Wednesday, October 31, 2007

As if it were from his pocket money!!??

The Egyptian official Press is undergoing an operation from continuous promotion to the charity work of Gamal Mubarak in a silly way .

All official newspapers and magazine highlighted his work with his cover foundation "Future Foundation" in the poor neighborhoods in Cairo and in Giza in a very silly naive way especially in Agouza ,his annual breakfast in Ramadan with the poor became an annual event in the holy month that must be covered whether in Press or TV and may be in Radio too .

Yes these neighborhoods need help in any way possible but where the role of the government in the first place , these poor neighborhoods are result of Mubarak the father economic policies in the first degree ,most of them were not there from 25 years ago with my all respect.

The civilian society work with all respect too was in Egypt since the monarchy ,it is not a new thing Gamal Mubarak or his mom brought to Egypt .

Can I ask a question :

If Gamal Mubarak did not humbly came down from his ivory tower and visited those areas and made his huge promise to bring those neighborhoods to the 21th century , would anyone be cared about them !!!??

I mean there is enough money in the government to fix all the problems of these areas starting from building real houses for them

Gamal Mubarak is not doing an extra thing so he can be credited as a humanitarian,already he is doing this to increase his popularity but as some said even if he brings a piece of Moon no one will accept  him as a president

This is not from his pocket money for God Sake !!!!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Alone in the dark

I just knew it when the news of resignation of Dr. Larijani was announced , especially it turned out that he could no longer work with Ahmadinejad , that this is a great loss to Ahmadinejad and Iran in a very critical time . Already it is expected that the negotiations are going to be even harder without Larijani

It does not need much brain to understand that Ahmadinejad big mouth can't go along with the diplomacy of Dr.Larijani . Added to it the rumors that spread across the media especially the Internet that the Iranian foreign minister Manoucheher Mottaki resigned in the next day made me feel that there is even a huge gap between the Foreign ministry and presidency , of course it is more about the Ahmadinejad side , his policies and his personality and may I think it is more about his personality ,already the policies in Iran are put by the high supreme leader , Ahmadinejad began to fell in the trap of monster toon club the stardom , he is acting as if he cares for nothing , his country is beginning threatened , yes the threats in a logic world can be only empty words , the Americans and the world can't afford another war in the middle east still we live in illogic world  of Bush and Cheney ,I think already the Supreme leadership of Iran is taking in consideration these threats especially the economic status of the country is not that good , victorious countries do not depend on slogans and they put their people safety in their consideration.

Things are getting more dramatic for Nejad , first 180 PM signed a letter praising  Larijani, then it turned out that one who revealed that Larijani left because he could not work with Nejad anymore is the deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament himself , it seems the conservatives themselves began to dislike Nejad too

And if the conservatives began to dislike him and started acting like this then the Supreme leader will start to dislike him too , the thing which is not in his sake

Read this wonderful post for my dear Naj who is Iranian by the way about the situation in Tehran ,it gives more information than any other news report in this issue . After reading Naj's post you will understand more about the trouble Nejad is in .

Now even president Khatami does not like Ahmadinejad attacking him fiercely saying that he was not a messenger from God  , it is not about what side in Iran each man represent ,do not forget the Nuclear program started in the time of President Khatami and I would dare and say that in the time of President Khatami the relations between Arabs and Iran was better in his era than in time of Nejad .

I think Nejad may not remain in his position or for another period

Illustration source : Toon Club by Joe Fowler

Dishwasher Lasagna Florentine, Tom Hanks Space and Scrooge McDuck "3am Dahab" money bin model

  •  Dishwasher Lasagna Florentine , I do not like this idea , I mean the old way of cooking Lasagna in the oven is much better. I wonder how they found out this way .

It is not bad but there is nothing bad either in the oven or the microwave , I mean a Dishwasher for God Sake !!!

  • Tom Hanks , the popular American famous actor in Egypt got a Space in My Space , you know in Egypt the equivalent of My Space is blog spot "Mohamed Khan and Khaled El-Sawy",from reading in his space you will find him a nice educated person,the man blogs and vlogs too ,

He is the not the only American celeb who has a space in my space , there are many American celebs from silly ones like Paris Hilton to rock legends like Madonna still I like Tom Hanks style, it is more natural

  • Now I finish this round of light short interesting findings on the Internet with a special present to all Mickey Magazine readers in particular "Scrooge McDuck" (3am Dahab-عم دهب  )Character fan , his money bin model

in Egypt since 1950s the Mickey Mouse Magazine became the Number comics and children , generations were raised on the love of these character especially the Ducks family or the Donald Duck world ,I would say Donald Duck and his family are my favorite than Mickey , of course you know Donald or "Battoot" as we call him in Egypt got a very wealthy rich uncle who loves his money more anything in Life  "Scrooge" or "Dahab " as we call him too in Egypt , Scrooge got a very famous landmark in the "Duckville" we call it so in Egypt which is his money bin , that big ,very big building where he keeps his fortune and dives in it , well someone made a model using the comics and I better leave you with the photos because they explain better than me


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Monday, October 29, 2007

The real suitable way to celebrate the battle of Alamein

From couple days the anniversary of the famous battle of Alamein came in its annual timing on the 23rd of October and as usual 77534639 representatives of Allies and axis countries came along with the veterans and the families of those who died in the battle ,they came to put roses and pray in the commonwealth war cemetery in Alamein .

With my all respect this is not enough , it is not enough at all , the best way to celebrate that great battle and those men who fought and died in it is to look  to the victims of that war and that battle in particular .8

I do not mean the victims of the WWII from more 50 years with my all 77532787 great respect to the 70 million people who lost their souls , I am talking about the future generations whom after 50 years were and are still going to suffer from that bloody war

Yes I am talking about the Land Mines victims in Egypt specifically the victims of land mines in the western desert , the place of Alamein battle.

Both parties in the war planted thousands even millions of land mines in our desert during the great war after all it is not there land and it did not and it does still cost anything , you can plant a land mine for 100 $ but if you want to demine a land mine from a specific area you have to pay thousand of dollars , the thing that would be very costly to a country like Egypt , not to mention the advance equipments for demining may not be available to us.

