Egypt

British lawmakers conclude four-day visit to Egypt

Ahram Online

The delegation paid a visit to Sharm El-Sheikh in preparation for resuming British flights to the resort town

A file photo of Cairo International Airport (Photo: Ahram Online)

A British parliamentary delegation left Cairo Saturday after a four-day visit where they met with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and other top government officials to discuss Egyptian-British cooperation, Egypt's state news agency MENA said.

The UK House of Commons delegation, headed by MP Gerald Howarth, paid a brief visit to the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh on Thursday to pave the way for the resumption of British flights to the city in the coming period.

The British government was among several foreign governments who suspended flights to Sharm El-Sheikh last year after a Russian passenger jet crashed in central Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224people on board. The crash was claimed by the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State militant group.

A delegation of British aviation experts visited Cairo International Airport earlier this month for security inspections and are expected to issue a report on security procedures.

Egypt’s struggling tourism industry, a critical source of hard currency, was dealt blow by the ban on flights.

via english.ahram.org.eg

Hillary's Forgotten Egypt Catastrophe

Lifezette, by Brendan Kirby 

With President Obama set to pump up Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy credentials Wednesday evening at the Democratic National Convention, look for him to omit references to their twin failures in Libya and Egypt.

The turmoil in Libya has been well-aired, from the ill-fated toppling of strongman Moammar Gadhafi in October 2011 to deaths of four Americans that followed in Benghazi to Clinton’s subsequent efforts to cloud the reasons for that attack.

“It’s quite striking that the administration was silent and showed no support for the protesters against the Iranian regime in its time of trouble in 2009, and two years later, came out in support of the rebels in Egypt.”

But the failure in Egypt earlier that year has garnered less scrutiny in the 2016 election. Caught by surprise by the so-called Arab Spring, the Obama administration gave its blessing for the overthrow of pro-American President Hosni Mubarak, and then supported the radical Muslim Brotherhood that seized power.

Practically overnight, the country transformed from a picture of stability in the turbulent Middle East into a country that oppressed its Christian minority, mismanaged its economy, and questioned its longstanding peace agreement with Israel. The Egyptian military eventually wrested power from the Muslim Brotherhood in a coup.

The fact the U.S. not only allowed — but actually supported — the overthrow of a Western-friendly strongman in a stable, Middle Eastern country sent shivers of fear down the spines of U.S.-aligned Gulf States. In February of this year, key Saudi officials traveled to Moscow to begin thawing relations with Russia — the state less powerful than the U.S. but now seen as more committed to defending its allies and interests. If the U.S. would readily abandon Mubarak, surely the Saudi royals could be next.

But the Obama-Clinton decision in Egypt wasn’t the only thing to terrify American allies in the region. The administration has moved, against the advice of most regional experts, to rebuild relations with Iran — the single greatest enemy of both Israel and Saudi Arabia in the region. The Obama administration first declined to support pro-democracy protests in the repressive nation in 2009 — then rammed through the Clinton-backed Iranian nuclear deal.

“It’s quite striking that the administration was silent and showed no support for the protesters against the Iranian regime in its time of trouble in 2009, and two years later, came out in support of the rebels in Egypt,” said Daniel Pipes, president of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum.

Pipes depicted Clinton as a “cypher,” who was an ineffective secretary of state during the Arab Spring crisis.

“She really didn’t have much impact on anything,” he said. “It was very much a White House decision, White House operation.”

It is a narrative that Clinton, herself, has at times encouraged. In her book, "Hard Choices," she wrote that Obama overruled her efforts to push Mubarak to cede power to a successor. She wrote that she did not want to be seen as pushing out Mubarak without a clear plan for the future. She wrote that she, along with Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, battled younger White House aides who were "swept up in the drama and idealism of the moment."

Critics of the Democratic nominee for president argue that is self-serving revisionism. Sebastian Gorka, the Major General Matthew C. Horner Distinguished Chair of Military Theory at the Marine Corps University, wrote in an emailed response to questions from LifeZette that turmoil in Egypt complicated other U.S. goals in the region.

"Egypt is the key to stabilizing the region and defeating ISIS," he wrote. "Clinton was head of U.S. foreign policy when the administration decided to side with [Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed] Morsi and then cold-shouldered [current President Abdel el-] Sisi after he saved Egypt from the Brotherhood. She is culpable."

Kyle Shideler, director of threat assessment for the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, said Clinton displayed the same questionable judgment in advocating that the United States join the Libyan civil war on the side of anti-government forces that were "at best Islamist and at worst al-Qaida." Many experts conclude that Libya has become a failed state.

