#Mallawi Museum Tragedy : We continue to lose our history

On August 16, 2013 while Egypt was witnessed the aftermath following the dispersal of Rabaa and Nahda sits in ,the Mallawi museum in the city of Mallawi ,  Minya governorate was completely looted and destroyed.

For hours the museum was looted completely and the police did nothing , it did not stop the looters. I ran through the photos of the looted antiquities and one thing for sure the looters did not come individually but they came in big pick up in order to transfer that large amount of artifacts. Here is a slide show for the museum from “Egypt’s heritage task force”

It is very sad.

Officially 1089 artifacts were stolen from that museum. Only 216 artifacts have been restored so far.

Of course people and media back in Cairo accused the Muslim brotherhood and Islamists especially that there were on going attacks against Churches and shops owned by Christians in the same governorate at the same time. Well I do not think they are Islamists but rather the antiquities traders and their thugs in the area. I believe the looters and their bosses of antiquities traders seized the opportunity in the chaos.

Well regardless of the police ,I wonder why all those years since the inauguration of that valuable museum in 1960s, it did not have enough modern security systems at all !!

To be honest I admit that as Egyptian , it is the first time I know that there is a museum in Mallawi in the first place let alone a very rich and important museum like that despite it was founded in 1962 !!!

Anyhow in an attempt to save what we can save from our stolen heritage , archeological Facebook pages published some of the stolen artifacts including some of their descriptions.

Many of the antiquities go back to the Greco-Roman age. There are antiquities from more ancient times.

I gathered dozens of the photos in a Storify slide show, may be we can save some of these artifacts and stop them of being sold in auctions and so on.

I will post the rest of the photos in another post. Please spread them as much as you can especially if you are in country that got auction houses that sell ancient artifacts.

You must know that the illegal digging and excavation are spreading like epidemic through out Egypt. Looters do not give a damn for the police or the army. 

For decades we saw our history while it is stolen in front of us. This has to be stopped.

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#August30 : Another Friday of protests and anticipation

After the Friday prayers today the Muslim brotherhood and its Islamist allies are organizing mass protests all over the country.
Today yet again people believe that today we will know that the Muslim brotherhood has still got power in the streets or not and thus their political power.  The protests are big indication indeed but I believe it is an indication for their organizing power of demonstrations only but when it comes to politics , God only knows what is happening in the backstage.
You must know many people are worried from today. The media is adopting scenarios that the Muslim brotherhood supporters are going to burn police stations allegedly like what happened on 28 January 2011 !! “Oh yes rewriting a history we all lived and the world witnessed is going on so fast in Egypt and people buy it”
The security forces from army and police warned the people from going to the streets today. The army warned the people from any stranger in their roof urging them to close their roofs.
Currently the streets are deserted. All people are staying at home while there are army and police are spread in major spots in Cairo and Giza. Of course Tahrir square is off the limit , locked down by army troops.
Amazingly over 2000 MB members have been arrested in the past few weeks. Many of them are the cadres in the governorates responsible for organizing demos and rallies. Anyhow here is another live coverage for the protests.

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My two Cents on The Military intervention in #Syria and Its impact on #Egypt

So it seems that there will be a foreign military intervention in Syria so soon , may be with in days or even days.
I believe that a direct foreign military intervention in Syria is the last thing Egypt really needs now. Oh yes the direct foreign military intervention in Syria will make the public demand a military rule willingly to protect Egypt from the foreign conspiracy going after the strong Arab armies in the region. “Yes there is a deliberate misleading info in the media that the Syrian Arab army is extremely strong army and that it is the second strongest Arab army in the region after Egypt”
Thanks to the Egyptian media people began to support Al Assad and his regime as well his army against the Islamists above them the Muslim brotherhood and Al Qaeda. There is a deliberate misinformation when it comes to what is said and how it is said about Syria in the Egyptian mainstream media.
The Nasserites already support El Assad despite their idol Nasser used to curse his father and Baathist altogether. Of course these are the Neo-Nasserites.
The Egyptian people believe that Egypt will be the next after Syria and Iraq. Simply Now Egypt has got the true remaining army in the Arab world thus it will be the target after Syria and Iraq. General El Sisi seems to be the upcoming president of Egypt  with no competition what so ever now as a military man can protect the country in that critical time in the eyes of many Egyptians especially with the fiascoes of the first elected civilian president aka Morsi.
With the rising nationalism in Egypt and how the majority of people believe conspiracy theories now just like their belief in God , I fear that the military intervention will make them believe that the whole world especially the West is truly plotting against Egypt
The latest conspiracy theory supported by the state “through its official newspaper Al Ahram” now is how the West or the US was planning to divide Egypt starting with the independence of Upper Egypt through the Muslim brotherhood. The military action and what will follow in Syria will support this theory.
Anyhow what alarms me not only the rise of Nationalism/military rule in Egypt but the fact that Egypt is facing a challenge in Sinai called Jihadists and we may find ourselves in front of another wave of Jihadists who fought in Syria and want to return back will find no welcome from the regime or the public.
Informed sources once told that the army had to move against Morsi and Muslim brotherhood when he stood in June 2013 and declared that Jihad was OK in Syria. It was and is still a national security nightmare for Egypt because Jihadists are more radical and dangerous than the Muslim brotherhood.
This scenario of course depends mainly on the possibility that the military intervention succeeds in bringing not only Al Assad’s regime down but also the Jihadists. "So far all sources speak about short strikes to cripple Al Assad only"
 It will be like Afghanistan déjà vu once again. It will be like living a mix of the 1960s and 1990s at the same time !!
As I said above those Jihadists will not be received as heroes from the public or the army and now the Islamists or Jihadists can not stomach the army after happened in June 30th thus I fear the army will not face Jihadists only in Sinai but rather will face them from the West , from Libya. It is worth to mention that mainly Jihadists that fought in Libya went to Syria to fight there including Al Qaeda militants.
Anyhow I wonder many times why God made Egypt in the middle of the Middle East. It is as if fate and all forces of nature are just against having a true democratic transition in Egypt like any other country. Internal factors are not only against having a true democratic transition but also external factors.
I am sorry if I am seemed to be selfish and speaking about my country now.

