The Last Tweet of #Chatah

This is the last tweet by former Lebanese minister Mohamed Chatah on twitter , just one hour before his assassination in Beirut in another huge explosion that rocked the city earlier this morning.

#Hezbollah is pressing hard to be granted similar powers in security & foreign policy matters that Syria exercised in Lebanon for 15 yrs.
— Mohamad B Chatah (@mohamad_chatah) December 27, 2013

The last tweet just one hour before his assassination.
The more moderate people are killed and forced to shut up , the more  radicals flourish. A fact we know in the hard way in the Middle East !! 

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#1954Redux : Muslim Brotherhood is officially a terrorist organization

And so the Egyptian government today has designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization officially. It is an official administrative decision based on article No.86 from the Criminal law about terrorism.

The government says that it took this decision after knowing that the MB stood behind the bombing of Mansoura directorate , the bombing which Ansar Beit Al Maqids claimed responsibility today !!! There has been no official direct connection proven so far between the MB and the Sinai based Salafist Jihadist to convict the MB for real in front of law.

It is worth to mention also that on the night of the bombing almost all TV shows and figures urged the government to declare the MB as a terrorist organization , in fact on the same time it was claimed that PM declared as a terrorist organization. There was a huge pressure on the government for real to declare the MB as a terrorist organization but I am afraid that the government shot itself in the foot.

Terrorism won’t stop by this decision.

How are they going to apply it with millions of supporters or hundreds of thousands of supporters in Egypt !? There are no real lists for the MB members so yes it will be fun days of arrests for anybody with no rights at all without the permission. Those are arrested can stand military trials. If any officer opens his fire on alleged terrorist , he won’t be punished because he is fighting terrorism.  The law does not stop here it extended to arresting those who promote the organization through writing , oh yes a witch hunt against writers and journalists !!

It will be one hell of challenges for human rights activists who are currently under fire from both sides.

Of course tonight Ahram stopped the printing of Freedom and Justice Newspaper daily officially. There is noting about the Freedom and Justice Party by the way. I do not know what its status would be.

Now there is one interesting fact here is that this is an administrative decision issued by the Prime minister which can be appealed and overturned by the administrative court. Knowing this from legal experts and lawyers , I can see that this decision can not be used as a card by the regime in the negotiations with the Muslim Brotherhood to lower their demands. After that MB won’t negotiate on reinstating Morsi but rather to remove its name from the terrorist organizations list.

This decision is actually another life kiss to the Muslim Brotherhood just like the Rabaa Massacre. The MB had one hell of year in the spot light as political power and party operating no more underground made the Brotherhood for the first time since 80 years lose its public support in a way like no other.

Now the MB is back to its comfort zone , the underground zone where it remained most of its existence , where it flourished and spread.

Both the deep state and Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt need each other for survival.The deep state needs the Muslim Brotherhood as the scary bogyman and the MB as I hunted above needs such regime to live and survive as a victim as usual. 

By the way the rapid rise and fall of MB in two years is scary as well that déjà vu and replay of our history , it is more scarier if I am say because if we are today  reliving

The fools are now repeating automatically online and offline that Nasser’s policies were successful and managed to end the Muslim Brotherhood but Sadat revived it back .. etc.

Well those fools do not know that the thought of the MB abroad in Egypt spread more than Nasser’s Pan Arab Nationalism and what resulted it from Siyad Qutb’s thought and books now changed the world in the past 30 years for real unfortunately in bad ways. Those fools of course are the same people who see El Sisi as the reincarnation of Nasser.

The policies of Nasser , the security oppressive policies did not stop any MB though from flourishing in fact I would dare and raise the bars those radical oppressive policies gave a golden opportunity to the radical oppressive thoughts of Siyad Qutb specifically to spread.

I am afraid we have tried the security solution alone in the past and it did not work not to mention that the mentality of those are currently in control of this country is the same like in the past , in fact they are faithful students so I do not expect any success. We are repeating the same mistake.

The terrorism won’t be stop , in fact I am afraid it may increase especially that the MB youth now think that the days of Sayid Qutb was right and democracy is wrong .. etc. The thing is we did not try all the ways to choose that bloody way.

Anyhow what is scary also is the amount of the public mobilization led by the media in Egypt against all the Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters. Yesterday the TV guests and columnists in Egypt were speaking about death squads to kill the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters.

Today the TV hosts were cheering for how the angry mob in Mansoura went madly destroying shops , companies , clinics , pharmacies and even houses allegedly owned by Muslim Brotherhood members. Online campaigns spread by the Pro-Military supporters to report any Muslim Brotherhood member or supporter to the authorities !! In Mansoura they hanged a banner calling the MB as Egypt’s Jews !! Of course it is anti-Semitic rhetoric but what I see in front of me a scary fascism.

Needless to say it is getting dangerously out of hand and one day people will regret what will happen thousands blaming others unfortunately and not blaming themselves.

In the end of the day I remember what a wise man had told me yesterday when I asked him about the current situation in Egypt that the revolutionaries are stuck between the old regime and the MB , the biggest two powers in Egypt whose fight weakens the revolutionaries. It is true especially that both powers that are actually anti-revolutionary. 

By the way now sports journalists from the Mubarak era are urging the government to enlist the ULTRAS groups as terrorist groups.

