Granny of the Day: Pictures that Put us to Shame

Images of 72 year-old babushka-wearing granny doing her daily calisthenics at a playground in Russia. I'm definitely ashamed and will take the gym more seriously starting immediately next month!

Source: 22 Words

US and EU Support to Egypt and Tunisia: "Fallen Short"

Authors of the report Danya Greenfield, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, and Rosa Balfour, head of the Europe in the World Program, European Policy Center, analyze the support provided by the US and EU since the Arab Awakening. Their conclusion is quite mixed to say the least:

Later in the report the authors compare Egypt and Tunisia:

Lebanon: Wiping History for Money

According to Green Prophet:

Bulldozers in Beirut tore down remains of a 2,500 year old Phoenician port on Tuesday with blessings from the Culture Minister. Eventually, three new skyscrapers will be built in its place, further blighting a once-beautiful city. The former Culture Minister Salim Wardy thwarted efforts by Venus Construction to proceed with the demolition in Mina al-Hosn and activists have engaged a year-long battle against the firm, but Gaby Layyoun ordered the port’s destruction, denying claims of its historical importance. Activists told The Daily Star that they will not rest until both Layyoun and Venus Construction stand trial for destroying the city’s cultural heritage.

More details here.

Just Bought: Transitions from Authoritarian Rule

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, Vol. 4: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies is a timeless set of essays on redemocratization. Quotation from the book: 

“It is characteristic of the transition that during it the rules of the political game are not defined. Not only are they in constant flux, but they are usually arduously contested.” Very relevant to the mess in Egypt. 

Tom Cruise: Manhunt is Calling

Manhunt, a gay dating and hooking up website, just published this ad after the announcement that Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes are divorcing. 

Egypt's Seculars: Thrown under the bus again!

Joshua Stacher, an assistant professor of political science and author of “Adaptable Autocrats: Regime Power in Egypt and Syria", is convinced the army will not surrender any real political power while the Muslim Brotherhood and Mursi will focus on the bringing back the economy from the brink to save their political future. As for the revolutionaries, well, under the bus again. Excerpt from his New York Times article:

Egypt's Peace with Israel: The Morsi Effect

Nervana Mahmoud, The Telegraph, rightly emphasizes that the future of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel will be largely determined by the militant groups in Gaza and whether they will succeed through terrorist attacks drag the two countries into some form of confrontation. As for Egypt's new president, Mahmoud expects him to play this card in his fight against the military. Excerpt from the article below:

New Book: In the Eye of the Storm

Book Discussion From Ahram Online:

Borrowing metaphors from the meteorological sciences, Choukri-Fishere speaks about the "perfect storm," where a number of phenomena combine and it's difficult to disentangle them altogether. He humbly says in the introduction that his intent is to do that within the book. Choukri-Fishere isn't impartial; he says publicly that he is biased towards the revolution and to its intent to remove the elite that has monopolised public life ... For Choukri-Fishere, the revolution isn't about an Islamist project or chaos, but is a struggle around power: some factions benefit from the struggle, therefore support a certain view of events. Analysis based on conspiracy is impossible to prove or refute ... "Change today is everywhere, and the Muslim Brotherhood is also changing, and the entire Islamist camp is also changing. The Islamicisation has already happened. Egypt now has to face its demons. While in power, the Islamists just talk but must embrace action, and offer answers to real questions, like the traffic crisis and housing, but also on personal freedoms, gained by struggle not only talk about freedoms," Choukri-Fishere insisted.

Quote of the Day: Larry Derfner on Egypt

Larry Derfner is an ex-columnist and feature writer for The Jerusalem Post, as well as the correspondent in Israel for the U.S. News and World Report, for many years. Politically, he describes himself as an "ultra-liberal Zionist".  Born in New York, grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Israel in 1985.


Quotation: 972 Magazine
Image: Blucom 

Picture of the Day: Close up of living human brain!

Via: The Caudal Lure

New Book: The New Religious Intolerance

The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age. Book Description:

Music I Listen to While Blogging: Elliot Smith

This is one of my favorite songs of all time. The lyrics is powerful and real as Smith was fighting his own demons and drug addiction during that time before dying a couple of years later. Lyrics below:

Is Egypt Really "Too Big To Fail"?

