High Dam Special : Celebrating World Water Day in Aswan High Dam Style

The World celebrated yesterday the World Water Day in time where many people in the world can’t find a single clean drop of water.

This year Egypt is celebrating the jubilee of inauguration of the Aswan high dam construction and one of the high dam’s great pros is providing a constant water source for Egypt which unfortunately is being misused by the Egyptian regime in the last 30 year. Only now the Egyptian regime started to understand the challenge it faces , still despite its diplomatic efforts to save Egypt’s share from the Nile , it has not preserved the Nile inside Egypt nor the rights of the Egyptian people in the Nile. Up till now there are areas with no clean water access , in fact there are areas with no water access thanks to the corruption in the country. In summer Egyptian villages in Delta suffer from water shortages because all water sources are allocated to the rich summer resorts in North Coast. From time to time we read about people getting diseases from the kind of kidney failure  because of polluted water and also poor old infrastructure. Of course we should not forget that the Nile itself is being abused by the industrial wastes too !! God gave us a gift from Nile and not only the regime but also the people are abusing it by our silence and sometimes our participation in the crimes against the Nile.

This photo below was included in the Big Photo blog and it made so happy , it is for section of lake Nasser from NASA , yes a section you can imagine how big lake Nasser is.

I hope that we all stop wasting water which one day will become more valuable than oil and gold.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Water,Nile,Environment,international,nature,Lake Nasser,photos,Aswan High Dam,Middle East,Mideast

Egyptian Poll : Will You Sign The Statement !!??

Last post has inspired to hold a new poll in Egyptian Chronicles,it has been awhile since the last time I held a poll.

The poll is just like the post asking a simple question to my dear Egyptian readers :

Will you sign the national front statement !!??

The answers I wrote down from which you have to choose from are all the possible answers I can find , if you have any other answer please be my guest and I share it with me in comments or through the contact page.

Ah and I forget to announce that I have added a new pages for polls

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Democracy,Follow Up,National,Politics,Polls,Presidential elections 2011,Letter from Editor,Mohamed ElBaradei,News

Will You Join these people and Sign The Statement !!??

Will you sign the proxy/petition/statement to end the emergency status and amend the constitution for real in order to have a real democratic life for the sake of your children and their lives ??
Only about 12,000 have signed so far accordingly including a huge group of politicians, intellectuals and ordinary citizens above them Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei.
Will You join these 12,000 whom are increasing day after day !!?? 
All those people have signed the statement

Mark Your Calendar For The Next April The 6th ,2010

Hamdi Qandeel is calling all Egyptians to a sit in in front of the Egyptian parliament next April 6, 2010 at 12 PM Cairo Local time so mark your calendars. 

This time people have to be there , we do not need parties or movement but we need people. It was the people who made the 6th of April a significant day in our modern history from two years ago and it will be the people who will bring change. by the way I found here a semi-official page for this man.

Side Note : I hope that Hamdi Qandeel thinks about opening his own channel on Youtube,I know that he is from the old school but this is much better channel to reach for masses instead of the TV channels that fear the wrath of the Egyptian regime if they host his TV shows.

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Breaking News : ElBaradei Is Back In Cairo

Dr. ElBaradei is back again in Cairo , he has just arrived from few hours to Cairo airport along with his Wife Aida where they were received by family members. Very few knew about his arrival as he did not give a definite date. I respect ElBaradei because he understood that it would be inappropriate to have a huge public reception like the first one last month where Mubarak is sick.

Speaking of Mubarak , well official sources are speaking that he will return back to Egypt by the weekend and that he gave his orders to ban all public receptions which the NDP was preparing to show that his popularity is more than ElBaradei. The official sources also revealed that Mubarak’s daily schedule will be modified till he fully recovers from the surgery !! This means in other words : Less meetings, less interviews and less public appearances.

Welcome back to ElBaradei and I hope Mubarak returns safely to Cairo where he has a new chance to be remembered as the man who opened the door of democracy.

