Category Archives: Egypt

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

28 Wednesday May 2014

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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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Guest Blog by Naima Nas – Revolutionary Egypt Today

02 Friday May 2014

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

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Had the military in all its might been out there to punish or kill, the death toll would have been in the hundreds of thousands, period!

That is really all anyone needs to understand.

After weeks of pleading with the Morsi’s supporters to call it a day and join in as a possible element of the proposed solution to prevent a repeat of Syria ever taking place in Egypt, it all fell on deaf ears.

Egyptian writer Naima Nas had caught me in a stupid lie this morning on Facebook: a buddy in New Zealand had posted on the site a photograph of a half naked man being dragged through the streets with his ankles tied and hitched behind a motorbike in some godforsaken middle eastern context.  Someone had drawn with a red pen a circle around the motorbike rider’s face and assigned the image to counterrevolutionary barbarism during the Second Egyptian Revolution, that which brought down President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood regime.

The message implicit in the promotion of the picture: the biker was the kind of bad dude apprehended by the Egyptian military and placed on the receiving end of recent mass death penalty decisions summarily doled out by Egyptian courts.

One problem: the photograph appears to have originated with an Hamas-oriented biker gang in relation to the execution of half a dozen persons suspected of spying for Israel (to see the series, web search “man dragged by motorbike, Gaza”).

I apologized for my too rapid “view-like-share” routine on Facebook that inadvertently promoted propaganda.

Apology accepted.

Here in the new neojournalism of the blogosphere, both informal pass-along and more considered analysis rely on mediated data — not what the writer-blogger-tweeter saw happen in the street, but what he saw of a recording of what happened in the street.

The difference between “being there” and almost being there through media is immense.

With observations like that in mind, I offered Ms. Nas, an Egyptian writing today from the United Kingdom, space on BackChannels.  She knows her homeland, and while she may travel from it at times, it remains where she lives.

The latest a few hours ago dated from August 17 last year, so I suggested an update on the revolution to repair the revolution.  The rapidly supplied response follows (edited heavily for look, lightly for voice, and otherwise left alone), and I’ve included an excerpt from the August piece as well.

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So What is Going on Now in Egypt?

by
Naima Nas
May 2, 2014
 
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The disagreement between Egyptians as pro coup and anti coup intensifies.

It was not a coup but anyway! The human right activists despair. The number of suspects guilty or otherwise increases. The world leaders sway between support and condemnation. Etc, etc etc!

The only common denominator in all this, are the Egyptians whose lives are getting worse than terrible: the poor street vendors who just want to get through the day with enough to feed their children; the parents who are terrified to send their children to school in areas that have turned into a circus; the old pensioners who can’t afford to be knocked down in a crowd; and the women who are scared silly of being any where near a crowd.

I won’t bore you with what the reality of living in Egypt through hard times means and I will be very brief.

Yes, the intervention of the military in July was not an approved democratic procedure.

Yes, mature and real democracies have a process in place as an alternative to a strong group taking control. No, that was not an option in Egypt in July. And no, the military did not impose the situation.

The majority of Egyptians had had enough and needed the protection,from one another other if needs be.

And the military is the only one we trust with such a mission.

Had the military in all its might been out there to punish or kill, the death toll would have been in the hundreds of thousands, period!

That is really all anyone needs to understand.

After weeks of pleading with the Morsi’s supporters to call it a day and join in as possible element of the proposed solution to prevent a repeat of Syria ever taking place in Egypt, it all fell on deaf ears. With a nation paralised from the neck down there really was no option but to enforce an end of the weeks-long stand still.

The rest really is commentary, each tragic day leading to another.

We can spend hours listing who did what, when, to whom, and how, but that would be a waste of time.

The short version is this: it needs to stop.

The country needs to start functioning again, recover, and rebuild.

That requires a strong and trusted leadership that can inspire everyone.

No, I did not wish the presidency on the Sisi.

It is not a gift, it is an all consuming burden. Yes, we did beg him to take it on and thank God he did agree. You dont have to like him, you dont have to agree with me either, but you should understand that is/will be our choice.

Yes there are many people who do not agree with that; however, whatever the reason for disagreement is, the view is limited.

