatorship and Soliman is a military contrary to GM and he is also an excellent diplomat with the foreign world ,still this is not enough .

People I will say it again if Mr.Zachariah had become our President in 1967 , Mr. Soliman will have a chance in 2010 or 2011 !!

Do not forget Soliman is not even engaged in the national scene like how Zachariah was or even like Gamal Mubarak right now.

Yes he is a good candidate, in fact I do not see anyone except GM and him in the scene regardless of what I think about them “GM is good for nothing and Soliman despite his military background should be the foreign minister , well at least he is better than Mr.Knuckles Abu Al Gait”. BUT neither him nor GM will be our 5th President , this is what I think and I feel , it will be Mr. X, who is Mr. X ?? Well God only knows.

This is what I think , what about you ?? What do you ?? Is it Gamal or Omar ?? Yes this is our first poll in 2009.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Follow Up : Blue Star “Who is talking to the pirates then !!??”

All the official news reports say that the Blue Star saga will be ended  soon and the crew will return back home , of course this is in the La La Land because up till now the Blue Star saga has not ended yet and the crew has not returned yet back home.
It seems that Mr. Al-Awa,the owner does not or rather can’t pay the required ransom demanded by the pirates, he can’t collect the required ransom and the government does not want to help him ,the spokesperson of the foreign ministry said it clearly “The State won’t pay a penny to the Pirates”.
Now I read last week a strange statement that the foreign ministry does not negotiate with the pirates !!?? Yes the foreign ministry does not negotiate with the pirates !!
Already if Al Awa can’t collect the money and the Egyptian foreign ministry does not talk to the pirates , then how we will rescue our men there ??
Ok if the foreign ministry does not officially negotiate ,who is negotiating with the Pirates in Somalia ?? Yes I know that off the record the Egyptian intelligence is the one that is doing so or rather should do so but here I am trying to say that this is not how the foreign ministry should speak !! Even if the foreign ministry is too classy to negotiate bunch of Somali pirates, it should not say so in public this means it does not care about the Egyptian citizens abroad ,well actually it does not but again it should not say it loud !!

I do not get, if the government does not want to help Al-Awa and it does not want to negotiate with the Somali pirates ,why do not we save our men by a military rescue operation !!??

I am sure and confident that such operation will be not hard our navy forces with its great history .

I do not understand , Will Blue Star have the same destiny of Badr I or what ??

It is a shame that no one is following this important case in the media as it should , we should try to keep this matter in focus, we should not forget it. If we want to try to save the remainings of our dignity by ourselves, then the least thing we can do is to speak about the matter in our blogs,forums and on the facebook day and night.

Nadya Suleman , the other face of Arab Americans

Thank God that Nadya Suleman is not a proud of her Arab Iraqi roots , seriously we are suffering enough so Octomom will come and add her tough !!

This woman is unstable ,seriously unstable I feel so sorry for her parents and her poor children who are victims to her wish to become famous and recognized in the society. She is so provoking ,unstable and selfish.

To see how much selfish she is , I recommend you to see this exclusive interview of Nadya with Jimmy Kimmel ,it is a must.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

10,000 Days

Today the 25th of February 2009 Mubarak has completed his 10,000 Days as the President of Egypt !!

Yes Al Dostor Weekly edition today celebrated this event !!

10,000 Days from the 14th of October 1981 !!

Mubarak in 1981 Lots of things happened in 10,000,Egypt and Egyptians have changed a lot in 10,000, just like the rest of the world, it is a natural thing.

P.S : Why did former President Numeiry attend such event ??

An Air Crash in Aswan !!??

