أيام طوال اصطف الآلاف لإلقاء نظرة أخيرة على النعش الذى يحمل جثمان ملكتهم المحبوبة إليزابيث، فى كثير من الأحيان، كان الانتظار يصل إلى ٢٤ ساعة. ثم فى جنازة رسمية وشعبية بحضور مئات من كبار الشخصيات ورؤساء الدول، ودّعت بريطانيا الملكة لتوارى الثرى بينما توقفت لندن عن الحركة تماما
بينما تفانى الملايين فى تكريم الملكة الراحلة وتعديد أعمالها المجيدة، آخرون وجدوا صعوبة فى الرد بالمثل. البعض حمّل الملكة، كرئيسة بريطانيا، مسئولية الأعمال الاستعمارية التى حدثت فى عهدها. من المؤسف أن وفاة الملكة قد أشعلت هذه المشاعر العدائية تجاه إرثها والنظام الملكى والاستعمار بشكل عام، فعندما تولت الملكة إليزابيث العرش عام ١٩٥٢ كان أكثر من ربع سكان العالم تحت الحكم البريطاني
أولئك الذين وقعوا ضحية آنذاك يجدون صعوبة فى استبعاد الملكة الراحلة عما عانته بلدانهم.بعد أن تدهورت حالة الملكة، أرسلت أوجو أنيا، الأستاذة المساعدة فى جامعة كارنيجى ميلون فى بيتسبرغ بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، تغريدة إلى متابعيها البالغ عددهم ٨٤٠٠٠ شخصًا، لقد سمعت أن رئيسة إمبراطورية السرقة والاغتصاب والإبادة الجماعية تموت أخيرًا. أتمنى أن يكون ألمها شديدًا. قال بوت رايلى، المخرج والمنتج السينمائى الأمريكى، ماتت أم إرث العائلة المالكة من تجارة الرقيق، والإمبريالية، والاستعمار، والسرقة، ورمز البذخ والتميمة للطبقة الحاكمة
إن موت أى إنسان، ناهيك عن ملكة فى مقام الملكة إليزابيث، ليس وقتًا ولا مكانًا للتعبير عن غضب المرء بمثل هذه الكراهية والدعوة إلى الانتقام. لكن بغض النظر عن وفاة الملكة، يجب أن يكون الاعتراف بجرم الاستعمار مطلبًا مستمرًا ومناقشة حيوية حتى تطوى هذه الفترة من التاريخ. كانت الإمبراطورية البريطانية مثل غيرها من الإمبراطوريات، تحكم بقبضة من حديد
لقد عانت بلاد فى إفريقيا وآسيا والكاريبى وأستراليا والشرق الأوسط من الاستعمار. وهذه عينة مقتضبة من الفظائع... فى كينيا، تم قمع مجموعة متمردة تعرف باسم ماو ماو، من خلال معسكرات الاعتقال والتعذيب والاغتصاب والإخصاء وآلاف المذابح. فى تلك المرحلة، تم اعتقال أكثر من مليون كينى فى شكل من أشكال معسكرات الاعتقال، حيث كان الماو ماو يُعتبَرون مجرمين قتلة. لكن فى ٢٠١٣، اعترفت بريطانيا بتعذيب الماو ماو باعتذار تاريخى وتسوية خارج المحكمة
الهند لديها قصص مرعبة خاصة بها. إحدى هذه القصص حدثت فى مذبحة جالى نوالا باج ١٩١٩، حيث قتلت القوات البريطانية مئات الهنود. وفى ٢٠١٩، اعتذرت رئيسة الوزراء آنذاك تيريزا ماى عن هذا الجرح المُخزى فى تاريخنا
كذلك، تم استنزاف الكنوز والمجوهرات الهندية. يقول شاشى ثارور، وهو سياسى هندى مخضرم إن القيمة الإجمالية لما تم سلبه من الهند أثناء الحرب العالمية الأولى، كان بمثابة ٨ مليارات جنيه إسترلينى بأموال اليوم. يقول ثارور أيضا إنه خلال الحكم البريطانى، مات ما بين ١٥ و٢٩ مليون هندى من الجوع، حيث تعرضوا للقمع والاستعباد والقتل والتعذيب والتشويه لمدة ٢٠٠ عام. هذه إحصاءات مروِّعة
استُهدفت نيجيريا لمواردها وثرواتها. لكن الأهم من ذلك هو الدور الذى لعبته بريطانيا فى الحرب الأهلية فى نيجيريا المعروفة باسم حرب بيافرا، عندما حاولت بيافرا الانفصال عن نيجيريا. لا يزال الكثيرون فى نيجيريا يتذكرون مشاركة بريطانيا فى سحق المقاومة والتسبب فى تجويع الملايين
تم نقل أكثر من مليونى إفريقى مستعبد إلى المستعمرات البريطانية فى منطقة البحر الكاريبي. ذهب البريطانيون والأوروبيون الآخرون، إلى منطقة البحر الكاريبى بحثًا عن الثروة والازدهار. استعبد المزارعون الأثرياء العمال الذين تم جلبهم من إفريقيا لزراعة قصب السكر، وقد كانت سلعة مربحة للغاية. عانى السكان الأصليون فى أنحاء من العالم لأنهم كانوا يُعتبَرون أقل شأنا. نُظِر للسود ومن ذوى البشرة الداكنة وكل من هو ليس أبيض على أنهم أقل مكانة، وأصبح هذا تفويضًا مطلقًا للمستعمرين لمصادرة الأراضى، وإحداث مذابح إبادة جماعية، وعزل السكان الأصليين، ونهب الثروات
كان وضع مصر أفضل قليلاً فى ظل الاحتلال البريطانى، حيث لم تتعرض لمذابح بنفس الحجم، لكنها عانت احتلالا دام ٧٤ سنة انتُهكت فيها المقدرات، وقُيِّدت مصرُ بالأحكام العرفية، والاستغلال، ونفى القادة مثل سعد زغلول، وعقوبات شرسة مثل أحداث دنشواي
يجب على بريطانيا أن تواجه ماضيها الاستعمارى، وأن تكفر عن الإخفاقات التى تسببت فيها. يجب أن يبدأ الحديث ويستمر حتى يتم استيفاء شكل من أشكال الجبر. مرة أخرى، لا ينبغى أن يتضمن هذا الحديث وفاة الملكة إليزابيث
جميع إمبراطوريات العالم تخبر نفسها بأن دورها كان ارشاديًا وليس النهب والسيطرة، والإمبراطورية البريطانية ليست مستثناة من هذا المنطق
Visitors look at the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, August 24, 2022 in London, England.MIKE KEMP/IN PICTURES/GETTY
Cairo — More than 200 years after scientists decoded the Rosetta Stone, campaigners in Egypt have launched a petition calling on the country's leader to submit a formal request for England to return the iconic artifact to its home country. The campaigners argue the Rosetta Stone, along with 16 other artifacts that have been in the U.K. for centuries were removed from Egypt illegally, and it's time to get them back.