"It's quite clear that Clinton fully supported the intervention that was incredibly destabilizing," he said.

As for Egypt, Shideler said, Obama foreshadowed U.S. policy early in his presidency.

"It seems fairly clear since early 2009 that Obama already was encouraging the Islamist democracy movement in the Middle East," he said.

Shideler contrasted Obama's support for Mubarak's critics during the uprising against him with his failure to back the much larger protest movement against Morsi after he had taken power.

"The administration was sort of pulling the rug out from under Mubarak by saying it was time to go and he was not going to be able to stay in power," he said.

Homeland Security official says agency 'deliberately' removed reference to terror threats
Pipes, of the Middle East Forum, said there was a genuine democratic movement against Mubarak early on during the uprising.

"It was real," he said. "The problem was that it didn't last in the sense that the Islamists who initially were reluctant quickly saw that it was gaining steam and decided it was something they wanted to take over. And they did."

Pipes said the administration was far too slow to appreciate the danger posed by the Muslim Brotherhood. He pointed to National Intelligence Director James Clapper's 2011 comment that the Muslim Brotherhood was "largely secular," a description he later backed off of.

"It was not obvious that the Islamists were taking over," Pipes said. "That can be forgiven. A lot of people made mistakes. What's less forgivable is that they just didn't understand the ideological nature of the Muslim Brotherhood."

 

via www.lifezette.com

A climate of fear

Al-Ahram Weekly. Read on here. 

The suppression of last week’s coup in Turkey will lead to a multitude of losers and only a single winner, writes Azza Sedky

A dear friend, hours into the Turkish coup d’état, asked “how many articles are being written right now on Turkey entitled the ‘Egyptian Model’?” My friend needn’t have worried. Invoking a comparison between the “Egyptian Model” and what happened in Turkey recently doesn’t add up since the similarities do not exist.

I usually don’t meddle in other countries’ affairs, but since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself made the comparison on, what else, the TV channel Al-Jazeera, I have the green light to meddle too.

Erdoğan referred to the Egyptian president as a “coup plotter,” just like those who attempted the coup in Turkey. “He overthrew the president elected by the people with the use of weapons while he was still the minister of defence. Can we respect this behaviour,” Erdoğan asked. All this cuts short the Turkish president’s lame efforts of the previous few weeks to improve relations with Egypt and confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt his blind, irrevocable bias.

Comparisons set aside, it is necessary to look at the picture in Turkey today. Some questions remain unanswered, such as whether the coup was staged, or simulated, or if the Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, living in the US since 1999 and a former ally of Erdoğan, had a hand in it.

Other queries may be easier to resolve. How far will Erdoğan go to purge the country of all opposing factions to secure his grip on power? More importantly, who will lose and who will gain from what happens in Turkey today?  And what kind of effect will the coup ultimately have on Turkey and the Middle East?

A few hours after the coup, Erdoğan regained power and the purges began. According to Erdoğan, again on Al-jazeera, some 9,000 people are being kept in pre-trial detention, and 1,033 have been arrested. So hastily did the retaliatory measures take place, that it as if the list of opposition figures was prepared prior to the coup.

Hours into the coup, the police literally cornered army officers and conscripts, humiliating some and killing others. Army and police generals were arrested. All in all, some 8,000 police officers were fired and 6,000 soldiers were arrested.

The retribution seemed indiscriminate, though there must have been a systematic pattern to the madness. Not only did the widespread clampdown hit the security apparatus, but also civil servants and professionals, the cream of Turkish society. Erdoğan suspended 6,000 judges, revoked the licences of 21,000 teachers, and discharged 492 personnel from the religious affairs sector in Turkey, including imams and muftis.

Hundreds of employees in public broadcasting were, and still are, being investigated. And as the world gasped in bewilderment, every university dean in the country was asked to resign. All in all, 59,000 and counting professionals were given their pink slips.

A three-month state of emergency went into effect. Calls for the restoration of the death penalty echoed on the streets of Ankara and Istanbul. Turkey today is looking into allowing its citizens, the loyal ones, to carry weapons to protect themselves.

In the short term, the winner in all this is definitely Erdoğan himself. Even if he may not have staged the coup, he will exploit it to the full. In an unprecedented show of unity, Turks went out onto the streets to support Erdoğan against the attempted coup, leaving him basking in glory for having suppressed it and free to initiate change.

The presidential system that Erdoğan has been calling for in Turkey for some time to replace the country’s current parliamentary system will now likely pass without a hint of disgruntlement.