Yesterday I read in Al Youm 7 before going to sleep that there was another airplane crash in Aswan, it was unconfirmed news. I wished that this news would be a rumour ,this would be too after Al Hussein blast and the Ukrainian airplane crash in Luxor. It will open a big door of questions and panic in Egypt.
Today I found nothing in the news about it , only a confirmation comment from someone in Aswan in the original news at Youm 7 but nothing was released. Of course it was assumed that it was a commercial flight
Then later in Jaiku I found out that it could be a military plane that crashed in Aswan.I am not sure of the news but either way Al Youm 7 should be careful in its news , they should not rush after every piece of info as a scoop and we at Jaiku and Twitter should be careful in the information we send to the whole world.
The regime can’t keep an airplane crash of a commercial airline in Aswan in the dark forever , it will be announced immediately regardless of what you think.
If it were a military plane crash, well already I am not surprised that they won’t announce such crash because this is a normal thing in the army , any army in the world won’t announce its planes crashes as I understand for being part of its military secrets. The army won’t announce on everything happens to it for God Sake.
Of course my heart goes to the families of the victims if there are victims and if there is an air crash in the first place whether commercial or military !!
Updated :

According to this comment ,the crash was not in Aswan but rather in Darfur, I hope that the rest of the crew is fine

In the last place you can think about

Do you remember this enigmatic personality in the Sadat assassination called Mamdouh Abu Gabl, who lives in London ??  well guess what I found out that his son got married last December 2008 there in Layalina Society Magazine.
Talaat El-Sadat and Ayman Nour spoke about the role of Abu Gabl in the assassination and accordingly to what I understand and think he will never come back again in Egypt because of that role.
You know Layalina may sound stupid for the serious readers but you can find there people you usually do not find in other magazines from VIPs and regime members’ families, you can know a lot from these magazines.It is another important source of info to know to who is who in this country and to where Egypt is heading, just like the other useless lifestyle magazines.
From reading these magazines I believe that we should pray that Egypt will be saved from a grim future. These magazines do not represent Egypt I am afraid, the real Egypt. I do not know if their publishers and reporters know this or not . I wonder how the economic crisis will affect them.
From Elaph.com : “Despite I do not like the journalist Nabil Sharaf El-Din”  {In Arabic}

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Follow Up : Closing the Mataria hospital death file !!

Do you remember the Mataria hospital terrible incident of last year?? Do you remember when babies died in the Mataria hospital last year because of the electricity outage!!??
Well yesterday the health minister announced the findings of the official investigation in the incident. As usual the investigation was wrapped up and no one is to be blamed except the one who shot those shocking moments on video !! Yes the minister vowed to get the one who fabricated the video !!?? fabricated the video ??
According to the findings :
  • All the babies were in a very bad condition when they entered 
  • All the babies were dead before the electricity block out 
  • The electricity outage is innocent !!
This is so stupid and naive ,was not it a strange coincidence that all those babies were terribly sick at the same time ??
This was expected ,now I fear on the doctors of the children section in the hospital, now they will be hunted down one by one
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No News Are Allowed

This is a piece of information I think you should know :

Have you ever wondered why there is no news at 6 PM and 9 PM in the Egyptian Private Satellite Channels !!??

well My dear Sir and Madam it is an order or rather a condition from the information ministry in Egypt

No News segments in the Private channels or no channel at all !!??

Do not ask me why especially that most these channels have their own night news live talk show !!

It is plain stupidity , because in the end the night news talk show proved to be more successful.

