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Voting Girl 2012 : Constitution Referendum !!

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Back to the minority , oh yes back to the minority and the spirit of the girl that that said No to Mubarak and his constitutional amendments as well his NDP candidates. Today I voted in the constitution referendum , I voted an I said No to the draft constitution.

I voted against what Yasser El Borhamy , the famous Salafist preacher described as the  constitution most restrictive to the rights and freedoms in the history of modern Egypt.I voted No today and in fact I was not alone many voters I have met in the different polling stations in Giza. My tour was in Giza , I did not stay at the desk and I think it was another good experience.

First my tour started before heading to my polling station , I head to El Qawmia language school which if you follow my Voting girl series since I became an eligible voter in times of ex-President Mubarak , you will know that this is my favorite polling station in Agouza. It is big , mixed and includes a cross section of Egyptian society. Of course this time I noticed the majority of the voters were from the Middle Class and Upper Middle class.

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I noticed also two bearded men who seemed to be Salafists “From the style of the beard” wearing the IDs of the National council of Human rights “Following the State and is headed by Judge Hossam El Gheriany , the head of the Constituent assembly”. It is not the first time I see bearded men “Mostly Islamists” as observers in the referendum. Of course there were other observers from other initiatives.

According to the judges in the polling station’s sub committees , the turnout was high.

I spoke with a lady who came with her daughter , she told me that she voted No because she does not approve. She also added that she knows “yes” will win but not fairly ; a common thing I have heard through my tour.

It is worth to mention also that I met the reporters of Freedom and Justice Newspaper “Following MB and FJP” who got the new Press permits issued by the Referendum Committee. Ironically the journalists syndicate told us that there are no new permits and we will have to work with our news ID cards and old Presidential elections permits.

Then I headed to my polling station “El Orman girls” school polling station. The All women’s polling station. It had a very low turnout compared to the Constitution referendum in 2011 and Presidential elections. Of course the highest turnout I have seen there was in the constitution Referendum 2011.It was low. I met a lady ,very classy Upper Class lady who got an observer permit.She told me that she did not hear any violations in the Middle or the Upper Middle class areas but rather in Popular areas like Imbaba. She wanted to go there but needed some protection there !!

I finished my civic duty to meet dear friends from the neighborhood who also voted No and in the way out we met with that old lady , real angry old lady who voted No.

I voted No and I know they will change the results , you know after 3 days bread’s price will rise. I did not vote for myself but for the poor young generations

We walked with her in the street while she was expressing her Anti-MB views when some lady from those voted Yes who tried to convince her with sweet talk about the need of stability but the old lady told her a big NOOOOOOO. Soon enough the whole tiny street was with the old lady and you began to hear there is no difference between MB and Mubarak , in fact Mubarak was better !! “A thing that I would hear a lot tonight”  Another thing I have heard tonight was that “The USA is ok with the MB because Israel wants Sinai back”

I left my friends and the angry old lady and headed to Mit Okaba school polling station in Wadi El Nil street in Giza. It is a working class women’s polling station with a minority of middle class. It had a higher turn out than my polling station. I met two girls from Middle class who told me that DSC05255they voted NO because they do not approve the articles of the constitution.They believed that the results will be Yes because majority of the people are deceived by Sharia talk “Both were veiled”. I met another lady from the working class who voted No because she does not approve it and that it. On the side I met another old lady from the working class who voted yes because her son read it and believed it was good plus Egypt needs stability. In my way I met two working class ladies who voted Yes and did not want to speak politics because they are not involved in politics.

Leaving this polling station , I headed to Gamal Abdel Nasser polling station. This is all stars polling stations in Dokki , you got famous actors and politicians go there. Of course I reached there too late. I went first to the Men’s committee. The turnout was not that big but men from different ages mainly from Middle class. Most of those I talked with voted No. One of them , a tourism company owner told me that the constituent assembly does not represent “us”

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Moving to the women’s polling station’s committee ,well it was actually mixed but the majority was for women. There was a higher turnout. Again we are speaking about the Middle Class. Most of the ladies I spoke with said that they voted for No. One of them told that she voted No because she can not stand MB anymore.