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My two cents on the war drums in #Syria

First of all as a disclaimer , I am not a political analyst and this is my blog aka my space where I think and rant loudly as I want. Second I support Syrian revolution since day one since it started as small protests in Daraa. Third I do not support any of the fighting groups now in the war torn misfortunate country whether Al Assad regime or FSA or Al Qaeda.

All what I care for the Syrians now are their rights in dignified life , democracy and justice based on human rights and diversity that suite one of the greatest and most ethnic and religious diversified nations in the Arab world.

Here is what I think :

• Based on all the official statements and unofficial leaks from United States, UK, France and Israel it seem that there will be some sort of a military action in the upcoming 48 hours or 72 hours.
• It will not be a direct intervention like in Iraq or Afghanistan at least for the United States as the majority of the public opinion is against military intervention in Syria. Most possibly air strikes in Al Assad strongholds in the country to cripple him.
• I believe both Salim Idris and Manaf Tlass “especially the later as he is KSA’s favorite option” will play some roles in the upcoming days. Latest thing I read in Arabic news websites recently that Tlass would lead a rebel army that gets rid from both Al Assad and Al Qaeda”
• I believe also there are 24 hours leaders’ telephone calls now in the neighbor countries of Syria :Turkey , Iraq , Lebanon , Jordan and of course Israel.
• I fear sorry for Lebanon because it will be dragged to hell either ways. Hezbollah can attack Israel and Israel made it clear today that it will not stand still against any attack. Israel is also concerned about that Jihadists heaven next to its door step !! For God sake AIPAC supported what happened in Egypt just to get rid from the Muslim brotherhood and Jihadists in Sinai.
• Iraq , Iran’s ally and thus Al Assad’s ally said earlier today that it will not allow anyone to use its skies.
• Turkey got two things to care about in this crisis : The Kurds and the Jihadists who are using the country as a gate.
• Jordan is in Saudi Arabia team.
• I do not see Qatar playing a strong role now as it seems that the fall of the Muslim brotherhood in Cairo with the help of its rival Saudi Arabia turned things around. KSA’s princes are playing a bigger role in the current crisis more than Qatar as it seems.
• Yes it was not a US Vs. Russia or US Vs. Iran thing only but it was also Saudi Arabia Vs. Qatar and it seems that the elder Kingdom won that round thanks to the fall of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt
• By the way many people were shocked by Russia’s stance on how it will not go to war for Al Assad. Well dear friends Russia will not start a world war for Al Assad , it did not do for Serbia for God sake.
• Egypt’s stance is officially clear : It supports Syrian revolution as well Jihadists there and against chemical weapons too as well against military intervention in Syria.
• Egypt’s stance is clearly opposite to Saudi Arabia’s stance. It is one of the enigmas in the Middle East.
• Egypt supports political solution in Syria. “yes it is an irony that the Egyptian government now does not support political solution in Egypt itself !!”
• Egypt also calls for another round of Geneva talks. Sadly I remember ElBaradei declared that he was preparing for this meeting. Now I see that there is a war council held in Jordan and Egypt was not even there. “At it was not announced officially”
• Egypt or rather Egypt’s army is now busy with the internal issues woes.
• Now I wonder what the FSA ,especially its Conservative groups think or do regarding the military intervention from the US and UK. Of course the important is what Al Qaeda’s Islamic State Iraq and Syria will do in front of this Western military intervention.

God bless Syria and Syrians.

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The language of Numbers : The Bloody Wednesday and What followed it

In 6 days only from 1666 Egyptians have been killed. Oh yes in one week 1666 Egyptians were killed including 1311 in one day alone ; Bloody August 14 !!

Wiki Thawra , the amazing website did a great work and gather all the details of those killed, injured, detained and are missing.

According to Wiki Thawra detailed Spreadsheet of the fatalities “Ar” :

• 1666 Egyptians were killed from 14 to 22 August 2013 across the country including civilians, police and military.
• 1311 were killed on 14 August alone.
• 869 civilians were killed in Rabaa sit in dispersal alone. “The number is not final”
• 42 policemen were killed on 14 August including 7 policemen were killed in Rabaa sit in.
• 6 journalists were killed on that day.

This is far more than those who were killed on Friday of wrath on 28 January 2011. This spreadsheet is the most updated list of the victims.

For the record also according to the minister of interior himself 10 automatic rifles and 29 air rifles were found in Rabaa sit in. “They did not find the chemical weapons Al Akhbar newspaper was speaking about”

Anyhow Wiki Thawra is a website that documents the Egyptian revolution of 25 January up till now or as it describes itself on Facebook “Statistical Database of the Egyptian Revolution”. This amazing work is made by a group of dedicated true revolutionaries and human rights activists who spent day and night in morgues and prosecution offices as well police stations to get the dead , injured and detainees as well the missing’s full details.

It is worth to mention that the human rights activists and organizations are being attacked now day and night in the Egyptian mainstream as well social media now. Those human rights activists were the ones who exposed the human rights crimes committed during Morsi’s rule as SCAF’s rule.

Of course not all the human rights organizations are bad , you got Ibn Khaldun center of Dr. Saad El Din Ibrahim that believed the dispersal of the Rabaa Sit in was in accordance of the international standards of dispersing sits in !!!

Police officers say that this number is so low considering that they did not use excessive force !!  what if they had used excessive force , how many people had been killed then!!?

Up till now media and public care less for the majority of the victims especially from Rabaa square because they are Muslim brotherhood members and supporters who are rotting in hell from their point of view. If you dare and speak about human rights , even the human rights of enemy POWs as mentioned in Islam you will be attacked.

“They are terrorists not enemy POWs!!” , “Look how the United States treat terrorists and then come and preach us about human rights” are the most spread common answers I have been hearing for days.

Yes our people thanks to the media believe that they should do what is wrong because the US is doing it !! I do not care what the States or Europe is doing or how they fight terrorism ; hell they invade other countries and kill millions of innocent people for the sake of that stupid fake war. I do not care how the Muslim brotherhood or Islamists think and how they do not respect other people’s rights, all what I care for now is that I do not want to turn in to a monster while I fight monsters.

It is not idealism , it is the truth. We are turning in to monsters.

Those 1666 are all Egyptians whether they are Islamists or military , they are Egyptians and above all they are all humans. BY the way I know that their rights are going to be lost as usual and I doubt if we are going to have any justice soon. My only belief now is in divine justice.

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And McCarthyism is spreading and Spreading in #Egypt

This post or rather was message spread like fire in Egyptian social media.