It is only with a bird’s eye view that Egypt can make sense — and the bird’s eye view is simply this: we cannot afford a civil war; we cannot afford another non-productive day; and we cannot afford the tailor made reports designed to shock the world over the “human rights” of one person when it suits, ignoring the human right of millions in the blind spot.

Negative!

Sorry!

So what now?

Well it is exams season, so how about the students go home and study something, the unemployed pick up a brush and clean something, the skilled, pick up a tool and fix something, and the rest of us will see if we can ask for amnesty for all whose hands are not still dripping with blood.

We need to get back on track, not with more protests but with work.

Egyptians have a lot of work to do, and none of it will be done in a permanent state of revolution.

It is simply not sustainable.

It is time to stop shouting and start doing.

And that is what is going on in Egypt.

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Excerpt from “What is Going On In Egypt?”  Naima Nas, August 17, 2013

. . . . Millions –actual millions- of Egyptians were in the streets on the 30th of June 2013 effectively putting an end to the existing government.

–“That is not very democratic”

–“They are not allowed to do that” many decreed.

Well guess what?

They, the Egyptian People, did it!

They exercised their right to take back the power they surrendered via an election box, sealed it with an even larger number authorizing a new representative, and in doing so they added a brand new chapter to the book on democracy, a chapter the west is still debating whether or not it should be added.

Take your time there is no rush!

Now the paradox: we the Egyptians were –subconsciously at least- inspired by a tiny detail the government relied upon when attempting to rule, a very small point in Islamic/Eastern Law.

Now you are really confused!?

Let me explain: the same principle that forbids revolt against a fair and just ruler does permit the refusal to obey if the majority agrees he is neither fair nor just. The majority of Egyptians are Muslims who have understood that on a very deep level.  And here is the icing on this exquisite cake. Amongst that majority there is a significant minority that is not Muslim yet still very Eastern and very Egyptian possibly even more Egyptian: our Coptic brothers. Their lives were not getting any better under that farcical performance, nor was it going to, so they hardly needed convincing. The outcome was possibly the most democratic action in a modern nation, as you have never seen before.

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Egypt – “All They Understand is Force” – Wrong!

27 Thursday Mar 2014

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Five-hundred-and-twenty-nine death sentences.

All at once.

That’s the guillotine, 18th Century.

That’s not America, not Egypt (God willing), not democracy, not compassion, not justice.

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The mass sentencing underscored the severity of an ongoing campaign by Egypt’s military-backed leaders to silence opposition, eight months after a military coup ousted Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected leader.

Hauslohner, Abigail and Lara El Gibaly.  “Egyptian court sentences 529 people to death.”  The Washington Post, March 24, 2014.

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This blog is not about to promote the Muslim Brotherhood.

Moreover, given the violence attending Egypt’s post-Mubarak turmoil and the Brotherhood designs that have necessitated the initiation of military intervention in Egyptian politics on behalf of tens of millions of brotherhood-disappointed Egyptians, this is not to rail against strong measures.

However, the mass sentencing signals a backwardness similar to the Brotherhood’s, albeit one more suited to the Napoleonic Era than the Dark Ages, but still merciless and barbaric in concept.

Come forward, Egypt.

Arrest, charge, and try; perhaps imprison in the Guantanamo way until I / you / we know a little more than we do today about psycholinguistics, belief, self-concept, and both political and social pathology.

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Yesterday in Israel’s Arutz Sheva, a headline ran, “U.S. Warns Egypt Against Executing Brotherhood Supporters” and went on to quote State Department official Marie Hart as saying, “The imposition of the death penalty for 529 defendants after a two-day summary proceeding cannot be reconciled with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law, and its implementation of these sentences, as I said, would be unconscionable.”

True.

It is understood here that criminality lives in the heart before it expresses itself in the streets, and that the political criminality promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood, which cloaked in religion deals itself such levers and sticks as it believes provided to them for acquiring wealth and sadistic power over others, calls for preventive measures (a Jew does not have to make such a case where modern Egyptians have so well stated their own position disfavoring the Brotherhood’s ugly agenda for all but itself).