The coup first and the support second will also allow Erdoğan to crush all opposing factions in the country, such as the Gulen Movement, secularists, intellectuals and liberals. Turkey has become Erdoğan’s oyster.

The losers are many, however. The most troubling loser is the Turkish security apparatus and its remaining generals. The Turkish army and army intelligence were struck a harsh blow and humiliated to an unprecedented degree, leaving its top overseers humbled. Taking this mortification sitting down may not be at all to the taste of the army officers. It remains to be seen how the army and the police will react.

The second loser is secularism. Erdogan’s Islamist predisposition regained much power as the coup failed. Those thrashing the victimised conscripts and army officers on the streets of Ankara and Istanbul were unquestionably Islamists, and those calling for the resurrection of the death penalty were also Islamists. They have now been given carte blanche to intensify their raids on liberal thinkers. Secularists and liberals will now be closely monitored if not pursued.

via weekly.ahram.org.eg

Egypt’s economy has seen better days – and worse

The National, by Patrick Werr

The Egyptian economy, bad as it may seem now, has seen much, much worse.

In one of my first round-ups on the Egyptian economy, soon after Reuters transferred me to Cairo in 1990, I quoted the Egyptian head of a joint venture bank as saying:

"We’ve been hearing for 20 years that Egypt had reached the end of its rope, but something always came along to save it. This time I can’t see anything coming along."

It was true: the economy at the time was a complete disaster. As of July 1990, Egypt had US$50 billion in foreign debt, its budget deficit was more than 8 per cent of GDP and banks were refusing to lend the government more funds. Plus, Egypt faced a cut-off of aid from its main backers, the United States and France.

Under a 1975 amendment to the US Foreign Assistance Act, countries more than a year in arrears on military and economic loans would lose all further American aid, except for food assistance. Egypt had missed a $140 million debt repayment to America in September 1989, and aid was due to be cut off in two months.

Egypt was also behind in debt repayments of up to $200m a year to France, its second-biggest creditor, which also threatened to cut off aid.

The president Hosni Mubarak was forced to fly to the Arabian Gulf every few months to ask for help to import wheat. Just a month earlier, he had persuaded Saudi Arabia to donate another 200,000 tonnes so Egypt could keep its subsidised bread programme afloat. At the time, $1 fetched 2.92 Egyptian pounds at the official rate and 3.10 pounds on the black market, a gap of about 10 per cent.

But then something did come along, almost miraculously, to save the economy.

The Egyptian banker’s quote was published on July 17, 1990. Sixteen days later, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Cairo agreed to send troops to help liberate the invaded country, and the US quickly cancelled $7bn in military debts and Arabian Gulf states cancelled another $6.5bn in debts.

The Paris Club of creditor nations agreed to reduce the remaining $36bn still owed by about half over three years, provided that Egypt reach an agreement with the IMF to straighten out its finances, and on January 28, 1991, Egypt committed itself to the classical IMF remedy of privatisation, liberalising trade and freeing up currency and interest rates. It also implemented a sales tax. For the next seven years or so the economy boomed.

It has been a quarter-century since that crisis, and once again Egypt is on the brink of financial disaster. Will another white knight come along to rescue it?

The economy is now in one heck of a mess. The country’s main foreign exchange earners continued to collapse in the first quarter of this year, or barely hold their own, according to the balance of central bank payments data released this month.

Tourism revenue plunged to $550m from $1.4bn a year earlier, petroleum exports fell to $1.1bn from $1.5bn, and remittances from workers abroad slipped to $4.2bn from $4.8bn. Suez Canal revenue, non-petroleum exports and foreign direct investment all edged up, but not by much. In the meantime the country is importing about $1bn in natural gas a month to keep the lights on.

The domestic economy is not doing well either. According to the purchasing managers’ index, private business activity has contracted in every single one of the past nine months. The budget deficit in the year that ended on June 30 was 11.5 per cent of GDP, one of the highest among the world’s larger economies.

The government has been relying on Gulf aid, borrowing from banks and pure monetary creation to finance the deficit, but these options seem to have run their course.

The economy is on the brink of disaster, but as in 1990, it has come along with a credible solution. The cabinet on Tuesday evening revealed that the white knight will be none other than the IMF.

Under an agreement the government is finalising, Egypt will receive $7bn a year over three years, with an annual $4bn coming from the IMF and another $2bn to $3bn from the World Bank and international bond issuers. A preliminary IMF agreement could be signed within weeks, according to press reports.

The agreement will involve an economic restructuring package that will include reducing energy subsidies, a value-added tax, limits to civil servants’ pay and the complete or partial privatisation of state-owned banks and holding companies. And eventually it will almost certainly entail a substantial devaluation or even flotation of the Egyptian pound.