Of course it uses English as it is directed to Upper middle and Upper class Egyptians as well the whole world.The Source of this post is Facebook Egyptian Page "Egypt" for those who accuse me of fabricating news.
If you see anyone or any group on the Facebook or any Facebook or twitter user that uses those avatars “The Muslim brotherhood or Rabaa” then report him to fight terrorism !!!!! Probably your friend or cousin who has got Rabaa avatar on Facebook is a terrorist.
The post was referring to the internet investigation department in the ministry of interior not internet intelligence or the intelligence. It is just bad translation.
Yes people are being told to report each other in 2013 just like in the days of Nasser exactly. People are reporting each other based on avatars , posts as well opinions in 2013.
Yes people are encouraged to be informants against each other based upon their avatars !!
McCarthyism is spreading and spreading more and more in Egypt in a scary way. Currently it is directing Islamists from bearded men. To avoid harassment bearded men are shaving their beard.
Tamaroud group declared in its page that opposition in time of war is treason !! Of course I am not surprised that the group says so because in the end they are Nasserites and Nasser considered opposition as traitors that should send to jail. Those who are speaking about liberties and human rights are branded as traitors , spies and agents including those worshipers and faggots of January 25 revolution like what Ibrahim Eissa , once champion of freedom of speech said last week in his TV show !!
Vice PM Ziad Bahaa El Din proposed an initiative in an attempt to end the current political crisis in Egypt including an end to discrimination in Egypt and to open dialogue as long as all political powers reject violence , now he is attacked day and night in media.
Nasserites now are asking El Sisi , whom they regarded as the incarnation of Nasser to kick out all those ministers following ElBaradei aka Ziad Bahaa El Din. 
Oh yes this is in 2013 after two years of January 25 revolution that aimed for democracy and end to police state as well dictatorship. This is in August 2013 after a month of June 30 uprising that last time I checked its goal was to end the brotherhood's dictatorship. It seems that we are replacing the brotherhood’s dictatorship with another sort of dictatorship .. unfortunately with people’s approval so far.
I hope and pray that people wake up soon.

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Another Friday of Rallies , protests and Anticipation

CHere is another Live blog for the protests and rallies planned by the pro-Morsi supporters today. There will be not less than 28 rallies in Cairo and Giza alone.

The Pro-Supporters today are not going to street alone today , Revolutionary Socialists are going to protest the release of Mubarak despite the criticism of other revolutionary powers for choosing the same day like the Pro-Morsi supporters.

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The #Friday After the arrests in #Egypt

Tomorrow Friday Islamist National coalition to support legitimacy or rather the Muslim brotherhood is organizing mass protests and rallies all over Egypt hoping that these protests will break the curfew and end it.

It is worth to mention that Egyptians respect the orders and do not break the curfews now unlike January and February 2011.

The coalition called the Friday of Martyrs.

There will be 28 rallies alone in Giza and Cairo besides the governorates.

I am somehow surprised that the Muslim brotherhood and the Islamists are organizing these rallies when there is a massive crackdown following the first and middle leaders of the brotherhood not only in Cairo but other governorates. The campaign also included those members responsible for mobilization and  protests.

We will be in front of a huge change tomorrow as the members are no longer waiting for the directives of their leaders according to the hierarchy of the brotherhood. The leaders are in detention now. Of course things now can go beyond the leaders who care less for the blood of the members. Now there is blood and blood always changes matters.

The MB members insist that they will stick to peacefulness but not most of them considering the anger of the young members especially from the Ultra-Qutbists who reject the idea of democracy altogether.We know our security forces too .. very well.

AFP journalist Haitham El Tabei was told by a Muslim brotherhood member that he did not receive new any new directives this week.

There is a strong rumor circulating online that the MB protesters may try to take over Tahrir square. “As rumor says Al Jazeera will transfer on air from there”

By the way not only the Muslim brotherhood supporters and their allies are going to protest alone tomorrow.

There are revolutionary youth who are going to protest against the release of Mubarak decided to protest at the Supreme court , downtown Cairo. Yesterday April 6 Youth Movement “Ahmed Maher’s movement” announced that they were going to protest at Supreme court but today things changed. 

The event was cancelled today as the movement that has been constantly accused of being a subsidiary of Muslim brotherhood wanted to distance itself from the brotherhood. Officially the movement does not want its protest to be used by the brotherhood.

From what I see online despite the April 6 youth movement’s decision to cancel the protest , it seems that there will be revolutionary youth who are going to protest either ways. They are accusing April 6 Youth of being coward and so on. Revolutionary Socialists announced that they will go on with the protest regardless of the attacks against them.

You must know there are some revolutionary youth who are extremely angry , really angry and they want to express it. They are fed up with everybody and Mubarak’s release was like the last straw. The revolutionary youth do not want Muslim brotherhood or military and I am afraid with all political powers and parties in Egypt ignoring them , they will find no other way except returning to the streets.

Returning to the streets now is a suicide when the public is not interested in anything except unfortunately in the so-called war on terrorism. It is like a deadlock.

Let’s pray that no one gets killed tomorrow.

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Regarding the Myth of Bad Egyptian liberals

I am really tired today. From two days I went to bed after knowing that 38 detainees “From Muslim brotherhood supporters” arrested last Friday were killed in prison transportation vehicle in vague circumstances “Contradicting ministry of interior’s reports” then today I woke up to know that 24 Conscripts were executed in cold blood by unknown militants in Al Arish “No group claimed responsibility and personally I think it has to do with the crackdown currently taking place against Jihadist groups in North Sinai”.

My Facebook’s timeline has become an obituary page for photos of deceased friends of friends whom the later swear that they are not terrorists. At the same time my timeline has become a nationalist political tabloid page full of rumors on how Obama’s brother is a member in the MB , how ElBaradei is secret MB leader and Germany is controlled by the Muslim brotherhood. This is besides the hate and ignorance that make me wants to smash the laptop. I am sorry for this introduction but this will make you know how I feel now.

I am so fed up with that Bad Egyptian liberals who turned against democracy and are in alliance with the military to the end of that talk. It has become the fashion actually to speak about the Egyptian liberals as the worst enemies of democracy who crazy for power. I can not lie that we got politicians who are ready to sell their souls to the devil in order to get to the chair but from I saw and see the term liberal  is not the right to describe them

Well I got news for you : There are not real liberal politicians in Egypt who really understand the true meaning of liberalism except few. Yes there are not real liberal politicians in Egyptians except very few politicians like Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei.

