Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
Letter to the president
Dear Morsy, Like many Egyptians, I was looking forward to your government’s attempt to implement its decision to close down shops at 10pm, out of the sheer comic value it would’ve presented. I set up an observation post in front of my building in Roxy Square, chairs, Shisha and all, to get a front row …
Review: Trouble in Sinai, the prosecutor general and the Constituent Assembly
The main topics overwhelming opinion pages are the recent incidents in the Sinai and the seemingly never-ending discussion on the draft constitution. In some commentaries, some writers question the political independence of the prosecutor general, noting that whoever opposes or supports him simply makes a mess of his judicial position that theoretically stands free of …
Rebel economy wrap
“Renaissance” Bank Account, Centamin Troubles, UK-UAE Ties
Kuwait hit by Arab spring
The Arab world was taken by surprise when 150,000 or so Kuwaitis took the small country’s streets in protest on 21 October. The protest was mobilised against a new electoral law designed to reduce opposition, which was passed by the emir without parliamentary approval (as parliament was dissolved). The Kuwaiti political experience is regionally exceptional …
Review: Columnists amplify criticism of Morsy’s Assiut speech
President Mohamed Morsy’s Assiut speech continues to occupy opinion writers in Egypt. Several writers analyse his intention to ask for more money for his Nahda (renaissance) project. Commentators scrutinise Morsy’s meetings with ex-rivals to discuss corruption and social justice. The president’s job is to implement, not threaten Emad Al-Din Hussein Al-Shorouk Hussein discussed President …
Rebel Economy Wrap
Gulf arms sales, James Bond’s villain, fire EFG CEOs?
Towards liberating the energy market
The petroleum ministry is in its final stages of sanctioning the importation of natural gas by the private sector of the hydrocarbon industry. Many questions come to mind as to the consequences of such move, considering the absence of information to clarify the mechanisms by which the government is proposing to implement this policy. Why …
The Muslim Brotherhood from within
No other political group or movement has recieved the same attention or has had the same impact on Egyptian politics as the Muslim Brotherhood, since the ousting of Mubarak until now. The Brotherhood became an everyday reality for Egyptians. We wake up to the statements of its leaders, we follow the news of its significant …
Review: Columnists debate political Islam, religious speech and harassment
The expanding phenomenon of sexual harassment attracts the attention a one columnist this week, who cites the large number of police reports against harassers between 10 and 15 years old. Other op-eds explored the rigid religious speech of the imam who preached to Morsy in Assiut on Friday. Back to Al-Ghannouchi of Tunisia and …
Is Turkey immune from radical Salafism?
By Nervana Mahmoud Turkey is a unique Muslim nation with a distinct history, geography, and political progression. It has never been occupied, and its contemporary path has evolved differently than that of its Muslim neighbors. Turkey has a strong secular establishment and is mostly governed by secular laws. Turks are proud, moderate Muslims who follow …
The price of broken promises
This week I am in Houston, Texas. I am here to give a talk to students of journalism, at the opening of the Sam Houston University Global Center for Journalism and Democracy, about the situation in Egypt post- revolution. This isn’t my first visit to Texas. I was here eight years ago as an Egypt …
Off with their heads!
A video of Egyptian self-proclaimed cleric Sheikh Saad Arafat went viral on Monday, showing one of his religious “lessons” on Al-Rahma channel, a self-described Islamic channel. In the video he deals with sexual harassment as follows, “even if you [the woman] are face-veiled, you are the reason for harassment for going out of your house …
Does the Islamists’ rise to power achieve American interests?
In light of the lack – and at times absence – of information, accurate political analysis has become extremely difficult to come by. Hence, we can say without any exaggeration that efforts of analysts in our country rely upon guesswork and whatever information has been scattered and spread as rumours, which find their way the …
Review: Draft constitution overwhelms Egyptian columnists
The issue of the Constituent Assembly and its two versions of the draft constitution occupy many Egyptian columnists. Several writers scrutinise the drafts of the most important document, and others list a number of suggestions to make the document ready for public referendum. The third party of the Constituent Assembly Diaa Rashwan Al-Masry Al-Youm …
Rebel Economy Wrap
Human vs machine, IMF in Cairo, interest payments on Egypt debt
The First Egyptian Revolution
The first Egyptian revolution lasted 141 years, with the people, in the end, demanding the return of the monarchial rule
Review: Human rights, police brutality and Salafis
Various issues have occupied considerable space in Egyptian columns. While some commentators criticise the staunch determination of Salafis to impose their own interpretation of Shari’a, others reject the sympathy expressed by some of Egypt’s intelligentsia with the alleged anti-Islamist coup d’état in Tunisia. The incident of the brutal detainment and humiliating treatment of the political …
Rebel Economy Wrap
Egypt’s oil curse – part 2
The war for Egyptian minds
Elections in Egypt are a game that depends primarily on non-political existence.
Review: Morsy and the Brotherhood
The Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsy continue to attract attention in media debates. Some say Morsy is a Pharaoh-in-the-making. Others extend this definition to include the entire Muslim Brotherhood, especially after the sacking of Gamal Abdul-Rahim, editor-in-chief of Al-Gomhuria newspaper by the head of the Shura Council, in addition to the violent repression of …
From the other side
Confession, Apology, Compensation
Rebel Economy Wrap
The oil curse explained
Mobs use violence to keep women away from Tahrir
The mob attack on France 24 Correspondent Sonia Didri near Tahrir Square last Friday as she was reporting on the protests is both shocking and disturbing. It’s disturbing because the mob violence phenomenon appears to have become a trend in the “new” Egypt. The assault on Didri is the latest in a wave of sexual …
Has the balance of power shifted within Egyptian political life?
Ever since 25 January 2011, Egypt has been searching for a new balance. For, the revolution, like any other revolution, replaced the existing balance with a new one. The transitional phase that follows any revolution is the phase during which the powers that had participated in the revolution clash with each another in order to …
Rebel Economy Wrap
Egypt must stop crying wolf, Hussein Salem’s seedy world
Editor’s letter: Beneath the Belgian chocolate crust
Beneath the Belgian chocolate crust
Human rights corner: Let’s not forget activists in Bahrain
Bahrain highlights the use of double standards when defending human rights.
A mother of many sons and daughters
There is a different Egypt for everyone
Review: Constituent Assembly and relative court decision
As many Egyptians awaited the Supreme Administrative Court decision regarding the second Constituent Assembly, almost all opinion writers have dissected the draft constitution, while attempting to relate the constitution to the long-awaited court ruling.
Rebel economy wrap
Egypt debt default, Algeria lifeline, green energy thinking