Martin Kramer, President-Designate of Shalom College in Jerusalem, raises some excellent points in his article "Worst-case scenario in Egypt". Kramer's argument is clear: (a) The Muslim Brotherhood is winning and the army will lose in the long-run, (b) The Muslim Brotherhood will need to blackmail (by going more radical) the West and Gulf countries for money to save Egypt from bankruptcy and stay in power, however (c) the U.S. will have to decide whether in these tight economic times, it is worth it to save Egypt and in the process help the Muslim Brotherhood succeed. Excerpt below:

Image: Blackmail, Alfred Hitchcock (1929). The final chase scene in the Ancient Egypt Hall of the British Museum.

"Just Balance" Between Freedom and Dictators!

Benedetta Berti, Research Associate at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University, reflects on the problems that come with supporting friendly dictators. Berti suggests finding the "just balance" between providing a blank check to authoritarian regimes and breaking old and advantageous alliances (i.e., a balance not fully supporting freedom). Excerpt below from his article:

London Olympics Theme (warning it really sucks)

Definitely it's cheesy different, sounds like Queen interesting and pretentious unique but I can't imagine hearing it every time they cut to commercials. Oh well, I'll wait for Rio 2016.

The Year's Worst Magazine Cover: TIME

Horrible and misleading: The red color implies a "bloody revolution" and the hooded demonstrator implies a Gaza like uprising. The main story is about "Why the Generals Remain Egypt's Real Rulers" a fair point, yet they have a demonstrator on the cover while ignoring the incremental changes that happened because of the revolution. 

We Coined a New Word: "Sultan"

Watching in agony Faruk Sultan read his never ending speech before declaring Morsi winner of the presidential elections, gave me ideas that ranged from hanging myself, smashing the computer to inventing a new word (Sarah Palin came with "refudiate" so why can't I). 

So, here is the word that we coined and is now on urban dictionary, after being approved by their editor, waiting to be used by the masses:

Image: The Celestial Scope

New Book: Religion and Human Security

Book Description:

Since the1950s the world has witnessed a period of extraordinary religious revival in which religious political parties and non-governmental organizations have gained power around the globe. At the same time, the international community has come to focus on the challenge of promoting global human security. This groundbreaking book explores how these trends are interacting. In theoretical essays and case studies from Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, the Americas, Africa and Europe, the contributors address such crucial questions as: Under what circumstances do religiously motivated actors advance or harm human welfare? Do certain state policies tend to promote security-enhancing behavior among religious groups? The book concludes by providing important suggestions to policymakers about how to factor the influence of religion into their evaluation of a population's human security and into programs designed to improve human security around the globe.

Picture of the Day: The North American Atlantic Coast

Taken from the International Space Station, the North American Atlantic Coast is luminous and the quality of the picture is amazingly crisp!

Via: All That Is Interesting

El Koshary Today Goes There!

Read the funny piece here.

To Cut or Not to Cut, That is The Question

Leaders of Germany's Jewish and Muslim communities have criticized a court ruling they fear could make circumcision a punishable offense in the country. Only 10 percent of German boys are circumcised, but the issue of whether parents should be able to decide if their children undergo the procedure remains divisive. The controversy relates to a Cologne's regional court ruling Tuesday that doctors in the country who circumcise a boy for religious reasons can be accused of committing bodily injury, even in cases where parents have given their express consent. 

Source: Spiegel - Full story here.

Epic Flowchart: 101 Books To Read This Summer

An Amazing flowchart. It's way too long to have here, so below is a flavor with the full chart here.

Cairo: 20 Years Later

Gunther Machu shot the above video back in March 2012. He reflects on the video:

Cairo - an old love of mine. I spent 9 years there, growing up as a teenager. Now 2012, I came back again after many years, unfortunately I had almost no time. Is it still the same as 20 years ago? No. But these moments, snapshots in time which seem to survive across the decades are still there.

Nasr City: Where Power Lives

This is the trailer of a new documentary about Nasr City. The makers of the movie have this description for Nasr City:  "Where desert turned into a neighborhood, a neighborhood turned into a city, a city turned into the center where military generals and Islamists operate". 