I witnessed an incident there which was quite interesting. A veiled young lady was stopped by two Niqabi ladies in the way to the polling station , they spoke for a while then they left her. The young lady was then stopped by an elderly relative and her daughter who are both veiled. After kisses and hellos the old lady asked the young lady

what are you going to vote for !??

and the young lady told her

No

and the old lady told her

Thank God , I voted No too , I was worried after seeing those Niqabi ladies speaking to you

and the young lady replied.

Oh no these ladies work in the beauty salon I go to

I swear that scene was in front of my eyes.

There were tons of TV live broadcast cameras there transferring from there as it is one of the major polling stations in Dokkia in Giza.

Now moving to another polling station. I headed to the Agricultural museum polling station , it was empty so I head to the Faculty of Kindergarten polling station in Tahrir street it was my last stop. It is men’s polling station , another cross section of the society.

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There I found the judge taking a break for about 15 minutes to pray, during that time a men’s queue was formed and soon the Yes and No debates began. I spoke with two men , one from the working class and one from Upper middle class. One is a worker in a factory and the other is a top researcher in some ministry. The worker told me that he is fed up by the MB and the researcher told me that this constitution will enable the MB to control everything in the country.

Here are photos I took today from the different polling stations

I will upload the video clips tomorrow insh Allah.

To be honest I do not know if there will be any Voting girl future edition with amount of violations I heard today in other governorates.


So Much For Freedom of expression and Media in #Egypt in time of President #Morsi !!

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When it comes to Freedom of expression and freedom of press in Egypt in the new era of President Morsi after the new constitution , you only have to expect the worse because not only newspapers and TV channels can not be closed by court rule and journalists can be imprisoned but it is the most restrictive constitution when it comes to Freedoms and rights as Sheikh Yasser El Borhamy brags !!

We have to expect the worst when more and more journalists and TV hosts are being reported for the new prosecutor general accused of insulting the President.

Today famous TV host Bassem Youssef today was reported to the public prosecutor by some lawyer called Ramdan El Uxory who accused him of insulting President Morsi in his sarcastic show “Al Bernameg” !!  Oh yes El Uxory believes that Youssef insulted Morsi when he mocked him and showed his picture printed on some pillow from two weeks ago !!

Here is a clip where Bassem Youssef says that his baby girl Nadia is sleeping on Morsi’s pillow and that Morsi’s speeches made Nadia stands up ; an achievement in its own !!

Now El Uxory is claiming that in his report he filed that Youssef is not only mocking the head of the State but he is affecting his image showing him as a weak man whether in Egypt or outside it !!

You must know that Youssef is facing hell now after his brave episode last Friday when he criticized the radical hypocrite Sheikhs supporting Morsi from Salafists.

Bassem Youssef is not the last TV host to face this charge but popular TV host Mahmoud Saad is also facing the same change and he is not alone. Saad and his guest Dr. Manal Omar , the famous psychiatrist are accused of insulting Morsi by the Presidency itself !! Ironically both Saad and Omar used to support Morsi against Shafik in the presidential race.

From few weeks ago Dr. Manal Omar presented a psychological analysis for inmates , political inmates like Morsi and the presidency did not like it. Ironically Islamists especially the Muslim brotherhood loved for analysis for Shafik’s personality. Man, you can not imagine how Manal Omar made Morsi earn votes with her analysis for real.

Moving from TV we got for columnists, now columnist Ola El Shafaei of Youm 7 website and newspaper found herself accused of insulting the president because she dared and criticized Morsi after the presidential palace clashes.

These are the latest incidents in the past three weeks , of course there are other important incidents like for instance how columnists find their op-eds criticizing MB are no longer published in Al Akhbar Newspaper that is being controlled totally by Islamists. You will find news coming from National TV about reporters being punished for speaking the Truth against MB or TV hosts for hosting guests the MB minister of information does not approve !!