For decades now Egypt has paid a lot from these land mines alone and she has paid heavily  till now for decades whether from humanly or economic

Hundred thousands of Egyptians who live in the western desert were either killed or injured badly and suffered till the end of their lives and nobody cared for them ,generations after generations suffered and are still suffering from those hell pieces under their own land

Egypt is losing golden opportunities from investing in the western desert using its resources whether from mines or from oil or even using this land for agriculture , yes already that land can be turned through land reclamation in to a green heaven that can solve us the wheat problem according to many studies , already that desert is lying above huge sources of water

I do not know why those countries whether from the allies or the axis who later became all allies agree to pay couple of millions for the victims of those mines or even they can send us some state of the art devices for demining land mines , they can even lend those devices to us , or even the weakest thing they can do  is to give us those land mines maps , oh yes for sure they are keeping them and already I read that they still got them !! They just can give us even a copy for these maps to our army and they will deal with it

It is not a great thing to leave people still suffer from their war ,they owe it to us it is our country and it is our land

BY the way this year the people in Alamein tried to make a rally to show their suffering in front of the annual guests but of course the security and police made a siege around the people because the way a part of the people huge problem is there is that the region already lacks medical facilities , they have to travel hundreds of kilos to reach for a real hospital :(

I won't speak about the government but I will wonder about the absence of the civil society organizations from human rights organizations , is not this a human rights issue ?? the right to live safely !!?? Where are they ?? It is not less than the torture and freedom of expression cases

The WWII is not finished yet I am afraid , it will be history when there will be no victims because of it and unfortunately people are still losing their lives because of it in my country

More about Roukana Hamour

More about Syrian blogger Roukana Hamour ,who was kidnapped from two days , was sexually harassed and interrogated only for some one came to her blog in the last month of April 2007 and left a comment that was considered by the security branches in Syria a imagerude comment about the beloved Dr. Bashar

 Check here at my dear friend Golaniya whom covered the whole incident from the beginning

Look I am following this case because it is very dangerous and unacceptable when a woman , a mother to be treated like that

I am following this case because the historical statement by the security officer who told that lady

No Person should dare even to think to run for presidency !!?

Even thinking , even imagining , even dreaming now became forbidden in Syria when it concerns the presidency !!

I am sorry but Bashar Al-Assad is just a human being like the rest of us , he is not a god for God Sake

A lady is being mistreated , nearly was going to be raped only because someone commented in a way that did not like the pharaoh's men , with my all respect I am a regular to the Syrian bloggers,forums and Websites , there are blogs and Websites that attack God , that deny God and  no one is doing anything about where as when someone dares to just think about the President who is a mortal then it is unacceptable !!!???

I am sorry but if the Syrian Regime wants to have an advantage over their enemy Israel ,it won't be with the alliance of Israel but with the alliance of its people , give them freedom and respect them , this is the competitive advantage Israel has over its Arab neighbors , in Israel the President can go to jail and in the Arab world no one dares to think about him !!!!!!!!!!!!??

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Just for one comment from couple of months

Man again I thank God many times on what we have in Egypt seriously , I mean at least our bloggers do not get caught sorry kidnapped and sexual assault "it happened before in Egypt" for only a comment, Egyptian bloggers suffer from what they actually wrote in their blogs

Remember when we speak about the blogs in Syria from couple of months and law restrictions about commenting in the news Websites and blogs , well what you are going to read next is related to it

Roukana Amour is a Syrian who seemed to be a political activist along with her husband ,she got a diploma in Philosophy and in Psychology , MRS. Amour is a mother and got children.She wanted to enter the Syrian parliament in an attempt to fight corruption but failed

She owns a blog in Maktoob where she mainly speaks about politics and corruption in Syria , her husband was kidnapped and interrogated by the security in Syria from few months

she herself was a victim of kidnapping from two days ago , the security forces kidnapped her on the 25th of October last Thursday in from of her house , in front of her kids , her little boy was terrified and wet himself in his pants, her husband could not do anything because I guess I felt he knew who those people who suddenly appeared were and he could not resist them otherwise they would be no mom and dad , it is very hard to imagine

The lady was kidnapped and put in a car where she was threatened to be sexually abused , in fact when she arrived to some building ,someone sexually harassed her leaving her for some time then she was interrogated by some brainy officer , for sure he is an officer ,silly questions like him were asked and it turned out that this woman suffered all what she suffered because some comment in her blog in the month of April that was written by someone called "Ali Hajj Hussein" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It turned out that Mr. Ali left a comment that the regime in Syria considered as unacceptable talk , Mr. Ali said that he would elect her for the Syrian Presidency !!! yes Roukana VS. Doctor Bashar !!! can you imagine it !!?? and how dare that person to say so !!??

in fact I will translate what that brainy officer

No Person should dare even to think to run for presidency !!??

And how Roukana dared to answer him back nicely , she should have either deleted the comment or made him love the doctor !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roukana was asked about her feelings about Dr.Bashar . They even got the telephone from the IP from which that commentator Ali entered her blog from then and they asked her about the telephone number and if she knew anyone in that street !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roukana was released after three hours after that when an high official interfered I guess her husband has some contacts

you can read the whole experience here in Arabic

The wonderful things you will learn from that terrible experience are the following :

  • The Syrian intelligence itself is following the Syrian blogs extensively "I do not know but do not they have much more important jobs to do than this !!??"
  • Maktoob blogging service gives info about the commentators and the bloggers to intelligence services
  • No one dares even to think inside him or her self to run for presidency against the doctor !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Investigate Sadat's Assassination Petition

Investigate Sadat's Assassination Petition 

This was made by MP Talaat El-Sadat and I think it is a reasonable demand as after all those years I believe that there was something missing in President Sadat assassination investigation that makes feel that we need an international investigation led by the UN just like in the case of former Lebanese prime minister El-Hariri in order to know the whole truth

Sign this petition you will not lose anything ,yes I know there is no much hope from that kind of petitions but in the end it shows that there are still some people who care and eager to know the real truth