Now in English: The Morsi Meter

A great idea by the people to monitor their president. I bet the Muslim Brotherhood will launch its own Morsi Meter to provide a set of more favorable results in support of their candidate and most probably, some felool will start The Morsi Mess Meter. This should be fun to watch and analyze. 

The "Closeted" Jews of Tunisia

Michael Totten met with Haim Bittan, the chief rabbi of Tunis, and this was not an easy interview. It's clear the rabbi, understandably, didn't voice his real concerns as he feared his words may affect the safety of the 1,500 jews living in Tunisia. Most Christian men of religion in Egypt are as careful in their interviews especially after the rise of the Islamists. It's sad and scary that we allowed the radicals to control us through the possibility of terror. Excerpts (consolidated) from the World Affairs interview: 

Changing Egypt, One Beer At A Time

The WSJ has a story about some "secular" Egyptians fearing they would lose their right to drink beer, get tattoos or wear skimpy clothes (read excerpts below). Just yesterday we had a post about a "galabeyya party" at one of Cairo's bars to celebrate Morsi's win. 

I have mixed thoughts about these "cool" actions. I understand there is a slippery slope here as once the Islamists ban beer, why not ban movies, music, nonreligious books, etc. I also like the fact that these "seculars" are doing something about it (not just bitching and moaning as they are actually planning a demonstration). 

However, my mother told me when I was a child, "Do whatever you want as long as you don't hurt yourself, hurt someone else or we have to pay for it," unfortunately these "Beer Demonstrations" will affect the secular movement (of course I'm exaggerating, but still) as people in Egypt will associate seculars mainly with what is perceived by most as the secular's anti-religion agenda. 

So, my advice to the "cool" kids, go back inside from the heat, drink your cold beer and don't be a diversion. 

The Beer Movement:

The Skimpy Clothes Movement:

Visit Egypt: The Pyramids Are The Tip of the Iceberg

"Travel More, See More" is a campaign by TUI, leisure travel company, to promote visiting Egypt and other countries. The campaign is saying that there are more things to do in Egypt than just seeing the pyramids. Other posters for Australia and Germany are almost identical but show instead The Sydney Opera House and the Cologne Cathedral. In my opinion, the concept is fine but the execution is too subtle (I couldn't even read the slogan). 

Why did S&P place 3 Egyptian banks on watch negative?

The three banks are: National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr (BM) and Commercial international Bank (CIB). 

Source: Reuters (full report here) 

Image: AFP

Egyptians Like Their Pot

An interesting chart depicting countries with the highest rates of cannabis (pot) consumption. Canada, America, Australia, Spain and Italy like to get high while in the Arab world, Egypt is proudly bungoland :)

Music I Listen to While Blogging: Cat Power

Cat Power will release Sun, her first album since 2006, on September 4. The first single is called Ruin. We are liking but not loving it. 

Cartoon of the Day: Have a Seat, Please!

From: The New York Times.

Syria: When Rebels Sing

A video of a Syrian rebel fighter talking about what he'll do if Assad's forces attack his city followed by a rendition of a Backstreet Boy's "Show me the meaning of being lonely" while waving his gun!  He is a cute kid with a happy mischievous smile. Favorite part is when the bearded guy enters the room and looks amused by his comrade's singing.


Via: The Dish

"Time has come to create the liberal alternative."

Koert Debeuf, lives in Cairo and represents the EU parliament's Alde group, thinks that it's the "era of politics" where liberal opposition needs to counterbalance SCAF and the MB dominance. Excerpt from Debeuf latest post:

An Orthodox Jew with his Stuffed Giraffe and Dog!

Via Buzz Feed's "27 Bigots Who Were Beaten At Their Own Game". 

Bar in Cairo throws a galabeyya party to celebrate Mursi's win!

Oh yes they did!  The evidence pictures below and more here:

History Lesson of the Day: Al-Afghani Used Twitter

Oh no he didn't! Al-Afghani used the telegraph to organize the Tobacco Protest in the same way social media was used in the Arab Spring. Except from the book From the Ruins of Empire by Pankaj Mishra: