Category Archives: Egypt

FTAC: Observation: Arab Refusal of Culpability for the Middle East Conflict

21 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Gaza, Gaza Suzerain, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Jordan, Palestinia, Political Psychology

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Prompt: mention of “Israel apartheid” (a standard trope in the anti-Semitic wings of the New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left) and “letting the refugees return”.

How about ending Arab apartheid and absorbing the Arab refugee generations whose first were abandoned between armies in 1948?

http://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300172348/palestine-betrayed

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/enough-said-false-scholarship-edward-said

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/10/03/palestinian-kgb/

Oh, and how about giving the Palestinians their money back, considering the manners in which Arafat and Abbas became multi-millionaires and Haniyeh and Mashaal billionaires.

Sustaining the MEC supports feudalism, makes crooks wealthy, and extends for Palestinians The Preoccupation with the Jews.

Prompt: Israel is the sole cause of the refugee issue.

Arab absence of empathy and favoring of an anti-Semitic posture and related supremacist assumptions at the end of WWII led to the refusal of terms and the subsequent genocidal (river to the sea) gang-up on the new Jewish State. The “Palestinians” — Egyptian and Jordanian Arabs, migrants also to the fields of the new agricultural economy of the day — had been encouraged out of the way of battle with hopes the Jews would be gone when it was over.

It didn’t work out that way.

It takes a mighty and malign narcissism to refuse culpability for a disaster like the one dealt to the Arab refugees of 1948 (never mind the 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands that would follow in the wake of the war) and then to turn the same bereft population into a political “poker chip” for the enrichment of a criminal few unconscionable enough to spend decades manipulating hate in the cause of their own aggrandizement.

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/09/23/ftac-these-too-are-palestinians/

It appears that given a choice between encouraging conflict and undertaking development, the Jew-hating and once Soviet-loving portion of the Arab bloc invariably persists in poisoning the Palestinian mind, keeping the conflict alive, and handily siphoning off the world’s charity to line its own pockets in related systems of patronage, not that any should want “powerful families” to find themselves bereft of their portion of the take.

Related on BackChannels

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/12/27/excerpt-1920s-the-spread-of-hate-russia-germany-laqueur/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2015/10/12/ftac-tip-to-the-kgbs-amplification-of-middle-eastern-anti-semitism/

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With Egyptian Naima Nas – One Question – One Good Answer

17 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Middle East, Politics, Regions

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The big one which explaining to those many millions who still think changes are easy to bring — just raise our minimum wage and reduce the prices! It is not that simple and reeducating them will take time, reducing dependency on the state will take time, and getting them to stop throwing trash outside their homes will take time. But the religious preachers will have to come on board and help in the brain “write” to counter the past 50-80 years of brainwash. That is the tough one, but that is an internal matter that concerns Egyptians and no one else.

BackChannels:

What things (changes, conditions, policies, results) most produce hope in Egypt?

Naima Nas:

For as long as I can remember there have been (policies and changes and plans, etcetera ) but the one thing that has always been missing is autonomy en masse. The average citizen needs to be independent and resourceful, not just the hundred or so officials in office.

The good news is there are a lot of such citizens — possibly half the population.

There are the people who take advantage of reforms in any field and comply with laws that ensure improvements.  If more schools are available and the law says everyone must stay in school till a certain age, they make sure their children go to school and do their homework and learn well, regardless of how difficult, and move up the ladder.  I was born in a family like that . Policies or even magic potions have to be cooperated with not just set.

It may surprise you to learn that there have always been laws in Egypt addressing every area that needs addressing. The laws are all there, they just need to be applied to everyone without exception. That has always been the obstacle. That is the first thing that mesmerised me about Europe when I first stepped on the continent.  It does not matter what or how trivial or grave the discrepancy, everyone answers to someone.

But to apply that to the chaos that is Egypt -pulled from pillar to post for years – is to start at the top and work down. Which is exactly what Sisi ‘s logic appears to be and the reason why I unreservedly support the man in his quest.

I’ll list one or two things as examples.

1. Understanding that it is impossible to have democracy or anything remotely resembling a fair government when the ruling elite are theocratic . So the “Islamic for Muslims only president” had to go, pronto! And no one cares how legitimate were the elections that put him there. He lost his legitimacy when the plan to throw Egypt under the Sinai terror bus became clear. And no one was waiting for paperwork!

