Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
UAE chairman of Manchester City pressures UK to crack down on Muslim Brotherhood
Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, chairman of Manchester City, one of Britain’s most popular football clubs and a close business associate of UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, has warned the UK that his country would block multi-billion dollar arms deals, halt investment in Britain and suspend intelligence cooperation if Prime Minister David Cameron …
WHO’s dubious claims on processed meats
By Cesar Chelala A report from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) stated recently that there was enough evidence to rank processed meats such as ham, bacon, and sausages as ‘Group 1’ carcinogens, because of a causal link with bowel cancer. The IARC report has caused considerable uneasiness in …
Our flooded nation
It’s raining in Egypt! This statement is enough to indicate major catastrophes, significant misfortunes and lately, political conspiracies as well. Over the past 10 days, rain in coastal cities and ones in the Northern Delta has caused problems and disasters, starting from flooded streets and ending with houses collapsing and people losing their lives in …
The China-Taiwan summit – a symbolic meeting
The Taiwan Strait is still a dangerous trouble spot. Now for the first time, China’s and Taiwan’s leaders met in person. While the meeting had little substance, it was still important, says DW’s Matthias von Hein.
Sieren’s China: No fast peace in Syria
China is barely visible in the Syria conflict but Beijing’s plans are becoming increasingly important – for Germany too, says DW’s columnist Frank Sieren. China’s policy of non-intervention sounds good, but the country also has interests in Syria. It provides the most reliable access to the Mediterranean, which is important in political, military and economic …
AFC president’s FIFA presidential bid mired in abuse of human rights allegations
Assertions by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, a candidate for the presidency of world football body FIFA, that he was not involved in the arrest and abuse of sports executives and athletes in his native Bahrain in 2011 raise more questions than answers. Sheikh Salman’s rise in world football governance, …
Now I have the right to worry about Egypt
Time stopped when President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi gave his speech a few days ago at the educational ceremony on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the 6th of October War. I did not know what to do or say, when I heard statements that have nothing to do with the dreams and aspirations he …
Destroying a symbol of life
By César Chelala During the last few years, Palestinian olive trees, a universal symbol of life and peace, have been systematically destroyed by Israeli settlers. “It has reached a crescendo. What might look like ad hoc violence is actually a tool the settlers are using to push back Palestinian farmers from their own land,” a …
Free-floating solutions: Unleashing the indigenous imagination
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I got into a discussion with some American friends following an Edward Said Memorial Lecture I’d forgot to invite them to. I’d forgot about it myself, inexcusably given the speaker – Lila Abu-Lughod, Professor of Anthropology, Women’s and Gender Studies at Columbia University The lecture was entitled “A Settler Colonialism …
Waiting for sunset
By Omar Kamel
What is Syrian about the Syrian war?
By Hakim Khatib After five years of the Syrian war, we can recognise four conflicting parties on the ground – Al-Assad, ”Islamic State”, rebel groups and the Kurds. Each one of these conflicting parties has regional and international backers, who ironically do not agree with each other about whom they are fighting for or against. …
The Middle East: Rising and falling stars
By Fadi Elhusseini In 2011, Turkey was seen as an unstoppable regional power and a rising star, led by its Justice and Development Party (AKP). But the arrival of the Arab Spring heralded a deep change in the region. Turkey’s prominence began to fade and Iran’s potential appeared to be rising with the progress it …
Turkish football offers Erdogan headaches instead of voters in walk-up to election
Turkish football gave Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more headaches than likely votes as he battles to ensure that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will secure a majority in snap parliamentary elections on Sunday. Polls on the eve of the election predict that AKP will increase its vote by 6% compared to the …
Egyptians disappear, Egypt disintegrates
By Wael Eskandar Nabil Elboustany was on his way to Sinai on 6 October to meet his brother Tarek for vacation. At a checkpoint just outside Sharm El-Sheikh, the police performed a background check on Nabil and found him on their system due to an old case that included trumped up charges of which he …
Justifying sexual harassment in Egypt
I was caught up last week in following up the wave of criticism directed at talk show host Reham Saeed. The anchor disclosed private pictures of a sexual harassment victim and used those pictures to claim that the inappropriate and unethical life styles of women are the reason they are sexually harassed. Saeed’s reasoning was …
Achieving gender equality – when everyone wins
By Charlotta Sparre, Ambassador of Sweden in Egypt This week, as we celebrate the United Nation’s 70th anniversary, it is an opportunity to recognise the many achievements of multilateral cooperation and the many challenges that lie ahead of us to see how we can work together to meet the newly agreed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). …
What the Egyptian public wants
The Egyptian public has been subjected to the largest act of blackmail and deception carried out by the media apparatus in the country’s history. The game began with the post-revolutionary slogans about the military, the Muslim Brotherhood, and remnants of the old regime, only to end with pornography from local channels that have no other …
Opinion: you have to talk to your enemies too
The USA has fundamentally shifted its stance in the Syrian conflict. Now, Assad ally Iran will also be invited to participate in a new round of talks. The move is overdue, says DW’s Matthias von Hein. After some four years of death, dying and destruction in Syria, there is finally movement among the deadlocked parties. …
The president’s party
By Hussein Abd Rabo The results of the first round of parliamentary elections have shown that there is a complete blockage in all political paths in Egypt. This was clearly visible in the reluctance to vote, where over 90 parties were unsuccessful in effectively mobilising voters. Moreover, the state has become unconcerned with the parliamentary elections, and …
Should prostitution be legalised in Egypt?