Now it is the real work time for ElBaradei and the question is : Will he continue till the end !!?? 

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Happy Mother Day 2010

Happy mother day to all the wonderful moms in the whole universe. Happy mother day to all mothers in Egypt today

And now to the national anthem of Mother Day in Egypt “ Set El-Habayb” by Egyptian Syrian singer Fayza Ahmed. The music is by Mohamed Abdel Wahab and lyrics by the fantastic late Hussein El-Sayed.

Egyptain X-Files : Egypt´s greatest survivor

I found this very interesting and old news in the archives of Al Sharq Al Awsat

The Egyptian authorities set the mastermind behind Mubarak's assassination attempt at Sidi Barni free !! 

This news goes back to 2003 and as you can see it has nothing to do with the Addis Abba's assassination attempt in 1995 , it was another assassination plot inside Egypt near our borders with Libya before Addis Abba by two years we did not know about.
It turned out my dear reader that the Islamic group tried to assassinate Mubarak in 1993 by planting explosives at the Western coast high way which Mubarak usually takes when he goes to Libya. It seemed that the presidency announced that he would go to Libya during then and that was how the Islamic group reached to that devilish idea. Of course the security forces found about the plot and arrested those involved in it without our knowledge. 20 person were arrested and accused of planning to kill the President ; one had been acquitted by the court yet was not released except after a whole decade in 2003 where as 2 were executed and the rest have been in jail till now.
I do not understand why it had not been announced then , I can´t remember it nor anyone in my family. May be they did not want to announce it because during that time it would cause chaos and fear especially that it was during the hot terrorism years in Egypt or may be because they did not want to inspire anyone with a mad thought. Of course I understand now why the secret services secure any locations Mubarak is going to visit in Egypt in that infamous paranoid way.

Atef Sadky assassination attemp

Strangely at the same year I remember late Atef Sadky , our prime minister then survived a terrible assassination attempt where as several civilians did not survive the blast including a 15 years old student girl called Shaima. Also there were attempts to assassinate minister of interior then Hassen Al-Alfy and minister of information then Safwat Al Sharif. 1993 seemed to be one hell of  a year.
What amazes me is that it is not only us who do not know about this assassination attempt , it seemed that it kept as a secret from the whole world , amazingly most international sources recognize the 1995 Addis Abba as the first assassination attempt except for the BBC that claims Mubarak survived at least 6 assassination attempts !!
Were there any assassination attempts we do not know about like Sidi Barny !!?? If we exclude Anwar Al-Sadat's assassination and the Port Said alleged assassination we will have two documented assassination attempts : The one in Sidi Barni and the other in Addis Abba !!
If there were other assassination attempts , why they were not announced !!?? Who planned them and why !?
Mubarak is indeed Egypt's greater survivor yet he can't escape death forever , no human can !!

Saad Zaghlol : The Leader And His Shadow

Al Jazeera documentary surprised us in Egypt by producing a documentary about Saad Zaghlol in the anniversary of the 1919 revolution from two weeks ago. The documentary is about the other Saad we do not know from the school books, it is about the human Saad tracing his journey from an elder son of a wealthy landlord who got huge social ambitions to a grown man who was battling a nasty addiction to an old man who found himself leading a nation in one of its critical moments in its modern history.

Saad Zaghlol unlike other politicians was keen to write his diaries not to profit from  but to heal himself from inside. Unlike other politicians you will be surprised by the amount of honesty in his diaries , of course these diaries were not to be published and were trusted to very few eyes in the old Al Wafd party. Till the death of Al-Nahas pasha in 1960s those diaries were kept away from the public then the state took these diaries keeping them at the national archives of Egypt which is from the greatest archives in the whole world , you can’t imagine the treasures there. Among these treasures are the Saad Zaghlol’s diaries where you can find Saad Pasha chronicling everything in his daily life whether his fights with his wife Safia or his wish of having son and marrying a young girl from the countryside or his gambling addiction that was killing him.