There have been many previous requests for the stone's repatriation, but Dr. Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist and member of the team leading the campaign, told CBS News she was confident that the new approach — seeking support from Egyptian, British and any other members of the general public — will succeed.
Dr. Monica Hanna, Acting Dean of the College of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, is one of the organizers of the "Repatriate Rashid" campaign.FACEBOOK/MONICA HANNA
"Previously it was the government alone asking for Egyptian artifacts, but today this is the people demanding their own culture back," Hanna told CBS News on Wednesday. "Definitely all these objects are going to be repatriated, it is just a matter of when."
In July 1799, a year after Napoleon invaded Egypt, the Rosetta Stone was discovered by chance in the Nile Delta city of Rashid. A French military engineer supervising digging at an old fort thought the stone looked special, so he sent it to Cairo for examination.
Washington’s new ambassador to Sudan has said there would be “consequences” for hosting a Russian naval base
Within weeks of his arrival in Sudan, the first US ambassador in 25 years has already threatened Khartoum with “consequences” if it follows through on a deal with Moscow for a Russian naval base on the Red Sea.
“All countries have a sovereign right to decide which other countries to partner with, but these choices have consequences, of course,” Ambassador John Godfrey told the Sudanese daily Al-Tayar on Tuesday.
The government in Khartoum had signed an agreement with Russia in 2017 to establish a naval facility at Port Sudan, on the Red Sea. President Omar al-Bashir has since been overthrown in a coup and imprisoned. Godfrey warned the new government against proceeding with the deal, saying it “will be harmful to Sudan's interest.”
It is “essential to say that international isolation around Russia and President [Vladimir] Putin is currently increasing due to the... invasion of Ukraine,” Godfrey told the outlet, according to Middle East Eye. He also told Al-Tayar that he wanted to see a civilian government in charge of Sudan.
Godfrey is the first US ambassador to Sudan since 1996, when Washington shuttered the embassy in Khartoum. Though it reopened in 2002, it was run by a series of interim chargés d'affaires for 20 years, until Godfrey presented his credentials on September 1.
Under the deal, Russia would build a base capable of hosting nuclear-powered vessels and lease the site for 25 years, with automatic 10-year extensions unless one of the parties objected. Port Sudan handles about 90% of the country’s maritime trade and a presence there would let Russia keep an eye on the nearby Bab el-Mandeb strait.
Moscow moved to reactivate the agreement in November 2020, but the Sudanese government sought to negotiate in July 2021, reportedly after the US offered it a “multimillion-dollar aid package.”
Letting Moscow set up a Red Sea base would “lead to further isolation of Sudan at a time when most Sudanese want to become closer to the international community,” Godfrey told the newspaper, using the euphemism for the US and its allies.
Prior to his confirmation, Godfrey was the acting State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, and was previously posted to Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria and Iraq.
Al Ahram Weekly by Ahmed Kotb , Thursday 29 Sep 2022
Reusing water in Egypt and the rest of the MENA region is key to increasing water availability.
Reusing water urgently needed
Comprising 11 of the 17 most water-stressed countries in the world, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is considered the most water-scarce region in the world, according to UNICEF.
“Population growth, economic development efforts, and climate change are the main reasons behind Egypt’s water scarcity,” said Javier Mateo-Sagasta, senior researcher, coordinator of water quality and project leader at ReWater MENA.
The ReWater MENA project, founded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and led by the International Water Management Association, has been working since 2018 on expanding the safe reuse of water in MENA, with a focus on Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as promoting safe reuse practices that improve food safety, health, and livelihoods.
Egypt has battled an annual water deficit of approximately seven billion cubic metres over the past few years, and by 2025, UNICEF reported, the country may potentially “run out of water”.
Population growth in Egypt is a major challenge to water resources and the per capita water availability has dropped significantly during the last few decades, Mateo-Sagasta added.
Egypt’s population keeps growing and puts more pressure on water resources, and with economic development and population growth, demand on water increases while water resources availability decreases, he noted.
The population of Egypt in 1970 was estimated at 34.5 million, but grew to 102 million in 2020.