I wish that he did not defend us

The news of the duel between Ehud Olmert and Amos Gilad about the Shilat and the Egyptian-Israeli relations made the headlines in the Egyptian press last week and surely will continue to make the headlines this week after Olmert decided to sack him from his position as an envoy to Egypt.
I had my suspicion regarding Gilad's comments in Maariv when they were published in our newspapers. I mean I did not think that Gilad had said that we should fear the 85 million Egyptians , they were going to squash us in 1948 and they conquered us in 1973.At first I was happy , at last a confession that we conquered the Masada army but then I had my suspicion , because no Israeli official would say such thing , this is a historical dangerous confession
I searched the internet for the source of the leaked news and all I found that he really said so in Maariv
This is a country with 85 million citizens, it was almost going to exterminate us in 1948 and it gave us a blow  in 1973. Look what happens in the region,  they also have Muslim brothers,  see Jordan, see Turkey. Do You want to lose them too ??
And I wish that he said this only because before this he said the following which all our official newspapers ignored
"They gave us freedom of action, they are trying to be moderate.So what do we do? Mubarak showed courage - the Rafah crossing is closed, Hamas under siege. What do we think?? They do not work for us !!??
I just wish that he did not defend us , seriously because in the end of the day Egypt turned to be their only ally beside the United States and we turned to give them the freedom of action to destroy Gaza and kill children.
I just wish that he did not defend us ,the 1948 close victory and 1973 victory moments are lost in front of previous words !!
I understand Gilad really cares for the relations with Egypt because he considers Mubarak regime is good to Israel in this particular time and that is all.
Olmert is using Shilat as a last attempt to appear as the national hero of Israel. He did not win anything from his crusade in Gaza and thus he is trying to find any card that enables him to preserve his dignity. He is using Shilat to tackle the emotions of the Israelis in order to justify the delay of the truce.
I think that the truce was too close last week but was not achieved because of the insistence of Olmert to include Shilat. I believe if the Israelis insist on including Shilat , the Palestinians should include their prisoners too. The price of one year truce is not cheap.
The Egyptian regime does  not want to include Shilat in the negotiations with Hamas , may be because it knows that this would be too much to ask from Hamas. Do not forget you want them to stop launching rockets for one year without releasing their prisoners or even recognizing their existence in the sector or without lifting the siege.
Still the Egyptian regime surprised me when it called back our commercial delegation from Tel Aviv objecting the insistence of Olmert to include Shilat, it seems that Gilad reminded the Egyptian regime that it does not work for Olmert !! This is a very late decision I am afraid , why we did not do it in during the war, why we did not call back that delegation and leave the rest of our embassy there !!!
By the way I do not know if the Egyptian regime is insisting on its position from Shilat because Qatar interfered in this matter too !!  The Qatari prime minister promised Sarkozy to work for Shilat’s release and thus the Qataris once more interfered with our role in the region, offering their services to take our place !!???

Monday, February 23, 2009

After the attack

First of all I would like to send my condolence to the family of Cecil who was killed last night. Cecil was only in 17 years old and she was in a school trip in Cairo. I do not know what to say ,probably her family and friends will hate us now,they have all the right to be so. I am so angry and sad for her death.

Now I want to comment about the attack. The government or rather its media is insisting on throwing charges at the Islamists and the Palestinians. The official sheikhs and clerics came out today to denounce the attack. Some e-newspapers  in less than 24 hours hinted that people from Hamas sneaked out to our country to bomb it just before the international Gaza reconstruction conference in Sharm El- Sheikh ??

This is so silly to accuse Hamas ,with my all respect if they want to sabotage the conference ,they will not do such small operation not to mention Hamas does not operate outside Palestine and they are not crazy enough to attack Egypt in this way , they do not want to lose their connections in Egypt.

This is so logic people ,in the most worst case scenario it will be an independent radical group , it is obvious from the size of the operation that it is a small group.The explosive devices were home made from gun powder and nails. Here I do not consider radicalism as in religion extremists alone but all sorts of radicalism.

And even If it is a new group in town then again it is pathetic small group to our luck because new groups like to present themselves in a big bangs not small ones.

The Islamist group and the Jihad group in Egypt have denounced violence according to their statements and their clerics revisions published , of course serious critics did not consider these revision as serious ones because after all those clerics are in jail and there is big possibility that they published by the orders of the interior ministry.

Al Qaeda loves big bangs not also bangs like this.

Of course I will not go and speak about the Nonsense of Taliban and Iran , Iran would never do such thing on the footstep of the second holy place for them after Kabala, this is the Shrine of Al Hussein where his head is there, this is another Shiite pilgrimage place, already the Iranians wish that the relations return back with Cairo so they can visit the shrine !!!

Again I am surprised at the timing , weeks away from the emergency law , some will say “you are paranoid” and I will tell you this is a crazy regime that takes crazy decisions, it will do anything to ensure its security especially in the coming day .It is said that it will release a group of political prisoners to prove they are serious to Obama , the regime needs its emergency law to secure itself , otherwise how citizens will be prosecuted in front of military courts.

Look if this were an honest democratic transparent regime , no one would suspect this regime at all !! but what can you say !!??