The majority of Non Islamists as well non leftist politicians in Egypt are actually nationalists , some of them are secular but the vast majority are nationalists. Let’s see the easiest example : Tamaroud

Rebellion campaign aka Tamaroud is actually the child of the Hamdeen Sabbahi , the Nasserite Nationalist campaign and this is the top of the ice berg. It is the golden era of the Nasserites in Egypt !!

There are no true liberal parties in Egypt. I do not speak about here about Neo-liberal economic policies , hell the Muslim brotherhood had a neo-liberal economic agenda, I am speaking about politics.

I am so fed up reading news reports and articles from around the globe cursing the bad liberals of Egypt while ignoring the radical nationalist wave that hit the country as well its politicians and activists.

May be the world as well Egyptians will probably know how to solve their crisis when they start to name things by their true names.

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Mahmoud Gamal ElDin Presents .. Chaos in #Cairo

Dear friend and photographer Mahmoud Gamal El Din was brave enough to be in the streets of Downtown Cairo last Friday as well Saturday. He took over 100 shots for what happened on those two days.

Everyone lost on that day but people do not want to admit it.

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And It has just started but I fear We do not know that yet

I do not know to say or write but it feels so heavy. At I knew that Egypt before August 14 was different than after August 14 and it is not a change for better but rather worse,the living proof was yesterday.

First I could not complete the live updates because I was sick , I had a fever and I could not complete. It was from the mercy of God to sleep while this on going tragedy taking place. It is hard for anyone to see his country falling in to piece and to see his own people killing each other.

Second I have a testimony which I have to share as a citizen journalist before being a professional journalist. I was on the verge of spending the day at my work down Al Galaa Street as the clashes between the Muslim brotherhood protesters but me and my real great colleagues found a way out taking back streets.  Our plan was to take the Sabatiya popular area and then cross the old Imbaba bridge to Imbaba as 15 May bridge and October bridge were all blocked.

It was 5 PM. We passed by a vigilante checkpoints where locals were holding machetes and  swords as well empty bottle glasses were brought. I saw an army helicopter standing still in the air in the direction of Ramsis street.

We went to Sabatiya , a popular area full of workshops. Despite they are mostly closed on Friday yet the locals in the poor formed vigilante checkpoints against swords and machetes were there. Despite they did not let other cars to pass without inspection , we passed smoothly. I think they saw bunch of ladies unveiled in the car and thought they can not be Muslim brotherhood supporters. In one of the checkpoints they forced two women wearing black Niqab to leave their tuktuk and step aside.

I do not know what happened to those ladies.

In one of the areas of Sabatiya , I saw a mob , an armed mob from locals around a police van used to transfer detainees as well CSF conscripts. I did not understand what was happening there. In our trip we saw some locals careless for the battles taking place couple of blocks away. I saw those locals playing dominos in the cafes giving their back to the TV sets.

Moving to the great republic of Imbaba , we met even more popular checkpoints. There were clashes there especially in the Nile Corniche. Moving to Sphinx square we found groups of MB supporters handing to somewhere. As soon as we left , we heard that clashes erupted there.

In Agouza , I found near where I live huge noise coming from Agouza Charity Hospital “Following the Ministry of health”. When I went there I found locals from popular area nearby the hospital rushing with an injured man to another hospital in Imbaba while another man was announced dead. The people said that the Muslim brotherhood protesters killed him in the clashes in Nile street. The family of the deceased soon brought up the swords as well empty bottles crate to the street and head to Nile street to complete the battle.  

I forgot to take my camera and it was the wisest thing to happen with all these suspicious armed vigilantes in the checkpoints.

I did not feel that worried on January 28 , it was completely different. It is much worse by all degrees.

It was a sad day.

We are used to blood and death that most people are indifferent to the huge death toll we have in the past 3 days , over 1000 Egyptians are killed !! Of course many people believe that the majority of those dead Egyptians are Muslim brotherhood terrorists who should not only get killed but to rot in hell. Yes it got to this degree in fact many people believe that security forces have been merciful with the Muslim brotherhood.

I am afraid its implications were not taken in consideration in whoever planned for it whether the Muslim brotherhood or the security forces or the regime. Violence brings violence. Starting with the dispersal of the sits in and there has been true political and social assessments for the political or security decisions taken !! We are heading towards diplomatic crises with half of the world in time of economic crisis while adopting Nasser 1960s rhetoric !! 

The Nasserite Nationalist wave Egypt by all strength sponsored by the current regime is facing Islamism Nationalist wave that getting angrier and angrier by time. It is double radicalization from all sides.

You can not speak now when Egypt is fighting its greatest wars , the war of terrorism !! You are either traitor or MB agent , actually they are same thing now. You do not dare to speak about human rights or civil rights in this time otherwise you are traitor as well.

Unfortunately people do not realize that the latest country to declare this war has not won it yet and that country is the so-called leader of the free world.

People of Egypt now believe the TV channels and TV figures that they once disbelieve. The Mubarak era’s figures are back with their ugliness with their anti-25 January revolution narratives.

The same disease the MB was suffering from has spread like in the Egyptian society.

I am afraid that there will be more blood spelled till all the people realize there is no other way than political solution. Of course that is a very optimistic scenario another scenario is we can have a light version from Algerian scenario where we enter a war against Islamists. That scenario will end with the army generals’ rule from behind scenes with puppet presidents and parties in the front along with highly nationalist spirit and iron curtain and control on media.

There was once a Lebanese thinker that said that Lebanese people did not admit that they were having a civil war except after two years , well I believe we are heading towards something ugly and nobody wants to admit it.

It has started and most Egyptians do not know that it started.

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#Egypt After August 16 , After the battle that Nobody won

By Mosa’ab El Shamy 

No comment.

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#August16 : A day of going the streets against Each other in #Egypt

Today the Muslim brotherhood are organizing a day of Rage with protests all over the country especially in Cairo and Giza.
At the same time Tamaroud "Rebellion Campaign" called the Egyptian people to join the Popular Checkpoints to stand against terrorism as well against foreign intervention.
It is kind of intense and many people are praying that there will be more blood spelled today.
Again a live blogging to make our life easier.