If this comes to pass, it will be the best economic news the country has had in years. Perhaps even a quarter of a century.

Patrick Werr has worked as a financial writer in Egypt for 26 years.

 

via www.thenational.ae

To purge or not to purge

When the Muslim Brotherhood leadership was overthrown in Egypt, no one envisaged the wrath that followed. Egyptians, euphoric, believed that Egypt returned to them and that things couldn’t be rosier.

No one perceived the hatred and terrorism that would come about soon afterwards. You see, earlier Egyptians had lived through two revolutions where a king and a president were overthrown. Both King Farouk’s and President Mubarak’s stepping down were peaceful, honourable, and dignified, but what followed in Ex-President Morsi’s case was a cold-blooded assault on Egypt. As far as the Muslim Brotherhood members were concerned, “If we can’t rule Egypt, we will cause its demise.”

Today, every possible way to destroy Egypt is being utilized. First, the raw ugly face of terrorism hovers over Egypt, be it in Sinai or elsewhere. Yes, we may not be able to confirm the Muslim Brotherhood’s hand in such manifestations, but an allegiance of some sort, even if it is a ideological one binds such groups together. And allegiance to the Islamist cause is what renders Sinai a hot spot.

Not only are Egyptian men dying in Sinai, but also other menacing displays of hatred occur anywhere accessible and everywhere reachable. And you know what, just about every hurdle Egypt is suffering from today is directly related to the rancour and malice in these unconsolable souls called the Muslim Brotherhood members.

Muslim Brotherhood members live amongst us handling decisive decisions, manipulating businesses, and “illuminating” our children. Their allegiance to the MB never sways, and they will do anything to have them in power again.

The infiltration of the Ministry of Electricity led to power shortages and destruction of power lines and towers. Egyptians were fuming then as their children studied in pitch-black, 40-degree nights. Had the government not intervened to break the destructive cycle to power outages, Egyptians would’ve gone to the streets, yet again, unaware of the premeditated malice.

Terrorism in Sinai, the bombing of the Russian plane over Sinai, the EgyptAir plane that ended in the Mediterranean, and the murder of Giulio Regeni are all ploys to finish off whatever remains of Egyptian tourism. End result, Egypt has a currency shortage; most Red Sea resorts are deserted, and those in the industry are going bankrupt; the manpower, idle; the liquidity, unavailable.

Another clear and visible danger is the catapulting dollar. In a matter of three years the dollar has jumped to almost double what it stood for in 2013. The dollar bounced a whole pound in the last day or so. The aim is clear: destroy the economy, throw the country into disarray, build a momentum of dissatisfaction, and open the door for another round of leaders.

However, as far as the dollar is concerned, it can’t keep going up since the buyers are paying upfront a price that doesn’t seem logical. Yes, the Egyptian currency is losing ground, but the hike in the black market is costly. Or will they never run out of money?

The picture is clear: Egypt is facing a war it has never faced before, a war waged against its very existence.

One option to all this comes to mind: Eradicate opponents as Erdoğan eradicated his. Erdoğan retaliated against his enemies with an iron fist, an indiscriminate crackdown on any trace of dissent. Just about every single institution across Turkey was given a hard blow. Schools and universities, media, the judiciary, the security apparatus, charities, civil servants, airline employees, and more—a purging act like no other.

Turkey and Erdoğan will suffer, no doubt about it, in the long run. Erdogan caused a tidal wave, its results are catastrophic, and those whose lives got sharply derailed will retaliate.

Some say we should’ve gone that route.

The current regime in Egypt, in an act like Erdoğan’s, could’ve quickly gotten rid of the Muslim Brotherhood, those imprisoned and those on the loose and incognito. The strategy could’ve been the faster we go after them the better. Bear in mind many Egyptians are calling for this furious annihilation of the enemies.

Egypt is wise enough not to have gone that route. Yes, we are suffering, and, yes, our men are dying in Sinai, and our economy is on the brink of failure; however, when we split the country into followers and adversaries, of Muslim Brotherhood members and Egyptians, we end up dividing the country, something Morsi did, Donald Trump is planning on doing, and Erdoğan will pay dearly for in the long run, and something we in Egypt need to avoid. Besides the Muslim Brotherhood have proved to be by far more vindictive than any other group, in Turkey or elsewhere.

Let Erdoğan handle his country the way he wishes, and let Egypt handle its own challenges the way it sees fit.