Saturday, October 27, 2007

The EAF 's Diamond Anniversary

logo
The EAF is the EGYPTIAN AIR FORCES
'Higher and higher for the sake of glory'
The official motto for the EAF
And it is its diamond anniversary ,yes 75 years had passed since The first Egyptian planes 1932 when the first 5 aircrafts Egypt had bought in September 1931 took off from Hatfield airfield north of London to make their journey to their new home in Egypt to form the first nucleus of the first Egyptian Arabic and Muslim state Air forces in history.
The story in fact goes back not to 1932 and if you have enough time to know the real hidden history of the Egyptian Army then please read this long yet interesting post . First of all I was among the people who thought that we did not have any Air forces during the monarchy thanks to the propaganda of the Nasserite era till last year during the Lebanon War 2006 when I found out that we Egyptian Air forces ,the Royal Egyptian Air forces had participated in the war of 1948 effectively and it caused losses in the Israeli side that the Israeli side after the war decided to build the IAF from scratch in order to have balance in power not that only they knew they would won advantage if they were able to destroy the EAF on the ground "The famous Mubarak in the REAF school strategy in warfare" and they succeeded in doing that in 1967. Of course I was always wondering about the dates because according to history President Mubarak joined the Egyptian Army Air forces school after graduating immediately from the war school in 1948 to be graduated ,also we got from the free officers "Wagih Abaza" who was a pilot during the monarchy ,it was from a long time yet what was its story ?? How it came to the light , it is not like the Egyptian Army or the Egyptian Navy which both exist in the modern age since the time of Mohamed Ali Pasha and it also passed through different stages and times ups and downs that we makes you so impressed with these Air Forces
Back to the original story how did the Egyptian Air Forces come to the light ??
It did not start in 1932 actually but in year 1928 in the time of ministry of either Abd El-Khalek Tharwat Pasha or Mustafa El-Nahhas Pasha or Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha "It was one hell of year for ministries !!" , someone smart purposed the idea of creating Air forces in the Egyptian army , I could not know who he was but surely he was a patriot man with a great future vision and that's why I am guessing that proposal was in the time of El-Nahhas Pasha ministry but I am not sure again , the Parliament loved the idea and decided to adopt it ,King Fouad also approved it and he had too first of all it would raise his popularity in Egyptian street and it is not bad thing to have a modern army . Back at that time where Egypt relied mostly on the British Experience , Yes we took an independence in 1922 yet it was not a complete one and I think The British did not like the idea but they could not say no as long as the parliament ,the King and the people liked the idea , of course before knowing history I would say they proposed that they would train our future pilots and that we should buy British aircrafts only whether from British factories or second British army aircrafts and that's what actually happened after all Egypt was not in place for bargaining to get better offers and surely back then the multi arming resources idea was not clear .
Anyway in 1928 the ministry of war in Egypt "That was its name till the 1970s when it became the ministry of defense" announced in the army that it needed volunteers to the new arm and from those volunteers that would only choose four according to strict medical tests and technical examinations. You would not believe the number of applicants who volunteered for the test : 200 officers , I know you may say that is nothing , but remember we are talking here in 1928 ,the Egyptian army was not that big like now and you must bear in mind that was a brand new thing , a dangerous new thing : Flying , in fact it is not only flying it is defending the skies of your country and risking your life , it is so impressive to know that number had applied because it shows how the Egyptian officers were full of enthusiasm for the new arm.
The lucky ones who passed the tests and were chosen to become the first Egyptian Military pilots were actually three:
  • Abd El-Minuim Miquati The first three pilots
  • Ahmed Abd El-Raziq
  • Fuad Abd El-Hamid
Those three pilots sorry future pilots were sent to be trained with the British Air forces aka RAF.They were sent to the the RAF number 4 flying training school at Abu Suwayer near the Suez Canal in Egypt where they were trained on various types of aircrafts from small ones to big ones . After the graduation from the flying training school the 3 pilots traveled to England for specialized training.
On the second of November 1930 the historical Royal decree was issued by King Fouad I to create the Egyptian Air forces . Its name then was the Egyptian Army air forces "EAAF". In September 1931 the British De Havilland aircraft company won a contract to supply Egypt with 10 DH-60 tiger moth trainers. The British government then wanted to ship the aircrafts to Alexandria yet the Egyptian government refused and due to that refusal the British gave an order to the ship which was carrying the aircrafts to return to England where the first 5 aircrafts would be assembled and flown by the first Egyptian pilots to Cairo. And so on 23 May 1932 five of the 10 Egyptian moths took off from Hatfield air field north of London. Three from those five moths were flown by the first 3 Egyptian pilots : Miquati,Abd El-Raziq and Abd El-Hamid where as the rest 2 moths The minister of war of Egypt and the Egyptian Ambassador greeting the pilots were flown by two British pilots. On that before the departure to Cairo the Egyptian Ambassador met with the three pilots along with the Egyptian minister of War and other generals from the Egyptian army who came to encourage and congratulate them, of course I can imagine how it felt then , honor and glory ,hope and fear .