Within the Egyptian milieu the suggestion or mere questioning of the legalisation of prostitution is deemed thunderously scandalous. There are many reasons why prostitution, as a paradigm of economic survival and moral choice, is resoundingly viewed as a mammoth negative elephant in the room of a seemingly conservative redoubt such as Egypt. But issues that …
AFC Salman’s FIFA candidacy puts integrity checks to test
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa’s candidacy for the presidency of world football body FIFA is likely to serve as a litmus test for newly introduced integrity checks on the group’s executives. Sheikh Salman was a former football player and consistently refused, like other members of his ruling family, to respond …
Netanyahu rewrites history
In Shakespeare’s famous play “King Lear”, Lear himself says, “When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools.” I was reminded of these words after reading Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu state that the late grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, an Arab nationalist and a zealous foe of …
Egypt’s forces battle security threats during parliament elections
By Khaled Okasha Security was, without doubt, one of the most important concerns and fears of the current government while organising the parliament elections. It is an acceptable concern within a volatile security situation that witnesses numerous terrorist attacks during the most recent months of 2015. The peak of those operations occurred on the …
Is Egypt geopolitically still coherent? What the upcoming parliament is expected to reflect
By Islam M. Elwany The core of development is meant to upgrade and standerdise a country’s human resources and allowing them act in harmony now is critically questioned in Egypt. The long deprived Upper Egypt has ended up reacting negatively to the objectives because the investment plan does not include cities other than the metropolitan …
Egypt should call for change in the UN Security Council
The latest elections for the United Nations Security Council’s 10 non-permanent seats have come and gone without much fanfare, a clear testament to the fringe importance of what should be one of the most sought after offices any country could aspire to. These elections come at a pivotal point in global security, with the Middle …
Egyptian football fans put youth disillusion with elections on public display
As Egyptian general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi struggled this week to get Egyptians to cast their vote in parliamentary elections, militant football fans put widespread youth disillusionment with the president’s autocratic rule on public display. More than 10,000 fans rushed in response to a call by Ultras Ahlawy, the militant support group of storied Cairo club …
Notes from America: The mufti made me do it!
During his speech at the 37th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the biggest political blunder of his tenure. Netanyahu argued that “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time”, but “wanted to expel the Jews”. And that Haj Amin Al-Husseini went to Hitler and said “If you expel them, …
Why Egyptians repeatedly end up with mediocre governments
If you are a scientifically renowned Egyptian citizen harbouring great ambitions for your country with a desire to see it progress faster, please keep your knowledge and ambitions to yourself. The government is not interested in your contribution; Egypt has always been governed by an insentient state that will never be capable of taking notice …
What if we all voted?
Last week, I closely followed, in a combination of shock, sarcasm and cynicism, the parliamentary elections participation rate frenzy. The low rates of participation were neither shocking nor surprising, but the amount of justification and propaganda that surrounded those rates was frightful. The fact that mass media, whether private or state owned, became a platform …
Opinion: A birthday child with little cause for celebration
Over 70 years ago, the United Nations was founded in New York. Although the UN is needed more urgently than ever, the organization’s influence in the world is shockingly limited, writes DW’s Daniel Scheschkewitz. The Middle East is about to implode. The Syrian Civil War has brought the world superpowers to the brink of a …