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Huge explosion hits Mansoura security directorate

Huge explosion has hit Mansour late night from a short time ago. The explosion was heard all over the city and even rocked the houses.
The explosion was too strong that it affected all the buildings in the area for radius of 200 meters according to the eye witnesses. At least 3 are reportedly killed and 50 have been injured. The numbers can increase. I am praying that it would remain like that. Updated at 1:38 PM:  The MOH stated the death total increased to 13 and the injured increased to over 100. It is like a war scene now in Mansoura.
The right part of the security directorate was collapsed. In fact from the photos tweep Ahmed El Shabrawy there is huge destruction as it turned out that this area got lots of old buildings there.

This is the second time a bomb attack would target the security directorate there. It is the largest so far in Egypt.
No one has claimed responsibility so far.
Of course people on twitter sitting on their asses from their homes and even from outside Mansoura as well Egypt are spreading their own analysis who stood behind the attack ad why just one hour after it takes place.
Needless to say, the Muslim Brotherhood is the primary suspect especially some claim that the decision to freeze the assets of more than 100 NGOs in Egypt on Monday most Islamist NGOs is the reason why.
Some claim that the revolutionaries are behind this because they were exposed of receiving foreign money .. etc.
The Muslim Brotherhood supporters are claiming that businessman Naguib Sawiris is behind the blast with his so-called “Christian Militia”
Some say that it is a bombed car while other sitting on their asses copying pasting from each other claim that there were three bombs !!
Yes all this has been said on the Egyptian social media in less than two hours after the blast.
Of course seeing the amount of damage in Mansoura , I would say that this had been planned for in advance from more than a week for instance. It is not something you decide on the same day.
The Muslim Brotherhood is denouncing the attack and so on but no one is buying it. Now TV channels are calling for the complete execution of the MB. 
To be honest I am thinking of Ansar Beit El Maqdus , the militant Salafist Jihadist group in Sinai. Already their operations reached to Cairo so I won’t be surprised that they are standing behind this attack.
May Allah bless the souls of those who were killed tonight and bring peace to the land of Egypt.
Another sad night , they are too many in the past months.

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Short Films hour : Trapped

This short film is a must see.

Starring Veteran actor Abdel Rahman Abu Zahra and directed by Hatem Tag and Omar A Rashad

Now it is being interpreted in different ways according to where you stand politically , for me the message is clear on the confusion of Egyptians during this critical time with the media incitement and that every family in Egypt is drawn to this conflict in a way or another for real.

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#AblaFahita ; The dangerous Puppet Spy !!

The level of Public Nationalism Paranoia in Egypt has reached to a scary level especially now it is being adopted by the mainstream media. Now our media is repeating claims that U.S President Barack Obama is a member of the mighty international Muslim Brotherhood organization and that the international MB is actually running the world. “But failed to sustain a rule in Egypt more one year amazingly !!”
Of course this paranoia is rooted online in social media in the Anti-25 January revolution Facebook pages that adopt the conspiracy theory forever , you know the revolution was a cosmic conspiracy and we had a great life during Mubarak rule and so on.
So now after the fifth column lists craze , we got the latest Mossad and CIA spy in Egypt : Abla Fahita , the famous YouTube Puppet.
It started with the Pro-Mubarak Anti-Freemason/Anti-Revolution/Anti-MB/Anti-Sisi Conspiracy theorist and financial analyst Sameh Abu Arayes who analyzes and predicts disasters and terrorist attacks according to the TV ads.
He is the father of the infamous Closed Conspiracy theory Facebook Page Subliminal Message. Now Abu Arayes saw the Dolce Ice Cream ad starting Abla Fahita and her daughter Caroline and predicted that the sinister puppets were speaking about terrorist attacks because Abla Fahita was speaking on how the new Dolce Ice Cream tasted like bomb !!

Here is the funny ad which is the best in the campaign if you ask my opinion.

Doleca New Bomba Ice-Cream starring Abla Fahita

Next Day an attack took place in Sinai and you know Abu Arayes went on fire since then , the puppets are agents !! 
Now you got this enlightened report in an Egyptian news website called  Misr 30 June wondering if the puppet was actually a member of the Mossad or the CIA sent with encrypted messages to the Israeli intelligence in the Egyptian society in order to create chaos. The site is using the comic tweets of Abla Fahita as an evidence on its ambiguity !!
Now the Abla Fahita official Facebook began to receive FB Messages warning its admin of the end !!

“Abla Fahita , you and CarCora {Nickname of her daughter Caroline} are going to attend soon the farewell. Be ready with your red dress !!”

Now Speaking seriously it has become a usual scene to see guests on TV channels that used to chant about the great revolution speaking about it as a conspiracy to bring down Egyptian police and army where the MB killed the protesters in January 2011.
I take this seriously because this is how you forge history , a history that you and I have lived. I take this seriously because it is extremely dangerous and honestly I fear one day a revolutionary activist could be assassinated by some angry citizen who believes that this activist were a spy !!
Terrorism does not only happen because you got religious fanatics but it can happen because of you got radical nationalists as well ignorant zealots.

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#Yemen , US #Drones and Usual Arab Silence "Updated"

Today there was a congressional hearing for US military drones victims from Pakistan in D.C
It is the first time to happen and just as Malala caught the attention, 9 years old Nabila who witnessed her grandma killed in the drone attack spoke to the 5 Congressmen in the hearing about her scary experience with their country killing machine. Nabila and her 13 years old brother Zubair shared the details of the attack live in the Congressional hearing.