It was not an easy or short trip back then for sure and it would take a long time than you think because on 2 June these 5 aircraft arrived at Al-mazah airport northeast of Cairo , the Al-Mazah Airport was built by Count László Almásy and was named after him and it exists till now. Anyhow on 2nd of June 1932 the Egyptian pilots made to Cairo safely where they received by a huge reception attended by King Fouad and large audience of Egyptians who greeted the return of those three heroes and witnessed the historical moment that would remark the actual birth of the Egyptian Air forces .
The first commander of the EAAF was squadron leader Victor Herbert Tait who was a Canadian, he started his work by choosing his staff, building airbases and selecting weapons himself .The role of EAAF then was to fight drug trafficking beside beside aerial photographing. Already those 10 aircrafts we bought in 1932 were not real military aircrafts , the first military aircrafts Egypt had got were the 10 Avro 626 aircrafts the British Government agreed that we would buy them from Avro in 1934, after that Egypt bought from that specific kind another 17 planes and so we had had back 27 Avro 626 planes and they served in the EAF from year 1934 till 1944 and that was a decade of course we bought another aircrafts after that Hawker Audaxes for army cooperation and close support and Avro Ansons for VIP work.
In year 1937 ,the Royal decree was issued by King Farouk to 600px-Royal_Egyptian_Air_Force_roundel_svg separate the Air forces from the army command and it became an independent branch with a brand new name and a new insignia ,the name would be "Royal Egyptian Air forces" aka " REAF "and the insignia would be representing the Egyptian Royal flag to sort another important era in the history of EAF as New air bases were built in Suez Canal and the western desert , of course the Suez Canal was a very important and critical place just like the Western desert to invade the unknown fearful desert , daring decision for of course , yet I am not surprised that these decisions and royal decree were taken after the treaty of 1936 between Great Britian and the Egyptian government represented by the Wafad ministry then headed by Mustafa El- Nahhas Pasha, the treaty which gave Egypt more freedom than before . In 1938 we had bought more military aircrafts from 2 squadrons of Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters and a squadron of then modern Westland Lysander reconnaissance aircraft and in the end of that year we had had those fighters for those roles as follows :
Squadron Role
The 1st squadron-using westland lysenders Supporting the navy and the army
The 2nd squadron-using gloster gladiators Air defense
The 3rd squadron-using modified Anson Royal transportation
The 4th squadron-using Anson Transportation
The 5th squadron- using gloster gladiators Air defense
As you see during that time we did not have any experience in warfare , there was no war we could test our REAF , the first opportunity to both gain experience and test our pilots and fighters despite their modest capabilities was in WWII , as you know Egypt was threatened by the Italian and German invasion and advance its western desert and despite the Egyptian ministries than of not involving in the war and the German official statement that Egypt was considered a country under circumstances from the treaty of 1936 and the fact that the British used Egypt as the last castle in north Africa to stop the Nazi advance made ,the Egyptian army and the REAF had their share in the fight ,during that time the RAF built more bases in Egypt and as I said according to the 1936 the British had the right to use the military facilities . Sometimes the REAF joined the RAF in their war against the Nazis and Sometimes they followed the neutrality policy , it was more about the political decision back then of the ministry or the cabinet that existed in the office , we had several cabinet ,we had about 5 ministries I think following different parties with different views about the war whether we would participate in it actually or not ,in the end we had to engage in it and despite the Egyptian sympathy for the Nazis which was based for that hate to the British and the rosy promises for freedom of independence by the Nazis from the Arabic Berlin radio station ,the British made a destructive plan if Erwin Rommel had advanced and captured Alexandria including simply flooding the Nile delta to make it impossible for the German tanks to advance to Cairo in other words they would not give a damn for the Egyptians and thus in the end fighting with them was the best option we had. The good thing we had the opportunities to put our hands on more fighting aircrafts , to defend our land against German and Italian air raids where we scored one air kill against German Henkil He-III bomber, the REAF provided long-range patrols over the Red Sea to monitor the Axes sea movements there by the request of the British. When the WWII ended we had another opportunity to buy more aircrafts from the second cheap aircrafts that fought in the war , yes I know it is silly but we could do !!??
The war of 1948 came and the first real test the REAF had to face came at last , the whole Egyptian army including the REAF was not ready for that war from training and preparations , we should not forget the British did not let us have a powerful strong army nor new arms and they supported the Israeli side more than us , the REAF tried as much as it could just like the rest of the EAF , its first mission was to provide cover and protection for the navy and arm forces, of course we had several unserviceable and obsolete aircrafts yet we fought with honor and believed it or not we scored some victory ,in fact they were two against the IAF "already it was not formed yet" on 8th of June and 9th of July 1948 , one of the pilots who scored those victories was Miquati , yes Abd El-Minium Miquati who was among the 3 first Egyptian pilots ever "May bless his soul" ,through my reading in Israeli sources I realized the REAF was not fighting weakly as I thought because in Israel the priority number one after 1948 was to build a powerful air forces to answer back the REAF .
Realizing the weakness of our REAF ,its commandership  bought two fighter in 1949 including Egypt first jet fighter the British Gloster Meteor F4 ,we began also to buy aircrafts from Italy , the first time to depend on countries other than GB . When the great fire of Cairo took place 1951 King Farouk asked for a helicopter ,we had two then and both of them were unserviceable too !!! :(
After 1952 the revolution had a principle among the six principles that was to establish a powerful army and for that reason the REAF which became the EAF since 1953 after the announcement of the republic had a major rebooting operation the most dramatic and obvious change was in 1955 when we had a deal for the famous Czech arms and we began to receive the improved Russian fighters. I do not need to speak about 1956 ,1967 and the huge 1973 , despite I found out very interesting information about the Air forces in 1967 , I know it was considered the biggest fiasco of all times for the EAF but I think the fiasco was not the mistake of the pilots more than their commandership , just like the rest of the Egyptian Arm forces , the wrong man in the wrong place , let's keep in another time same thing for 1973 and I think I spoke last year about 1956 well enough.
Ah I forget to tell you the insignia of the EAF changed in 1958 when logo we changed our flag during our union with Syria , we had the Red,Black,white and two green stars in the middle , the insignia of the EAF became since then the A red circle with white color inside it with a black dot
In the end I will leave you with that wonderful flickr slide show from a dear friend Dr. Ahmed Kamel whose grand uncle was Ismail bey Hakky Haroun, HM the King's personal Pilot and one of the founders of the Royal Egyptian Air Force, I hope you like it :)

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Sources :

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Mubarak Museum in Kyrgyzstan !!!

Kyrgyzastan , name of a country I know most Egyptians know nothing about it except may be that it is an ex-Soviet country according to its name "The Stan" family by guessing of course as other than they know zero .

except may be that far away country is going to make a museum for our president !!!

Oh yes Kyrgystan decided to build a museum for Mubarak in its arm forces museums and before you wonder why a country build a museum for another country's president that already it has no relations with  I will tell why .

It turned out Mubarak studied for a while in their academy for aviation near their Bishkek . If you do not know Mubarak as an air fighter studied in the Soviet Union for couple of years in 1960s ,already the man till can speak Russian very good .

