Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
The Middle East between facing threats, challenges and the hope for stability
The following is an abridged and edited transcript of Sayed Ghoniem’s lecture at the NATO defence college on 25 February 2016. During the previous decade, Arab countries faced a number of big challenges, some of which have evolved into threats challenging governments, institutions, and people. There was a deterioration in economic, education, and health …
The key to Africa’s advancing mobile economy
Access to critical banking services is becoming a reality in the continent thanks to the rise of mobile penetration and the partner ecosystem accompanying it
The difficult question of the dollar crisis
Many have raised questions about the reason behind the dollar crisis. Fortunately, financial analyst Nady Azzam explained the details behind this issue in an article on his page, which I quote here: The state’s dollar resources at the end of 2015 amounted to $58m, divided as follows: $22bn from exports $18bn in remittances from Egyptians …
The $5bn Egyptian opportunity
This past week, I visited Cairo and met with President Al-Sisi to discuss investments of $4bn to $5bn in Egyptian infrastructure. The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) is eager to consider financing for US exports to Egypt, which have the potential to catalyse the country’s economic growth, and growing cadre of small- …
‘Theeb’: The return of Arab cinema
I cannot remember the last time I watched an Arab film and emerged as impressed with the quality of it as I am with that of the Jordanian production “Theeb”. “Theeb” was the Jordanian nominee for the Academy Award for Best Film in a Foreign Language for 2016 and the winner of the BAFTA Award …
The automotive sector’s shaky road
The Egyptian automotive market can be described in three terms: “suffered, suffering and will suffer”. All the associated parties in the automotive market, including manufacturers, agents and dealers, are familiar with this situation. Those words reflect the internal state of fear, anxiety and confusion that hovers on the horizon. Nobody knows what awaits tomorrow. None …
Royals and Rebels: Contextualising Saudi Aggression
What do we make of the historical irony that undergirds the state-building project of the Saudi state, imbricated as it is in the antinomies of the modern nation, a medieval political theology, and a surfeit of petrodollars? It is through painting an image of the Saudi state, its past, as much as its most recent …
Al-Zind faces same fate of those who came before him
Should we be held accountable for what we say? Several similar incidents are reminiscent of the sacking of the Minister of Justice Ahmed Al-Zind. Public figures were transferred to courts or judged by public opinion due to controversial statements, whether they were expressing their opinion or it was simply a lapse in judgement. It seems …
India needs to take action against systematic gender discrimination
The barbaric rape and setting fire to a 15-year-old girl in India is just the latest in a continuous series of rapes across the country. Repeated cases of gang rape in India are not isolated incidents, but rather a reflection of widespread gender discrimination in the country. It is difficult to equate India’s rapid economic and technological development with such …
Jihadist football: Contrary visions of a future Syria
A football star-turned-protest leader-turned-jihadist encourages peaceful anti-Bashar Al-Assad protests in Syrian rebel-held territory. Nearby, in “Islamic State” (IS)-controlled territory, young boys play football with decapitated heads. The contrast is rife with symbolism. It potentially offers alternative ways of understanding the parameters within which at least some Syrians who joined jihadist groups operate. It also provides …
The EU resolution on Egypt shows concern wrought with indifference
The most recent European Union resolution has effectively condemned Egyptian security forces for the murder of Italian PhD student, Giulio Regeni. The young Cambridge scholar was forcibly disappeared and killed while conducting research on independent trade unions in Egypt. Despite signs of torture, including pulled nails and cigarette burns on his body, Egyptian officials claimed …
Battle of Egyptians’ morale
In a previous article, I wondered: why would a soldier take off his military uniform and surrender his gun to leave his position to his enemies in the middle of a battle? And why would another soldier go to the battlefield when he knows very well that his colleagues had died in the same place? …
The State Council’s jurisdiction over parliamentary by-law
A major debate has arisen recently regarding the jurisdiction of the legislative department at the State Council to review the draft laws set to be issued by the parliament, including the parliamentary bylaw which will be issued soon. Supporters of this opinion invoke Article No. 190 in the amended constitution issued in 2014, which regulates …
Does the WTO still contribute to World Trade?
In 1948, after years of negotiations, more than 50 nations signed the Havana Charter to create the International Trade Organization (ITO). But in the 1950s, President Truman decided not to resubmit the ITO charter to Congress for ratification due to perceived threats to national sovereignty and the danger of too much ITO intervention in markets. …
Beware Mr President: Egypt is going backwards
No one can deny the efforts of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in maintaining the structure of the state since 30 June 2013, on both national and international levels. This is an indispensable introduction so those with bad intentions can do nothing. I will not talk more about those efforts so they would not turn into …
Heat rises in Cairo
Egypt is set to explode. When and how is dependent on who pulls the trigger and why. Those who had the opportunity to peruse the previous article came to quickly understand that Egypt has galloped to a 3, on a danger scale of 1-5, in 2.5 years of de jure Al-Sisi rule. A combination of …
How bad is corruption in Africa?