As long as the United States maintains Guantanamo, it hasn’t much call for demanding Egypt afford decisive trials for all suspects; however, again, the same makes a case for long-term political detention involving those who indeed have been strongly associated with the harboring of murderous ambitions.

Nix the plus-500 death sentences, maintain the warrants, and perhaps as Jacob wrestled with God, wrestle with Islam until common decency, goodness, and conscience prevail — and if that fails, let’s just move on but have greater faith, greater investment, in ideals and virtues attending the better humanity of humanity.

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FTAC – Post By Tanit Nima Tinat – Sparring Toward the Next New World

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Political Psychology, Politics, Regions

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First of all let me point out, and I’m fuly aware of the deliberate digression on my part here, that I’m the first to say that Israel and its people, like any other nation, has and deserves every right to live in peace and harmony and to benefit from the years of hardships it has been through as well as hard work to bring about the actual benefits that it is receiving now. As a matter of fact, I consider Israel and its people a great role model for other nations in terms of what it takes for a people to take such huge steps in all fields of life. I also believe that the entire world deserves the same and had it not been for various disasters, among them wars, and had they been left in peace so that they can deal with their own domestic problems effectively, we would have had a much better world. I think Israel can use its incredible experience, wisdom, technological advances, also its incredible human resources in order to help its immediate neighbours to see the light rather than continuing with a conflict that is taking innocent lives on both sides to no positive end!I beliebve that not a single Israeli child nor Palestinian, nor anyone else for that matter, should be a victim of this useless conflict that has been going on for so long! Israel definitely has as much right to water as anyone else and it is also great that it is sensitive enough to let others to benefit from it generously. My ultimate wish is to see all nations living in peace and harmony, using their various resources in order to improve their lives for there is enough for us all on this planet of ours to share.

The author, Tanit Nima Tinat, holds a degree in Stage Acting and Dramatic Art from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, United Kingdom as well as a Master of Arts in Comparative Literature: Ancient Greek, Latin, English from the University of California at Berkeley.

My Comments

As my father may have said, “We had some words.”

However, we may have landed on the same page, a liberal one, defined by urges toward magnanimity and righteousness.

The laboratory that is the middle east conflict affords plenty of opportunity for viewing how expectations nulling the intent to destroy Israel and the Jews and preserving the opportunity for the resident refugees of 1948 actually contributes to the promise of a real, a reliable, autonomy, dignity, and prosperity.  As others govern themselves, they may too, and they may expect to do that to standards to which others adhere in mutual regard.

End the preoccupation, says I.

Real Israeli suzerainty is not and has never been an option.

That theme on which I hammer, “malignant narcissism”, gets in there in the patterns of dependence, skimming, and taxation deployed by Fatah and Hamas governing elements, each in their own way.

The best countermeasure: widespread external comprehension of a whole accurate, clear, and complete cultural, geographical, historical, and psychological story.

We don’t make it up.

We don’t deny shameful passages.

We don’t deny creditable passages either.

We look at it together, finally, or look at them together, so many conflicts extant, and that spells the beginning of the end of those artificially provoked and sustained for the ends cherished by the most narcissistic and venal of persons.

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Research analysts may drown in human richness and wealth of information attending any conflict, and when one has done that get a book out of it; however, as I began my journey through the English-language editions of foreign press, I hadn’t interest in Israel and the middle east conflict.  In fact, egregiously naive at the dawn in 2006-2007 (new home built computer; high bandwidth Internet; time on my hands — that’s important — curiosity intact, and blogging software made ready) I was indignant about dumping off the coast of Somalia and had wanted Greenpeace to do something about it!

So fate has provided me with other contributing paths to this point, and this point, so far, is very good: the world in social media has produced a new global political intelligentsia, and we’re here chatyping with one another, and, separately, taking stock of older histories, accessing every avenue of knowledge available to redetermine and re-frame our various cultural, ethnic, and even linguistic locations in the world.

