The Egyptian regime is a master at exposing its own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It commemorated the 50th anniversary of the construction launch of the High Dam in Aswan by erecting an underground metal barrier along Egypt s border with Gaza. By doing that, it gave commentators a golden chance to ponder the drastic changes that …

For Egyptians, there’s no place for optimistic forecasts for 2010: the start of a new year and a new decade is sadly overshadowed by a sense of stagnation and immobility. Years, decades and centuries are not just there to measure time. They are loaded with multiple meanings and feelings, fueled by historical experiences in all …

I often wonder why any Egyptian would condone the sickening torture inflicted on suspects in police stations, especially if these suspects are charged with crimes such as child molestation or rape. I often ask myself how people can so readily overlook the fact that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of …

CAIRO: The football-mania that preceded and followed the Egypt-Algeria match in Sudan for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers started with hostile internet and media campaigns, and developed into rioting and stone-throwing of players and fans, then morphed into a social and political battle that included harsh diplomatic statements and demands for cutting diplomatic ties. Egyptians …

As important as the heated debate about who rules Egypt after Hosni Mubarak is, it must not overshadow some more crucial questions, such as: How will Egypt be ruled in the post-Mubarak phase? And how will its political and legal systems look like? To have a new man at the helm while the old political …

CAIRO: The worst thing about the current debate over niqab (face veil) is that it gives the impression of a “healthy and “free society that openly discusses all contending views of its most pressing problems. This is an illusion. Neither is niqab a pressing problem in today’s poverty-stricken, underdeveloped Egypt, nor is the arena of …

CAIRO: The defeat of Egypt’s longtime Culture Minister Farouk Hosni in the bid to head the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) commanded the attention of Egyptian intellectuals for the past few weeks. Indeed, the event deserved close scrutiny for it revealed, and confirmed, a number of important aspects of today’s Egypt. First, …

The current weakness and fragmentation of opposition parties and the nonchalance of public opinion suggest that perhaps nothing can disrupt the plan to groom Gamal Mubarak to the presidency in Egypt but a charismatic figure whose exemplary character can awaken people and mobilize them in defiance of the state. Egypt, one can argue, is in …

Egypt is in a transitional phase. Presidential elections are scheduled for 2011, but Egyptians are still uncertain about whether incumbent President Hosni Mubarak is intending to run for a sixth term or if he is willing to witness, or indeed oversee, a transition of power to another president. Hosni Mubarak is in the eyes of …

CAIRO: “We like non-fiction because we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where fictitious election results give us a fictitious president. We are now fighting a war for fictitious reasons. Michael Moore’s 2003 Oscar winning speech has a strong echoing effect. As a director of documentary movies, Moore’s disdain for fictitious times …

There is much talk within Cairo s cultural circles of an existing, or imminent, cultural renaissance in Egypt. The increase in the number of new bookstores and new publishers over the past few years gave the impression that Egypt is about to revive its long dead cultural life. A number of factors, however, suggest just …

In their first White House meeting, former US President Jimmy Carter told former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat: “I can see the possibility that 10 years from now our ties to you in the economic, military and political spheres will be just as strong as the ties we now have with Israel. Carter’s prophecy has not …

CAIRO: The Egyptian regime’s political and verbal confrontation with Hezbollah demonstrates that Egypt has opted for deepening the rift with Iran and its allies. Egypt’s hostile posture towards Hezbollah predates the recent arrest of purported Hezbollah operatives in Egypt. Its clearest manifestation came when it blamed the Lebanese militia for the Israeli war on Lebanon …

My last article quoted a statement made by the English writer Arthur Clarke that goes as follows: “new ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along. By arguing that initial reactions to …

CAIRO: Sociologists consider Egyptian society a “shame culture, in which the status of people as perceived by others counts for almost everything. In contrast to a “guilt society, where people feel guilty about their wrongdoings even if they are undetected by the society, in the “shame culture, the opinion of the group is very relevant. …

CAIRO: The unprecedented court verdict that handed 10 rapists the death penalty for kidnapping and gang raping a woman in the governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh revived once again the debate over sexual harassment in Egypt, the reasons behind it and the best means to combat it. A plethora of explanations are provided to account for …

Tolerance among the contending ideologies that dominate Egypt s political and cultural milieu is scarce. The major ideologies that battle for Egypt s mind and soul are marred by their tendency not only to claim that their version of truth is overriding, but also to rule out altogether the validity of “different interpretations than their …

CAIRO: Although the concept of the “national interest (or “public interest ) is frequently used by scholars and practitioners, little agreement has been reached on its exact definition and the specific methods used to delineate it. Some scholars argued that intangible goals, such as “prestige and “glory, constitute an integral part of the national interest. …

CAIRO: The recent murder of two college girls at Al-Nada Compound, Sheikh Zayed City could be seen as an ordinary killing that only merits sorrow and sympathy, but, from a social perspective, it highlighted so vividly three basic aspects of the Egyptian society and its present mindset. First, it was a reminder of the distressing …

The concept of charisma – derived from the Greek word for grace – has held a vital place in the vocabulary of social sciences since the German sociologist Max Weber introduced it in his masterpiece The Theory of Social and Economic Organization as one of the three types of political authority. At times of stress, …

CAIRO: To many Egyptians, juxtaposing the drawbacks of their nation with the advances of other nations is very tempting. I join the trend using three recent examples. The first incident took place in the Islamic Republic of Iran whose parliament impeached Ali Kordan, the country’s interior minister and the strong ally of Iranian President Mahmoud …

If anything in Egypt is worth learning from the global financial crisis, it is that the current structure of the Egyptian economy and the mindset sustaining it needs fundamental change. Economists divide states according to the sources of income upon which they rely. There are “exoteric states (states predominately based on revenue accruing directly from …

Gaza has turned in the past few years into a major preoccupation of the Egyptian leadership and a potential threat to Egypt’s national security. Apparently, the push and pull of a myriad of domestic and international pressures are inhibiting Cairo from dealing successfully with this strategic file. Though peacemaking has remained vital to Egypt’s regional …