Corruption is the buzzword today. Everyone worldwide is talking about corruption. By definition, corruption is generally known as “dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery”. It also refers to bribery or kickback. Transparency International, the anti-corruption watchdog, defines corruption as “the abuse of power for private gains”. Transparency International explains that …
Deconstructing Donald Trump
Those who quickly dismissed Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency are wrong. As his nomination as the Republican candidate for the presidency is becoming increasingly possible, it is worth analysing his announcement as a candidate, since it offers an insight into the main tenets on which his presidency will be based. Rather than being a …
Humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen is urgently needed
As war continues to rage uninterrupted in Yemen and the country spirals into chaos, a humanitarian ceasefire has become an ever more pressing need to tend to the swaths of the civilian population devastated in the wake of the increasing militarisation that are in need of urgent middle care. Restrictions on access to medical supplies and …
How did South Korea achieve development?
I previously wrote about the Korean model and how it succeeded in facing obstacles. Let us read that quote: “This country has no future. This country will not recover even after 100 years.” This statement was said by US general Douglas MacArthur, who was Chief of Staff of the US Army in eastern Asia. MacArthur …
Korea, Japan invest in human capital
There is no doubt that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s visit to Kazakhstan, South Korea, and Japan has opened doors to discussions about issues of education and health. South Korea had a unique experience in education that all countries wish to learn from. Egyptians, with their history and heritage, deserve to reclaim their true identity. Although …
Saudi Arabia’s Future: will Al-Saud-Wahhabi partnership hold?
Saudi Arabia is confronting a perfect storm of challenges: economic, political, social, ideological, and geopolitical. How it weathers the storm will likely depend on how it handles the inevitable restructuring of the problematic partnership between the Al Saud ruling family and the Wahhabi ulama or religious scholars, on whom the former rely for their legitimacy. …
When can a pound build Egypt?
I listened to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s speech and I found myself wondering how Egyptians will react to his call to donate a pound every morning to collect a total of EGP 4bn in a year via text messages. I became more concerned with the spread of upbeat emotional statements through various media and social networking …
Bahraini’s soccer defeat: A cautionary tale for autocrats
A failed election campaign for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA by Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa has further tarnished the image of his native Bahrain as well as his own reputation. It holds a cautionary tale for Middle Eastern, North African, and other autocrats who see sports as a way to project …
Al-Sisi’s defective political reality
“Al-Sisi is a must” was the argument made by his presidential campaign in an effort to offset the absence of political or economic programmes from his campaign platform. After more than 20 months in power, the harsh realities of Al-Sisi have spoken more clearly than any programmes or announcements could have ever done. Al-Sisi’s supporters, …
Moral deterioration in the land of Egypt
The conclusion by Albert Schweitzer in his book “Philosophy of Civilisation” is that “moral and social deterioration make renaissance and development impossible”. When negative values such as lying, slander, pretension, exaggeration, and absence of moral scruples or conscience dominate a community with them appear behaviours such as insults, humiliation, idleness, bribes, forgery, and many delinquent …
Uncertainty of political scene
The political climate in Egypt is currently clouded over by extreme uncertainty and justified confusion about political alliances and parties, regardless of their experience or strength in the Egyptian arena. I feel political parties are not serious in their attempts to build a modern Egypt. Even if political parties try to attract influential public …
The five noes
I strongly reject the way the government rules the country. I refuse to see all officials belittle the minds of the Egyptians and cover up for their mistakes by directing attention towards the wrong things. They refuse to strain the military and burden it with all infrastructure projects. We even call them to solve our …
Ahmed Naji: Creativity and morality in Egypt
Naji’s recent sentence is not the first and will not be the last. Egypt’s history of prosecuting writers and thinkers dates back thousands of years. Our track record in this matter is no better than the Catholic Church’s. During the past few months and in the last couple of weeks, several cases like Naji’s took …
Threat Level Rising
Effective threats are often delivered in a voice not much above a murmur and with a smile. Fate drew me to this important conclusion when I tripped upon the Oscar nominated “The Imitation Game” for the second time just recently. In it, an MI6 agent who oversees the group of scientists and mathematicians says in …