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Mosa'ab El Shamy presents : Rabaa's second massacre in photos "Graphic"

Brave Mosa'ab El Shamy took over hundred photos from Rabaa sit in while it was dispersed on the bloody Wednesday . They are graphic and sad.

You must know that Mosa'ab El Shamy was detained and beaten by some vigilant checkpoint outside Rabaa. They stole his camera, but he was smart enough to hide his SD card in his sock. It was the smartest thing to do because if he did not do this , all those photos would be lost.

You must know also that another Photographer called Mosa'ab El Shamy was killed in Rabaa sit in dispersal. 

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Dispersing the Sits in of #Nahda and #Rabaa

Earlier today the security forces have dispersed the Pro Morsi sits in of Nahda and Rabaa. 

I have just woke up by phones from relatives about the dispersal. Amazingly some lady married to some army officer claimed that both sits in would be dispersed earlier today. The thing that was claimed over and over yesterday.

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August #2013’s New Governors Reshuffle in #Egypt

Today 25 governors took the oath in front of Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour in the presidential Palace.
Six of those governors who have continued in their positions since their appointment by Morsi. I will not comment on the names now. Below there is a list for the governors and short bios for those I managed to found now.
The governor of Monufia is still vacant as the man nominated for the position was exposed as a former Mubarak’s regime remnant, and he had to refuse it due to public rejection. His name was released before other names and people rejected it .

Here are the names of the new faces in the governors’ reshuffle :

• Galal El Saeed : The new governor of Cairo. The former minister of transportation in former Kamel El Ganzoury’s cabinet in December 2011. The former governor of Fayoum till January 25 revolution was not only a member in the National Democratic Party, but he was also a member in the policies committee. He is said to be close to Gamal Mubarak as well.
• Army Major Gen.Tarek El Mahdy : The new governor of Alexandria. The most famous name when it comes to military in this reshuffle. The former SCAF member was appointed first as the head of TV in the early days of revolution and he was so popular among the employees, but had to resign later. Then he was appointed as the governor of New Valley from August 2011 to June 2013. During then He was then appointed as the governor of Red Sea. It was worth to mention in Morsi’s last reshuffle , till the last moment he was tipped to be the governor of Alexandria but in the end we found him as the governor of Red Sea. During then people understood that the Muslim brotherhood could not give up Alex to the army especially that the deputy governor there Hassan El Bernes was the true governor.
• Army Major Gen. El Arabi Sorror : The new governor of Suez. The commander of the Popular defense troops. As far as I know the Popular defense troops’ main mission now is to spread military awareness in the society. In the Past this department used to train high school and university students on combat and so on in order to help in protecting cities. Suez as a Canal City always had a governor from a military background. Current reports from the city speak about huge spread of arms there. It is also a stronghold for Salafists.

• Army Major Gen. Mustafa Hadhod : The new governor of  Beheira.Originally he was the deputy head of military intelligence. He is the new governor of the Coastal governorate.
• Army Major Gen. Ahmed Bahaa El Din : The new governor of Ismailia , a canal city was the former chief of staff’s aide and the head of the signals corps branch in armed forces.
• Army Major Gen. Tarek Saad El Din : The new governor of Luxor. He was the former chief of engineering staff in the armed forces. He was also the executive head of Tourism development authority. 
• Army Major Gen. Mohamed Abdel Latif : The new governor of Damietta. He was the former head of military survey authority.
• Army Major Gen. Omar El Shadofy : The new governor of Dakahlia. He was also the former head of military survey authority.
• Army Major Gen. Mustafa Yosri El Siyad : The new governor of Aswan. He was the head of the air defense institute.
• Army Major General Abdel Hamid El Hagan : The new governor of Qena. He was working in the Administrative Control Authority “ACA”.He used to work in the military intelligence. During his work in the ACA , he used to be among the staff of current head of General Intelligence General Mahmoud El Tahomy. El Tahomy was already accused to destroy evidence incriminating Mubarak’s regime in 2011.
• Police general Ibrahim Hamed : The new governor of Assuit. A former general in State security.
• Police general Salah El Din Hassan : The new governor of Minya.
• Police general Mahmoud Othman : The new governor of Sohag. Interestingly this man was the deputy governor of Alexandria in 2011, and he is famous for his video where he pulled his gun on a group of teachers that stormed his office while protesting. Knowing the Upper Egypt’s fascination with guns, I believe he is welcomed in Sohag because of that gun’s moment !!

From 2011 : Pulling the gun in office

• Judge Ezzat Agowa : The new governor of Kafr El Sheikh. The former head of Judges’ club in Alexandria. He is well known to be against the 25 January revolution. He is accused of forgery in 2005 parliamentary elections by grassroots movement Shayfenkom and was reported to former minister of justice from 3 months ago.
• Judge Magdy El Betity : The new governor of Bani Sawif. He is well known to curse the 25 January revolution and the revolutionaries in court during a court session.
• Dr. Saeed Abdel Aziz : The new governor of Sharkia. He was the dean of faculty of Commerce in University of Alexandria. He denied his affiliation with the National Democratic party.
• Dr. Mohamed Abdel Naim : The new governor of Gharbia.
• Dr. Hazem Atteya : The new governor of Fayoum. He was the deputy chairman of Helwan University.
• Engineer Mohamed Abdel Kader : The new governor of Qalyubia.

These are the old governors who continued in their positions from Morsi’s presidency :

• Army Major Gen. Khaled Fouada : The governor of South Sinai.
• Army Major Gen. Sameh Qandil :  The governor of Port Said.Originally the head of reconnaissance. He was appointed already in that position during Morsi’s presidency. He is popular in Port Said as he is the first governor from the locals there.
• Army Major Gen. Abdel Fatah Harhor : The governor of North Sinai.There is a lot of action happening in his governorate and I am surprised that he is still in his position.    
• Army Major Gen. Mahmoud Khalifa : The governor of New Valley.
• Army Major Gen. Badr Tantawy : The governor of  Matrouh. Matrouh is not only a Salafist hot zone, but it could be the only governorate that supported Morsi. Some say that the challenge won’t come from Sinai but rather from Matrouh especially with the arms pouring from Libya and the spread of Salafist Jihadist teachings there.
• Ali Abdel Rahman : The governor of Giza 

Not only the governors took the oath but also their deputy and there are two interesting names from deputies we should stop at. “Thanks to the MB we are paying attention to the deputies”

The NDP poster of Nadia Abdou

• Police General Sami Sedhom : The deputy governor of Sharkia. The notorious police general in Cairo has a black record during the days of Mubarak. This man already should be held accountable for the shooting of the protesters in 2011 especially in Mohamed Mahmoud street. Sharkia got one of the biggest voting blocs in Nile Delta by the way.
• Nadia Abdou : The deputy governor of Beheira. Unfortunately,the first woman to be appointed in that position turned to be an infamous leading member of the NDP in Alexandria. She won in the 2010 parliamentary elections in shady ways according to activists.