Nabila and her family along with her translator and lawyer "Rania Khalek"

No one accused the Congressmen of treason for listening to those victims who are actually incriminating the US army and accusing it of a war crime that is killing innocent people. The person who called for this session is Congressman Alan Grayson , a democrat “Just like Obama” and he was not accused of being traitor.
Now I am happy that the drones attacks in Pakistan are discussed widely and at the same time I am angry as well feel sad on how Yemen is being neglected when it suffers from the US strikes and drones just like the Pakistanis.
I am angry that the League of Arab States is completely ignoring the drones attacks in Yemen and how people suffer there. Is not this an attack on an Arab state sovereignty !?  I am angry that Saudi Arabia that is pretending now to be standing against American Imperialism in the region does not raise this matter.
I feel sad that only Yemeni activists from true revolutionaries are speaking about it when all other Arab activists are ignoring what is happening to the Yemeni people from foreign attack targeting their civilians in the endless bottomless war on terrorism.
Here is a short clip from Human rights Watch about the drones and Yemen.

Human rights watch and US strikes in Yemen

You must also read how the United States is gaining more enemies with its drones attacks in Yemen.Terrorism will not stop using drones and killing innocent civilians in that war. This is a fact.
I wish that Egyptian and Arab tweeps and bloggers speak about Yemen. I wish that Mosireen produces some documentary with help of Yemeni activists about it the drones attack. We are good in making noise then let’s our noise to be useful for our people and their rights.  
Updated : 
It turned out earlier that year Yemeni activists spoke in another Senate hearing about the drones in Yemen where activist Farea Al Muslimi."Thanks to Jim Early"

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A Wedding and 4 Funerals : #AlWarraq tragedy

Blood on the Church's floor

Last night a wedding in a Church in the popular area of Al Warraq , Imbaba turned in to 4 funerals. Egyptians were attacked while attending a wedding ceremony at a Church in Al Warraq , Imbaba after two assailants opened their fire on the people standing outside the church late Sunday. The two assailants were on a motorcycle and fled away after opening their fire.

A Wedding that turned in to 4 funerals including the funerals of 8 years old and 12 years old girls carrying flowers , a wedding that turned in to 4 funerals including the funeral of the groom's mother. 

As it is a church in a popular area , the Virgin Church in Al Warraq is not secured and according to its bishop it has not been secured since the ousting of Morsi or after the attacks against the churches following 3 July.

Moments after the attack all the fingers were pointing to the Muslim brotherhood and co. as the attackers , they are the primary suspects that have been convicted by the crime that we have not known yet for real who did it or why.

Inside the Church from short time ago

All what we know that the Muslim brotherhood and their pro- radical Islamist allies radical rhetoric against the Christians and the Church played terrible and major role in the continuous attack against Churches. That rhetoric they refuse to give up , those actions they refuse to stop make them the primary suspect in highly polarized society.

The human rights activists are blaming the ministry of interior for its failure to protect the Christians , I can not blame them to be honest because since July 3 , 2013 and the government , the army and police have been warned over and over by human rights organizations that Christians would pay the price and were paying the price.

On the other hand since the attack all the Pro-military supporters as well the Pro-Mubarak supporters have gone in to a crusade against PM Beblawy demanding him to resign from his position along all his ministers. Ironically everybody knows that Beblawy is not real responsible for security in Egypt and that it is beyond his power. Security in Egypt is officially the responsibility of two men  : Abdel Fatah El Sisi and Mohamed Ibrahim. Be brave and speak about the responsibility of the ministry above the accountability responsible for the security of civilians aka the ministry of interior.

Anyhow unfortunately this is the first attack of its kind and sadly it will not be the last "despite I am praying that it would be" as long as there is no justice , no state of the law , no respect of human rights for all Egyptians regardless of their religion or color or race or class.

The 4 funerals will be held after two hours.
The second photo is by photographer Alaa El Kamhawy.
Update : Below after the break a small photo gallery for the sad day in Al Warraq.

 

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#9/11 : What We Fail To learn as usual from history

Today is the anniversary of the 9/11 attack that changed the World upside down. Of course I can not get over this anniversary when we are having the infamous “War against in terrorism” in Egypt. Unfortunately we refuse to learn from other people’s experiences nor to learn from history .. even our own history.

These points below I believe we should know in Egypt especially now , they are lessons learned in a hard way from 9/11 and what followed it.

• Force will not beat terrorism and the evidence is in front of us , almost after 12 years of the 9/11 attacks and before it the World Trade center attack , the terrorists are not defeated !! In fact why we take an example from the U.S when we have our own experience with the bitter terrorism in the 1990s which I still remember very well. Using force and police state techniques did not stop radical thinking and terrorists.
• Terrorism based on ideology can not be defeated only by force but I will dare to say that you need counter ideologies more than force to fight the radicalism in ideologies that lead to terrorism.
• Fighting terrorism for real should start by admitting the root problems causing it from social, economic , cultural and above all political problems and try to solve it in order to prevent any radicalism in the future.
• Discrimination against others will not stop terrorism , in fact it may breed a new class of radicals who may resort to terrorism to make that society that rejected them suffer.
• History proved that “War of terrorism” was used by the Bush administration for certain political, economic and military gains that used fighting terrorism for a cover and the Iraq invasion is a good example.
• Shutting down media and forcing journalists to shut up in these times of so-called War of terrorism mean that there is something wrong and you do not want the public to know it.
• Do turn monster while fighting monsters. There are human rights according to religion and laws that should not be broken under any circumstances.
• McCarthyism always fails in the end

BY the way this year marks the 40th anniversary of Chile’s infamous coup supported by the CIA. I look to what happened in Chile and I know that there are many lessons should be learnt :

• The West has no problem with military tyrannies as long they serve their political and economic interests.
• Justice will prevail in the end in a way or another.
• Killing and torturing thousands can not be justified under any circumstances.