2. Now we all — or almost all — agree on what we don’t want and what we really wish for, so let us make these laws visible! Starting with swift action against corruption. From the top down. That is the hardest thing to do. Because we all have a time when we wish we can speed up a process any which way .

3. Leading by example. So as he (el-Sisi) goes on records extending his hand in peace and sealing it with representatives on official level to boot. So can we — the average citizens . No one is too controversial by attending church or a synagogue and having Christian and Jewish best friends as many of us have done for years.  Now it is definitely not a novelty to be tolerant and open minded because, look, the president has long been doing that.

Finally

4. The big one which explaining to those many millions who still think changes are easy to bring — just raise our minimum wage and reduce the prices! It is not that simple and reeducating them will take time, reducing dependency on the state will take time, and getting them to stop throwing trash outside their homes will take time. But the religious preachers will have to come on board and help in the brain “write” to counter the past 50-80 years of brainwash.  That is the tough one, but that is an internal matter that concerns Egyptians and no one else.

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FTAC – Egypt – Russian Airliner Crash

14 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Political Psychology, Politics, Russia

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The Kremlin’s cry that “the terrorists done it” has been challenged recently by Egyptian claims that no evidence of a bomb or bombing had been found in the related forensic investigation.  Says Egyptian Streets (Dec. 14, 2015), “Preliminary investigations into the Russian airplane that crashed in Egypt’s North Sinai killing all 224 passengers on board have revealed no signs of terrorism, said the Ministry of Civil Aviation.”

Oh what evil webs some may weave — one hedges where empiricism falters on ambiguous evidence or too little evidence: BackChannels would place Egyptian doubts regarding the Russian assertion of the plane’s having been sabotaged (by having a bomb put on board) before takeoff in Egypt within the following framework.

Post-Soviet, post-KGB neo-feudal now FSB Russia has developed its own “War On Terror” designed to destabilize and fracture NATO and allied or cooperative states.

Muslims may know the epigram, “All of the evil is in one room and lying is the key.”

Through the KGB, the Soviet established a reputation for deceitful and disingenuous action and speech, and in the post-Soviet environment, that nefarious spirit may be expressed, this with reference to the Moscow Apartment Bombings, through possible “false flag” operations designed to manipulate “the masses”. https://conflict-backchannels.com/library/russian-section/ Karen Dawisha’s book may be especially helpful in untangling some of the real life detective mysteries produced by the post-Soviet regime.

On rare occasion, but it happens, the fireman is the arsonist, the hero the creator the monster to be subdued. So it may go with Putin’s feudal revanche in which “Putin vs The Terrorists” — the political display of power proven effective in producing the nationalist fervor that wins elections — is an important fixture and image in Russian politics.

So the motive may be there.

Still, I and most modern observers (as opposed to medieval ones who feel their loyalties constantly tested) would rather have an empirical analysis of the crash than any useless collection of bold political assertions.

Given that all politics involves presentation, i.e., some show-and-tell business, one might ask whether any, most, or some political organizations possess more integrity than others.

The question’s fair today, for the theme most central to a spectacle in which the modern world — and the modern soul — struggles with the medieval involves the relative weight of a “loyal lie” to the possession of a possibly lonely integrity as regards an authentic and solid cognizance of the truth.

In the old biblical story in which “God proves” Abraham, the test is never defined but potentially involves either a test of absolute obedience to God or, much more interesting, a test of Abraham’s conscience and courage to speak back to God in defense of the life of the son he and Sarah had waited so long to have.  God sees to it that Isaac lives (while a ram is made to die in his place) and never again speaks directly to Abraham.

BackChannels’ preferred argument: the test of conscience, courage, and, perhaps, Abrahams integrity as a father.

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Guest Post by Kay Wilson – From Egypt, Peace Activists Kay Wilson and Ahmed Meligy

13 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Israel, Middle East, Politics

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This is a 4-minute message of peace from Ahmed Meligy, an Egyptian and me, an Israeli. I was frightened to travel to Egypt, a Muslim country, because I am scarred from a Muslim machete. Yet I trusted Ahmed, who is also scarred from his time in an Egyptian prison. We are two different people from two different cultures, guilty of a mutual crime; our unequivocal insistence that Israel has the right to exist, survive and thrive.