Activist Ahmed Alish did an amazing a break down for the governors and their affiliations since August 2011 “The first reshuffle after 25 January revolution and ousting Mubarak”

• In August 2011 “SCAF rule” : We had 14 army officers “One from intelligence” as governors , 2 Police officers “One from state security” and 11 civilians “3 judges , 3 academics , 3 civil servants , One ambassador and One Nasserite”
• In September 2012 “Morsi’s rule , his first reshuffle” : We had 10 army officers , One police officer “From state security” and 16 civilians “5 judges , 5 academics , 1 ambassador , 2 civil servants and 4 Muslim brotherhood”
• In June 2013 “ Morsi’s rule , it was his second and reshuffle” : We had 7 army officers “One military intelligence” and 20 civilians “3 judges, 6 Independent figures , 1 from Al Gama’a Al Islamiyaa , 1 from Ghad El Thawra and 10 Muslim brotherhood”
• In August 2013 “During interim president Adly Mansour’s rule , his first reshuffle” : We have 14 army officers “two from military intelligence” , 4 police officers “ One from state security” and 8 civilians “5 academics , 2 judges and one civil servants”

Did you read the names and their short bios ?? You know in time of the MB , it was a mix between MB and military as well old regime figures. Now it is military and old regime figures.
With my all due respect we do not know how these names are picked for those particular governorates.
We are being told that those 14 army generals are chosen because there are threats of terrorism and so on. “Some self claimed army officer is saying so on twitter and people like retweeting him crazily without thinking”
First many of those army generals are not counter terrorism specialists and according to the famous fact Field Marshal Tantawy did not change the army’s doctrine to include counter terrorism to it despite the American pressures for years. Also,some of these generals actually were not specialized in countering terrorism for God sake and some of them left the military service from years and worked in the civilian sector.
Needless to say,this is the oldest trick book , create an enemy and use a vague word like terrorism to justify what you want.
This reshuffle does not give me the impression that the current regime actually wants to pave the way for a true interim period followed by a true democratic rule. This is a reshuffle does not represent the 25 January 2011 but rather the old 23 July 1952 governors’ reshuffle !! 
It is not a big secret that there is a belief in the army as well the public that border governorates should be governed by military man despite the fact that we are a centralized country where the governor takes his orders from Cairo.
I do not have high hopes in a true revolutionary constitution that speaks about the governors’ elections and ends the deadly centralization in Egypt after that reshuffle seriously. There are indications for reforms and I do see any indication for any democratic reform what so ever especially with this all that nationalist war on terrorism hype.
If you speak against the current , you are no longer accused of being MB member but rather a traitor.
Ironically when one goes back to Mohamed ElBaradei’s twitter old archive , he would find interesting tweets that went back to August 2011 with the first governors reshuffle after 25 January revolution.

18 generals out of 27 governors. All Moslem. Revolution should change the mindset and not just indivduals. When do we begin?
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) August 5, 2011

not a single woman among the 27 governors. What happened to so called equality?
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) August 6, 2011

Amazingly there are no women or Christians as governors and like in August 2011 “Same month” we have the same number of army officers as governors. There are not Islamists or revolutionaries either.
Of course it is worth to mention that Al Nour Islamist party “the only Islamist party ready to speak to the army and presidency” refused to have any governor in this reshuffle.
It is worth to mention that from a couple of weeks ago ElBaradei presented his vision to the interim president regarding the governor’s position. He wanted the governors to be elected.
BY the way,the Pro-Mubarak/Military started to campaign online that electing governors is a bad idea and the Pro-January 28 revolutionaries from youth should not open their bloody mouth because they are not united in one single strong political body.
The Muslim brotherhood members and supporters started to tease the people forgetting how the Morsi’s governors reshuffles made people angry.
As the revolutionaries are angry and blaming both ElBaradei and Tamaroud and Tamaroud activists  are firing back claiming that it is not their responsibility.
Mahmoud Badr , its spokesperson and representative when it comes to the talks with the army as well its representative in the Constitution amendments committee said on his twitter account that it was better to focus on the constitution.
Well I hope he does focus on the constitution and manages to get something better than this reshuffle.

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#Sudan launches its #Nafeer But will anyone hear its call ?? "Updated"

Sudan is literality drowning. The floods and heavy rain hit East of Sudan drowning thousands of houses and cutting off villages from outside the world.
The damage reached to areas inside Khartoum like Ombada and Omdurman as well several areas in East Nile region. 
The official death toll announced by Sudanese are 36 dead , 60 villages and not less 10,000 houses have been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are displaced. The Sudanese activists believe that the death toll can be more. I believe it is more already especially with the media blackout in the country thanks to El Bashir’s regime.
This is the worst wave of floods and heavy rains Sudan has witnessed from five years ago. There are more heavy rains expected this week too.
Here is a photo gallery with photos from Sudan showing the crisis they got. The aerial shots can show the size of the disaster they are facing now. 

Here is a video for a Sudanese lady from Ombada region in Khartoum recounting how she lost her two daughters in the floods.

Ombada : A lady lost two daughters in flood

Here is another short video earlier shot this month by mobile phone camera showing the floods in an area called El Marabee in Khartoum. 

 

The activists and social media users in Sudan launched online campaign to help the people there called “Nafeer” which means “Call” or “Mobilization” in Arabic. If it were not for this campaign , we would not know about what happen in Sudan.
Here is the English Facebook Page of the Campaign as well its Arabic Facebook Page, they are asking for help and I hope the world helps them because their government does not really care.Nafeer has already attracted not less than 1400 volunteers to joined it.
Here is a photo gallery showing a glimpse of how things are in Sudan.
On the other hand,the Sudanese president and government as well officials care less for the disaster. They are congratulating each other on the occasion of Eid ignoring the agony of the citizens who are having a very bad Eid. Yesterday I read that the officials in the country blamed the people for having poor houses !!
Here is a video testimony from one of the locals living in the East Nile in Arabic unfortunately.