Per capita annual renewable fresh water was 1,593 cubic metres (m3) in 1970, Mateo-Sagasta pointed out, adding that it dropped to 804 m3 in 2000, and 584 m3 in 2020.
A country is considered water stressed when the annual water availability per capita drops below 1,000 m3.
There is not enough water to meet growing demand in many parts of the world, especially in the MENA region, Mateo-Sagasta told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that one promising solution is reusing water.
As of 2020, he said, total municipal wastewater generated in Egypt amounted to 7.2 billion cubic metres (BCM).
By the same year, Mateo-Sagasta stated, 77 plants out of more than 500 municipal wastewater treatment plants reused their effluents directly for productive purposes, less than five per cent of the total wastewater generated.
Almost 60 per cent of generated wastewater is reused indirectly, after discharge and dilution in water bodies, he explained, adding that around 35 per cent of generated wastewater is lost when it is discharged into the environment and evaporates on land or along rivers or is lost in the sea.
This is a wasted opportunity because the region can’t afford wasting any drop of water without a productive use, he stressed.
“We are wasting here not only water but also resources embedded in the water, including nutrients like phosphorous and organic carbon that if recovered can be used for energy production in the form of bio-gas and methane to generate electricity for households,” Mateo-Sagasta explained.
In 19 countries from the MENA region, he added, resources embedded in wastewater could be enough to irrigate 2.6 million hectares and to provide energy for some eight million households. “These are resources embedded in the 54 per cent of generated municipal wastewater,” he said.
Mateo-Sagasta noted that there are more than seven billion cubic metres of municipal wastewater, and 54 per cent of the generated municipal waste water is lost, either evaporated on land or along the river or dumped into the sea. “Less than five per cent of the seven BCM is directly reused,” he said.
There is not enough water to meet the growing demand in many parts of the world, especially in the MENA region, Mateo-Sagasta stressed, adding that one promising solution is the proper reuse of waste water.
“The technologies to recover these lost resources do exist, but to recover all these resources, there are many challenges, mostly legal, institutional, or simply lack of awareness,” he said, adding that water can be used in cities and reused in agriculture, with benefits for all.
“Policies and strategies need to rely on the collective work of all parties related to water, and this is what ReWater MENA has been trying to achieve,” Mateo-Sagasta said.
The closing workshop of the project took place last week in Cairo, with an announcement that a source book would be published this autumn, in the lead up to COP27, with its researchers concluding that recycling water could supplement, or substitute water needs in sectors suffering from water shortage, reduce groundwater pumping and alleviate the use of freshwater in the agricultural sector.
COP27 is the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held from 6 to 18 November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh.
The book is composed of three sections: the state of water reuse in the region, a collection of success stories, and a list of guidelines and recommendations to further implement in the water sector.
“We need regulations to encourage direct wastewater reuse, and we need to show the benefits and need for water reuse and recycling among the public, Mateo-Sagasta said, pointing out that awareness among the public about water reuse is still behind.
For example, he said, farmers are not allowed to irrigate vegetable crops with treated wastewater despite this being safer than irrigation with polluted water.
“Egypt and the region need to halve the amount of waste water lost,” Mateo-Sagasta said. “Water reuse and desalination are effective solutions.”
We are pleased to bring you this fresh interview with Jacques Baud, in which we cover what is now happening in the geopolitical struggle that is the Ukraine-Russia war. As always, Mr. Baud brings deep insight and clear analysis to the conversation.
The Postil (TP): You have just published your latest book on the war in Ukraine—Operation Z, published by Max Milo. Please tell us a little about it—what led you to write this book and what do you wish to convey to readers?
Jacques Baud (JB): The aim of this book is to show how the misinformation propagated by our media has contributed to push Ukraine in the wrong direction. I wrote it under the motto “from the way we understand crises derives the way we solve them.”
By hiding many aspects of this conflict, the Western media has presented us with a caricatural and artificial image of the situation, which has resulted in the polarization of minds. This has led to a widespread mindset that makes any attempt to negotiate virtually impossible.
The one-sided and biased representation provided by mainstream media is not intended to help us solve the problem, but to promote hatred of Russia. Thus, the exclusion of disabled athletes, cats, even Russian trees from competitions, the dismissal of conductors, the de-platforming of Russian artists, such as Dostoyevsky, or even the renaming of paintings aims at excluding the Russian population from society! In France, bank accounts of individuals with Russian-sounding names were even blocked. Social networks Facebook and Twitter have systematically blocked the disclosure of Ukrainian crimes under the pretext of “hate speech” but allow the call for violence against Russians.
None of these actions had any effect on the conflict, except to stimulate hatred and violence against the Russians in our countries. This manipulation is so bad that we would rather see Ukrainians die than to seek a diplomatic solution. As Republican Senator Lindsey Graham recently said, it is a matter of letting the Ukrainians fight to the last man.
It is commonly assumed that journalists work according to standards of quality and ethics to inform us in the most honest way possible. These standards are set by the Munich Charter of 1971. While writing my book I found out that no French-speaking mainstream media in Europe respects this charter as far as Russia and China are concerned. In fact, they shamelessly support an immoral policy towards Ukraine, described by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, president of Mexico, as “We provide the weapons, you provide the corpses!”
To highlight this misinformation, I wanted to show that information allowing to provide a realistic picture of the situation was available as early as February, but that our media did not relay it to the public. My goal was to show this contradiction.
In order to avoid becoming a propagandist myself in favor of one side or the other, I have relied exclusively on Western, Ukrainian (from Kiev) and Russian opposition sources. I have not taken any information from the Russian media.