 

Make America Hate Again

The New York Times, by Timothy Egan

Damon Winter/The New York Times

They didn’t riot in the streets of Cleveland, as Donald Trump said his supporters would do had things not gone his way. But you saw the raw essence of a riot, the madness and loss of reason, on display in four days of chaos at the Republican National Convention.

For a campaign now devoted to “law and order,” the launch was mob rule: in spirit, in tone, in words. Long after we’ve forgotten Trump’s closing speech — that paean to self, that nightmare portrait of an America where the lights have gone out — we will remember the savagery just below the surface.

Starting on night one, when Republicans chose to manipulate the grief-deranged mother of a terrorist victim, the build-up to the hanging of Hillary Clinton was never subtle. Imagine if one party had exploited a widow of one of the 241 service members killed in the 1983 suicide bombing of Americans in Beirut — the deadliest single attack on marines since World War II — as a stick against Ronald Reagan, whose administrative negligence was much to blame.

You can’t imagine. Because nothing about this Republican Party, whose leader now stands ready to repudiate nearly 70 years of security for our European allies under an “America First” banner, even remotely resembles the Grand Old Party of before. You could not find a City on a Hill, a single Point of Light, no Morning in America. Only doom, dystopia, dread, darkness — and a bumper-sticker solution to restoring greatness.

The man who couldn’t manage his own convention, the creator of a “university” built on fraud, bet his shot at the top job in the world on a panicked public and collective amnesia of his serial misdeeds. “I will restore law and order to our country, believe me, believe me,” he said.

And the instigator of four corporate bankruptcies, the man who stiffed plumbers and carpenters, the failed casino owner, promised to use his dark arts to “make our country rich again.”

One of the main speeches, that of Melania Trump, was stolen in part from the wife of a president that Donald Trump has long tried to delegitimize. That and the speech of Ivanka Trump, which would have fit perfectly at a Democratic convention, were the only hints of hope.

Continue reading here. 

via www.nytimes.com

To spend or not to spend: Jumpstarting an ailing economy

As it appeared in Ahram Online, by Azza Radwan Sedky

Choosing between spending and not spending to boost an ailing economy is not easy. Egypt has
opted for spending, accruing accumulated debts that the coming generations will have to pay

For hundreds of years, and up to the early years of this millennium, the phrase “he’s a millionaire” implied “he” happens to be a very wealthy person; “he’s made of money,” so to speak. Today, the phrase no longer reflects the same level of affluence.

Many can be considered millionaires in today’s Egypt. If you own an apartment that you wish to sell, one you bought for EGP 10,000 in the 1970s, you would most likely sell it for EGP 1 million today. If you own a handful of agricultural feddans, you are also a millionaire. If you are renting an apartment in a two-storey building, you might vacate it for a million or two so that the landlord can build a skyscraper.

Today, one million is a mere drop in the bucket in the large scheme of matters.

The same goes for countries. Projects in the millions used to be grand ones. We gasped if a project was worth EGP 100,000 million. Chances are now that we may not give such projects the time of day. Only billion-pound projects are worth noticing. And in Egypt, many a hefty sum is being spent on pricey, ambitious projects.

The reclamation of 1.5 million feddans in the Western Desert, including the Farafra Project at a cost of EGP 6 billion is dwarfed next to the Suez Canal Corridor Project, which is estimated to cost EGP 150 billion. Housing projects will cost approximately EGP 40 billion.

Add to all this the new highway system currently being constructed, the development of Sinai, and the energy projects, be it wind, gas or nuclear power. These are only a few of the many projects. In the meantime, the debt accrued to complete such projects swells, the interest snowballing.

In addition to these mega projects, the upkeep for a population of 90 million is horrendous, though the necessary improvements timely and dire; raising the minimum wage, providing pensions for those in need and a yearly 10 percent increase to all pensions, maintaining the salaries of seven million government workers and subsidising power and bread. That is in addition to buying Rafale fighter jets and Mistral warships and building a new capital.

The cost of implementing these projects and acting on the pressing improvements are pretty staggering.

Two schools of thought exist as far as whether countries should spend, or better yet, whether they should borrow. One school recommends conserving and not borrowing. Germany and Britain have cost-cutting stances. Defence budgets in Britain are at a record low. Britain’s Chancellor George Osborne, about to deliver the 2016 budget, warns of further spending cuts with the thought that Britain must live within its means.

As for Germany, and according to an article in Bloomberg, there is no such thing as guilt-free borrowing, and Merkel confirms this strategy, remaining reluctant to borrow.

That is in addition to crisis-stricken countries, such as Ireland, Greece and Spain, which are taking challenging steps to reduce their deficits and debt liabilities by resorting to sharp austerity measures.