I am creating fighting terrible fall flu so I am not in mood for long posts to explain each point.

In the end I will quote what Ben Franklin once said :

Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

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Bomb explodes in #Cairo , back to the old 1990s day

An explosion has rocked Nasr City district earlier today. It turned out according to eye witnesses that it was an explosion at the minister of interior's house targetting his convey. The minister survived the attack that rocked the area but 8 people including a child were injured according to ambulance authorities. Some sources say that 5 officers were injured in the blast.

A photo for the explosion earlier from twitter

A photo from the site by Ahmed Soliman

A photo from Ahmed Soliman

Up till now the reason of the blast is unconfirmed as the Nile TV said that a bomb was thrown from a building while the convey was passing by and eye witnesses are speaking about explosive devices in a car. 

A Photo from Mohamed El Kholy

A Photo from Mohamed El Kholy

A photo from Ahmed Soliman

From two days ago the minister of interior Ahmed Ibrahim said on TV that he knew that he was targetted by the terrorists. It is worth to mention that the minister of interior was facing growing criticism because of Abu Zabal prison incident that killed 38 detainees last month as well his past record as a minister of interior in Morsi's administration.
Anyhow I think that this explosion will end any reconciliation attempts between the regime and the Muslim brotherhood.
Also it will make the regime extend the emergency status for another month. We should forget tourism too. 
We are back to the ugly 1990s with its terrible terrorism and terrible human rights abuses.
Here is a photo gallery for the area following the attack.

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#July26 : The Day started early in #Egypt

The 26 July big has started earlier in Egypt with the news of detaining Mohamed Morsi 15 days pending investigation for espionage and escaping charges.
It has really started earlier.
A storify live coverage after the break.

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#July26 : Preparing for the war against #terrorism in #Egypt

A military source told Ahram Online's Dina Ezzat that there are expectations that the numbers of protesters who will go to the street and mandate the army against terrorism will be more than the people who went to the streets on 30 June 2013. Well I believe this too considering the huge media campaign urging people to go to the story and to send a message to the world that they mandate the army to fight terrorism. 
Not to mention General El Sisi himself asked the people  to go and ask for this. The people will not refuse a thing he asks especially that they feel in extreme need for. 
For three weeks almost all private major TV channels had banners like "Egypt against terrorism" , "No for violence" and "War against terrorism". Of course the terrorism and the terrorists they are referring to are the Muslim brotherhood and its members. Now it is the time to join the crusade against terrorism and to end it in Egypt by the request of the army's popular commander El Sisi.
People now consider the brotherhood and its members are terrorists who should eliminated from Egypt. The horrifying stories and testimonies coming from the Rabaa sit in as well Nahda sit in not to mention the terrorist attacks in Sinai made the people believe that the army should get rid from Morsi's supporters ASAP. In addition to this you got the threatening language used by the Muslim brotherhood and its partners from time to time helped a lot in creating this image in the public mind.
It is a fact the MB has lost the majority of the Non Islamist Egyptian public, and it is not only because of the army or the deep state or the bad opposition.
Almost everybody in this country told the people to protest tomorrow to mandate the army and police in their war against terrorism and violence. From the presidency to parties like Free Egyptians to movements like Tamaroud urged the people to participate in the protests. Companies and commercial chambers also call their employees to participate in the protests like Tourism chambers in Cairo and Alexandria.
There will be protests in all over the country even in Marina , the famous Upper Class resort !! BY the way Marina also joined the protests of June 30th.

Marina joins the protest

Here are snapshots for today's newspapers in Egypt  , you got red bold headlines with specific order : Go to the streets 

One message "Go to the streets" and "We mandate you"
By Hisham Sadek

Today's newspapers in Egypt by Egyptian commandos

Akhbar front page headline was the most interesting one

Akhbar's front page : The message of El Sisi is delivered and the people's answer : We mandated you.

Youm 7's Front Page 'No comment'

Tomorrow 8 private owned TV channels including ONTV, CBC, Tahrir TV, Al Hayat, Al Nahar and Cairo centric announced that they will stop airing the Ramadan TV shows and series and will broadcast the protests from Friday prayers till Saturday's dawn prayers.

A screenshot from one of the channels by 7azla20m

I do not think people who got a cause and ready to demonstrate in the street in the hot weather during fasting will care for TV shows and series at all !!
And to be honest with the enthusiasm I see on Facebook and twitter, I believe that they did not need the TV channels to stop their shows as they are going either ways. It is enough to see the messages like the one below on the people's FB Wall declaring their full support to El Sisi giving him the mandate to fight terrorism.

"We mandate you" a song made for El Sisi by once-Pro Revolution singer Mado. It is a cover for the infamous song "We choose you" that was sung for Mubarak.

There will be a lot of singing tomorrow as popular Wesat El Balad Band , singer Ehab Tawfik and singer Mostafa Amar are going to hold some small concert at the Presidential Palace tomorrow night. 
 
On the other hand,the Islamists are going to protest as well against El Sisi and his coup. Originally they were preparing for that specific day for weeks. They have been preparing for massive protests for week. The Muslim brotherhood did not choose the date for nothing. Tomorrow will be Ramadan 17th , the anniversary of the Battle of Badr  
Yes it has a religious significant and it is playing an important role in mobilizing.Of course after El Sisi's speech , there is a shift in the tune used by the MB. There is no longer that use of force language full of defiance. Now it is "We are ready to die but killing another Muslim is a sin" and so on.
The Muslim brotherhood  is calling the Day of Forqan by the way.
This is why there is a fear tomorrow from clashes between the Pro-army and Pro-Morsi supporters that can reach to civil war. I do not know if the Egyptian channels will air their protests, but there is a bunch of Arab channels that will transfer their protests.
Both protests will start right after Friday prayers. 

