A couple of nights ago, someone sent me something entitled “A Difficult Lesson. It was billed as ‘the best commentary I’ve seen on the current Israeli conflict.’ It read very like one of those urban myths – you know, the ones where someone flushes a pet baby alligator down the toilet and years later half-chewed …
Once more, U.S. Marines are on Lebanese soil. Once more, Israeli jets are pounding Beirut and its tanks are in south Lebanon. Once more, the powers-that-be in Washington are seeing black hats and white hats in a region where everyone wears gray. The inevitable result: More terrorism, a new common cause between Shiite and Sunni …
Egypt’s role in the Israeli-Lebanese war remains shallow, say analysts, who remain split over support of Hezbollah CAIRO: After an Arab split surfaced over support for Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Egypt’s analysts said they mourn Arab unity, with Egypt joining Jordan and Saudi Arabia in denouncing Hezbollah. The analysts themselves did not form a consensus; …
CAIRO: There is an African country where 19 population of the population lives under the poverty line, yet whose government donates aid to other African countries. While this country gives the World Food Program in excess of $1.5 million for use elsewhere on the continent, more than 500,000 of its own people are classified as …
Hopes are high that the military junta which recently seized power in Mauritania, ousting long-time dictator Mouawiya Ould Al-Tayie, will usher in a new era marked by democratic reform. Historically, Arab countries have had bitter experiences with coups, but there is reason to believe that this latest episode differs markedly from its predecessors. The country …
We re Egyptians, we like fairy tales. Aly Baba and the 40 Thieves, Joha, One ?Thousand and One Nights. Oh, and the most modern of our fairy tales; the one about social and political reform. Most Egyptians know that one; it s ongoing. If only Scheherazade d had access to that ?one, she d have …
Pundits and patriots continuously bemoan the loss of the best Egyptian minds. Doctors, scientists and engineers who sought their fortune in foreign countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. A study by Cairo’s Gulf Center for Strategic Studies reveals that Arab countries lose half of their newly-qualified doctors, 23 pe cent of engineers …
CAIRO: Nearly 1 million people are currently being held responsible for the kidnapping of 19-year-old Corporal Gilad Shalit on Sunday, as Israel’s first incursion into the Gaza Strip since last autumn continues to escalate. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that “Israel will not hesitate to carry out extreme action to bring Corporal Shalit back …
Four days and eight games into the 2006 World Cup, all was quiet on the middle front. Not a single refereeing gaffe of note had been recorded. But, then the first big boo-boo of the games – one made in Egypt. Referee Essam Abdel-Fatah had been minding his own business when suddenly Australian goalkeeper Mark …
CAIRO: The government and mainstream media have recognised one of the most immediate impacts the Internet has had on commentary, as blogs continue to grow in popularity. Blogs have turned many political pundits and subjugated individuals into successful online journalists, providing a variety of perspectives on current affairs that were often inaccessible in the mainstream …
What’s behind the uproar of The Da Vinci Code, the Bahai, Danish cartoons and the rumors-law? CAIRO: It s either one way or another, one extreme or the other. That is how we run things in Egypt. We either don t acknowledge bird flu or we kill all the birds; The Da Vinci Code is …
http://www.mi6.co.uk/mi6.php3 My favorite Bond movie is On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). That’s the one where James Bond gets married, although his wife gets conveniently killed shortly thereafter. The story is preposterous, but the surprises keep piling up, and the stunts are great (ski chases and car chases). And most of all, the score is …
The lack of democratic breakthroughs worthy of mention in Arab countries has spurred debate about barriers to change. Much of this debate has focused on economic, social and cultural factors, or on the fragility of political forces demanding democracy. The debate would be incomplete, however, without a discussion of the means by which authoritarian Arab …
The good news is that, finally, the UN has replaced the badly reputed Human Rights Commission with the newly established Human Rights Council. The old body was a symbol of UN dysfunction as human rights violators gained seats in it and used their positions to prevent any censuring of their policies. Hopefully, it won’t work …
The resolution of the long running court case between actor Ahmed El Fishawy and costume designer Hind El Hennawy brought to end a drama that has captured the rapt attention of Egyptian and Arab viewers over the past 20 months. However, the real debate, which is of the child caught in the middle of divisive …
http://www.jibjab.com/ Brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis founded Jibjab in 1998 and since then have been among the foremost purveyors of web-based satirical animation. They reached the height of their fame in 2004 with an inspired 2-minute spoof of the U.S. presidential campaign titled “This Land. Set to the tune of the celebrated Woody Guthrie song, …
When San Francisco s Barry Bonds hit his 715th career home run last week to move past the legendary Babe Ruth into second place on the all-time list, more than a few people must have been wondering how many of those out of the park monster blasts were helped along by drugs. Bonds is now …
http://www.thecwa.co.uk/http://www.mysterywriters.org/http://murderink.com/catalog/ If you’re a writer, that is. And if you’re a mystery fan, you’re glad to pony up the price of the latest thriller, especially if it has won an Edgar or a Gold or Silver Dagger. The former, named after Edgar Allan Poe, who invented the mystery genre with “Murder in the Rue Morgue, …
CAIRO: An interior ministry spokesman and deputy to the ministry claimed in a live TV show on Tuesday that no violations of human or prisoners’ rights occur under the Emergency Law, saying that any incidents of ill-treatment were indeed rare. When faced with written complaints, the deputy simply said that no investigation was launched into …
“I like pigs, Winston Churchill is supposed to have said on what must have been a rainy day. “Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. Well, I don’t know about pigs, but he certainly had cats and dogs figured out. Which doesn’t reflect very well on the …
I was sitting in a café just yesterday, listening to a group of Egyptian youth discuss the role of education in the region. Their argument went something like this: because Egypt now uses the American system of education, no longer do Egyptians have the mathematical knowledge to succeed in the world. While they are probably …
The Alexandria riots are something that Egypt needs to figure out; what is causing all this hate? We have heard that this is an anomaly and it doesn’t happen often, simply a few ‘fanatics’ that are ruining the good name of Muslims and Copts across the nation. It is hard to digest. Within the past …
Gods were everywhere. They were hiding under my bed, in the bottom of my closet and under the kitchen sink. Ever since my wife started taking pottery lessons in Maadi three months ago, I couldn’t look anywhere in the apartment and not find a new carved image. So you can imagine my relief when Ali …
CAIRO: Egypt has been immersed in a political transition period for over a year. From the first multi-candidate presidential elections to the violence-marred parliamentary elections, the country has witnessed its fair share of positive and negative changes. During the last few years, opposition parties have come to the forefront in the hopes of attracting people …
CAIRO: Every now and then news comes along that a government outside the Middle East decides to ban the hijab (Islamic veil) in some form or another. Protesting such decisions on the streets in Middle Eastern cities has become a regular reaction to such news. Gradually, the anger over the hijab ban has grown to …
Amazingly, the Egyptian President has managed the impossible, and it only took a matter of minutes. Eat your heart out Condi and Jack! Hosni Mubarak has actually succeeded in uniting members of the Iraqi government-in-waiting with his civil war comments on Dubai s Al-Arabiya network. In fact, in comparison to top Iraqi officials, who have …
Before remarking on the meaning of Israel’s March 28 elections for Israeli-Palestinian relations, it behooves us to recall why Israel has such frequent elections, yet can’t install a government capable of resolving the Palestinian issue. The reasons are both Israeli and Palestinian in substance. At the Israeli domestic level, every Israeli government since 1988 has …
Here’s a big idea for the next U.S. Treasury secretary: Reform the International Monetary Fund so that it can help the world balance its checkbook, reducing America’s deficits and Asia’s surpluses, before there’s a financial crisis that hits everyone from Beijing to Boston. The leaks and rumors are flying that Treasury Secretary John Snow is …
I was on the evening train from Washington to New York, happily reading a book, when I overheard a sliver of conversation that would make it impossible to concentrate and remind me just what an uphill struggle it could be to be a Muslim in America, today. “And those cartoons! They get so angry about …
The past few weeks saw the error in foreign news coverage of the Middle East come to life as an international group promoting peace journeyed throughout the region. The Breaking the Ice peace mission began their journey overland in Tel Aviv early March and has just recently ended the trek by planting an olive tree …