If you read the diaries or you watch the documentary ,you may feel that Zaghlol was not that great leader we always imagine , well my dear reader you forget that Zaghlol was a human after all with his own ups and downs. Unfortunately in Egypt we forget that our leaders are humans , we still idolize our leaders just like the ancient days where the pharaoh was the Gods’ son but here we got a fantastic example of a person who did not glorify himself and have this inner syndrome that I am great and flawless !! I believe God gives every person opportunities and Saad may not be the hero we believed in but he may be was that antihero who played a very important and great role by the end of his life.

Here is the video recorded from Al Jazeera documentary by the fantastic Tafatefo, I wish it had English subtitles. It has photos and clips from newsreels I have not seen before. It is sad thing that our National TV is not interested in producing similar documentaries about our leaders in order to educate the people , well may be this is the reason they do not produce a documentary about our leaders.

I think the documentary was short to cover Saad’s life in order to give the viewer more information about this man and also the general climate in Egypt during that important period. I also think that there were others who can speak more Saad and this period better than Rafaat El-Said and Salah Eissa like for instance Dr. Latifa Salem

You can download Saad Zaghlol’s diaries which were published on several parts here. 

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Democracy,Egyptians,history,Media,national,politics,video,Saad Zaglol,Saad Zaghlol,Mideast,Middle East,Documentaries,Al Jazeera,1919 revolution

Follow Up : Mubarak’s Video Update

Well yesterday Mubarak had a very busy morning a man in his age and medical condition can’t bear easily all that effort after surgery and this can be seen in the video recorded from the official channels news. BY the way he revealed in the video that he would return insh Allah after one week.

This is a short segment , you can hear his fragile voice and his face is so tired when Zachariah Azami brought to him all these documents to signs. I love how he threw Al Ahram newspaper, priceless moment. Also I love how he described his surgery as one hell of a ride. “I tried to find a proper English translation for the terms he used in Arabic but I could not, there are much better and funnier in Arabic actually”

Of course I think I have seen a longer segment for him on 5PM news where his left hand with which he was holding the telephone was shaking for seconds , also while signing the documents he was taking his breath in a strange way. Already if we exclude Ahmed El-Tayyib’s appointment , all what he had signed there could have been signed by Nazif !!

The regime wants to say that he is fine and ok but all what we can see is a very old man who needs to rest. Again he has a chance , one big chance.

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Politics,Hosni Mubarak,Germany,Heidelberg,Follow Up,National,Video,Media,Ahmed Nazif,Mideast,Middle East,health

Coalition of Egyptian Organizations in America Wants To Vote

The coalition of Egyptian organizations in America demands the right of the Egyptian community to vote in the national elections just like the American communities outside the States.

The coalition includes interesting names and organizations that are already known to be against Mubarak and his regime. Of course I would like this new coalition to take care and beware from Morris Sadek and Sobhi Mansour along with the rest of these creatures abroad.

The national front for change will be strong enough in front of the regime if its members are truly respectable and patriot names like ElBaradei and Ghonaim , we do not want to give the regime a chance to discredit any of the front members. Up till now the real war has not started yet between the regime and ElBaradei’s front , when it starts it will use all its dirty weapons it has.

Technorati Tags: Politics,Democracy,Egypt,Citizen Journalism,Petition,National,News,Presidential elections 2011,Mohamed ElBaradei,Mideast,Middle East,elections,voting

Breaking News : President Mubarak appoint Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyib as The New Grand Emam of Al Azhar

President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has issued his 62nd presidential decree for year 2010 from Heidelberg hospital to appoint Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyib as the new Grand Emam of Al Azhar Al Sharif. He also made several phone calls from Germany to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia , to Omar Soliman whom I suspect is ruling us for the time being , to Ahmed Nazif who is only ruling us theoretically proving that he can’t be a president and to minister of defense Tantawy to make sure  the army is fine along with Safwat Al-Sharif and Habib El-Adly. He also approved on the construction of a Christian orthodox Church in Helwan Governate

Ahmed El-Tayyib was among the strong candidates for the position since last week . Now I believe that presidential decree has been issued today Friday to send a powerful message to the Whole world : Hosni Mubarak is still alive.