TP: It is commonly said in the West that this war has “proven” that the Russian army is feeble and that its equipment is useless. Are these assertions true?
JB: No. After more than six months of war, it can be said that the Russian army is effective and efficient, and that the quality of its command & control far exceeds what we see in the West. But our perception is influenced by a reporting that is focused on the Ukrainian side, and by distortions of reality.
Firstly, there is the reality on the ground. It should be remembered that what the media call “Russians” is in fact a Russian-speaking coalition, composed of professional Russian fighters and soldiers of the popular militias of Donbass. The operations in the Donbass are mainly carried out by these militias, who fight on “their” terrain, in towns and villages they know and where they have friends and family. They are therefore advancing cautiously for themselves, but also to avoid civilian casualties. Thus, despite the claims of western propaganda, the coalition enjoys a very good popular support in the areas it occupies.
Then, just looking at a map, you can see that the Donbass is a region with a lot of built-up and inhabited areas, which means an advantage for the defender and a reduced speed of progress for the attacker in all circumstances.
Secondly, there is the way our media portray the evolution of the conflict. Ukraine is a huge country and small-scale maps hardly show the differences from one day to another. Moreover, each side has its own perception of the progress of the enemy. If we take the example of the situation on March 25, 2022, we can see that the map of the French daily newspaper Ouest-France (a) shows almost no advance of Russia, as does the Swiss RTS site (b). The map of the Russian website RIAFAN (c) may be propaganda, but if we compare it with the map of the French Military Intelligence Directorate (DRM) (d), we see that the Russian media is probably closer to the truth. All these maps were published on the same day, but the French newspaper and the Swiss state media did not choose to use the DRM map and preferred to use a Ukrainian map. This illustrates that our media work like propaganda outlets.
Figure 1 – Comparison of the maps presented in our media on 25 March 2022. It is this way of presenting the Russian offensive that has led to the assertion that the Russian army is weak. It also shows that the information provided by the Russian media seems closer
Thirdly, our “experts” have themselves determined the objectives of the Russian offensive. By claiming that Russia wanted to take over Ukraine and its resources, to take over Kiev in two days, etc., our experts have literally invented and attributed to the Russians objectives that Putin never mentioned. In May 2022, Claude Wild, the Swiss ambassador in Kiev, declared on RTS that the Russians had “lost the battle for Kiev.” But in reality, there was never a “battle for Kiev.” It is obviously easy to claim that the Russians did not reach their objectives—if they never tried to reach them!
Fourthly, the West and Ukraine have created a misleading picture of their adversary. In France, Switzerland and Belgium, none of the military experts on television have any knowledge of military operations and how the Russians conduct theirs. Their “expertise” comes from the rumours from the war in Afghanistan or Syria, which are often merely Western propaganda. These experts have literally falsified the presentation of Russian operations.
Thus, the objectives announced as early as February 24 by Russia were the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the threat to the populations of Donbass. These objectives are related to the neutralization of capabilities, not the seizure of land or resources. To put it bluntly, in theory, to achieve their goals the Russians do not need to advance—it would be enough if Ukrainians themselves would come and get killed.
In other words, our politicians and media have pushed Ukraine to defend the terrain like in France during the First World War. They pushed Ukrainian troops to defend every square meter of ground in “last stand” situations. Ironically, the West has only made the Russians’ job easier.
In fact, as with the war on terror, Westerners see the enemy as they would like him to be, not as he is. As Sun Tzu said 2,500 years ago, this is the best recipe for losing a war.
One example is the so-called “hybrid war” that Russia is allegedly waging against the West. In June 2014, as the West tried to explain Russia’s (imaginary) intervention in the Donbass conflict, Russia expert Mark Galeotti “revealed” the existence of a doctrine that would illustrate the Russian concept of hybrid warfare. Known as the “Gerasimov Doctrine,” it has never really been defined by the West as to what it consists of and how it could ensure military success. But it is used to explain how Russia wages war in Donbass without sending troops there and why Ukraine consistently loses its battles against the rebels. In 2018, realizing that he was wrong, Galeotti apologized—courageously and intelligently—in an article titled, “I’m Sorry for Creating the Gerasimov Doctrine” published in Foreign Policy magazine.
Despite this, and without knowing what it meant, our media and politicians continued to pretend that Russia was waging a hybrid war against Ukraine and the West. In other words, we imagined a type of war that does not exist and we prepared Ukraine for it. This is also what explains the challenge for Ukraine to have a coherent strategy to counter Russian operations.
The West does not want to see the situation as it really is. The Russian-speaking coalition has launched its offensive with an overall strength inferior to that of the Ukrainians in a ratio of 1-2:1. To be successful when you are outnumbered, you must create local and temporary superiorities by quickly moving your forces on the battlefield.
This is what the Russians call “operational art” (operativnoe iskoustvo). This notion is poorly understood in the West. The term “operational” used in NATO has two translations in Russian: “operative” (which refers to a command level) and “operational” (which defines a condition). It is the art of maneuvering military formations, much like a chess game, in order to defeat a superior opponent.
For example, the operation around Kiev was not intended to “deceive” the Ukrainians (and the West) about their intentions, but to force the Ukrainian army to keep large forces around the capital and thus “pin them down.” In technical terms, this is what is called a “shaping operation.” Contrary to the analysis of some “experts,” it was not a “deception operation,” which would have been conceived very differently and would have involved much larger forces. The aim was to prevent a reinforcement of the main body of the Ukrainian forces in the Donbass.
The main lesson of this war at this stage confirms what we know since the Second World War: the Russians master the operational art.