The nascent international system its many versions of Grinch: Ayatollah Khamenei, for example, has racked up serious money beneath this position and moves it around worldwide (e.g., reference: Iran: The leading state sponsor of int’l terrorism | JPost | Israel News – 3/18/2012); Russian President Vladimir Putin knows that while Internet penetration has been pretty good in Russia, less than seven percent of the population speaks English (Wikipedia suggests 5.84 percent), and that leaves him in good shape to frame the news through state-controlled Russian media.  But in the global schemes in which technology abets trade and moves money, the same technology-enabled intelligentsia, albeit with struggle against repression, may own itself most of all.

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(In its own way in politics, broadly dispersed national languages form the last broad rivers and impassable mountains defending cultural isolation, and so lend themselves to the totalitarian ends of dictators who really can and do close off the world around their constituents by shutting down external channels and nodes).

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Happy New Year, Egypt, and May It Be A Happier Year Than Last

01 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Politics

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Group of delusion and Terrorism – YouTube – 36:04 – Posted 8/17/2013

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The Egyptian army will help secure a January referendum on an amended version of the country’s 2012 constitution, a military spokesman said Tuesday . . . . Several Islamist groups, who denounce Morsi’s removal by the army as an unconstitutional military coup, have already announced their intention to boycott the poll.

Egypt army preparing for constitution referendum | Middle East | World Bulletin – 12/31/2013.

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Egyptian Armed Forces – Facebook

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It appears Egypt’s Armed Forces have committed themselves to marching into the future.

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CAIRO—Egyptian authorities charged ousted President Mohammed Morsi with treason, espionage, and sponsoring terrorism, alleging he collaborated with Iran and allied militant groups to destabilize the country.

Egypt’s Morsi Charged With Treason, Could Face Death Penalty – WSJ.com – 12/18/2013.

Former Egyptian President may talk back to power, but he is out of power, and it’s doubtful that Egypt’s army will ever again roll over when confronted by Islamic militancy.

* * *

Unlike Arab states that lack a well-established historical identity, Egypt has long been the bellwether of the Arab and Islamic world, and observing where it goes from here could provide a possible framework for where things could go elsewhere.

Person of the year in regional affairs: Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi | JPost | Israel News – 12/31/2013.

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Welcome back, Egypt, to the present, 2014.

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Voice of the Copts — Morsi Cut a Deal with Al Qaeda

03 Sunday Nov 2013

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. . . judges dismissed by Morsi and now reinstated will be presented with tape recordings of Morsi’s discussions with Aymen Al Zawahiri of Al Qaeda.

These will show Morsi requesting the terrorist’s support. Morsi’s negotiation with the Al Qaeda leader delays application of the Iran and Taliban models for Egypt until a more receptive time and, in return for Al Zawahiri’s favor, the President agrees to immediately enforce Sharia law and release five thousand jailed terrorist-jihadists, including Aymen’s brother, Mohammed.

VoiceOfTheCopts.org – Egypt’s trial: true justice will reveal Morsi’s alliances – 11/2/2013.

Related: Egypt on high alert as Mohamed Morsi trial threatens to revive civil unrest | World news | theguardian.com – 11/3/2013: “Egypt’s former president Mohamed Morsi plans to reject the authority of a court due to try him on Monday, in what could be his first public appearance since being deposed and hidden in a secret location in July.”

Related: Trial resumes for Egyptian former President Hosni Mubarak – CNN.com – 10/20/2013.

Apparently, Egypt will have for news fodder two presidents on trial this month.

Ashraf Ramelah, writing for Voice of the Copts, suggests Mubarak’s trial will end sometime next week.

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FNS – From Turkey – A Note on Egypt and the Influence of Its Unfolding Politics in the Region

18 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars

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The Egyptian society is currently at a point of rupture of the historical cycle during which it had been de-politicized through imposed top-down policies. It is undergoing a process of re-politicization and it is gradually realizing its rights and power; and thus the refusal of the masses to accept the governance of a Muslim Brotherhood that did not meet their demands.

A Note on the Socio-Political Importance of Events in Egypt – Strategic Outlook – 10/18/2013.

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FNS – Egypt – 8-19-2013-1200EDT

19 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt

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http://youtu.be/rbvuDvapdYc

MILITANTS KILL 24 policemen in Egypt’s Sinai as country gripped by violence

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Islamic militants ambushed two minibuses carrying off-duty policemen in the northern region of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Monday, killing 25 of them execution-style in a brazen daylight attack.