Look this is very silly ,for God I do not know what they will put in that museum , his pictures in the academy , come on it does not deserve a whole museum !! already I visited the so-called Mubarak museum in Abdeen Palace museums in the school and I remember it was so boring , nothing in it except the Silver planning for the Holy sites in Mecca , a Present from late King Fahd "May Allah bless his soul" other than that nothing interesting it was just made to show off his decorations from other countries and shields of honors he received every year from the army ,the decorations of Mohamed Ali Royal in their museum were much more interesting !!

Seriously do not they have any historical figure that really contributed to the history of their country that really deserves to have a museum !!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Suha Arafat's new villa !!

  • Suha Arafat , the merry widow of Yasser Arafat and the mother of his only daughter Zahwa is making the headlines again this week after the strange surprising news that El-Gaddafi of Libya bought a very fancy villa for her and her daughter in Malta for one million Euro !!!
It is very surprising for many reasons ,number one I do not think that Suha needs any financial help from anyone , I mean with all the billions  she got from the money of the Palestinian people she still needs a financial aid !!! Number two was not El-Gaddafi an enemy to Arafat !!?? Yes I know the man is so moody that you just can't remember  whom he was a friend or enemy to anymore yet why that sudden generosity all of the sudden and why it did not included the poor people in Gaza !!???
If you do not know Suha Arafat was expelled from Tunisia after years from staying there ,reasons ranged from personal to business , the personal reasons which are  personal rumors said that she was married in Secret from the brother in law of Laila Zein Al-Abdeen , the Tunisian first lady and her previous BBF , the business official reasons were that she deceived some business partners using her connections for her own profits !!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Conspiracy theories of King Farouk's series

This is just for clearing some things about the TV series of King Farouk ,some thoughts and rumors some people are spreading mainly from the Nasserites and those who are jealous of the success of the TV series in Ramadan "The later are many in the TV series in Ramadan especially from a big stars "

First of all the TV series is not calling for the return of Monarchy in Egypt in any way ,it only shows a period in the history that was exposed to huge amount of defaming as the system in Egypt , it is not the revolution who invented the system of defaming and trashing previous regimes ,it was there  since the ancient times of Pharaohs,also revolutions and movements come to trash the previous regimes whether from republics or monarchies , The french and Russian revolutions are the best examples in the monarchy section , the Syrian and Iraqi coups are the best example in the republic section. Yes it is wrong and yes it is unfair but this is a human nature . Dr. Lamis Gabr is no way a royalist like Maged Farag or Samir Rafaat ,read her articles ,political articles in "Ain" Newspaper and other publications and you will know that she is an excellent analyst for political and social affairs , already Dr. Gabr was forced stop in writing for some time in "Ain" after writing a powerful column accusing the interior ministry of causing the sectarian division

And let's be realistic no way in earth Monarchy will come back or at least the Mohamed Ali Royal will return back in power any sooner or later seriously after 50 years of republic rule ,it is very hard to return back to monarchy , yes I know it happened before in Spain ,yet it was the only time it happened and even now King Juan Carlos despite the fact that he owns but does not rule is facing a threat that Spain could return back to become a republic , the calls for the republic are increasing there , because they do not find any benefit now especially that his family expenditures are unnecessary and most important they considered his period as a transitional period between dictatorship and democracy now a democratic state they do not need him anymore ,yes I know in a dictatorship state like the one the idea of having a constitutional monarchy is so tempting but facts are facts

Another thing who will be the king ?? Ahmed Fouad II , well first of all the man is being treated from health problem in Switzerland , second of all  he did not study politics with no experience in politics what so King Ahmed Fouad II familyever   ,third of all I do not think that the people will welcome him if they know that his ex-wife was a Jew ,yes she converted to Islam but she turned to be one hell of a villain who took his money and made Princess Farial wished that she could stop their marriage in 1970s and of course I do need to tell you that the children of Jew woman are considered Israelis ,if you remember that caused a huge discussion in the Egyptian parliament about the citizenship issue and the right of running for Presidency.Fourth King Fouad I made a rule that the heir of throne from his male descendents must be from Egyptian mother , so the boys of Ahmed Fouad II do not have the right to claim the throne which no longer exists ,so no need to dream or be alarmed from a TV series

There is no threat on the Republic system in Egypt because People despite their on going passive attitude showed how much their refuse the inheritance  process of Mubarak JR.

Also the TV series did not attack the revolution , in fact it did not mention from near or far Nasser , in fact I believed they eliminated a part from the original script about the revolution and the life of Farouk in exile in Italy ,Dr.Lamis in a several press and TV interview said that the TV series would cover Farouk's life from birth to death .The series stopped at his departure from Egypt and that's it and that made me so angry because I wanted to see his life in exile,the divorce of Nariman ,his relationship with Irma and so on ,so I do not know why people bother themselves in mentioning Gamal Abd El-Nasser in the first place ,I mean the Nasserites are wasting their time in defending Nasser

Already the comparison between Nasser and Farouk it is not done simply by watching TV series and films ,this is not a history ,this is an Art work made by an individual point of view ,if we want to make this comparison then we must make it much more in professional way , the pros and cons of each era , the achievements of each one of them ,the internal and external factors ,the changes in the international and regional environment,if you want to make it then you have to read many many books of history because history is written by people who are in a way or another bias  by a certain degree.When I read for Dr.Yonan Labib Razik I must be careful because he favors the Wafad old Party and thus he would not speak about their corruption in late 1940s , when I read for Dr.Abd El-Azeim Ramadan I have to be careful because he hated every thing related to Nasser and Pan Arabism and when I read for Gamal Hamad I must be careful because he was from the free officers in the end There is no certain period or a time of a specific leader that can be crossed totally and this is for the Royalists and Nasserists at the same time

The TV series is not a conspiracy made by the Saudi Royals for promoting Monarchy , defaming the revolution and Nasser for an American Agenda , very big words based upon the fact the TV series was produced by the Saudi Channel "MBC" and that during the Nasserite era Nasser had an enmity with late "King Faisal" May Allah bless their souls that ended after 1967 in Khartoum summit. Ok first of all yes the Channel is Saudi and owned by the Brother in law of late King "Fahd" may Allah bless his soul

