Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
Saudi player’s public haircut spotlights kingdom’s existential dilemmas
Waleed Abdullah probably did not know what was happening to him when a referee delayed kick-off of a Saudi premier league match to cut the Al-Shabab FC goalkeeper’s hair. In a country that demands conformity, Abdullah’s hair-do, involving shaved parts of his hair in a style popular among young people across the globe, was deemed …
Tiran and Sanafir: an Egyptian burden
Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s visit to Egypt on 9 April caused a startling disturbance. Chatter across different social media platforms has peaked. The cause behind all this is Egypt’s decision to transfer the sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia. Egyptians on social media have hysterically opposed this handover, some …
Egypt gas agreements: from production sharing to tax/royalty
All oil exploration and production concession agreements in Egypt have been operating according to Production Sharing Agreements since 1973. This was a shift from the tax/royalty system towards equal sharing agreements concluded between the government, represented by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), and foreign companies, with a view to reduce the pressure on the …
Controversy around Tiran and Sanafir has revealed our flaws
One could index the Facebook reactions surrounding Egypt’s effective sale of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabi as follows: Islamists are posting videos of Abdel-Nasser, revoutionaries are posting videos of Mubarak, and Sisi supporters are posting videos of El-Baradei, and everybody is cursing everybody else. This is when you figure out that the revolutionaries …
No hard feelings
There is no doubt about it, the regime’s political common sense is all but gone. I do not know whether this is deliberate or not, but it is noticeable. The large number of mistakes in managing some of the issues facing the state may lead us to deep, strategic problems. Though the full dimensions of …
Regeni, Tiran and the idiotic regime
I have no idea how President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will justify his government’s unacceptable management of the country’s crises during his expected speech on Wednesday. I hope the regime is not betting on the public’s short memory span; our memory may seem to easily float from an issue to another, but this occurs only in …
Ministry of misleading culture
Why is it that the Egyptian elite suffer from a continuous state of funk? Why do these people have to go out of their way to present fabricated stories or half-truths to make us feel good about ourselves? Besides Egypt’s interesting history and rich culture, is it not possible for Egyptians to have pride in …
Heikal’s heritage: A message to our politicians
Mohammad Hassanein Hiekal’s life was not an ordinary one, nor was it a lifetime of an ordinary thinker. It stands out as a vision for a nation and a strategy for governance. Although Hiekal has always been calling for a conscious modernity that takes into account the specialty of the Arab countries, his talk had …
How Egypt is ruled and ruined by opportunists
Egypt is ruled by the maxim: “You must have a stake to have a say.” Egyptians are not governed based on citizenship, which gives everyone equal rights, but based on a stakeholders’ concept that gives more power to citizens who have more wealth and who are closest to the ruler. Egyptian citizenship enables Egyptians to …
Unemployment and terrorism in Egypt
I know I will not be the first or the last to write about the problem of unemployment in Egypt, but here, I will address in a few lines the disaster—not problem—of unemployment, which continues to snowball on a daily bases, causing frustration among the youth and their families every hour of every day. The …
Will Saudi Arabia invest $100bn in Egypt?
There will be no Arab renaissance without Saudi Arabia, and no such thing as Arabs without Egypt. Without Egypt, which is the wedge that prevents the collapse of Arab countries, many Arab countries would return to a state of tribalism, rivalry and warring clans. Without Saudi Arabia, which the leveraging force of the Arab region, …
The foreign funding phobia: facts and myths
Of all the concepts in the Egyptian political dictionary, foreign funding is regarded as the most defamatory. The term has been used as a background to any political movement, legitimate public outcry, or even political signals coming from abroad. The debate around the “NGOs foreign funding” case is not the first of its kind. Shortly …
Amnesty International criticism returns Qatar to square one
A new report from Amnesty International slams Qatar for not living up to promises to improve workers’ rights and adds to growing international criticism of Qatar’s inability to properly implement adopted policies. World Cup host Qatar and FIFA are back to square one in terms of public diplomacy, with the Amnesty International report taking the …
Will the High Dam be turned into a wall
This article is addressed to the Minister of Irrigation. Al-Watan newspaper recently published disturbing news about a statement made by Sudan’s advisor to the minister of water resources, Ahmed Mohamed Adam, in which he said the High Dam will lose its value and become no more than a wall. In it, he stressed the importance …
Unanswered questions in Giulio Regeni’s case
I wrote about Regeni’s case almost two months ago when his body was found dumped near one of Cairo’s highways. What I wrote back then was more of an inquiry on what researchers, academics, journalists, and anyone else interested in the social and political research industry should do after Regeni’s dramatic death. Although the death …