I had enough from news similar to this in addition to the attacks on journalists and reporters on the field. I had enough. I do not feel optimistic about the future of freedom of press or expression in this country. I feel that soon enough I will be accused of insulting the president’s Holiness. I will not speak about how depressing to see this happening after the revolution because it will sound naive. I do not know if we were naive but I know we were romantic revolutionaries.

I am so depressed.

Merry Christmas :)

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Merry Christmas to all those celebrating it tonight.

#Helfaya : Blood mixed with Bread "+18"

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It is the not first time Helfaya in Syria witnesses a horrible massacre but it seems to me each massacre is worse than the one before.
Yesterday tens if not hundreds of citizens waiting for bread in front of a local bakery were killed in air strikes by El Assad regime in the afternoon. The footage is horrible
Here is a footage filmed shortly after the strike


Here is more footage from Helfaya bakery massacre

 

I do not know or understand how this can happen, how pilots target civilians like that !! I do not understand.
They were trying to find food , they were trying to find bread. What I do not understand more is how El Assad regime is acting this fiercely and madly when it is on the verge of falling according to several indications like how Russians are stepping away from the Syrian dictator's support.
Helfaya , when blood is mixed with bread for real !!

Because Craziness is part of our life now in #Egypt !!

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This guy was spotted in Heliopolis driving his car
Thanks to dear Rabab
This guy had this ad hanged on both of his car's windows. The ad says
Hashish "Afghan- Dutch" avialble
Salah Imbabay
01099649952
Many  people spotted it !! people are losing their mind

Difference between these preachers and our preachers

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This video is circulating in Egypt , of course it is too late now but I found it interesting. It is a video for a famous Islamist preacher called Imran Hussein who is speaking about Egyptian constitution. He is furious from MB and believes that constitutions are made by consensus.

Of course Sheikh Imran Hussein does not know that not only Christians withdrew from the constituent assembly but actually also Non Islamist Muslims and there are many Muslims who are against this constitution.
Sheikh Imran Hussein is speaking about consensus when the Muslim brotherhood and Islamists are speaking about Majority Rule.
Of course Sheikh Hussein would be more angrier if he listened to the MB unethical propaganda and their supporters from alleged sheikhs like Abdullah Badr and Abu Islam.
Here is Abduallah Badr who turned to be an imposter !! He is not Al Azhar graduate
Badr is describing Amr El Lithy , the former President's adviser as a "Pimp son of pimp !!" Ironically the ignorant bastard thinks that Sakina Fouad is a belly dancer !! Or this disaster
Abu Islam , the radical Salafist Sheikh who burned the Bible at US embassy on 9/11 is attacking Bassem Youssef is the worst way ever !! "He is mocking Bassem's manhood saying that he should wear Niqab because he is hotter than Laila Elawy!!" Abu Islam also added that clerics do know and say who will go to heaven or hell based on the Holy Book !!!
 Sheikh Imran would have a heart attack if he heard Abu Islam that God smears in Holy Quran so it is ok to smear !!

Here is a compilation of more Sheikhs' rudeness , I will not translate if as it is enough for Arabic speakers

There is a huge difference between Hussein and those self appointed sheikhs who are now the biggest danger on Islam in Egypt !!I do not know if Hussein's experience around the globe made him different especially with the fact that we have been suffering from major social and cultural problems that gave birth to this new specimen of self appointed Sheikhs and clerics.
It is just sad

And the turn is on Doaa El Adl now !!