Peace is not a bogus deal signed between the leader of the free world and a rogue state bent on destroying the State of Israel.

Peace is impossible with any leadership that justifies incitement that leads to terrorism; the maiming and murder of innocent civilians for political gain. However, true peace is possible and it happens when people of different cultures and faiths are willing to see beyond the dissimilarities and embrace one another as equal human beings.

Rabbi Nachman said, ‘the whole world is a bridge and the main thing is that we should not be afraid.’

Ahmed, as we walk this bridge together, we will hold each other’s hand. I hope that many will follow. May G-d keep you brave and safe my friend. I love you.

סירטון קצר שבו אני, ישראלית וחבר מוסלמי מצרי יקר מדברים על שלום. שלום לא של הסכמים שמסכנים את מדינת ישראל ולא שלום עם אנשים שרוצים לרצוח יהודים – אלא שלום אמיתי שנולד מרצון להכיר זה את זה ולכבד זה את זה. כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד והעיקר הוא לא לפחד כלל. אחמד, אחי היקר, אני אוהבת אותך ומעריצה אותך, שאלוהים ישמור עליך וביחד כולנו, צעד צעד, נעבור את הגשר

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“RIP Dear Yesteryear” – Guest Post by Naima Nas

27 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Middle East, Politics, Regions

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We start by lightening the load on our children’s minds, allowing them objectivity rather than indoctrination, and hopefully guiding them to think and plan for a future instead of programming them to perpetually whine over a past long gone.

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Much ado about a little something again, as the Egyptian education authorities pokes a hornet nest.

Buzzzzzzzzzzz!

It goes with the usual hysteria! But is it merited? Well, if “the preservation of history” is the only focus and every other detail is blocked out, then yes, there is potentially room for a debate. Otherwise, this is possibly the best news I have heard all week in a sea of bad news, each piece of news a wave sweeping over the last so fast, I barely had time to pop my head up for air.

The latest news?

Restricting the tide of “hero worship” in the language curriculum in Egyptian schools.

The assortment of headlines may have included more sentational wording but that really is the total sum of it! It is not an attempt to obliterate the memory of Salah El Din or Uqba Ibn Nafi. Just restrict their stories to where they belong, in the history class with lessons to learn from their errors as well as triumphs, not the Arabic language/Religious education one usually delivered by the same teacher.

“Bravo!”  is what many of us think and I will tell you why.

I personally love languages, all of them, especially my native one Arabic!

Nothing touches my very soul like Arabic.

As a young student, my Arabic teacher, who I am not going to name as I do not wish to be associated with his name now or ever was also my religious education teacher. When the teacher began to adopt very fundamental views on religion, none of us in that class questioned them. Cut a long story short, eventually I announced to my horrified parents that I would be wearing a Burka from then on!

Shorter story still, my father said NO, absolutely NOT.

That really was the total sum of my teenage rebellion quashed by my tyrant father- or so I thought at the time. Oh, I protested and complained for weeks, but that was that, as I never dreamt of disobeying my father at 14/15 I just settled for resenting him for a very long time. It is ok — I’ve grown up since realizing over time how we get so excited at times over our freedom of this, that, or the other, and we should, sometimes! But at times, depending on what is at stake, we should pause and look further, wider, and deeper into what we are about to launch into wars, be it an actual war or just one of words.

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I very much doubt an introduction to Salah El Din is necessary for anyone reading this. Every one knows who he was. And this is too short an article to discuss a man who is possibly the most revered after religious figures. I ll let you do that research into the volumes and volumes of studies at your own leisure. What is relevant to this very short piece is what I believe is the impact of the myth on the whole region, especially during the past 100 years or so.  Allow me to quote a few lines from Switching Souls – a book online- that sum this impact: “….. the father of every Arab nation, fancied himself the reincarnation of Salah El Din, the great Muslim warrior who unified the Islamic nation against the undeniable danger of the Crusades. Imperialism became the bastard offspring of the Crusades and Zionism was cast as the devil child of both: who could can resist that?”

I can just picture the shock and horror generated by an Arab, which i proudly am, disputing the greatness of this incomparable Warrior.

Relax I am not disputing anything!

Salah El Din was great and inspirational in every way.