ILO to Qatar: Put your money where your mouth is or else
The International Labour Organization has put Qatar on notice, by giving it 12 months to implement labour reforms, that it no longer can delay acting on promises made in the wake of its successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. The ILO warning rings stark as the UAE, Qatar’s main competitor, steps up efforts …
The science of creating hope and motivating the people
With the vision, message, and goals of any leader, there must be a clear secure plan enforced with the utmost firmness. There should be co-operators who can quickly become part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Their role is to alert the leader about issues that require prompt action. Moreover, the leader …
Putin’s ‘completely fulfilled’ task in Syria
Since Russia was declared to officially be present in the Middle East, and following the extended presence of its military in Syria, speculations splashed media platforms around the globe. Observers saw Russia’s decision to enter Syria as a long-term strategy, so the abrupt announcement of Russian president Vladimir Putin to withdraw most of his forces …
Batman v Superman v the audience
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” was hailed as the most anticipated movie of 2016 on nearly every film discussion platform in existence. This was an expected result from a film bearing two title characters with huge fan bases. Moreover, while the two characters are supposed to be allies in the comic world, to everyone’s …
Al-Sisi’s fans—being loud is not necessarily being right
Being loud does not mean being right, but since Egyptians value loudness over logic, millions of citizens are trapped into believing that their arguments are correct—simply because their voices are loud. Many of the ruling regime’s supporters live under this unfortunate delusion; they compete with their peers by loudly regurgitating the regime’s false arguments. Endlessly …
Pardon me CBE, it is none of your business
I was surprised and very distressed after reading about the resolution issued by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) last weekend setting a maximum of nine years, consecutive or otherwise, for CEOs to maintain their position at banks. If this period is exceeded, the CEO will continue until the adoption of the annual financial statements …
The Unholy Trinity: terrorism, state terrorism and human rights
To understand the Egyptian Rubik’s Cube, your eyes must turn to the unholy trinity of terrorism, state terrorism, and systematic human rights abuses. Close examination of each arena reveals an Egyptian Body Politic in desperate need of remedy but heading downhill with meteoric speed. Attacks on Egyptian non-governmental organisations are at an all-time crescendo, attacks …
Egyptians in Qatar: where to?
There is no doubt that the conflict between Egypt and Qatar has begun moving from the political arena to other areas of conflict, and unfortunately the victims of this new conflict are Egyptian expatriates working in Qatar, especially those who have been outspoken about their support for the future roadmap since July 2013 and elected …
Beware of federalism in Syria
When James Madison and his fellow founding fathers of America came up with the idea of federalism, they did not intend it to be based on a religious or ethnic basis. American federalism was based on full citizenship and freedom, legally and culturally, regardless of race or religion. The Syrian dilemma is that its federalism …
Brussels pays the price
Muslims in Europe are always charged with every terrorist incident occurring in Europe, even before conducting any investigation. As I wrote before: “You are paying the price for our politicians’ errors”. My first point is, a terrorism tree grows only in a forest of extremism. Those who fight terrorism, excluding extremism, will lose both battles. …
In search for the new Osama El-Baz
For whom do we write? Opinion articles in Egyptian newspapers have breached journalistic standards. News outlets and websites have left their doors wide open for anyone who is anyone to write opinion articles. It is no longer limited to a certain learned group of writers in whose intelligence editors-in-chief and newspaper owners trust. The issue …
Reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood: which brothers?
How can we reconcile with those who cannot come to terms with themselves? This is a question for those who call for reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, when they themselves cannot accommodate their mistakes and unite their visions on how to come to terms with themselves before seeking reconciliation with the Egyptians who rejected them. …
The revolution’s ghetto
This is an uncomfortable topic. Over the past five years, the meaning, significance, and purpose of the 25 January Revolution has been constantly debated and revised. Egypt has transformed from a country festering with mass celebrations in February 2011 to one plagued with fear and uncertainty in February 2016. Sometimes, I think we ought to …
Opinion: This relegation is on Martin Kind
Following their latest defeat, Hannover 96 are all but certain to be relegated from the Bundesliga at the end of this season. It is all the club president’s fault, writes DW’s Tobias Oelmaier.
Why Egyptians are more tense today than under Mubarak’s rule
After revolting twice against their rulers in less than five years, Egyptians are now longing for the era of Hosni Mubarak. They long for when the economy was substantially better, security was functioning and the country was more politically stable. After decades of suffering and after paying a high price for their two “revolutions”, Egyptians …