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And cartoonist Doaa El Adl has become the latest target in press to be reported to the public prosecutor. Al Masry Al Youm’s famous cartoonist is accused of blasphemy and our new Pubic prosecutor “appointed by Morsi” has ordered an immediate investigation in her case.
El Adly , an award winning is being accused by Salafist lawyer “Khaled El Masry” , the secretary general of the National center for defending freedoms “!!” of blasphemy because of a cartoon Al Masry Al Youm published from two days ago. El Masry is accusing Doaa El Adly of insulting a prophet figure , our father Adam !!!!!!!!
Here is the cartoon

A Yes voter for the sake of awarded with heaven because of Sharia tells Adam and Eve :
If you said Yes like me  , you would not be expelled from heavens !!
I do not know about you but I do not think it criticized Prophet Adam , it criticized the voters who voted for religious promises

 Doaa El Adl is by far the most famous Egyptian woman cartoonist. The young cartoonist proved herself  in the men dominated career through her catchy cartoons whether in Dostor newspaper then in Rosa Al Youssef ending by her great success in Al Masry Al Youm.
Now Doaa El Adl has became the first cartoonist in Egypt to face the charges of blasphemy
Trivia : Doaa is young cartoonist who is veiled Muslim lady.
Here is Doaa’s latest cartoon and it is perfect.

On this occasion I would like to share this musical sketch the famous 1960s Theatre lights trio from “30 days in jail” movie and I am asking the same question the trio asked “Are you happy father Adam ?? Are you happy Mama Eve !!?”

#EgyConstitution : The Silent Majority is back For real

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And Supreme referendum commission “SRC” has announced the official results of the constitution referendum :
  • The eligible voters in the constitution referendum : 51,919,067 voters
  • The no. of voters who casted their vote in the referendum : 17,058,317 voters
  • The official turnout : 32.9%
  • The valid votes : 16,755,012 votes
  • The null votes : 303,395 votes
  • The no. of those who approved the constitution : 10,693,911 voters “63.8%”
  • The no. of those who rejected the constitution : 6,061,101 voters “36.2%”
In other words the constitution is approved by 63.8% out of the 32.9% who showed up to vote. This is low regardless of what you think with all my respect to the idea of democracy and so on. We are speaking a constitution that affect the future of the country.
I will not comment on how MB managed RSSD Facebook News pages knew the results days before the SRC exclude the null votes and the problematic polling stations. I will not comment on how the SRC ignored completely the complains of the Christians in Upper Egypt on how they would not be let to vote because it is useless to debate in this stage.
I will comment on the fact that this is a very low turnout , we are about a turnout of 32.9% out of nearly 52 million voters in a referendum that will change not only their lives but the lives of the people.
I will comment on that very low turnout compared to the March 2011 constitutional declaration referendum. In march 2011 the SCAF’s constitutional declaration was backed by 77% of the voters. The turnout was 41.2% of 45 eligible voters then. I think to be fair there are important factors we should consider :
  • Egyptians who work in different governorates were free to vote where ever they are.
Already I remember that queues in my polling station in March 2011 were the biggest and we had to wait for hour then queues disappeared in each election till we reached to December 2012 referendum.
It is like the silent majority is back to its silence. The majority of eligible voters did not go and vote on the charter that will affect and change their lives , this is extremely dangerous in transitional times.It is as if people lost faith in the democratic electoral process.
The Muslim brotherhood and Islamists got the constitution they want and the silent majority is back to its silence and its mistrust in democracy as it seems.

#EgyEconomy : Can Someone stop this hysteria Please !!??

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Today there was a frenzy in Cairo when rumors spread in the afternoon like fire that there were no foreign currency in banks and Foreign exchange companies. There was even that rumor about Western Union closing its offices in Egypt because it lacks US dollars.

Well Western Union offices are not going to suspend the work in Egypt and they are working fine but.. there is a foreign currency shortage at least in Cairo these days. The foreign exchange companies got no US dollars or Euros thanks to the huge demand on foreign currency “Euro and US dollars” early this week. What happened early this week !??

Well Egyptians freaked out when they heard the contradicting news/rumors about the resignation of the Central Bank of Egypt’s governor Farouk El Okdah

According to my sources Farouk El Okdah wants to jump the ship soon before Titanic would hit the iceberg soon but for some reason he can not jump now.

I will not go in economic debates because I am not an economic expert but We all know that Egypt is heading towards a terrible economic crisis that some compared to the Greek crisis.