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3 Dead and Dozens Injured in Another Terrorist Attack In #Sinai “graphic”

It has become a daily routine in Sinai to read that security checkpoints and army patrols are being attacked. It is not a shock anymore to read that someone is killed there from security forces. It also had become a norm to read that Christians in North Sinai not only are being attacked but also to be kidnapped and beheaded.

Today we woke up on horrible terrorist act where a bus carrying workers in Al Arish was targeted by RPG missile. According to the Egyptian armed forces spokesperson the unknown terrorists hit the bus by mistake as their main target was a police patrol. 3 workers were killed and more than 16 have been injured. Yes 3 were killed and not 20 as it had been spread like fire.

Dear friend Mohamed Sabry tweeted from there and covered the attack. Here is a Storify report from there. You can read it after the break.

By the way the MB media is circulating a video for one of the survivors claiming that the bus was hit by shelled by an air jet. Well if it were an air strike ,the survivors would have survived nor would the bus

Who is running the show in Sinai ?? No one has claimed responsibility so far directly.

Nevertheless the Muslim brotherhood is the primary suspect especially you got what El Beltagy had said earlier last week.

ElBeltagy on 7 July About Sinai and Morsi.

This video is like a proof in any court that what is happening in Sinai is connected directly to Morsi and his supporters.

Of course the MB is now trying to distance itself now from these accusations. Today we find Essam El Arian speaking about the terrible terrorist act accusing intelligence indirectly of standing behind it to defame the peaceful protesting.

There are no news on the progress of the current security campaign against those terrorists ,what we read most of the time is that the army managed to destroy more tunnels between us and Gaza. We need to know more about those terrorists and who they are. Yes we need to know the truth to put an end to all the lies and fears spread.

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#July3 : The Finale Can Be Anytime today

At 4.30 The army's deadline to the political powers or rather the Muslim brotherhood will be and it will force its own road map on everybody.
Today is extremely important thus I will use again live blogging once again to keep with what taking place in the country.

I will be using Storify instead Live Blog Pro which I used yesterday and was actually great. Live Blog Pro only allow few embedding social media services despite it is great and simple.

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#Luxor Governor Resigns

Ok this a good news people the newly appointed governor of Luxor Adel Khayat has declared his resignation officially today Sunday. Khayat is a member in Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa which is held responsible for the Luxor 1997 terrorist massacre that left over 60 tourists killed.

The resignation comes after the protests of both the people of Luxor as well the tourists. It is worth to mention that the minister of tourism has presented his resignation to the prime minister last week.
Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa issued a statement from its side stating that Khayat , a leading member in the group in Assuit resigned because he wanted to avoid a blood shed resulted from the protests in Luxor. The extremist group also criticized the media and how it allegedly attacked Khayat. "Khayat was not officially accused or convicted or detained for anything during the Mubarak era" Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa said in its statement without understanding it has nothing to do with Khayat but rather with the group whose leaders do not show any regret for the blood they caused in the 1980s and 1990s.
Anyhow the people's pressure has succeeded.

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Morsi Appoints New Governors And #MB stupidity

President Morsi has issued a new presidential decree to appoint new 17 governors. I think that this is the third time he has changed the governors since becoming a president. The new governors' reshuffle is as follows : 7 Muslim brotherhood members, 5 army generals , 2 independent , 1 Gad El Thawra member and 1 Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa member and I think one Salafist too.

I will not comment on how I find it strange from political perspective to find Morsi taking such decision 2 weeks prior the 30/6 protests provoking people in governorates by appointing more MB members as governors in anti-MB governorates like Monufia. For God sake The people signed rebellion petitions in the Nile Delta governorate more than in Cairo. I will not comment on how we do not know till this day on what basis those men are appointed as governors.

I will comment on one thing : How president Morsi and his advisors and aides like Pakinam El Sharkawy found it acceptable and logic to appoint Adel El Khayaat , the leading member of Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa as the governor of Luxor.

El Khayaat is said already to be the prince "Amir" of the notorious group's branch in Assuit so he is not from Luxor in the first place. Second how on earth and heavens you appoint a member if the group is involved in the massacre of Luxor when more than 60 people mostly tourists were killed in 1997 by radicals in one of the Worst terrorist incidents in Egypt. I do not know what kind of message Morsi is sending through appointing a member in an extremist group as a governor of a tourist attraction governorate. Hell Luxor is the second attraction after the pyramids when it comes to ancient Egyptian civilization !!

Another thing what I know about Luxor is considered a Sufi center in Upper Egypt. Sufism and Al Gama'a do not mix.

By the way I see some sort of Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa Muslim Brotherhood alliance taking place. This alliance is replacing the MB Al Nour/ Salafist Calling alliance

Another thing I see more army ranks with my all due respect to the generals in the governors reshuffles and that makes me wonder about the myth of Mohamed Morsi ended the military rule and military control in Egypt. By

 

Posted with Blogsy

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#Syria Does not Need #Morsi And His Sheikhs

As usual , as expected the Muslim brotherhood did what they are best at and are exploiting the agony of other people, other tragedies for political gains.
A very cheap political conference to show off Mohamed Morsi and Muslim brotherhood’s supporters before the opposition’s mass protests on 30 June 2013 took place tonight at Cairo stadium hall. As usual the MB mobilized its members from all over the country including women and children as well their so called MB Ultras to fill the Cairo stadium indoor main arena. By the way the Cairo stadium indoor main arena’s capacity is 20,000 spectators.
The event was to show solidarity with Mohamed Morsi with all the banners praising , with all the Morsi t-Shirts and with all the pro-Morsi chants like “Morsi will stay whole 7 years”.
 There were many scenes in the event that actually an insult to Syria and its martyrs. You got imposters , crocks and terrorists like Safwat Hegazy , Mohamed Hassan and Assam Abdel Maged acting like heroes.