Salah El Din is also dead now and the circumstances that dictated any or all of his actions were never identical to the circumstances throughout the past 100 years, and that is the point: the only common denomination in this operation is in fact Jerusalem. If we are brutally honest, had Jerusalem not been the focal point, he might have remained where he belonged, in the history books relating to the Crusades. By linking the crusades to Western imperialism, religion was dragged into a dispute that had nothing to do with religion to start with.

Yes, I know anti-semitism started that whole chain reaction with the persecution of the Jews, an ethnic group recognised for their religion most of the time, I know!

Still, leaping from that to making the Jewish/Arab conflict a religious one and asserting that the fight for Jerusalem was a religious holy war was, is, and will be the doom of the whole region.

The formula is all wrong and too deadly, and it works only with the mythical figure of the warrior at its centre. So it makes a certain kind of sense to lay that to rest, especially in language classes that by habit often spill into religious education.

It is a tall order compressing all this in a few lines, but I sincerely believe that if we are serious about finding peace for us all in the region, not to mention pulling the plug and the black magic rug from under the feet of every abomination that has sprung from it as a result, then we have absolutely no choice but to start the divorce procedures now: divorce from myths, from forced similarities, from delusions of recapturing a glorious past by dressing up in the heroes costumes. Instead, today, we start by concentrating on freeing young and impressionable minds from the cobwebs left hanging within them, and by founding a stronger basis to their identities than “I used to be great, so great my great, great, grand father used to whoop your great, great grandfather’s butt, you non-Arab, non-Muslim thing ya!”.

We start by lightening the load on our children’s minds, allowing them objectivity rather than indoctrination, and hopefully guiding them to think and plan for a future instead of programming them to perpetually whine over a past long gone.

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FTAC – Gaza, Hamas, Any Subject Search

11 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Fast News Share, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Politics, Regions

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FTAC

Hamas has embraced a genocidal mission based in the theft of religious precepts and related successionary ambition. It’s very flattering to itself, and while it has gotten fat and built mansions on skimming funds and collecting tunnel tolls and various forms of taxation, it has demonstrated its love of people by making sure to put noncombatants between its operations and “blast and battle”.

The New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left (see “International Solidarity Movement” for example) has been getting money from somewhere and puffing itself up for just this kind of glorious man-the-barricades moment. It too doesn’t offer much beyond the grandstanding.

As I have read that Allah favors those who restrain themselves, I may do just that and refrain a while from posting my own opinion from elsewhere, which practice has just gotten weird.

I have a blog, for pete’s sake!

My prayers to Gaza noncombatants, non-Hamas residents who have asked for jobs, built businesses, taken care of their homes, and lived peacefully and would go on doing so were it not for the fire starters among them who literally bring war into their homes.

Recommended Search Strings

Gaza, Hamas, Governance

Gaza, Hamas, Human Rights

Gaza, Hamas, Human Shields

Gaza, Hamas, Mansions

Gaza, Hamas, Millionaires

Gaza, Hamas, Weapons

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Warning tactics used by the Israel Defense Forces to apparently avoid civilian casualties in Gaza have been captured on camera. In a video published on LiveLeak, an IDF aircraft fires a loud, nonlethal bomb on a building to alert residents that they’re in the area of a target, allowing them to leave quickly.

http://www.newsweek.com/video-shows-gaza-residents-acting-human-shields-israeli-forces-258223 – 7/10/2014.

. . . as Israel has stepped up its efforts to try and spare civilians even as it seeks to silence the terrorist fire, Hamas has also increased its efforts to ensure that as many inhabitants of Gaza as possible are hurt in the fighting.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/07/10/hamas-human-shield-war-gaza-israel-missiles/ – 7/10/2014

Smuggled Syrian-made rockets based on a Chinese design have boosted Hamas’ 10,000-strong arsenal which is dominated by crude homemade devices, officials and experts say.

A surface-to-surface weapon that struck the coastal town Hadera – 30 miles north of Tel Aviv and 70 miles from the Gaza Strip – is an “M-302 type rocket” similar to a shipment of rockets Israel intercepted at sea in March, the Israeli Defense Forces said Wednesday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hamas-firing-china-designed-syria-made-m-302-rockets-israel-n152461 – 7/10/2014.