Now socially there is a hysteria in the Upper , Upper middle and middle classes. People are calling each other advising them to withdraw their bank accounts and buy either gold or real estate. Some advised their friend to convert their Egyptian pounds to US dollars and Euro before the pound hits rock bottom. I am speaking about my friends , their families and their neighbors.

Ironically withdrawing their money from banks will harm the Egyptian economy for real. This has to stop. Rumors and wrong actions will make things even worse.

#EgyConstitution : Referendum stage 2 in Video

The Price To transfer his Former Excellency

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Today two interesting news happened in Egypt aside from on going saga about cabinet , constitution and Muslim brotherhood's enemies plotting with Martians.

The public prosecutor decided to transport Ousted president Mubarak to Military Maadi hospital for health reasons from Torah prison. The former President currently serving a life sentence in jail for not protecting the protesters in January 25th Revolution fell in his cell at Torah prison earlier this month and suffered some fractures.

After few hours we found out that the public prosecutor suddenly ordered that LE 27,000,000 from Suzanne Thabet’s bank account “allegedly secret one” to be confiscated and transferred to the Central Bank Account.

Ironically we suddenly hear the news of LE 27,000,000 that come from Suzanne Thabet’s bank account and we do not know if she is facing charges or not.Suzanne Mubarak already officially is off the hook yet Illicit gains authority say that she got them illegally , well why is not she not punished for that !?? The  Public prosecutor did not tell us from from where the former first lady got those millions !!

At the same time Mubarak was transferred to Maadi military hospital !!

Personally I believe that Suzanne paid those LE 27,000,000 to the current regime in order to transfer Mubarak to the military hospital , there is no other explanation.

Social Media Politics : MB e-Committees

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Before and during January 25 revolution Egyptian social media users especially on twitter and Facebook knew very well that the NDP had what we called “e-committee” and now in the new era of the Muslim brotherhood the e-committee is back even in much worse way.

Following the NDP path : How did it start !?

After January 25 revolution information was confirmed that some Future Foundation’s “of Gamal Mubarak” members were recruited in to some sort of committees that not only monitor the social media but rather to spread the NDP’s though and defend Mubarak’s regime too there.
The NDP officials from the generation of Ahmed Ezz understood the importance of social media from 2008 Strike and decided to fight that political movement against Gamal Mubarak using its same weapon : The internet.
These members were allegedly paid LE 1200. They were easily to be spotted especially that they did not have any followers or few follows and did not change the famous twitter egg avatar. Those NDP egg tweeps on twitter as well their brothers on Facebook used to spread rumors , attack opposition figures and insulting other social media users against Mubarak. I had my share of those guys. After Jan25 revolution they moved to support Shafik, Omar Soliman and SCAF but they were pathetic
And as the Muslim brotherhood is following the NDP’s steps in everything .. in much worse way , it was natural to find a MB e-committees spreading like fire.

More sophisticated and More Stupider

The Muslim brotherhood and its e-committees are more organized and spread as well Sophisticated when it comes to Online presence than the NDP. We are speaking about a devoted members base and network not only in Egypt but around the globe. It is enough to see how RSSD and its young sisters BRQ spread like fire in most of the Arab countries. I am not speaking about the Ikhwan Web and sister Muslim brotherhood websites as I am focusing here on the social media whether Facebook or Twitter or YouTube.
Unlike NDP and Future Foundation , we got real  devoted members who believe in their cause blindly. Believing in the cause blindly leads to stupidity and failure this is what happened in our case with MB e-committees.
It has become so easy to catch the MB e-committees especially with their stupidity that expose them badly. Now we know the techniques of those committees online. Here I gathered their techniques.


1 – Spamming the timelines and comments areas with the comments over and over .. from different Facebook users at the same time !!