By the way it seems there is still contradiction in the news , yesterday it was said that they arrested 4 people then the number were reduced in to 3 and now some news reports speaking that one was arrested !!

and is not it strange that no group has issued a statement regarding this terrorist operation ??

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Too Early to say anything

It has not passed five hours yet and the Pro-regime media and the regime men began to accuse certain groups and countries of being behind Al Azhar attack !!?? This is so expected from our regime.
Now here is the list of suspects or rather accused from the regime media :
1// The Islamists “ They are the main suspect regardless of whoever is behind them”
2// The people of Sinai !! “Yes they are angry from what is happening in Palestine !!”
3// The Palestinians “Yeah you know those Palestinians who pass through the tunnels , the evil Hamas”
4// Taliban !!
5// Iran “and sooner its allies in the region”
This is so ridiculous !!
It depends on which channel you are watching currently the official TV is speaking about Islamists and Palestinians who sneak in to the country.
So pathetic ,they forget to include the Mossad !!
By the way I forget to mention No.6 suspect which was not mentioned in the channels : The regime.
Again next month the emergency law will be discussed !! Strange coincidence.
Of course I do not accuse anyone in this time unlike the regime men, I have so many thoughts currently and I am waiting for more info to be revealed.
Update : There is a new suspect in town : Pakistanis who entered the country and suddenly disappeared !!! This is accoridng to the Al-Masryon E-Newspaper !!

Breaking News : A Blast in the Al Hussein Square

The news is confirmed. A blast has taken place from a while ago a cafe in Al Hussein square aka Al Mashhad Al Husain.
8 people were injured as reported :(
The blast happened because an explosive device , already the police found another device that did not explode thank God. This means one thing ; it is a terrorist act :(
Al Hussein is a populated area and a tourist attraction , huge tourist attraction.
This is not good :(

Update # 1:
  • 17 persons were injured among them Frenc tourists"bad injuries"
  • The Police has evucated the area.
  • The bomb was thrown from the Al Hussein hotel in the Square according to eye witnesses.
  • The explosion was strong
  • The eye witnesses are speaking about two women wearing Naqab !!
  • The terrorism law is going to be discussed soon
Update#2
  • 4 people were killed among them 2 foreigns
  • There were many tourists injured in the attack mainly from France and Germany
Update#3
  • A French tourist was killed , I am sorry for his family. 
  • The government and the pro-NDP started to accuse the Islamists immediately
  • The official TV  does not like the injured and death toll published by Reuters and based on the reporters from the lcoation itself
Update#4
  • MP Haider Baghdady ,the NDP representative of the Gamilia area where the Al Hussein square is has just accused on Al Jazeera Iran and Taliban !! I does not think that he knows that Taliban and Iran were against each other !! This is a typical NDP MP !!
  • The explosion happened in front of the Al Hussein Mosque according to the eye witnesses
Update#3
  • 3 Saudi tourists were injured in the attack and they were transferred by their own request to the Misr international hospital in Dokki
  • There is some news that there was another explosion , that the police failed to diffuse the second device !!
  • The Minister of health denies that there are victims in the explosion according to a strange statement in Mena !!!!!
  • The Nile News has published right now footage from the location
Update#4
  • Thanks to Moftasa , here is an image from the location from AP
AP: Blood is seen on the ground following a bomb blast outsid... on TwitPic
This is scary because this is the Mosque itself , the area outside the Mosque ,that marble entrance
it seems that the bomb was really thrown from the fourth flook from the Al Hussein hotel in front of the Mosque.
The devices are said to be put under the Cafe chairs , the cafe in front of the Mosque, I do not know the pattern of the blood on the Mosque marble !!??
The devices are said to local manufactured
Updates#5 :
  • It was confirmed that 19 persons were injured among them foreigners, they were transferred to the Al Hussein hospital and now they are transferred to Nasser institution according to the orders of the health minister.
  • The Nile News confirmed the death of 21 years old French woman, I am sorry ,really sorry for her
  • The other bomb did not harm anyone
  • The explosion was strong according to eye witnesses
  • The eye witnesses on TV channels are speaking about terrible scenes ,some of them speaking them about children being killed !! No confirmation
  • The police has arrested 3 suspects !!
Updates#6 :
        