Abdel Maged and Hegazy one hand "Doaa Sultan FB page"

There is the historical scene that me and millions of Egyptians will not forget when Salafist Sheikh Mohamed Abdel Maksoud prayed against the infidel hypocrites who are going to protest against Mohamed Morsi ,the president of all Egyptian !!

Sheikh Mohamed Abdel Maksoud prays against the 30/6 protesters

By the way Sheikh Abdel Maksoud is the brother of our current MB minister of information Salah Abdel Maksoud.
Syria indeed won a lot with that prayer. I know people,Muslims who were hesitant in participating in the protests against MB on 30 June 2013. They are going to participate after that scene.
Another scene, a typical scene full of racism and hate towards Shiism where the Sheikhs called the Shiites dirty and urging Morsi to cut the relations with Iran.
Of course in another scene that made breaking news worldwide Moris issued the decision to cut the diplomatic relations with Syria 48 hours after the US announcement to arm the opposition in Syria.
Amazingly in the speech distributed by the presidency on press on there was no mention for this decision. It is a surprise , a cheap one considering the fact that the Syrian ambassador left Egypt and the Egyptian ambassador left Syria and we got only a diplomatic Commission there in Damascus.
Unfortunately the advisers of President Morsi on foreign relations aka Essam Haddad and Khaled Qazzaz did not and will not understand that the decision to close the Syrian embassy in Cairo will harm thousands of Syrians in Egypt. “There are over 90,000 Syrians in Egypt”
Yes according to my Syrian friends who are Pro-Revolutionary by the way this decision will harm the Syrians who want to issue and renew their ids and passports !!
Of course I should not forget to highlight the amazing statement of Khaled Qazzaz , the President’s secretary on foreign relations. Qazzaz is not worried from the Jihadists travelling from Egypt to Syria nor he does consider them a threat to the National security considering the radical ideas they got.
By the way the Jihadists who came back from Afghanistan and other countries to Egypt consider Qazzaz infidel including those in Sinai.
Qazzaz is an engineer who was appointed as the president's adviser for education in 2012 by the way. His dad owns the biggest private school where the rich MB members send their kids to.
Back to the Circus held tonight in Cairo stadium.
President Morsi spoke Hezbollah yet he forgot to mention Russia and China. Amazingly China which he visited and the MB was flying over the moon with this visit is helping African countries in building dams on the Nile !!
Anyhow cutting the diplomatic relations is nothing for me comparing how millions of Egyptians turned to be infidels because they are political opponents of Morsi and Muslim brotherhood.
I apologize for Syrians especially for those who are killed that some Egyptians are using their blood for those domestic political gains.
God bless Egypt and Syria and May their agonies so soon.

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Sinai’s Hostage Crisis Day#7: Statements and Conferences

On Tuesday we found the admin of the official FB page of SCAF “Do you remember him !?” posting a very interesting Wall post about the latest developments in Sinai. The post’s title was “The last message” and it was more of warning.

Up till this moment , I repeat till this moment we respect the Egyptian blood despite how awful the terrorist act but our answer will be quick and touch. It will be devastating and we will not have mercy on the terrorists or those who will help them by protection or shelter.

This page is from the official FB pages following the Egyptian armed forces last time I checked.
Amazingly the Salafist Jihadist group in Sinai issued a statement on the same day. First the group holds the presidency , the ministry of interior and the commandership of the army the responsibility of what happened. Neglecting the demands of the detainees families and torturing one of the detainees “Hamda Abu Sheita” till he lost his sight led to what we see from what I understood in the statement. This makes me wonder whether the unidentified group was related to the families. Also how the group  knew about this.
Second the Salafist Jihadist group wonders why there are large military deployments in Zone “C” of Sinai and why Israel approved that. They believe it could be for another goal approved by Sinai. That goal of course is getting rid of them.

The statement copy from Walid

Third the Salafist Jihadist group’s main is Israel and the Egyptian army knows that but the group will not leave the detainees alone. Still the group will take calculated steps to help those detainees.
Fourth the Salafist Jihadist group warns the Egyptian army from any move against the group claiming that it will be for the benefit of Israel.
This statement indicates the trap I fear the Egyptian army is being led to.
Then the President’s advisor for Media Ayman Ali and the spokesperson of the ministry of interior “Where is Colonel Ahmed Ali of the armed forces ??” had a meeting with the journalists and TV hosts. Ali said that there are no negotiations and there is no military operation because we are not facing enemy army.The MOI spokesperson says that the kidnappers are known to the ministry and they are criminals “who they are ??” 
In the evening Abu Sheita clan has held a press conference in Al Arish to defend itself.The clan found itself in the center of the accusation. The kidnapped soldiers mentioned the name of Hamda Abu Sheita in particular in the shocked video released on Sunday.
Also the his brother Hany Abu Sheita was accused by the media of leading the operation of kidnapping the soldiers by name. Hany was already in his home when major newspapers in Cairo claimed that he is on the run.
The clan refuses all the accusations to the family and it is saying clear that it refuses the release of Hamda in return of the release of the hostages. They are also stated their support to the efforts of the state to free the hostages. Nevertheless they did not forget their son. They demanded an investigation in the incident of torture Hamda Abu Sheita.
Yesterday I spoke on the phone with Mrs. Hamda Abu Sheita and she denied that the family was involved in the kidnapping.