That TV Series was not written for the MBC exclusively or especially in the first place .Dr. Lamis Gabr from five years ago wrote it for the Egyptian TV by the request of the minister of information then , the ETV seemed after that uninterested in producing the TV Series for unknown reasons yet Dr.Gabr insisted that an Egyptian production company should produce the work ,Dream TV proposed yet during that time the mother company "Bahgat" group faced some financial problems and everybody forgot about. Now last year Syrian Director "Hatem Ali" came to Egypt in order to direct a film about "Mohamed Ali" also was written by Lamis for her husband actor "Yahia El-Fakharany" whom she wrote "Farouk" TV series for in the first place and the production company was "Good New 4 me" , "Ali" who is originally TV series director ,famous of directing historical series read the papers of "Farouk" and was so impressed by it that he wanted  to present on TV even before "Mohamed Ali" ,already "Mohamed Ali" needed more time for production than "Farouk", "Ali" took the papers and went to a production company that he worked with before and though it would be interested and that's was "MBC" Channel and that's how the work came to light ,I understand it would be promoting for a specific agenda if Dr.Lamis wrote specifically and exclusively for the "MBC" but she did not and you can go back for the archives of all Egyptian and Arabic newspapers and check back the news of her husband and you would know "King Farouk" was very old project .

Let's be logic how the Royal Saudis promote for monarchy and the monarchy showed in the TV series is their worst fear. The Saudi Monarchy is a complete monarchy , a divine ruler, one of the facts they support the Wahabism ,if you read more in Wahabism you find that it orders its follower for complete obedience to the ruler whether he is good or bad , where as the monarchy the TV series showed like the sun was the constitutional monarchy , the king owns but he does not rule and you were showed how the Wafad party stood against the Prince "Mohamed Ali" 's idea to reign the king in "Al-Azhar" by the Sheikh of "Al-Azhar" so the King would not have a religious power over the constitution. The TV series showed how democratic Egypt was the power of Constitution and the power of Press Freedom now tell me is there any power of Constitution in Saudi Arabia or is there any Press Freedom ??? King Farouk was afraid from the press that it would know about his mom flings in Europe , in fact I got issues of "Akhar Sa'a" and bunch of articles for famous "Mohamed El-Tab'ai" who refused to listen to the King for not publishing the press reports about Nazli , tell me single Saudi journalist 's name who can say anything about the king or the royal family in present or the past !!??? The Constitutional Monarchy now is considered a threat and a challenge to the Saudi Royal family which is facing many challenges from outside and inside.

Also historical the Saudi monarchs did not have this good relation with the House of Mohamed Ali except only in the time of King Farouk ,already historically Mohamed Ali Pasha was ordered to crack down the first revolution of the Saudis by the order of the Othman Empire and he sent his Son Ibrahim Pasha who succeeded in cracking down the revolution , Mohamed Ibn Abd El-Wahab ,the founder of Wahabism was executed by Ibrahim Pasha and Abd Allah Bin Saud escaped to what became now Kuwait and the rule of El-Hagaz , the Holy Land of Muslims became Egyptian till 1840. The return of relations between the two houses of Saud and Mohamed Ali was in time of Kings Abd El-Aziz  and Farouk only, believe it or not during that Egypt helped Saudi Arabia financially , the Oil was not King Farouk and King Abd El-Azizdiscovered and for his huge financial aid to the KSA during its hard times ,the monarchs of Saudi Arabia stood beside the Egyptian Royal family after the revolution not because they hated Nasser and saw him as a threat , they were not the only royal family in the Arab would that stood beside Mohamed Ali Family , the Moroccan royal Family King Mohamed V and Hassan II too helped them despite their very strong relations with Nasser and also they were not the only Royal family the House of Saud stood beside after the revolution or coup ,they also stood beside the Iraqi Royal family in exile .And By the way not all the Saudi royal liked or likes King Farouk and thinks the revolution was bad thing , I can't remember the silly attack of Prince "Talal Abd Azizi Ibn Saud" on King Farouk in Dream TV 2 with Magdy Mahnah !!!

Why no one spoke and wondered why the MBC produced the TV Series "El-Anaduilb" the Nightgale" which was about the life of Egypt's Abd El-Halim Hafez where the script writer put Nasser's life inside the story even before the revolution till his death in way that had no meaning what so ever !!!!??? They showed Nasser as angel ,they even inserted the conflict between Nasser and Amar in the work ,I do not know what that had to do with the life of Halim !!!!!!

By the way MBC tried to correct the fiasco of "El-Anadilb" by "Farouk" and it succeeded

I am sorry but I do not see any reason for that anger from the Nasserites

if you want my opinion I guess what is happening in Egypt is a diversion operation to make people concentrate on other things then the murder of free press and the blessed NDP freaking conference next month :(

Monday, October 22, 2007

The real Facebook groups

I was not an active member in facebook except when I found the Egyptian Royal groups which unfortunately turned in to more than "Anti-Revolution" groups , already I am thinking of living them anyhow I found in Facebook some interesting groups I want to share with you

1- Egypt defeated Israel in 1973 group

2- Mohamed Naguib group : The only group dedicated to the late President

3-Rafaat El-Hagan group : The only group dedicated for the Egypt's legendary Spy Rafaat El-Hagan

Please join these groups :)

Again the foreign Press is speaking about it and here it is a taboo...

The American World Tribune is speaking about the health of Mubarak and here no body wants to speak about it again after what happened to Ibrahim Eissa

Seriously speaking I do not buy the world Tribune claims easily as the man was alive and kicking from two days ago attending that silly boring ceremony that did not fit with the greatness of the occasion which is the 6th of October , I mean the man survived those 3 hours fine ,I could not stay more than 5 minutes !!! He is surely fine !!!!

Look we all know that it is matter of weeks or even months and the Gamal Mubarak will be the next president at least that is what the ruling class wishes for and works so hardly to make this wish come true

You know just today I heard somebody saying that Egypt would have been in Chaos if Mubarak had died from three years ago , we would have had civil wars on all levels !! Muslims Vs. Christians , Muslim Brotherhood Vs. other Muslims , Army Vs. People ,Alien Vs.Predator !!!!