And from different accounts too !! It has been discovered now in the Facebook , especially in the Facebook pages like Kolena Khaled Said and other Pages that the MB e-committees go and spam the comments with the same comment , Copy/Paste at the same time too !!!
This always happens when Morsi addresses the public or issues some decisions. My own interpretation that the commandership of MB e-committees in Moktam area thinks that in this way Morsi will appear to have popularity and support !!
Here are some examples
Early last week this comment in Facebook was published after the news of releasing Safwat El Sherif from custody. Same comment saying :
Releasing Safwat El Sherif is a proof of this regime’s smartness , it gives the former regime’s icon some safety feeling in order to destroy them forever !!
See the time difference between of the Copycat comments !!
Another example when the MB committees spread rumors about East Cairo district Mostafa Mashour , who released the detainees of the MB accusing of being the legal adviser of Ahmed Shafik. “Which is untrue”

Third example , two identical comments from Facebook about why the MB’s IMF loan is better the Ganzoury’s IMF loan.
Fourth example :  I am not a MB but we should give Morsi a chance , ah and I copy paste the comments !!
Fifth example : I am an engineer working in petroleum sector and I agree that we lift the subsidiary from the 95/92/90 oil  !! Ironically this time we got a Christian Copycat FB commentator !!

The last example is from the presidential Palace clashes where 5 supposedly different users copy the same comment that their colleague in work , an engineer was killed.

If you do not read Arabic , you can how the same text is repeated over and over. 

2 – Identity twitter theft

Now this is the most controversial technique because we are speaking about online identity theft , oh yes. The MB committees on twitter made these Fake celebrity twitter accounts that seemed to be Pro-Revolutionary , some time moderate but most of the time supportive to MB.There was a major problem that media used to take these tweets as celebs’ quotes when they did not say anything.
The most famous accounts from that kind  We got : Khaled Saleh , Gihan Fadel , Donia Samir Ghanem, Emy Samir Ghanem , Mervat Amin, Ahmed El Sakka , Ahmed Ezz, Amr Saad and Asser Yassin. “These are the ones I know” 
Most of these accounts use the names of these popular actors in Arabic where as the twitter handler say “@xxxFans”
Khaled Saleh and Gihan Fadel have been victims of fake twitter account especially Gihan. The fake account used her name to post a tweet attacking ElBaradei and that tweet was featured in the media.
Protests led by Amr Moussa , El Siyad Badawy, Mohamed Abu Hamed , ElBaradei “holocaust” and Shafik says that it is a revolution against revolution and you do not want to me not to notice it is a counter revolution
The real Gihan had to deny this statement and even recorded on video that she did not post tweet nor did she attack or mock Dr. ElBaradei.

Amazingly there is another impostor using Gihan’s name on twitter.
I believe this is the first time the revolutionary actor who was among the first to support #Jan25 to appear in front of the camera after the death of her husband.
Just like Fadl , Saleh had to post a video on YouTube denying to own an account on twitter then.

According to El Badil after this video and statements Khaled Saleh decided to have official Facebook page and twitter account. I do not know if that twitter account is his or not.
Another person who got annoyed from these fake tweets is young Emy Samir who found herself to be supportive to all president Morsi’s decisions online and press quoting her despite she did not have a twitter account.
Emy Samir told Bassem Sabry that she got no twitter account.
Her sister Donia had to open an official twitter account to deny all what is said in that fake account.
In the end Donia had to post a tweet that her sister Emmy does not have a twitter account and that account she is posting from is her only account !!
Eyad Nassar had to confront the fake account through his official personal account forcing it to be closed. Already the popular Jordanian young actor found the fake account spreading tweets about the October Uprising in Jordan supporting it and attacking the king and monarchy. “The fake account changed its name to Free Jordan”
Eyad could have been in real shit in his country if he did not pay attention to that account and acted quickly as that account was a republic system in Jordan directly
I am Eyad Nassar , this is my real account and I do not have any statements about what is happening in Jordan
This was enough reason to see Eyad Nassar who presented Hassan El Bana’s bio on TV from 2 years among Egyptians who took the streets of Heliopolis to protest at the Presidential Palace against Morsi and Muslim brotherhood.
The latest victim of these fake account is actor Asser Yassin. Ironically Asser used to tweet secretly on twitter and “also tumblring secretly” keeping a low profile but after finding this fake twitter account using his name he had to have another official twitter with his name.
I decided to have my own account on twitter because of the so many political quotes and opinions spread in the press and websites allegedly on behalf of me.
After these celebs began to speak , the account admins had to change the bio and say that the following message in the bio
Fans Demo Account and informal & parody..I hope that you enjoy with us..Managed by fans.
Ironically and sadly up till this moment , websites and newspapers still quote these fake accounts as if they were real. Already again you will see the copy paste comments and tweets let alone the language used in the tweets which makes you wonder if these actors are professional writers. Of course our celebs need to know what is verification blue power in twitter to be spared from all that jazz.