The second school is in favour of spending. Canada is investing in growth by accruing debt, as detailed in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election platform.

Canada’s 2016 budget set $120 billion for the development of new and existing infrastructure over 10 years. Today, with the Canadian dollar and oil prices taking a nose dive, the Canadian government is going deeper into debt than originally anticipated.

Japan and the US are for the latter approach as well, with debts in the trillions. In fact, figures tell us that many a country is over its head in debt. Japan is in debt at 226 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP); Greece at 175 percent; Italy at 133 percent; Portugal at 128 percent; and Lebanon at 120 percent.

Egypt’s debt was at 92 percent of its GDP before its external debt increased to $53.4 billion in the first quarter of 2016 from $47.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, bringing the debt closer to 100 percent.

Egypt’s domestic debt is over EGP 2 trillion as the government relies on domestic borrowing to plug deficits.

So, which is the way to go? Should a country spend or refrain from doing so to boost a sagging economy? It is indeed a dilemma.

In Egypt’s case, sources of hard currency have dwindled in the last five years, be it declining tourism or transfers from abroad. Egypt could have waited for improvements to occur gradually, assistance and grants to arrive sporadically, developments to happen on their own; better yet, wait for God’s generous hand to bestow change. None of these options can pull Egypt out of its troubles fast enough.

In the 1940s, Prime Minister Ismael Sedky Pasha opted to demolish the seawall along the corniche in Alexandria only to rebuild it for the sole purpose of providing work and reviving the shaky economy.

We would not be going down the wrong route if we follow Sedky Pasha’s example, though we would not go as far as demolishing worthwhile infrastructure, much of which needs overhauling and renovating.

Spending, even if unpopular, creates work, revives economies and improves the livelihood of the poverty-stricken. The key is productivity, and without productivity, which leads to growth, economies will remain sluggish.

In Egypt we chose to go with spending while accruing debt to revive the economy and get Egyptians back to work. However, this debt should remain our focus and in front of our eyes. It is not free money, and the day will come when we will have to repay it.

We must remain alert to the ramification of borrowing and avoid spending haphazardly on futile projects or on subsidies. We must spend only on worthwhile projects, ones which will bring development and growth. We must utilise loans to the best of our ability.

I suggest a debt metre similar to the population growth metre atop the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics building in Cairo to keep us focused. Maybe such a metre would maintain awareness and vigilance.

We need to remember that it is our children and grandchildren who will be paying for our spending.

The writer is author of Cairo Rewind: The First Two Years of Egypt's Revolution.

via english.ahram.org.eg

Grand Hotel, in a class of its own

Two weeks into Ramadan, 2016, I headed to Europe for a two-week trip. My fundamental angst to an otherwise anticipated and looked-forward-to trip was my having to miss out on the last two weeks of Grand Hotel, which had attracted my attention from day one. I drew a sigh of relief when someone told me that indeed there are sites where I can watch the episodes. However, sporadic Wifi access destroyed that hope, leaving me staring at a still screen half the time. Anyway returning home on Eid’s Eve, I binge watched for a night in anticipation of the grand finale on day 30th. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Once the series ended, I felt as though I was missing something. In fact, I did go back and watched the finale a second time. So, what made Grand Hotel such a special series?

Grand Hotel exemplifies the effort and dedication of an amazing group of players: a well-chosen cast, a zealous director, a producer willing to go the extra mile, and many more. I won’t list them by name so I don’t miss anyone, but it was a compilation that deserves our notice and recognition.

The series is adapted from a Spanish one, under the same name, Grand Hotel. Watching a few dubbed episodes, I can see why it created a frenzy in Spain and elsewhere, and was attractive enough for an Egyptian adaptation. The love affair between Julio and Alicia, the core of the series, is consummated. Hot passionate scenes where the heroes exchange burning feverish kisses punctuate the story line. The setting, a grand vintage hotel, and the enchanting extravagance and lush of the early 1900 are also enticing. 

The basic storyline to the Egyptian Grand Hotel is very similar to the original story. A love affair, this time a Platonic one, grounds the many other sideline stories that revolve around inherent greed for wealth and power. The fact that Nazli and Fouad, aka Ali, remain in love but never succumb to their desires is rather appealing and very Egyptian since the hot scenes wouldn’t have converted well to an Egyptian setting and infringed on the pure romanticism bestowed upon us. In fact, once Nazli marries, they suppress their love and treat one another as brother and sister leaving their affair unblemished.