Testimony from East Nile area

There is a crisis indeed in Sudan yet Sudanese regime refuses to recognize it as a crisis in order to receive help.
Activist and blogger Usamah Mohamed asked the UN office in Khartoum on twitter why the UN does not help the Sudanese people and the answer came that the Sudanese government should ask the help of the UN officially.

@simsimt, UN hasn't asked for the situation to be declared as crisis. UN does need to be formally asked by Gov't to help respond to floods
— UNIC Khartoum (@UN_Sudan) August 11, 2013

I believe that Egypt should help Sudan and it is not about money but rather aid whether medical aid or relief efforts. This is the least we can do to amend our relations the Sudanese regardless of their government.

Updated :

Egypt is offering aid to Sudan now.The minister of irrigation in Egypt gave his orders to the ministry to send immediate aid to Sudan on Monday.

Nafeer’s activists need help and they are not asking for money as much as supplies from equipment, medical supplies , clothes. Here are the campaign’s numbers in several countries. Click to zoom in

Click to zoom in

For those interested in helping the Sudanese in Egypt , you can contact Ms. Shimaa on twitter. Ms. Shimaa is the coordinator of Nafeer in Egypt. 

Update #2 : 

 The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs issued a press statement today about floods in Sudan estimating the number of Sudanese affected by the floods by 150,000

Here is an initial estimation based on areas.

•  Khartoum : 84,000 Citizens
• River Nile : 16,000 Citizens 
• West Kurdfan : 12,000 Citizens
• El Gazira : 10,000 Citizens
• North Darfur : 8,000 Citizens 
• Blue Nile : 6,000 Citizens 
• Red Sea : 4,000 Citizens 
• South Darfur : 1,000 Citizen.

This is an initial report , I repeat it again just an initial report.

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You are not Getting #Morsi back by terrorizing Christians

 Last Friday Pro-Morsi supporters mainly from Islamists had marches all over the country especially in Cairo.  One important thing they allegedly left from trace was the offensive and provoking graffiti on the walls and doors of churches and Cathedrals they passed by.

Islamic in reference to Islamic State on the doors of Church in Heliopolis

This is the tip of the ice berg when it comes to harassments and attacks against Christians in Egypt since July 3, 2013.
The Muslim brotherhood members and their supporters from supporters are inciting hate in Egypt whether online and offline.
Now since July 3, 2013 Christians in Upper Egypt have been a subject of continuous attacks by Islamists in North Sinai, Assuit , Minya and Sohag where people were killed and houses were torched. There is no police protection what so ever for churches or even for Christian populated areas in Upper Egypt.

Boycott the Christians graffiti in Assuit

Islamic , Christian + Thug : 30 June -Another graffiti in Assuit

The human rights organizations like Egyptian Initiative for personal rights warned the authorities, but no one cared to listen on July 10,2013 but no one cared to listen. Instead,there has been a huge systematic attack against human rights organizations in Egypt accusing of them of defending the MB’s supporters and protesters.
EIPR and other human rights organizations issued late last month a joint statement telling the Muslim brotherhood to stop inciting sectarian violence.
What puzzles me is the absence of the police in Upper Egypt and how it does not protect the Christians An evil part of my mind says that like in the time of Mubarak the authorities are leaving the Islamists to harm the Christians in this way in order to use this image abroad. Another part of my mind says that this is the usual Egyptian police action , they do not give a real damn for citizens outside Cairo. “Or even inside Cairo, they only care for buildings”
Still what really annoys me is how the big clans in Upper Egypt completely are totally ignoring what is taking place. You see there is a different social system in Upper Egypt than in Nile Delta or Cairo , clans got the final word there. There is also coordination between the clans and the security forces when they want to. I just do not understand.
Many Egyptians are wondering why the international media does not cover the attacks against the Christians in Egypt in order to show the other face of the Islamists. Of course it is not about international media but rather the media in general. A Christian friend explained to me that as a journalist should found out that Christians in Upper Egypt fear to speak to the media about the attacks more openly because they are afraid of retaliation. In the end journalists in Cairo do not understand that we are speaking about rural areas where everybody knows everybody and unfortunately there is no police protection.
Many Islamists if not most of them believe that the Church played a direct role in ousting Morsi in coordination with the army. The appearance of Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria in the video of El Sisi’s speech on 3 July enforced this belief.

Tawadros the dog , a graffiti seen frequently in Cairo

The appearance of Pope Tawadros in the speech and his meeting with El Sisi along with Sheikh Al Azhar was indeed a clever political move, but it had a price in extreme polarized society that suffers from sectarian tensions from time to time.
Of course the Muslim brotherhood’s leaderships were using the same old sectarian rhetoric against the Christians accusing them of standing with the old Mubarak regime against Morsi in the past year in a disgusting way.
We have enough of sectarianism in Egypt to increase it like this and in this sick way. 
The attacks against Christians should be stopped immediately, and the ministry of interior should do its job for real.The Muslim brotherhood should order its leading figures and speakers to using a sectarian talk to mobilize their supporters in this way.
Mohamed Morsi will not return back by killing Christians or torching their houses.

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#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2013 : The Tale of Prince Amar El Din and King Zanzibar-28,29&30

I apologize for the delay in posting the rest of our tale’s episodes. I was facing technical problems in the past few days prevented me from posting the files online. Anyhow here we are in Eid and I have managed to upload the files and they are working fine.

First things first , you should refresh your memory and remember what happened last Arabian night.

Second here are the last episodes with the synopsis :

Episode 28

Princess Amar El Din ran away with her maid from the kingdom in order to find the Lovers island meanwhile evil vizier Zangir failed in poisoning her sad depressed father. Amar and her maid disguised as men , as merchants and rented a poor fisherman boat to get to that unknown island. After couple of days and bad storm , they found the island. A beautiful tropical island in the middle of unknown sea where lovers come to complain about departure.There they met an old sheikh called Emotions who told them that Prince Amar El Din was in the end crying day and night for his beloved Amar. He told them that they could find in the sad Lovers parade at sunset 

The fisherman was famous late comedian Mohamed Rada by the way.