  • According to the health minister the nationalities of the injured are : Egyptians, French,Germans and Saudis
  • Here is the exact location of the attack

View Larger Map

Updates#7 :

The Interior ministry has issued its statement at last regarding the attack , this is the first statement , for sure they issue other statements with more updates
According to the statement :
  • The attack happened in 7: 30 PM
  • One French tourist has been killed "21yrs old woman"
  • 10 French tourists were injured
  • 4 German tourists were injured
  • 3 Saudi tourists were injured
  • 4 Egyptians were injured " Including a child who is currently in the operation room in the Hussain hospital,insh Allah he will be fine and a Policeman"
The interior minister has visited the location and left without saying anything.
The second bomb did not explode according to some sources
Updates#8 :
  • Did I mention here that the Emergency law is going to discussed in the assembly next month to be renewed ??
  • Al the shops and cafes in Khan Al Khalil were closed by the orders of the security also their owners are scared
  • The  security in Egypt prevents the Egyptian reporters from doing their job ,already uptill now the TV reporters are speaking from the outside the location
  • Here is a photo from the scene by Ahmed Abdel Fatah
Update#7:
  • According to interior ministry stastement the bombs were put under a stone couch which is in the garden between the Mosque and the hotel. So they were not thrown from the Hotel.
  • The bombs are reportedly primitive from gun powders and nails
  • There is a noticeable security presence in the Salah Salem bridge and the Al Azhar tunnel
  • Here are more photos from Ahmed Abdel Fatah
Updates#8 :
  • There was a football match during the time of the attack, most Egyptians including the security were following it
Here are some geneeral information about Khan Al Khalil
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The Magician always has old tricks to use

I do not know if you remember but there are two chief in editors who are sued in front of court for breaking the Publication ban of Suzanne Tamim’s murder.

Magdy El-Gald of Al Masry Al Youm and Abbas El-Tarably of Al Wafd along with the journalists who covered the court decisions just like all other publications including the official ones but for some reason those two newspapers took all the blame.

Now it turned out those journalists are prosecuted according to a very old law , very old law that goes back to 99 years ago!! Yes article No. 190 for breaking the Publication ban was put  in 1910 by the British and historically this is the first time it has been used !!!!!??

It is so sad to use your old occupier’s laws to silent the media !!

BY I am not surprised , the magician always has old tricks to use when it is needed !!

After all those founders of the State security in 1950s and 1960s were the same officers in the Political police during the time of occupation.

We will be fooling ourselves

I do not know why I feel that the Egyptian regime does not like the fact that the Obama administration is opening dialogue channels with Syria , Hamas and Iran !!??

This won’t cancel our role. Mubarak will be kidding himself if he believes that he is sole American ally player in the Middle East and surely he would be fooling himself if he thinks that the Americans will depend upon him alone.

I respect the Obama administration’s attempts to have dialogue with everyone, of course if we have better foreign policy we should be a bridge between the States and all those countries and groups.

It is a jealousy and short sighted policy I am afraid.

Instead of being jealous we should know why we do not occupy the same position in the Middle East as before, why a country like Turkey became more closer to some Arab countries and groups than Egypt !!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

The National Student Day of Egypt 2009

We all expected that it was going to tough and rough , the regime in Egypt refuses any kind of similar gatherings or stands or protests in the Universities, the kind of gatherings allowed I am afraid are the ones that with the regime or tackle something not related to the regime for instance like the Palestine or Iraq solidarity protests.

Anyhow back today, several students groups in the Cairo university decided to protest today on the occasion of the National day, most of these groups are political groups from the Faculty of Commerce.Among those groups are the 6th April Youth, the MB ,Kafya, the Nasserists,the socialists and the newly group “My right” . “My right” I believe is heading the movement in the University today more than any other group.

“My right” movement defines itself in its official blog as independent movement that is not associated with any political force that cares for the University students’ rights and opinions.

“My right” today demands certain rights :

  • To reduce the fees of the university.
  • To kick out the University guard from the campus. “The guards are back with a bad court order :(“

The professors and teachers movement in the university aka “9 March” support today’s stand and protests. It is not surprising to me ,in fact it is something normal.