TP: Questions about Russia’s military raises the obvious question—how good is Ukraine’s military today? And more importantly, why do we not hear so much about the Ukrainian army?
JB: The Ukrainian servicemen are certainly brave soldiers who perform their duty conscientiously and courageously. But my personal experience shows that in almost every crisis, the problem is at the head. The inability to understand the opponent and his logic and to have a clear picture of the actual situation is the main reason for failures.
Since the beginning of the Russian offensive, we can distinguish two ways of conducting the war. On the Ukrainian side, the war is waged in the political and informational spaces, while on the Russian side the war is waged in the physical and operational space. The two sides are not fighting in the same spaces. This is a situation that I described in 2003 in my book, La guerre asymétrique ou la défaite du vainqueur (Asymmetric War, or the Defeat of the Winner). The trouble is that at the end of the day, the reality of the terrain prevails.
On the Russian side, decisions are made by the military, while on the Ukrainian side, Zelensky is omnipresent and the central element in the conduct of the war. He makes operational decisions, apparently often against the military’s advice. This explains the rising tensions between Zelensky and the military. According to Ukrainian media, Zelensky could dismiss General Valery Zoluzhny by appointing him Minister of Defence.
The Ukrainian army has been extensively trained by American, British and Canadian officers since 2014. The trouble is that for over 20 years, Westerners have been fighting armed groups and scattered adversaries and engaged entire armies against individuals. They fight wars at the tactical level and somehow have lost the ability to fight at the strategic and operative levels. This explains partly why Ukraine is waging its war at this level.
But there is a more conceptual dimension. Zelensky and the West see war as a numerical and technological balance of forces. This is why, since 2014, the Ukrainians have never tried to seduce the rebels and they now think that the solution will come from the weapons supplied by the West. The West provided Ukraine with a few dozen M777 guns and HIMARS and MLRS missile launchers, while Ukraine had several thousand equivalent artillery pieces in February. The Russian concept of “correlation of forces,” takes into account many more factors and is more holistic than the Western approach. That is why the Russians are winning.
As the host country for the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) from November 6-18, Egypt has a huge role to play during its presidency of the event, as all eyes will be geared towards how the country can lead by example. To put things in perspective, with 1.3 percent of the world’s population, Egypt accounts for only 0.6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and ranks twenty-eighth on the global list of polluters. This number appears to be relatively small from a global perspective. Regionally, however, Egypt contributes 31 percent of the overall GHG emissions from North Africa and 13 percent of the overall GHG emissions from the entire African continent. Thus, Egypt has a great responsibility to establish a pathway towards a green energy transition.
This year, Egypt’s presidency for COP is very important as a middle-income, African, and Middle Eastern country hosting this event. Egypt may, therefore, be able to influence the agenda items and bring more focus to Africa’s increasing needs for adaptation and mitigation financing.
The agenda for COP27 includes four main items to be discussed: climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage, and increased ambition. On climate finance, there is a need to ensure that developed countries will fulfill their commitment to developing countries in regard to the $100 billion per year financing pledge, as promised in COP15 in Copenhagen. Since the establishment of the Paris Climate Accords in 2015, there hasn’t been a single year where the $100 billion per year financing target has been met. The closest registered record towards this target was in 2021, where $80 billion were raised through public and private sources.
There is a serious need to reach this goal as climate impacts are causing global suffering on a rampant scale. In addition to the $100 billion goal, there also is a need to agree on a post-2025 climate finance arrangement that is significantly larger in number, in addition to setting up adequate rules to enforce this commitment.
On adaptation, COP27 is considered to be an ‘African COP,’ as it is taking place in one of the continents most effected by climate change. Therefore, stakeholders are expecting to witness a higher political desire to increase global funding for adaptation policies. Currently, 80 percent of the overall climate finance portfolio is dedicated to mitigation, while only 20 percent goes to adaptation. This is often due to the fact that mitigation projects are bankable projects with decent return on investment potential, such as solar and wind energy projects.
However, adaptation projects are less investible by nature, as they are geared towards assisting local communities to adapt to the consequences of the changing climate. These projects are often not bankable and less appealing to financiers. In addition, adaptation projects are often needed by the most vulnerable communities, which often lack the capacity to develop the sophisticated proposals for climate finance that can garner support from financial institutions, agencies, or governments. So, this year, there is a direct need to obtain assistance for one of the most vulnerable continents and help them adapt to climate change in a fair and just manner.
Third, loss and damage has become a contentious subject that has been discussed for several years, with no consensus on any enforceable work plan. Some countries will have complete losses and irreversible damage due to climate change, whether it relates to a small island state that will be completely inundated from sea level rise; or the complete bleaching of coral reefs in some seas; or, the extinction of particular flora and fauna from ecosystems based on global warming. The topic can be divided into economic losses that include damages to resources and goods and services, such as agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, etc., and non-economic losses that include loss of family members, disappearance of culture and ways of living, or migration from one’s home.
Loss and damage differ from mitigation and adaptation, in that it tackles how to help people after they have experienced climate-related impacts, while mitigation works on preventing it and adaptation on minimizing it. The Paris Agreement made only the intention to address loss and damage with technical assistance, but explicitly it did not include any liability or compensation for it by developed countries. There have been several attempts to establish a finance mechanism for loss and damage, but they have repeatedly failed.
The problem also lies in criteria setting towards who gets priority and why. Do entire populations that have to be relocated (due to their homes on an island being inundated) take precedence over crops—which feed the poor—that may go instinct? Not only is the criteria and priority setting a daunting task, but the mere request for additional financing from the international community for ‘loss and damage’ has been completely pushed back in previous negotiation rounds by both the United States and the European Union. Hence, setting up a financing facility will take center stage at COP27.