3- Spamming polls

It is an old technique , whenever there is online survey in place in the world about Morsi and his policies , the MB will head in spamming technique to vote for the man and his policies.
It happened before , the best example was during the Time’s person of the year online when we found that Morsi was included. I remember on that day Morsi got thousands of votes in no time compared to Obama or PSY !! Then we found the MB committees as well supporters all over the worlds were doing their best but for their luck the Presidential palace clashes happened and it seems the Time webmaster found out there was something strange.
Even normal Facebook users in Egypt found in their inbox messages telling them to vote for the President in the Time’s poll.

4- Who will discredit hot girls !?

This is the photo used for avatar
I used to suspect her so much. A beautiful unveiled girl claiming to be ex-liberal yet pro-revolutionary who defends the Muslim brotherhood and President Morsi day and night. That was Asmaa El Sayed who had a very active account. The beautiful girl with brown hair in the twitter avatar had many followers admiring both her info and her views.
I had my doubts and I always wondered personally “ is this girl related some how to some MB !? Is she engaged to some MB member !? how can she have all that inside info ??”
I kept these questions to myself , I am not from that kind to attack other tweeps by doubt except if they do something outrageous like Abdel Rahman Ezz or Ibrahim Farag “both MB”.  Still it turned out that I was not alone and other tweeps began to suspect her especially no one knows her personally and no one met her in real life. FYI in Egyptian twitter world you got these tweeps groups that know each other personally especially those who are involved in a way or another in politics and in the revolution. In fact there are very few politicized tweeps who keep themselves anonymous. “I am already known from several tweeps in Egypt”
Then came the biggest surprise of all times on twitter , the avatar of Asmaa is not hers as it turned out to be the avatar of another girl , foreign girl boys spotted it on forums !! Then we found out that there was no Asmaa after nearly two years and suddenly the account was closed.
After the fall of Asmaa people began to suspect unveiled girls who are defending MB day and night especially pretty ones. In fact people began to suspect each other on twitter and began to receive DMs from friends asking about that tweep whom I follow and whether he or she is real !!
Thanks to Dr. Nermeen Bedair for her amazing work in documenting the tweets and updates of Muslim brotherhood.
I think after this blog post you will have a slight idea about how much the Muslim brotherhood is ok with lying and deception , this is just a tip of the ice-berg.

#OpenEgypt : Apply Austerity measures on the government first !!

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In 2005 Brazil surprised the world when it decided to adopt open source software in its government, ministries , agencies and state run enterprises instead of depending only on Microsoft windows. Not only that but Brazilian diplomats were trying to push for an initiative in the UN that would street the importance of the open source software especially in third world countries. “Our diplomats do not have a clue what the heck is that !!!”

Now in early December 2012 we found out that Egyptian government led by Hisham Kandeel has signed an agreement to buy Microsoft Software for different Egyptian ministries and agencies by nearly US$ 44 million “LE 270 million” !! Yes LE 270 million !! According to the agreement the government will pay them on 4 years. This comes at the same time the government calling for austerity measures and the Central Bank of Egypt issues a Statement saying that our Foreign Reserve has hit rock bottom !!