If any man was involved in the kidnapping , all the men in the clan would have been arrested

She said adding that she was supported the hostages. She accused the ministry of interior of standing behind the kidnap to cover the torture of her husband.

Stating the name of my husband in particular from all the Sinai detainees makes me believe that kidnappers are not from Sinai , if they were from Sinai then they will mention all the detainees not to single out Hamda from them.

Of course in the video the “Sinai political detainees”term was mentioned but the name of Hamda was singled out. Already I want to know who the Sinai political detainees are that this unknown group wants to swap with the hostages.
Just like the elderly of the clans , the wife as well the cousin of Abu Sheita is insisting his innocence claiming that he was framed by the MOI. She was also angry from the claims in the media about him. From two days ago some so-called security experts said that he was a Jihadist as well a Mossad agent.
She does not like President Morsi and believes that his days are much worse than the old Mubarak days considering the alleged torture her husband had been through.

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To Negotiate or Not to Negotiate , To Attack or Not Attack , The Options currently in #Sinai

We have got a national security crisis in Egypt , the recent kidnapping of the soldiers in Sinai is a huge challenge for the Egyptian state whether for the Presidency “as in Morsi’s administration” or the army or the police.
The presidency and the army are in extreme critical position with not much options. All the options come with the price especially we are speaking about Sinai.
Sinai and its tribes got its own share from neglect and security mistreatment especially in the last ten starting with Taba explosives and what followed it from random arrests by state security. We are not speaking the tamed Nile Valley but a tribal environment with people of high dignity.
After speaking to several people from Sinai in the past two years I can say the locals especially from tribes did not forget what the ministry of interior. “We will not allow the old days of El Adly and Mubarak to return back” this phrase I heard from locals in Sinai too many times including today.
I believe the army and the police understand this very well especially the military intelligence that runs the show in the North and the South. Thousands of men were arrested randomly whenever something happens in Sinai and some of them were badly tortured by security forces. They can’t forget the humiliation they faced.
Another important thing , while talking to people from Sinai over the last two years I found that people there have been warning that Jihadists were roaming around there with the authorities knowledge . Some say that if the ministry of interior and the State want to purge Sinai from all the criminal spots , it will be done in no time.
By the way people of Cairo and Nile Delta will not understand what I am speaking about as they got their own negative perception about the Bedouins.I believe that the people of Upper Egypt will understand what I am speaking about here clearly after all the major clans in Upper Egypt got their own tribal system.
Now for the Egyptian state, there are two options and each with a price.

- Negotiating with the kidnappers fulfilling their demands  :

Negotiating with the kidnappers and even fulfilling their demands will shake the state’s image. It will make the state look weak so that kidnappers are twisting its arm. If the State fulfills the demands and they are simply to release “Sinai’s political detainees” , everyone will kidnap soldiers and officers. In other words it will be  like “the terrorists have won”
The kidnapped soldiers will be released but on the expense of the State’s authority and image.
Despite the Presidency and army denied that there are negotiations with kidnappers , I am sure that there were and there are still talks through some channels. Otherwise how the state knew the demands of the kidnappers including the transfer of prisoners from one prison to another.
In hostage situation there must be negotiations stage because actually this stage gives the authorities an opportunity to collect information and assess the whole situation. In fact I will bet the military intelligence will open a channel because it will help other security forces to locate the kidnappers.
Unfortunately the Egyptian state whether in time of Mubarak or Morsi used to negotiate with kidnappers whether in North or South of Sinai. It was a norm actually in the past years where the tribes , groups and militants kidnap tourists in the south and security forces in the north to get what they want. Most of they want from the Egyptian state is to release their relatives from prison. By the way the military intelligence is responsible for negotiations in these cases.
Here is extreme short list for previous kidnapping cases that ended by negotiations : “Thanks to dear friend Ahmed Ragab”

• In 2008 during the iron fist era of Habib El Adly , not less 51 policemen including a major were kidnapped. The kidnappers from tribesmen were demanding the trial of a police officer accused of killing a member from their tribe in order to release them.
• In February 2012 Chinese workers were kidnapped in North Sinai by some angry locals and were later released after negotiations with military intelligence aka the army in the media.
• In March 2013 a militant group in North Sinai kidnapped British tourists and then released them after negotiations with the military intelligence.

What we see now is not something new but it is rather a norm , the kidnappers used to get what they wanted after talks with the authorities. This is an important fact we are deliberately forgetting for some unknown reason beyond me.