Finally, the fourth agenda point is increasing ambition. This entails consolidating the concurrent political commitments by different stakeholders and the wider global community towards the climate cause. The February report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that we must stay below a 1.5 °C temperature increase mark to avoid a climate disaster, and that we only have a decade remaining until the carbon budget is used up entirely. The report also mentioned that, by 2030, emission levels should be halved to meet this target. In other words, the international community has less than ten years to act.
Based on the 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact, if all Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets that were pledged for the Paris agreement were implemented, the international community would still head towards a 2.4°C increase, with a worst-case scenario of 2.8°C—if not all pledges are met—and a best-case scenario of 1.8 °C—if all new actions in Glasgow are implemented. This is still above the 1.5 °C mark. Therefore, the expectations in Sharm el-Sheikh is that all countries would increase their ambitions and place new pledges to reduce their emissions and stay below the 1.5 °C mark.
As a new study reveals, Egypt and the Middle East are warming up faster than the rest of the world, with a predicted 5°C increase in warming by the end of the century. There is also much at stake in Sharm el-Sheikh, as the war in Ukraine is affecting food and energy prices and availability. Egypt has a significant role to play in Sharm el-Sheikh to promote these four key agenda items highlighted above. Egypt is also expected to continue to voice the demands and expectations of the global south—especially those of its direct African neighbors.
Egypt’s central bank left interest rates unchanged but raised the reserve ratios for lenders -- an indirect form of tightening that avoids increasing debt-servicing costs for one of the Middle East’s most indebted nations.
The Monetary Policy Committee maintained the deposit rate at 11.25% and the lending rate at 12.25%, it said Thursday in a statement. A majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a hike of 50 to 100 basis points.
The regulator also increased the amount of money that commercial lenders must set aside as part of their mandatory reserves, a move that’s likely to prop up the currency by withdrawing liquidity from the financial system.
The hike of required reserve ratios to 18% from 14%, suggests “the central bank isn’t keen on raising policy rates at this stage and therefore opted to tighten through another tool,” said Mohamed Abu Basha, head of macroeconomic research at investment bank EFG Hermes.
The bank’s second MPC meeting since Hassan Abdalla took the helm came as investors sought signs of how the country aims to tackle an economic crisis caused by the knock-on effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and manage a currency that’s under increasing pressure.
Consumer Pain
Egypt is wrestling with annual inflation that’s at its highest in about four years, piling pain on consumers in a country of more than 100 million people, where around half live around or below the poverty line. Authorities made a combined 300 basis points of rate hikes in March and May, which the central bank said are still “transmitting through the economy.”
The current key rates “coupled with the increased required reserve ratio are consistent with achieving price stability over the medium term,” it said.
Holding rates, while preventing an upsurge in debt-servicing costs for authorities, may reflect a shift by the North African nation to lessen its reliance on foreign investors in domestic bonds and bills and focus more on investment and boosting exports.
Months of quickening price gains have turned Egypt’s official borrowing costs negative when adjusted for inflation, and a real rate that was once the world’s highest had slipped below emerging-market peers such as South Africa and Indonesia. The country has seen $22 billion of foreign outflows from the local debt market since March.
A new agreement with the IMF, the subject of months of talks, could restore investor confidence. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told Bloomberg on Wednesday that Egypt hopes to reach a deal within one or two months, although the loan amount is yet to be determined. Possible financing from Japan and China is also on the table.
An Egyptian official has recently signaled the government now favors a more flexible currency to support the economy. The pound was devalued by about 15% in March, although economists say it needs to fall further. Derivatives traders are stepping up bets on another drop.
— With assistance by Harumi Ichikura, Tarek El-Tablawy, and Abdel Latif Wahba
In momentum days of pageantry and high emotions, thousands lined to see late Queen Elizabeth lie in state after a grand, solemn procession through London. The lineup stretched for miles as tearful mourners, exercising epic patience, waited in a lengthy winding queue for a final glimpse of their beloved queen; often at capacity, the queue reached a 24-hour wait. On Monday, hundreds of dignitaries and heads of states attended the funeral as London came to a standstill.
The Palace reported that King Charles and the royal family were deeply moved by the global response and affection, but as millions continued to pay tribute to the late queen, and as millions continued to mourn her death, others around the world found it difficult to reciprocate the same emotions believing that the queen, as head of state, should be held accountable for her country’s colonial actions. It is unfortunate that with the queen’s passing, bitter sentiments resurfaced, and many saw her death as a time to renew calls for reparations for Britain’s repressive colonization and the suffering of citizens around the world.
In fact, Queen Elizabeth’s death ignited a wide spectrum of antagonistic feelings about her legacy, the monarchy, and colonialism in general. When she took the throne in 1952, more than a quarter of the world was under the British imperial rule. Those victimized under that rule are finding it difficult to disassociate the late queen from what their countries endured.
Uju Anya, Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, sent a tweet to her 84,000 followers after hearing about the Queen's deteriorating condition, “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.” Boot Riley, the American film director and producer said, “The matriarch of a royal family legacy of slave-trading, imperialism, colonialism, theft, symbol of opulence and mascot for the ruling class is dead.” Richard Stengel, who served as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs under President Barack Obama, said that the queen’s family legacy of colonialism “had a terrible effect on much of the world.” CNN international correspondent, Larry Madowo, reported from Kenya, that the queen was not universally loved, saying “Across the African continent, there have been people who are saying, ‘We will not mourn for Queen Elizabeth because my ancestors suffered great atrocities under her people’.”