Marszal, Andrew.  “Egypt violence: Islamists ‘execute 25 policemen’ in Sinai.”  The Telegraph, August 19, 2013.

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I’ve started using the phrase “the humanity of humanity”, and with that in mind, here’s reference to a progressive piece by Ali Al Sharnoby published online with the Canada Free Press:

There were hundreds of Egyptians of all ages. All of them made it clear they were willing to kill Brotherhood members if they turned up again. About half of them were Muslims.  A few Salafists, too came to be with us as they live in the same neighborhood and refuse to attack the church.  I heard a lot of dialogues between Christians and Muslims.  I felt the warmth of real cohesion and unity against the new danger, and knew that there is no difference between our needs and destiny because everyone was there to protect the House of God.

Sharnoby, Ali Al.  “Only in Egypt: Muslims defending churches, Christians protecting mosques!”  Canada Free Press, August 19, 2013.

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On June 30, when millions of Egyptians took to the streets to protest against now ousted President Mohamed Morsi, residents of Al Nazla marked Christian homes and shops with red graffiti, vowing to protect Morsi’s electoral legitimacy with “blood.”

Chick, Kristen.  “In Egyptian village, Christian shops marked ahead of church attack (+video).”  The Christian Science Monitor, August 18, 2013.

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Even the $12 billion or so in aid from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait is unlikely to get Egypt through the current turmoil.

“This can’t support Egypt’s transitional period for more than five or six months – maybe a year. It can’t be counted on as the Brotherhood counted on money from Qatar during Morsi’s time,” said Adly.

Parvaz, D.  “Egypt’s fate in balance amid warnings of war: Armed conflict has been predicted by foreign commentators – but the greater threat is Egypt becoming a failed state.”  August 18, 2013.

Given the level of violence projected by Muslim Brotherhood enthusiasts against Egypt’s Coptic Christian community and the non-aligned state’s police, my estimation of Al Jazeera‘s balance and integrity in journalism has dropped a few notches.  The Qatar-backed enterprise should be at the forefront reporting the arson and bloodshed facilitated by the ragtag shock troops of conservative Islamic enterprise.

Watchers of the Islamic Small Wars as expressed in Egypt went through this about two months ago.

The Qatari-owned media company Al-Jazeera saw 22 members of its staff in Egypt resign on Monday over what they allege was “biased coverage” of the events that unfolded in Cairo last week.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Haggag Salama was among those who resigned, accusing the station of “airing lies and misleading viewers,” Gulf News reported Monday.

Chasmar, Jessica.  “‘We aired lies’: Al-Jazeera staff quit over biased Egypt coverage.”  The Washington Times, July 9, 2013.

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RIYADH—Saudi King Abdullah is turning out to be the most prominent foreign supporter of Egypt’s military generals in their armed push against Egypt’s Islamic movement, sending field hospitals and words of support over the weekend for what he called Egypt’s fight against “terrorism and extremism.”

Knickmeyer, Ellen.  “Saudi King Offers Support to Egyptian Military.”  The Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2013.

The western anti-Jihad and the post-communist communist 🙂 hardliners make the Kavkaz case for a “crusader west” out to destroy Islam in its totality by referencing atrocious directives in the Qurran like Sura 9:29 that can neither be dismissed (under the rules, so to speak), reconciled with contemporary multiculturalism — much less nature’s inclination as regards invention and variety everywhere, including human cultures — or, really, contextualized into a neutral (or neutered) state, but, no worry, Islam has reached this point riven with fractures and separating seams that are not healing and that language keeps from convergence.

Implied by the above cited piece, Qatar’s backing of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has not been equally engaged, so I will understate the state of affairs, by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where the “Brothers” are viewed as rivals to Saudi Wahhabism (see, for example, Walter Russel Mead’s “Useful Reminder: Saudis and Muslim Brotherhood Do Not Get Along,”  The American Interest, May 17, 2013).

Additional Reference

Garfinkle, Adam.  “Al-Sisi’s Hammer, Obama’s Nine-Iron?”  The American Interest, August 15, 2013.

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