Episode 29

The Lovers parade started forcing both the princess and her maid to cry. They met Prince Amar El Din and the two lovers met once again.Princess Amar El Din told him to return with her to the kingdom as her dad King Zanzibar had approved their marriage.

The lovers returned to find out that people were leaving the island as Zangir killed the king and became the king. Amar El Din vowed to avenge for the king but the princess asked him to take her to her dad’s grave.

Episode 30

Of course King Zanzibar was not dead , the poison was not a poison but rather a drug that would make him like a dead man. He woke up in the tomb by the high priest who calmed him down and told him the truth about the truth of the poison.

At the same time Prince Amar El Din and Princess Amar El Din went to confront Zangir ,they met king Zanizbar. Zangir was killed and his son was killed.. by the people. King Zanzibar announced to the public that he stepped down leaving the throne to Prince Amar El Din.

Amar El Din told princess Amar El Din about the truth that he was a Jinn. Of course he was shocked that he turned in to a human as a result of marrying a princess. Nevertheless they lived happily ever after.

That’s for this Ramadan Arabian Nights folks , insh Allah next season will be Ramadan Arabian nights in 2014.

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Jonathan Rashad Presents : Raba’a .. on the eve of Eid

Talented photographer Jonathan Rashad was in Raba’a sit last Wednesday night capturing shots from the Eid’s eve in the sit in.

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Happy Eid Fitr From Egyptian Chronicles

Happy Eid from Egyptian Chronicles to all the readers celebrating Eid El Fitr around the globe.
Of course this year the Eid comes in very intense time in Egypt.I do not know this post to be serious, but I can not keep politics out of it.

The MB pro-Morsi protesters are keeping their spirits high in Raba'a sit in , the housewives there even baked Eid cookies there at the sit in. The cookies they baked had a political message. 

From Raba'a : Cookies say "Morsi is my president", "Islamic"&"anti-coup"

Not so surprisingly the Pro-military supporters from housewives had to fire back too.

Counter MB Cookies : Egypt El Sisi aka Egypt CC Cookies

Happy Eid El Fitr 2013 

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And The witch hunt against #Elbaradei is on once again

This is what vice President Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted earlier today in Arabic

يبدو أن عملي لتجنيب الوطن الانزلاق في دائرة عنف لا تصل إلى الجرائد الحكومية عدا مقالات عن "خطورتي على الشعب والدولة".الطريق أمامنا طويل ووعر
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) August 6, 2013

It seems that my work to make the nation avoid violence does not reach to the state owned newspapers .. except op-eds and reports about how dangerous I am on the people and the state. The way in front of us is long and hard.

The vice president was speaking about what Gamal El Ghitani , the famous writer wrote in a whole page in Tuesday issue of state owned Al Akhbar attacking him and describing him as a danger on Egypt.
Ironically the current editor in chief of Akhbar Hassan El Banna “Not related to the MB” did not let El Ghitani write in the paper during the MB days now , he lets him to write a full page slamming ElBaradei.

The contradictions of ElBaradei By El Ghitani

What Gamal El Ghitani wrote in Akhbar was the latest episode in the new season of “ElBaradei :The enemy” that has been running since the days of Mubarak !! For the past three weeks Mohamed ElBaradei has been under a furious attack in the media.
Of course a common factor between all those who attack ElBaradei that they are the same old Pro-Mubarak Pro-Military Anti-Revolution Faces like Ahmed Moussa , Tawfik Okasha , Magdy El Gald , Mostafa Bakry and Amr Adeeb. This is besides the marathons of the anti-ElBaradei op-eds in the newspapers from that camp.
Of course when someone too close to the military like Mostafa Bakry opens his mouth ranting against ElBaradei to know that there is trouble, huge trouble in Mount Olympus.
The Pro-Mubarak Pro-Military Conspiracy theorists online and offline  are back saying ElBaradei is a Zionist Muslim brotherhood secret member who is going not only destroy Egypt, but rather to destroy the Egyptian army !! Yes ElBaradei is now a secret international Muslim brotherhood agent “Along with Barack Obama and Tawakol Karman too !!”
Definitely things are not good in mount Olympus. 
It seems that ElBaradei and his team “at least from their statements” are not on good terms with the old deep state. At least this is what I understood from his interview Sherif Amar. I paid attention to what he said when he spoke about how his talks in the Homeland security council was leaked and how the meeting between EU Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and ousted president Mohamed Morsi. There is something wrong without doubt.
Last week there was a strong rumor that Mohamed ElBaradei threatened to resign if the Rabaa and Nahda sit ins are dispersed by the use of force against the law and international human rights standards. ElBaradei made it clear there is no other way for this except through a full national reconciliation based on the law with no exclusion or dehumanization of anyone.
He also made it to both the Mubarak loyalists and Morsi loyalists that we are not going backwards but rather forward in our way for a new democracy. He also said the words that made the Mubarak loyalists angry as usual “30 June is a wave to correct the 25 January revolution”.
The Mubarak loyalists are bold enough to describe now what happened on 25 January revolution as a setback as the 1967 defeat.
It is not a big secret that ElBaradei wants a peaceful political solution that ends the crisis with no use of excessive force. ElBaradei wants politics according to the international  standards while we got a deep state that wants the old police state.
He is also realistic to know if we want a true democratic Egypt and fulfill the true 25 January revolution we need an inclusive political plan and not to return back to the old practices of both regimes especially the Mubarak regime. He wants true democratic reforms, but others want thing to return to 24 January 2011.
Still unfortunately ElBaradei speaks to a specific group of Egyptians and not all Egyptians. We still suffer from the Messiah leading figure complex as well the populism curse.  
Some people are extremely angry that ElBaradei does not want to squash the Muslim brotherhood and erase them from earth.
Many people I meet today believe that either ElBaradei is going to resign soon, or he is going to be assassinated “heavens forbid”.
General Abdel Fatah El Sisi needs ElBaradei whether inside or outside because he is the only man that can make many people trust what happened in Egypt was for the sake of democracy and not for the sake of power. If there is no ElBaradei in the picture , it will be another third world country coup.
p.s : Today Al Akhbar’s Front page headline was “Chemical weapons in Rabaa sit in”
 

Chemical weapons in Rabaa and Al Nahda "Haitham El Tabi"

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