The death of any human being, let alone a monarch of the queen’s calibre, is neither the time nor the place to voice one’s fury, spew venom, or call for retribution. And yet, setting the queen’s passing aside, reparation should be an ongoing demand and a vital discussion so as to attain closure for the atrocities that ensued during colonialism.
The British Empire was the largest in history, and, like other empires, it ruled with an iron fist. Africans, Asians, Caribbeans, Irish, Australians and Middle Easterners have all suffered colonization. A terse sample of the atrocities follow.
In Kenya, a rebellious group against the British, known as Mau Mau, was suppressed through detention camps, torture, rape, castration and thousands of massacres. At that point, over a million Kenyans were put in some form of concentration camp as the Mau Mau were considered murderous criminals. In 2013, however, the British government acknowledged the torture with a historic apology and an out-of-court settlement.
India has its own horror stories. One such story occurred in 1919, a massacre in Jallianwala Bagh, where British troops killed hundreds of Indians. In 2019, then Prime Minister Theresa May apologized for, “The shameful scar in our history.”
As well, much of the goods of Indian were exploited; in fact, Indian treasures and jewels, were drained only to be handed over to the British as “The total value of everything taken out of India during the war [World War I], was 8 billion pounds in today’s money,” says Shashi Tharoor, a renowned Indian politician. Tharoor argues long and hard for why Britain owes reparations for its colonization of India. During the British rule, Tharoor says, “15 million to 29 million Indians died of starvation,” as they were oppressed, enslaved, killed, tortured, and maimed for 200 years. These are horrific statistics.
Nigeria was targeted for its resources and the exploitation of its wealth. A course outline at Ohio University, USA, cites “The tax system and transportation system deepened the British’s plunder and control over the economy in Nigeria.” But more important is the role the British played in the civil war in Nigeria known as the Biafran War when Biafra tried to secede from Nigeria. Many in Nigeria are still haunted by how the British crushed the resistance and starved millions.
Over two million enslaved Africans were taken to the British colonies in the Caribbean. The British, amongst other Europeans, went to the Caribbean to seek wealth and prosperity. Affluent planters enslaved workers brought over from Africa to plant sugarcane, a very profitable commodity.
Indigenous peoples all over the world suffered as they were considered inferior. Black and brown folks were placed at the bottom of the totem pole. It was a carte blanche for the colonialists to expropriate lands, effect genocidal massacres, segregate indigenous peoples, and plunder wealths.
Under the British occupation Egypt fared slightly better since there were no massacres of the same magnitude as seen in other countries, but it suffered martial law, deportation of leaders such as Saad Zaghlul, exploitation, the usurping of wealth, loss of freedom, and exemplary punishment as seen in the Dinshaway crisis.
Britain should confront its colonialist past and atone for the failures that colonialism caused. The discourse must be started and continued until a form of reparation is fulfilled. Again, the passing of Queen Elizabeth should not get entangled in the discourse.
It is as Edward Said, the Palestinian-American professor at Columbia University, USA, says, “Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.”
تقرير هيئة الإذاعة البريطانية، البي بي سي، هل هناك تمييز ضد النساء في مصر لارتدائهن الحجاب؟ هي وجهة نظر غير متوازنة تحتاج إلى مزيد من التعمق
أرسلت البي بي سي مراسلين بوصفهما زوجين إلى بعض البارات والمطاعم في مصر. أُخبرت السيدة التي كانت ترتدي الحجاب بأنها غير مصرح لها بالوجود في هذه المحال بسبب ملبسها مع بيع الخمور. ذكر التقرير عشرات المحال، حيث كرر الحراس نفس التفسير لعدم السماح لها بالدخول، وللذكر في أحد المحال سُمح للسيدة بالدخول بشرط عدم الجلوس حول البار
دعونا نتعمق في هذه المسألة
من بين جميع السلوكيات التمييزية والحصرية ضد النساء المحجبات، يعد هذا المنع إلى حد بعيد الأقل ضررًا والأقل انحرافًا إلا أن البي بي سي تعتبره تمييزا يستحق المتابعة، وهو أمر عجيب للغاية. كمعيار عام، ينفر المسلمون المتدينون من الوجود في الأماكن التي يُشرب فيها الخمر أو الجلوس بين أولئك الذين يشربون الخمر. في الوقت نفسه فإن حجاب المرأة يحدد تحفظها على مشهد السياح والمصريين على حد سواء وهم يشربون الخمر. إذن يجب على المرء أن يتساءل عن عدد النساء المحجبات أو حتى الرجال المحافظين الذين يرغبون في الجلوس في حانة محاطين بمن يشربون. أليس هذا تناقضا واضحا؟
لماذا تريد البي بي سي التركيز على هذه الصورة فقط لا غير وترفض نشر جميع الإيجابيات التي يتمتع بها المحجبات؟ في مصر تمارس النساء المحجبات حياتهن وشعائرهن الدينية بالطريقة التي يرونها مناسبة، كما أنهن يعاملن على قدم المساواة ولا يتعرضن للتمييز