The university since the early morning is  surrounded not less than 60 anti riots vehicles and about 300 anti-riots forces soldiers with their arms. The students at the faculty of Commerce gate were inspected for banners. The under covered detectives were all over the campus with the camera mobile phones to take shots for the activist students , it seems that there is a new generation the University Security and the state security behind it does not know anything about.The famous political activist students were not allowed today in the University based on orders given from yesterday.

TO follow the updates of today , I recommend you to read Arabawy’s del.ici.ous links.

Also here are photos from the protests from Per Bjorklund ,Sarah Carr and and Ahmed Abdel Fatah respectively


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The National student day in Egypt

First of all you I would like to correct something. Today the 21st of February marks the National student day in Egypt but not the international student day as it was announced. The international student day is on the 17th of November.

The National student day in Egypt marks the terrible  Abbas bridge incident where the British troops along with at that time the Egyptian police attacked hundreds of angry Cairo university and high school students. The students were on their way to present a memo to the king demanding the cancellation of 1936 Egyptian-Anglo treaty. The Abbas bridge was a moveable one and in those old days ,it used to be opened so boats and barrages pass by.Most of the Students were on the Abbas bridge when the British forces had opened it,hundreds fell in to the Nile. Many of them had drowned. Despite the sadness of the day the Egyptian people proved its nobility when the men began to jump in to the Nile even those who were not engaged in the protest to save those fighting for their lives

I am proud with this day despite it is sad one because my Grand father was among those angry students,he was still in high school and he was shot by bullet in his arm and till he died ,he had its mark in his arm. Also my grand ma’s brother was among the University students who used to rescue their colleagues from drowning , he was a swimming champion in his faculty and my grand ma remembers that on that day he returned home so late and they were afraid that some thing bad had happened to him. He saved more than 10 persons.

What happened on that day was from the most famous students movement incidents in the Egyptian and the Arabic history.

Back to the day , I do not know from where this confusion happens, already the international day of student has not been changed according to my knowledge, still this is a very important national day we all should not only the students remember it.

By the way I tired to find more about protests in the international press and you will be surprised how biased the media in the west against us in a terrible way. This was a student protest but rather a mod riots where the Churches destroyed !! What Churches !!?? Strangely this was the same justification used in the Ismailia and Suez War .

“I apologize for the wrong twitter mistake, I should pay attention especially I read about this incident from short time”

I thought before writing about what is happening currently in the Cairo university ,I should write this post.

We need more laws

Last week in less than 48 hours the Police in Alexandria arrested two paedophile rings or rather two paedophiles. The two accidents are terrible and the street children are the common victims. The first ring was more shocking because it turns out the paedophile was a pimp for rich people from Egyptians and Arabs in Alexandria,the paedophile rich people there. The details of how he hunted down those kids and how he presented them to the rich people are so disgusting and shocking.

I hope that the police arrest those people in the ring despite I know this unlikely will happen because we do not have serious laws to deal sexual predators from paedophiles and rapists. May be rapists end up executed but what about paedophiles !!?? Is there a clear article in the law concerning their punishment !!?? This is a rape condition , they should be treated as rapists.

I fear that this ring will be consider as a prostitution ring and in Egypt the clients of the Prostitution ring are witnesses.

Another thing I fear is the future of those children ,the victims they found in Alex.Those children need psychological treatment and extra care I am afraid that are not available in the juvenile institutions where they will and are put. They will come out from this institutions more damaged and more dangerous.

The Police or rather interior ministry should pay more attention to this problem , those two paedophile pimps are just the top of the ice bergs. Already Egypt is considered a hot spot for human trafficking including for sexual proposal.

I believe we need more clear legalization with more harsh penalties to fight this crime for good.

The rings in Alexandria open again the file that no one wants for real to open and solve : The Street Children.

A Publication ban in Fayoum !!

Is this news I read on Thursday in Al Shorouq daily correct ?? The Governor of Fayoum Dr.Galal Al-Said imposed a publication ban on the H5N1 updates in the Governorate. And that the only source of the information is the Governor’s office !!??