- Attacking the kidnappers :

The other option in to attack the kidnappers. To launch an operation in Sinai against the unknown kidnappers bearing the heavy price of consequences. Some say that the special forces “777” and “999” are capable the whole issue in few minutes, well I am sure they can considering they are highly trained but historically and internationally such operations included losses in life , the kidnapped lives to be accurate. Already some Skeptic Egyptians fear from the curse of Larnaca airport operation and Malta operation.
These two operations are actually classical example for what I mean about high risk of losses when you use force in liberating hostages.
Even the army is very cautious for real when it comes to this option. It does not want this option actually , not because it is weak on the contrary but because it does not want to get involved in another trap in Sinai. A trap in Sinai starts with fighting unknown Jihadist groups in very difficult areas , if you face enemy like this soon the fighting will spread to include the locals and the tribes. You also got old bad memories when it comes to State Vs. Sinai locals with highly armed society in an area with bad record of wars , I fear we may lose Sinai and the army as well.
I am not in not the conspiracy theories about MB and Hamas are behind because MB is in deep shit but I look from different perspective.
Fighting terrorist groups was and is the mission of the ministry of interior and it has got teams trained for this and yet strangely the army seems to be involved completely in the picture. Unfortunately after the horrifying video released on Sunday most Egyptians support military operation option.
By the way all leaks about the military operation in North we find in the newspapers and news websites are part of a psychological warfare in my view. On one hand  you scare the kidnappers and on the other hand you send a message to the public that your armed forces are there as the strong shield of the state. If there is a true military operation , it will not be announced in this media circus way.
I am not a security expert but I know rescue operations in areas like this should be more secretive , at least to force the kidnappers to transfer the soldiers to some where else and to take their precaution especially that they seem to know where to hide them in Sinai very well.
Personally from all what I see I believe that there are on going talks and at the same time there are military deployments in Sinai serving two proposes : Psychological warfare to pressure on the kidnappers and To purge the Jihadist zones if they can.
Anyhow Today there was a meeting at the Presidential Palace and a group of journalists and TV hosts with President Morsi’s media adviser “Ayman Ali”  and the spokesperson of ministry of interior. During that meeting Ali said the following :

The Presidency did not negotiate and did not assign anyone to negotiate but it does not stop anyone to have talks except for national security reasons. 

Regarding  whether there is negotiation or the military operation , Ali said the following :

There is no negotiation , there is no military operation either because we do not have an enemy army in Sinai. 

I think these statements can be interpreted in different ways.

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Kidnapped Soldiers appear in Video "Updated"

In a major development today a video surfaced online allegedly for the 7 kidnapped soldiers in Sinai. The kidnapped soldiers identified them and their ages. They demanded to President Morsi to release all Sinai's political detainees. They are blindfolded. They say that they are tortured. They are begging Morsi to release the detainees especially Sheikh Hamda Abu Sheita. "Updated : The video has been removed because it violates YouTube's policy regarding violence"

We are not less than Gilad Shilat whom Israel traded for 1000 Palestinian prisoners

Said the soldier Sobhi who directed his talk to both Morsi and El Sisi.
Hamda Abu Sheita was the one who was allegedly tortured till he lost his sight in Tora prison last week. Abu Sheita was one of the leading figures in the Salafist Jihadists trend in North Sinai. He was arrested last year.
It is just sad video. The average age of the poor soldiers is 20 years.
The video is uploaded by "SSAS SSAS" channel in YouTube. The user has joined the video uploading service only today. It was uploaded from 7 hours ago and strangely only now people are paying attention.There is no official reaction about it so far.
More to come.
Ok an official reaction :
The video is studied by the security and military forces , an official reaction to be expected soon.
In another development Manishet TV show on ONTV announced the Morale department  has sent an order to TV channels not to air the video for fear it would affect the officers' morale !! Ironically this comes after 7 hours of posting the video online. I saw army officers sharing it on twitter already !!
Anyhow MBC Misr aired the video and Al Youm channel also has aired from short time ago.
Now here is a photo for Hamda Abu Sheita who seems to be popular among the Salafists as I have found his photo in the Salafist , Jihadist and Hamzoon Facebook page frequently.

They are saying that he lost his sight from torture. Abu Sheita got a death sentence waiting for him. He was arrested during the Falcon military operation in 2012. His brother Hossam spoke about his brother insisting his innocence and recounting the torture he faced in a post on his FB account last Thursday. Since then he has not posted anything on his account.
Here is the front page of Akhbar Newspaper tomorrow and it is about the video.

Other Egyptian TV channels have aired the video included MBC Misr and CBC. The parents of the kidnapped soldiers have confirmed to TV channels that those are their sons.
All TV channels are discussing what is happening in Sinai.
According to sources there is new military deployment in North Sinai. Reporters say that security forces are saying the security forces started to evacuate the hotels of Al Arish !!
The clip has been uploaded on YouTube again.

 Now there are leaks in the newspapers with the names of those suspected in kidnapping. One of the name that stands out is Hany Abu Sheita , the brother of Hamda. Of course Abu Sheita is still insisting that it is not involved in kidnapping.
Hany Abu Sheita is convicted in the same case of his brother that goes back to 2012. He is a fugitive from what I understood.
Here is a video for him with his imprisoned brother Hamda.

I will try to get more info about his family tomorrow. He is the most important lead about the kidnappers.

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#Reyhanli Explosion : Could it be a turning point between Syrians and Turks !?

Today two car bombs have killed not less than 40 people in border town of Reyhanli. Despite that no one has claimed responsibility all fingers are pointing to Syria including Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
As it is a border town , there is a Syrian community of refugees who fled the country and I am afraid such explosions would harm those Syrians as their host in the town could blame them. Already from local Turkish testimonies I have been reading online , the locals blamed their government as well the Syrian refugees and Syrian revolution turned in to a civil war.
Today I read that the locals of Reyhanli smashed by rocks the cars carrying Syrian plates in the border town angrily. I fear this could be a turning point between the Syrian refugees and their Turkish host and here I am speaking about the people not the government.
To add more fuel to the problem ,there is Alawite Turkish community in the city . I can imagine how the sectarian talk adopted by some Syrians can be harming in these situations.
Here is a photo album for more than 50 photos from Reyhali’s explosion “graphic” by Brown Moses

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