But now everything is under control no need to worry about the future if he will die "and he will , after all he is a human :P

This is silly ,so silly even if everything is arranged as they want as a ruling class ,I do not think that it is that easy other wise why the United States and the west in general are so concerned that Gamal Mubarak is not popular among the army nor the people , I will not speak about the fear of MB , because I do not think  that they will take over the rule that easy

People look back to the history of Egypt and you know that this real blessed and protected by heaven country saw much more worse circumstances than now and the examples are many yet we never reached to the level of civil war

Do you know during the first rumor people began to speak about how many days they would have taken as off from 3 days in peaceful circumstance to two weeks if the Kafya ,leftists and MB went to the streets !!??

Sunday, October 21, 2007

King Farouk's TV series

I think that I did not speak about that successful TV Series except when it Tim Hassan and Wafaa Amar was announced that a Syrian was going to act the role of King Farouk , other than that the discussion about the TV series was in my Arabic blog , yet I believe with all the noise the TV Series created in the Egyptian street I should speak about it here

I will speak first about the TV series from an Artistic point view , I will not speak about the historical and political point views now because they need time and already I got a bad flu.

With no argument that TV series was from the best Arabic TV series presented on the screen in this Ramadan and in historical drama over all , here I am using the word Arabic because it is not considered an Egyptian TV series , it is produced by Saudis "MBC Channel" , the director is Syrian "Hatem Ali" , the leading actor is Syrian "Tim Hassan" and the Music is by Lebanese "sorry I can't remember his name".

This TV series is well made no one can deny the story and script of Dr.Lamis Gabr are impressive "I am not going to involve in historical debate yet"

The decorations were excellent taking in consideration that the Egyptian Presidency refused to let the crew of the TV series to film in the Royal Palaces which became Presidential palaces for security reasons as the Make up crew of the TV series is Iranian ,already of course "Hatem Ali" is so mad and attacking indirectly the officials in Egypt despite the fact , the important fact he can't open his mouth in his own country in Syria when it comes to the national security and presidency , already I did not feel any problem with the settings or decorations , yes it would be much better if it were shot in the original settings of the Presidential Palaces but before "Ali" goes angry and gives the Syrian press an opportunity to jump in the wagon and start attacking the Egyptians' red tape ,he should first have paid attention to the customs and clothes in the TV Series

The huge terrible mistake, I do not think that the art director or the fashion designer or even the director himself bothered to read or even see any picture regarding the customs of that period from the 1920s to early 1950s whether internationally or locally ,in fact they did not even bother to present the decorations of orders as it should be ,the Three stars and crescent decoration "Tim Hassan" as King Farouk wore in his suite was badly made and that's just the beginning

The Royal Queens and Princesses clothes whether in day or night look like as if they were in the Victorian era not in 1940s !! Despite all the photos online and off line in the books are available to anyone

Of course this nothing compared to the big disaster represented in the clothes of the commoners "the ignored part in the TV Series" I can't believe that in 1940s Egyptian ladies wore like in 1919 !!!!

I can't stop thinking that these small mistakes could have been avoided if the famous director "Anam Mohamed Ali" ,the director of "Om Khalthoum" and "Kasem Amin" were the director of "King Farouk"

The acting was the big surprise here and I am not speaking about "Tim Hassan" 's performance which is a real fine one , do not forget that was his first performance in Egyptian accent and I guess it is also his first leading role , all his previous roles "mostly with Ali" he was not the leading actor even in "Nizar Qabbani" whom he only represented the famous poet in the youth era ,still "Hassan" I felt that he always fall in the nervous scenes when he screams and shouts , here I feel he can't control it and that he is just pretending , also the last three episode where he presented Farouk in his last years as fat and bald man he was not in his best times in the TV series , may be the make up and the custom he wore to make him fat made it hard for him to act naturally as in the early episodes , not every actor is gifted by Eddy Murphy's talent

The big surprise in the TV series was not "Tim" but the other supporting leading actors whom I think stole the light from him in their scenes together

1- "Ezzat Abou O'of" , one of the most famous supporting actors in Ezzat Abou O'of Egypt , he presented the role Ahmed Hassanein Pasha in a way like no other , seriously I felt that Abou O'of wore the character as a glove

2-" Wafaa Amar", I will confess that when they announced her name to present Queen Nazli on screen I had the feeling the TV Series would be a big failure , after Wafaa Amar was associated with third degree seduction role , yet she was more than great here , a very mature actress , seriously it was the role of her life time

3-"Salah Abd- Allah" , here is another surprise ,because when "Abd Salah Abd Abd Allah Allah" the famous comedian actor presents the character of "Mustafa El-Nahas" in that wonderful way , already many attacked "Abd Allah" for his way of acting the role , they believed that "Abd Allah" made "El-Nahas" look like a comedian , well believe or not that was the real style of the great leader, my grand mother 's best friend's family was a close to him and as a young girl she met him several time and that was his style and way of talking and dealing with people

4- "Nabil El-Halfawy", in the role of "Ali Maher" ,"El-Halfawy" is a great actor and it is not a surprise that he would represent this character in that wonderful way

What else ,well there are other actors who did their roles wonderfully but on the other hand there are some actors who were not that good above them "Menna Fadly" who acted the role of "Queen Farida" , I do not know if she is a bad actress or the role was written badly , already I felt that "Dr.Lamis " was unfair to the popular "Queen Farida " presenting her as some sort of nervous sad dull wife for the merry "Farouk" !!!

The music was so bad , seriously I do not know why they ignored some one like "Amar El-Shara'ai" or "Omar Khairat" to compose the Music !!

Over all the TV series was excellent ,it is highly recommended to be watched , you can watch it here on Jump TV

Cover boy 4

Ok I promise you this will be insh Allah the last one in that series until another Egyptian appears on the time cover :)

We stopped at the death of President Sadat in 1981 , President Sadat as you know all was followed by President Mubarak who is ruling from 1981 till now 2007. President Mubarak ruled Egypt more than anyone in the 20th century , beating the record of King Fouad I who ruled Egypt for 19 years where as Mubarak reached his 26th year in the presidency this year 2007 !! Yet after all those years ,he appeared just like King Fouad I only Once on the time cover , in fact King Fouad I was much luckier than Mubarak as he appeared on the cover of the magazine alone but Mubarak who appeared after 4 years of his rule on the 28th of October 1985 accompanied with other three leaders not to mention the cover story was not about him

President Mubarak photo appeared with the photos of late 1101851028_400Arafat ,late American President Reagan and Prime minister Craxi of Italy

The Cover story was about the famous Achille Lauro hijacking incident .That terrible incident caused an international crisis at that time , in fact if you review it in a perfect world ,it will cause an international crisis , the Reagan's cabinet who was just won for another time in the white house handled it in a very dangerous way that made Reagan pay a big price.