This is a plain stupidity because now everyone will believe that there is a catastrophe in the Governorate and the governor wants to hide it.

I can’t stand those publication bans anymore.It became the fashion. Already the H5N1 despite its existence in Egypt can’t be considered alarming for the Egyptians ,there are other stuff on their minds for God Sake.

It is logic for Fayoum to become a hot zone for the H5N1 ,it is haven for birds. The idea is not about the hot zones but rather how to deal with it and how to stop the spread of the virus.

I hope that this news will be a rumour because in the end of the day this news will cause more panic. I am an Egyptian and I know what I am talking about.

Can We Put our army in Sinai then ??

Last week it was announced that the Egyptian army had a huge war game for the first time as I recall did a huge inside Sinai since its liberation.

You do not need to think a lot to know that this was an encrypted message to both the Israelis and Palestinians not to mention to the Egyptian people . The Egyptian army is here and ready to defend Sinai.

It is good political message but I have a question in my mind :

If we are so strong and I am sure we are ,why do not we put army troops in Sinai , army bases there ??

Camp David accords were for 20 years only and as far as I know the Egyptian regime did not renew it at least publicly then why our army is not officially present in Sinai ?? Why can’t our air forces  enter specific areas in Sinai where as it is okay for the IAF to enter as it likes Rafah and even Sheikh Zowaid as it likes ??

Why do we have to negotiate with Israelis and Americans every time we want to increase the guards on our Eastern Borders ??

I am afraid such exercise to me is not enough , sovereignty needs more than that.

Links :

Friday, February 20, 2009

Mohamed El-Baradei is Persona non grata in his country official media

Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei, the current director general of the IAEA and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is a Persona non grate in Egypt’s official media. There were orders of not hosting Dr. El-Baradei in the Egyptian TV and Radio not to mention the official newspapers should not praise him as usual.

Last week Mona Al-Shazely hosted Dr. El-Baradei in her show 10 PM and it seems that the regime is extremely angry from what El-Baradei has said in the show.

El-Baradei did not say anything except the truth in a very polite diplomatic way . Mona El-Shazely dragged him to speak about Egypt after it was expected that he would speak mainly about the IAEA,Iran,Israel and Syria.

He criticized the regime ,which means Mubarak for the terrible conditions in Egypt whether on the Political or the economic or the social level. He said that we needed to cancel the stupid article of the so-called 50 %  from the members in the Parliament should be from the labour  and the farmers from the constitution.

I totally agree with him on this point,already I do not understand it, a farmer can be a worker in a factory in the morning and the worker can a farmer ,it has no meaning at all .

He said that the education in Egypt was better in the early days of the revolution unlike now where 30% of the Egyptians can’t read or write and 20% of the Egyptians live under the poverty line.

I believe it is more that 20% with my all respect to him.

Now this is what made the regime goes coco :

  • El-Baradei demands that the Presidential terms will be limited only to 2 terms.
  • El-Baradei does not like or approve the conditions of the Egyptian citizen now.
  • He is ready to stand with any citizen in a battle against the regime.
  • His relations with the people are much better and stronger than the regime.
  • He is not going to run for the director general of the IAEA position for the fourth time again.
  • He is going back to Egypt and help in the general reform movement,he is not looking for any official position.

Well I do not expect him that he will be given an official position either. Despite I believe he can be good candidate for either the foreign minister position or the secretary general of the Arab league.

The problem for the regime is that they can’t accuse El-Baradei anything especially they defend and praise him day and night.

I respect him so much after this interview ,seriously he did not lie despite he did not say the whole truth

BY the way Al Dostor once chose him among  a list to become the next President of Egypt. To be honest I do not see any reason why he won’t be a good candidate for 2011 elections ,after all he is better than GM 1000 times. Who said that we do not have anyone except Gamal or the MB ??

Anyhow El-Baradei should be honoured that he is in the Black list of Mubarak’s media.

This is not a good indicator !!

With all my respect to the Zamalak fans ,this post I write because of my support and sympathy to this great old club.