إن المرأة المصرية المحجبة لا ترى أي تناقض بين ارتدائها الحجاب والمطالبة بحقوقها الفعلية، فقد وصلت النساء المحجبات إلى أعلى المستويات في المجتمع، سواء كانت مناصب وزارية، أو قضائية، أو إعلامية، أو أي وظائف مرموقة كالطبيبة أو المهندسة أو الأستاذة الجامعية. لم تتداول البي بي سي هذا الوضع ولن تتداوله لأنه يثبت عكس نظريتها
ومع ذلك في بلدان أخرى، المرأة المحجبة تتعرض لقضايا أكثر خطورة وحقوقها مفقودة مع السلوك التمييزي الحاد، وذلك يؤثر بشدة في حياتها. يتجلى رهاب الحجاب في أشكال مختلفة في أنحاء عديدة من العالم: التمييز، والإساءة، والتحيز، وسوء المعاملة، وانعدام الفرص. يجب التدقيق في مثل هذه المخالفات لدعم حقوق النساء المحجبات في كل مكان. وللعلم لايوجد أيٌ من هذه القضايا في مصر
في بعض المجتمعات، يتم التمييز ضد النساء المحجبات بشكل علني. في عام 2015، رفضت قاضية في مقاطعة كيبيك بكندا الاستماع إلى قضية امرأة ما لم تخلع حجابها. قالت القاضية إن قاعة المحكمة مكان علماني، وأن الحجاب مثله مثل القبعات والنظارات الشمسية التي تُمنع داخل قاعة المحكمة لذا وجب منعه. هذا هو التمييز البيِّن الذي يجب علي البي بي سي مناقشته. يُهمِّش قانون ٢١ في كيبيك النساء والأقليات على وجه الخصوص. يحظر على الكنديين الذين يعملون معلمين ومحامين وضباط شرطة، من بين مهن أخرى عديدة، ارتداء الرموز الدينية مثل الصلبان والحجاب والعمامة، لكنه كقانون يؤثر على النساء المسلمات اللاتي يرتدين الحجاب أكثر من غيرهن. وفي ٢٠٢١ تم طرد معلمة من الفصل لارتدائها الحجاب بموجب القانون الذي يحظر الرموز الدينية
في فرنسا تجد المحجبات صعوبة بالغة في العثور على عمل أثناء ارتدائهن الحجاب، وقد تم فصل العديد منهن لأنهن رفضن خلع حجابهن. ومؤخراً، سحب حزب الرئيس ماكرون دعمه لإحدى مرشحات الحزب، سارة زماحي، لارتدائها الحجاب في ملصق الحملة الانتخابية
هذه كلها تضحيات محورية ومغيرة للحياة حيث تُمنع النساء المحجبات من معيشة طبيعية، وتتعرض حقوقهن كبشر للزعزعة والتضحية. هذه هي القيود التي يجب على البي بي سي أن تفحصها وتقدمها لمشاهديها وقرائها
دعونا ننهي هذه المغالطة بملاحظة إيجابية. لقد كسبت النساء المحجبات الكثير في السنوات القليلة الماضية، ويجب أن نفخر بهن وبالدول التي ينتمين إليها. عندما لعبت المصرية دينا الغباشي مباراة الكرة الطائرة في ريو ٢٠١٦ مرتدية حجابها ضد منافساتها الألمانيات اللاتي ارتدين البكيني أثبتت حقها. عندما تقرأ جزيلا ماسا، أول مذيعة محجبة على قناة السي بي سي الكندية، الأخبار يوميا فإنها تجعل النساء المحجبات الأخريات والمجتمع الكندي يشعر بالفخر
الموضوع الأصلي الذي تطرقت له البي بي سي لا يستحق حقًا التحقيق الذي شرع فيه. ومع ذلك، فهي مجرد وجهة نظر منحرفة أخرى للصحافة والإعلام الغربيين حول القضايا المصرية، حيث الهدف هو أن تظهر وسائل الإعلام الغربية كحراس للإنسانية وآدمية الانسان حتى وإن كانت نظرتهم متعمدة الالتباس والإساءة
Google is cooperating with the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA) on a new project to use real-time weather monitoring ad techniques to promote tourism in the country to British audiences, the American multinational technology company announced in a statement on Thursday.
“Egypt’s abundant sunshine is something not every country is lucky enough to have, so we wanted to make it the star of the show. But for our campaign to be impactful, it had to do more than just showcase why ‘sunny Egypt’ is the perfect destination for UK audiences to visit. It had to also reflect the British traveller’s real-world experience in a relatable way,” Amr El-Kady, the CEO of ETA, said according to the statement.
Ahmad Khwileh, a technical expert on ads and data science at Google, explained in the statement that the company tailored its campaign to a British audience by enabling and disabling ads based on the current weather at the user location automatically.
“Thus, for example, if it was snowing in London, that specific ad group was automatically enabled to show only ads referring to snow. The UK weather content in each ad was offset by visuals of Egypt’s sunny skies and historical sights, inspiring travellers to ‘follow the sun’ and explore a warm escape to the country,” according to Khwileh.
ETA turned to video reach campaigns to guide the 20-second video ads to the right potential travellers in each British city, allowing brands to choose how to reach people in their target audience, Google said.
Meanwhile, bumper ads, unskippable six-second videos, help brands boost their remarketing efforts - advertising based on previous behaviour online - towards the end of the campaign.
“Creative automation is simple to develop, and we especially loved how British travellers related to our campaign. The personalised creatives really helped create a strong sense of attachment to our brand,” El-Kady noted.
“The campaign’s incredible success is one of the main reasons we plan on working with the same creative and media teams on another similar campaign later this year,” El-Kady says added.
Egypt has historically been a popular destination for British tourists. From 2010 to 2015, it was ranked as between the second and fourth largest source of tourists headed to Egypt. Over the past winter, it was estimated that 500,000 tourists from the UK would visit Egypt. This spring, the UK's Daily Mail named Egypt one of the best holiday destinations in 2022.