The Old Cataract was the perfect setting; the terrace opening on the Nile has a jaw-dropping view put to use in many scenes. It never failed to leave me struck by its beauty. Though the grounds around the hotel did not rise to the level of the Spanish grounds, which were green, lush, and tranquil, the Nile backdrop presented a different but similarly tranquil alternative.

The period was depicted carefully and beautifully: faithful-to-the-era costumes with white gloves, dainty hats, and cigarette holders; and grand furniture, emblemed menus, rotary phones, revolving doors, and old fashioned convertibles. I wish we had seen more Egyptian waiters, suffragi, with the Egyptian galabiya, the fez, and the bright cummerbund. The black suit uniform of all the waiters and staff left the story line more European akin to the original story, but I do understand that having Ali wear a galabiya may not have served him well in his romantic endeavours.

The hotel atmosphere is also another salient element. The hustle and bustle, the waiters in constant motion, the comings and goings of extras leave one immersed in the atmosphere.

The upstairs and downstairs ambience was closely intertwined. Regulatory functions of the downstairs, such as serving and cleaning, are juxtaposed against more sinful and criminal bearings: a taken-off but well-displayed uniform on a lavish armchair hints unfaithfulness, a wet nurse, aka mother, shuttles between feeding an upstairs twin and a downstairs one, and Mourad on a train ride to Cairo has Ward, a few seats behind, in absolute glee. And by the end of the series, many a downstairs member ends up upstairs satisfying the viewers love of equal footing and chances.

We must credit the Spanish origin with a great storyline. If you miss an episode, you miss much, for every episode has its swerves and twists. Characters develop as the story progresses. Nazli grows from a beautiful but uncomplicated person to one who effects change and can cause an upheaval. Amin, presented as rather naive and simple, carries his wife and assumed child on his shoulder and leaves them on the doorstep of the lover, then quickly becomes the rightful hotel owner ready to do his share of work. Amal, who was portrayed as an obnoxious and senseless drama queen, faces distress and sorrow only to become a loving wife and daughter in law. And as viewers we are flabbergasted once we realize that Ward was betraying Amin all along despite Amin’s sincere infatuation. The stories are weaved brilliantly together leaving the viewers mesmerized and captivated.

As for the ending, though I had my grim doubts, it did exactly what the Egyptian viewer wants by rewarding virtue and love and punishing vice and hatred.

All this makes Grand Hotel a very distinct series; no other series resembles it, and this is why Egyptians and Arabs remained glued to their tv sets all along Ramadan to watch it, and made the old Cataract, and Aswan, a destination for many seekers this fall and winter.

It also tells us that, yes, some production efforts elevate their viewers versus bring them down. Some productions can present a thriller similar to an Agatha Christie novel without focusing on snapped necks and blood-dripping knives. They can captivate an audience without high-pitched bellowing screams and over reactionary high-browed, scowling looks. That reality may be needed but often profoundly exaggerated, and that every now and then viewers want to see elegance, sophistication, and grace.

And this is what Grand Hotel gave them and that is why it succeeded. I recommend you watch it if you haven't just yet. 

 

Erdoğan unable to make good judgment on Egypt revolution: Foreign Ministry -

My take: no comparison whatsoever. Daily News Egypt.

Egypt spread messages of rejoicing Turkish coup, raised criticism to president in response to Erdoğan’s campaign against Al-Sisi

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zaid said Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insulted the Egyptian leadership while speaking to Al Jazeera.

“Once more, the Turkish president insulted the Egyptian leadership, which shows poor assessment on behalf of president Erdoğan, who is in a confusing situation, given the tough circumstances he is facing,” Abou Zaid commented in a Thursday statement.

According to Abou Zaid, the Turkish president failed to differentiate between the recent military coup against him, and what happened in Egypt on 30 June 2013, “which was a complete revolution in which more than 30 million Egyptians took the streets demanding the support of the army”.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera aired on Wednesday, Erdoğan referred to the Egyptian president as a “military coup man”, much like those who attempted the coup in Turkey. “He overthrew the president elected by the people with the use of weapons while he was still the Minister of Defence,” Erdogan stated.

“Can we respect this act? This is in addition to him killing thousands of people. This man has nothing to do with democracy,” he continued.

Egypt and Turkey have had tense ties since the military-backed ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, which brought President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to power. Morsi was considered an important ally to Erdoğan. Since his ouster, both countries have exchanged accusations and cut diplomatic ties.

Ever since the attempted military coup in Turkey, the Egyptian government and media rejoiced, launching a campaign criticising the policies of Erdoğan. The popularity of the Egyptian army was highlighted, as well as its strong ties with Egypt’s citizens, while Turkey’s demonstrations against its military and the coup leaders were emphasised.