This is a strange coincidence as it turns out :

Abdel Hakim Amar supported Zamalak Club

And Gamal Mubarak also is supporting Zamalak Club

This is not a good indicator I am afraid.

Links :

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Ayman Nour on TV : The video

Here is the first interview for Ayman Nour on TV after 4 years from imprisonment. Nour had his first interview yesterday after his release in Dream TV's 10 PM TV Show. The TV show is presented by Mona Al Shazely.
You can watch the interview here:



I posted some summarized points live during the interview yesterday but today insh Allah I will comment later on the interview
Thanks to Dear Amir for his quick posting
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The Media reaction after the release of Nour

Most of the newspapers did not catch the news of the yesterday " The Release of Ayman Nour" ,already he was released afternoon and even when the news was spread ,there was uncertainty.
Some official newspapers like Al Gomhouria and Rosa Al Youssef published a small news
"The release of Ayman Nour for health reason"
I am waiting for more coverage tomorrow insh Allah , thank God it is Friday
Again I am happy that he is released now because I felt that he was not going to be released next July in a way or another.

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Because he is Japanese

The Japanese Finance minister Shoichi Nakagaw resigned after the criticism he received from the opposition and the public because of his embarrassing moment in the G7 summit in Italy.

The Japanese Finance did not embarrass himself only but embarrassed his country when he went to a press conference in Italy while he looked like a drunk. Nakagaw says that he was sick and took strong cold medicine that made him look like that. Most people in Japan do not believe as he is well known there for his drinking habits.

Well judge yourself

So embarrassing ,of course you can give the man excuse with the economic melt down all over the globe !!

Talking seriously now I respect the Japanese culture of accountability and responsibility , this man by the way can kill him for feeling guilt ,already I read that the Japanese TV aired this moment over and over .

Well for sure he did a mistake , he should not go to an international press conference in this shape whether drunk or sick , he would have cancelled it better , now he looks like a fool.

This Nakagaw’s drunken moment reminds me with Sarkozy’s golden moment from 2 years ago.

Again I respect the Japanese culture and Nakagaw , we have ministers who are in more deep trouble than Nakagaw and are insisting on embarrassing us and the country  and they do not feel any remorse at all !! Resignation is not in their diction I am afraid !!

A Nice but late Political move

There is a small move happened this week and no one paid attention to.  Yahia El-Ghazli Harb published on the demand of Anwar Al Sadat JR an apology in the first pages of Al Dostor and Al Masry Al Youm to Al Sadat JR and his family.

By this apology and before it the reconciliation  the fight between Al Sadat and the Harbs are over at least for now. I wished that they solved this fight in this civilized way before destroying the Democratic front party !!

May be this is why no one paid attention to them and to the apology in the first pages.

Al Sadat JR currently is forming a new party which is very active on the facebook.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Breaking News : Ayman Nour on TV

It is first his interview after the release , just after few hours of his release Ayman Nour appeared on Dream TV 2 with Mona Al Shazely.”This post will be updated”

Here are some quick points :

  • Nour looks very thin.
  • Wearing the tie with the color of his party : Orange
  • Nour is still speaking in balanced way , he is so calm , even Mona asked him about this
  • He is confident
  • Nour considered this decision a late one,that should be taken from 4 years.
  • He considered it as good experience ,made him close to God
  • A New birth for the Gad party
  • Not even six second will make him not to practice politics
  • He is not the head of the El Gad party, he is the leader only but officially he resigned from the position of the party’s head
  • He did not make any deal ,already he was going to be released in next July 2009 “Mubarak visit is in March 2009”
  • It is not good to say that Al Sadat visited him in his dream.I see Kamal in Rosa Al Youssef and Ibrahim in Al Gomhouria mocking it
  • I think he was referring to Mustafa Bakery as the journalist he referred to anonymously
  • To the Egyptian regime : The inner front needs a reconciliation ,just like what the Egyptian regime does abroad between the Palestinians
  • He spoke about his letter to Obama defending himself. He was expressing his opinion and does not regret it.
  • He believes that there was not a pressure from the States because it is too late,why suddenly the States remembered him now. This is what he thinks of course.
  • Insh Allah I will post the video so soon ;)