Why it was dangerous at least for the Egyptian side , well check again the story , at first the demands of the So-called PLOs hijackers* "who did it during the early peace talks between Israel from a side and Jordan and PLO from another side" were refused especially after throwing the old man from the ship in a terrible way. Then after two days of negotiations the hijackers agreed to abandon the liner for safe conduct and were flown towards Tunisia aboard an Egyptian commercial airliner, Egypt Air Boeing 737 yet during the flight with no previous announcement to Cairo Reagan was proud that the plane was intercepted by United States Navy fighters " F-14" on October 10 and directed to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella, a N.A.T.O. base in Sicily, where the hijackers were arrested by the Italians after a disagreement between U.S. and Italian authorities and the rest of the passengers continued their journey to Tunisia, of course the C.I.A director at that time William Casey saw the interception was a positive turning pointing ,already Mubarak in the previous issue had an interview with the magazine concerning the famous crisis

As you see two diplomatic problems with Egypt from one side and from Italy from another side . In a very rare move according to today's Egyptian -American relations , Egypt was so angry , very angry that we demanded an official apology from the United States , a request that has not been fulfilled till now . There was a very huge anger on the public level that was expressed in huge protests in Universities and on the official level that was expressed in both the demand for official apology and the angry statement of Mubarak which seemed to be taken seriously at that time ,may be because at that time he was still powerful strong player , the legacy of Sadat and Nasser that kept Egypt as major power in the area was still there

That would be the last time Mubarak would be on the magazine till writing these lines , yes there were hundreds of reports about him in the magazines and dozens of interviews till now yet he did not appear except that time , of course it is very interesting considering Mubarak as a very close friend to the Americans , still it is not by friendship Chinese,Russian and Iranian leaders appeared frequently ,I mean President Sadat appeared 10 times in his 10 years rule, president Nasser appeared 6 times in his 16 years rule while Mubarak in his 26 years that had seen several international and national crisis from wars in the region to war on terrorism in Egypt did not even make it once !!

Anyhow he was not the last Egyptian leader /Ruler to appear on the Ramses II on the cover of the timecover of the time as a very old ruler appeared on the cover on May 29,1995 King Ramesses II was cover story ,the discovery of the tomb of his sons was an is still raising questions about the life and death of that ruler who had ruled Egypt for a whole 30 years and is said to be the Pharaoh of Exodus, a belief which is shared by many Jews and Muslims too

And that's folks our journey comes to an end , at least for now because as soon as another Egyptian makes it for the time cover , I will mention it here

As you see all the Egyptian rulers in the 20th century since the issue of the magazine in 1923 appeared on the cover of the magazine ,even Ramesses II appeared on it. King Fouad "1" , King Farouk "2",President Naguib "1",President Nasser"6" ,President Sadat "10" ,President Mubarak "1" and Ramesses II "1"

President Sadat is number one for the times appeared on the magazine then President Nasser then King Farouk

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Back to Hend's case

I am still sticking to my word following that case till the end , which took place from couple of weeks

The controversial case of "Hend" ,the youngest Mother in Egypt who was impregnated by rapist , the case which started violently shocking Egypt and ended dramatically in a surprising way

As you know in the Previous sessions the court declared the innocence of "Mohamed Samy" whom the girl accused of raping her Hend and Her daughter thanks to the DNA results that proved the baby was not his and the fact that "Hend" changed her statements since reporting the incident several times "taking in consideration that she did not reported immediately the authorities and her family but after being pregnant for four months"

Yet we did not know what had happened to "Hend" and her baby except that she cried and screamed in objection of the court rule ,may be it was not an objection for the innocence verdict only but for the following :

1-The Court ruled that Baby "Mena Allah" to be called after her mother's family name according to the Islamic rule in those cases of unknown father, already "Mena Allah" according to the scientific evidence was proved not to be the daughter of Mohamed Samy and thus she won't be named after him , she would be named after her mother's name

2-The Court order the police to find the real father who raped the girl but in the same time "Hend" should not give any random names of innocent people otherwise she would be punished "Already according the law the accused if he is proven to be innocent he could sue the girl and her family for defame in Society"

And So baby "Menna  Allah" the poor baby was named after her grand father who is not shy from turning the case of his daughter in to profitable business oh yes "Hend" who became a Star does not appear in any channel except for what is not less than 1000 L.E !!!!

The big surprise was what "Hend" said to "Mamdouh Hassan" ,the journalist from "El-Wafad daily" who exposed her story from several months ago that those officers were the reason "May Allah Avenge from Hend with her daughter in the new flat them" in exact translation of what she had said,those officers ...she meant of course the officers of the police station when her father went to report the incident during her 4 month pregnancy !!?? Sounds interesting and Shocking , that has one meaning and it goes with what "Mohamed Samy" 's family had said earlier that the name of their son was given to "Hend" by the police officers in the Police Station in the area in order to close the case and that in the early report she said that she was raped by three whom she did not recognized !! That's a very serious accusation and it was published in the Newspapers as a new accusation for Egyptian Police in its black record from torture and faking charges to innocent people

Of course "Hend" after couple of days changed her statement as usual I do not know if there was a pressure on her or she did what is good at ,in a confront with "Mohamed Samy" for the first time live on "El-Mahawar Channel" 's TV Show "90 minutes" where she insisted that he was the one who raped her alone and that he was the father of "Mena Allah" !!! I do not know if anyone had explained to her the meaning of the DNA !!

For me now the case is finished till the police either found the one who really did it or it turns out that the girl is big slim liar who did the forbidden sin and is afraid to admit it !!