Despite the failure of Turkey’s coup attempt, headlines of the Egyptian press the next morning asserted that the coup had succeeded and that Erdoğan was ousted. Moreover, Egyptian talk show hosts criticised Turkey’s crackdown on democracy and freedoms.

On Sunday, Egypt has debunked reported claims that it hindered a United Nations Security Council report that condemned the coup attempt in Turkey, claiming that Egypt had only suggested an amendment to the report.

via www.dailynewsegypt.com

Warnings that post-coup Turkey is ‘backsliding’ on rights

Rudaw

Thousands have been arrested in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt. Photo: Tolga Adanali/AP

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Critics fear for the future of Turkey as the crackdown on accused putschists widens and looks increasingly undemocratic. 

“Human rights in Turkey are in peril,” after the failed coup attempt, Amnesty International said in a statement issued on Monday. 

“A backslide on human rights is the last thing Turkey needs,” said Amnesty’s Director for Europe and Central Asia, John Dalhuisen. “It is more important than ever for the Turkish government to respect human rights and the rule of law in ways the coup plotters did not.”

In the immediate wake of the failed coup, Turkey began purging its armed forces, and then its judiciary bodies, and as the days unfolded, the crackdown has widened to cover much of civil society, targeting alleged supporters of Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara claims orchestrated the attempted coup. 

Some 9,000 people have been fired, including police and government officials. Another 7,500 have been detained, including top generals who are accused of being behind the failed coup. 

The Education Ministry demanded the resignation of 1,577 university deans and suspended 15,200 state education employees, announced a ministry official on Tuesday. The interior ministry fired 8,777 people. And another 257 working in the prime minister’s office and 492 from the religious affairs office were dismissed.

“The sheer number of arrests and suspensions since Friday is alarming and we are monitoring the situation very closely. The coup attempt unleashed appalling violence and those responsible for unlawful killings and other human rights abuses must be brought to justice,” said Dalhuisen, “but cracking down on dissent and threatening to bring back the death penalty are not justice.”

The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, echoed the caution. “In the aftermath of such a traumatic experience, it is particularly crucial to ensure that human rights are not squandered in the name of security and in the rush to punish those perceived to be responsible,” he said on Tuesday. 

The media have also been targeted. The prime minister’s office requested the High Council for Telecommunications to block over a dozen news websites on the charge of “endangering national security or public order.”

The move was condemned by media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. “The government’s response to the abortive coup must stay within the limits of the Turkish constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.”

Despite the criticism, Ankara remains determined to respond to the attempted coup with a strong hand while claiming to be acting within the rules of law. 

“We need to give the necessary answer to the provocateurs immediately,” said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday. “A wrongdoing cannot be fixed with another wrongdoing. Things will be put back on track by staying in the framework of the law. Getting revenge in a state of law is unacceptable. From now on, legal action will be taken in the harshest way against the ones acting illegally while on duty.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said several times that he is open to reinstating the death penalty in order to deal with the coup plotters.  

“Leaders will have to get together and discuss it and if they accept to discuss it then I as president will approve any decision that comes out of the parliament,” Erdogan said in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson, adding the “Turkish people have made it clear they want death for the terrorists who plotted the coup.”

“The people now have the idea, after so many terrorist incidents, that these terrorists should be killed. That’s where they are, they don’t see any other outcome to it,” he said.

Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 as a condition for membership in the European Union. Reinstating it . would end Turkey’s chances of joining the EU.

Warning about Turkey’s “dire” democratic situation, Figen Yüksekdağ, co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said, “Experiencing this kind of coup situation in Turkey cannot be evaluated by looking at its outcomes. If we want to get into a forcefully and rooted faceoff with coups and coupism, we should faceoff with the conditions that created the coup. As the HDP we use this will to do what is undone.”

“A junta mechanism, a military coup mechanism has grown itself within a civil political coup mechanism,” said Yüksekdağ, speaking at a HDP parliamentary meeting. “Tearing down the coup does not mean that democracy won. In this country, there had been four coups but never could a democracy have been constructed.”

At the same time, Erdogan is perhaps stoking tensions by announcing he is still committed to redeveloping Gezi Park. "God willing, first we will build historically appropriate barracks at Taksim, whether they like it or not," he told a group of supporters outside of his home in Istanbul.

Last month he re-raised the idea of a construction project in the park. When the plan to build over one of the few green spaces in the Taksim neighbourhood of Istanbul was first floated in 2013, a small sit-in led by environmental activists quickly grew into mass protests against the government of then Prime Minister Erdogan as well as police brutality and violations of democratic rights.

via rudaw.net