Hamas faces an unprecedented economic and political crisis. The Egyptian government regards it as an enemy, has clamped down on smuggling activity, and kept the Rafah border crossing mostly closed. It has lost its Syrian base and Iranian support as a result of the Syrian civil war. Now its authority is weakening inside Gaza: it is on the point of bankruptcy and has been challenged by jihadist groups buoyed up by the success of Isis.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/10/gaza-air-strikes-necessary-force-israel-hamas-bankrupt – 7/10/2014.

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An Egyptian Voice – Guest Post by Naima Nas – “To Sisi or not to See”

28 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by in Egypt, Middle East, Politics, Regions

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He understands Egypt is about Egyptians first, all Egyptians regardless of their religion or lack of.

And he understands that a war, internally or externally is not what we desire nor need.

These are not his wishes: these are ours, our own desires, despairs, hopes and dreams. What sets him apart is that he can hear and see us.

That is all.

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Egyptian writer Naima Nas describes herself as “An Egyptian absent from Egypt in body but present in heart mind and soul – a daughter of a nation trying to do the right thing at a time when every minute counts.”

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To Sisi or not to See

I wrote this in February in a note titled If I were the boy!

“There is no magic instant fix to al our problems. I have no access to pots of money, nor wands to change it all for the best. So I won’t lie to you. It is not going to get wonderful anytime soon. And unless we buckle up and work together it is not going to get better at all. It is going to be tougher than it ever was because we have wasted more time than we ever should have. And if we do not apply some common sense and let the one industry we can count on be revived and soon, we are in deep trouble.

If you can understand all that, I promise you I will personally see that corruption is tackled wherever it is found. But there will be no sudden magic cure. If this is ok I will run for President.”

Three months later el-Sisi might as well have been reading from my note as he gave his interview.

No I am not a fortune teller.

But It is not rocket science.

Every Egyptian with any level of awareness that is not eclipsed by religious fanaticism knows this.  How to address the problems realistically is the question. The fanatic, the bitter, and the even some very noble revolutionaries whose vision has been blurred with the heightened state of revolt will refute some or all of this. But let us be honest and realistic: a state of permanent revolt is not sustainable physically, psychologically nor financially.

Reality must catch on at some point.

And right now the reality is: it is time to get our head above water or drown. Sanity dictates that a population that is increasing alarmingly as you read this must pause and reconsider its resources. A nation with such impact politically and strategically must regain its balance, not only for its own sake and the sake of those living in it but also for the sake of everyone around it.

I am going to be blunt and it will please no one.

The last government kept its popularity by pretending to be the saving warrior of a foreign cause.

The truth is sane Egyptians have one primary demand of the president and the government, past, present or future. Serve Egypt first. Friends of Egypt are dear especially those who stand by Egypt and we cherish them all but we serve Egypt first. Sisi understands that because he is tuned in, he sees and hears us all and that is what we want.

Serve Egypt and Egyptians as a priority above all other priorities.

Thirty years of wars did not serve Egypt, Sadat understood that, he served Egypt and paid for it with his life. 30 more years of exploitation of the whole nation did not serve Egypt and we are done with those who ignored that.

A single year in power made it absolutely clear that the government did not understand how to serve the nation.

We did not need more religion, we are plenty religious and always have been.

We did not need more Burkas on TV or less Ballet.

We did not need more nightmarish existence for women prowled upon by the socially and sexually frustrated beasts. We did not need to consider lowering the marriage age to 9 for girls while men in their late twenties have no hope in hell of finding a source of income to sustain a wife. Not even one who is a grown up and can work!

Most of all we did not need a blind eye to the training camps for terror on our soil. And all this proved with no doubt that the government was out of touch with the nation’s needs, a nation in which a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line, and by poverty I do not mean no meat and no bottled water: I mean not even stale bread and no running water.

Now we have a candidate who understands what we need, he is listening and acting upon it. He has been doing so first as a quiet soldier of Egypt and now as potentially a leader of the nation. He understands we have no money to waste and the next two years will be tough, but if we all get on with it then in two years we’ll see signs of improvement.

He understands Egypt is about Egyptians first, all Egyptians regardless of their religion or lack of.

And he understands that a war, internally or externally is not what we desire nor need.

These are not his wishes: these are ours, our own desires, despairs, hopes and dreams. What sets him apart is that he can hear and see us.

That is all.

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