And because presidential decrees nor phone calls to other Arab heads of states or ministers are not enough to dismiss all the rumors and concerns about his health new video and photos have emerged from Germany today in the news showing the President doing all these telephone calls. Of course his voice is so fragile in the video showing the signs of sickness.

Well this new video does not prove that Mubarak is alive only “even if this is debatable for some ”  but also it proves Abdel Latif El-Manawy , the head of the news sector in the Egyptian National TV is liar because he said yesterday that we should not wait for new photos for President Mubarak !! Also it proved that Mubarak is not an old veteran pilot with pride that will feel sorry for himself if he is filmed in the hospital in the bed with tubes all over him like what Khairy Ramadan , the journalist and TV host has said last night on the official Ch.2 in a very strange statement !!

There is no doubt that the regime knows how rapidly the rumors mill is moving in Cairo and all over the world now. Saving Egypt front’s official website is believed to be blocked by the regime after spreading some conspiracy theories about Mubarak and his first appearance after the surgery.

Insh Allah I will upload the video soon to the blog.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Breaking News,Mubarak,Video,Media,Photos,Ahmed El-Tayyib,Politics,National,Germany,Heidelberg,Mideast,Middle East,Follow Up,Nationals security,Omar Soliman,Ahmed Nazif,Abdullah of Saudi Arabia,Al-Ahzar,Islam,Religion,Helwan University

Regarding ElBaradei’s Thank You Film

There is a Swedish short film circulating online in Egypt , you can watch it here.

Now I would like to clarify something , this very short film is produced in order to thank the Swedish citizens who pay their  broadcasting fee by uploading their photo in to the film and thus starring their own hero film. A very clever marketing idea indeed. Here is the link : Make a thank you  film

It is clearly that someone uploaded the photo of Mohamed ElBaradei in the short film. This clarification is just for the regime fanatics who will claim that this film proves that ElBaradei has a hidden Swedish citizenship.

By the way Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei has delayed his return to Cairo next week. Also Dr. Mohamed Ghoniam is being punished by the governor of Dakhalia for joining the National front for change as its general coordinator in the governorate by axing the plans of having a garden named after him in the city of Mansoura !!

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Democracy,Follow Up,Films,Politics,Sweden,Mohamed ElBaradei,Mohamed Ghonaim,Europe,Movies,Media,Presidential elections 2011,Video,Mideast,Middle East,Mansoura,NDP

What If It Were Al Jazeera !!??

Julian Sancton who writes about cinema and films in Vanity Fair shared his experience as a guest on Al Hurra channel , yes Al Hurra channel which most people do not watch in the Arab world due to the fact that it is considered an American funding project to penetrate the Arabic society !!

Sancton was hosted there in order to discuss “Why movies about the American war effort in Iraq have failed to resonate with audiences”. I do not know why I have the feeling that he was overwhelmed by the fact that he was interviewed by Arabic channel which actually is perceived as an American channel in the region !!  This makes me wonder how he would feel if he was interviewed by the mighty Al Jazeera !!!

It is his first time to appear on TV and of course it is a great experience but still it is Al Hurra for God sake , I do not even remember where it is in Nile sat !!

Still in Sancton’s post he hinted out to an important remark that all great films about the Vietnam war were made after the war after several years which means we should not wait for something like “Born on the fourth of July” except after two decades. It is true that big historical events can’t really be judged except after enough time but we are currently in the huge communications age unlike 1960s or 1970s for God sake.

p.s did handsome Ahmed El-Naggar leave Nile TV to work in Al Hurra !???

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