The Open Source Movement in Egypt “and it is active one” is protesting against the deal. Already they protested last week at the Cabinet HQ against the decision in what can be the first true geek protest in Egypt.

There will be another protest at Cabinet HQ against the decision this Sunday. The Arabic expression Foundation along a number of software companies and developers as well activists have issued a statement calling the government to rethink its decision and adopt open software. You must know that Open source software’s cost including training cost will be less the cost of Microsoft software and training in a way you can not imagine. You got wonderful brains working in the open source community in Egypt

Now some will say why we should go with the Open Source software leaving the legendary Microsoft. Already part of solving this problem is explaining to the people what is the Open Source software in the first place. I believe our Open software developers and activists should launch a media campaign to introduce to the people what is open source. This will help a lot in spreading the message and getting support from the people themselves.

The economy of Egypt is fine … in another parallel universe

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Newspapers today
Yesterday president Morsi stood in front of the Shura council saying with all confidence “Those who are claiming that Egypt on the verge of bankruptcy are the bankrupt” making the headlines of almost 5 newspapers. “ The 3 official papers and 2 private owned including freedom and justice party”
Yesterday also Prime minister Hisham Kandeel told journalists in Cairo that countries do not bankrupt , bankruptcy happens only in companies !! “He did not know that many countries in the world declared its bankruptcy when it failed to pay its debts”
Yesterday as well before Morsi would say his word and Kandeel would speak to the journalists with all confidence , the Central Bank of Egypt issued a statement declaring that the Egyptian foreign reserve hit rock bottom for real using numbers and dates.
Today the Egyptian Pound hit a new record low against the US dollar. Believe or not it earlier today the US dollar was sold for LE 6.34 in Egyptian banks while now “@4:08 PM” I hear that it is being sold for LE 6.6. This is in banks , it is not Forex companies or in the black market.
Clearly the president and his prime minister did not read this important report that is available online. It seems to me that the President got wrong info yesterday from some unknown source. The man said that tourism rates increased in the last months when according to tourism experts this is one of the most lowest touristic seasons in Egypt. This time usually you would find a single room available in Luxor , Aswan and Sharm !!
Hotel owners are selling their hotels and motels in Luxor and Sharm Sheikh for God sake.
Of course today Kandeel is speaking about having a national dialogue about economy !! What national dialogue in time of crisis !??
The CBE statement
The MB media and e-committees are spreading rumors that there is no economic crisis and the media “following the Mubarak’s regime remnants” is spreading these claims. Some MB members are waiting for the divine Qatari intervention to save Egypt while others say that “it is not a problem that our pound is hitting rock bottom because Chinese Yuen is also low and Chinese economy will be greater than American economy by 2030 !!”
Yes they compare Egypt to China !!
Anyhow back to Morsi and Kandeel, I do not know how they are fooling !! Do they believe their lies and thank people are naive to believe their lies as well !! They are speaking about the economy of Egypt indeed .. in parallel universe.

Cohen Can return back to Hassan and Marcus but honestly for what !!?

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There is a huge debate in Egypt after the Statements of Freedom and Justice Vice chairman and leading member of the Muslim brotherhood Essam El Arian on Thursday about Egyptian Jews.
Dr. Essam El Arian said on Dream TV2 channel last Thursday that Egyptian and Arab Jews in Israel who had been expelled by president Nasser should return back to Egypt and Arabic countries in general so they would leave their land to the Palestinians !! “Yes this is his logic”

Indeed the policies of late Nasser as well the wars with Israel forced the Egyptian Jews to leave Egypt but sadly enough Essam El Arian and Hamdy Hassan forgot how the Muslim brotherhood members used to target and attacks the shops and ghettos in Cairo after the 1948 war. “Historically the modern exodus from Egypt started with the advance of German Nazi troops in 1941 in our Western desert”
Now this is kind of ironic because with all the mocking and attack Mohamed ElBaradei has been enduring since he spoke with Deir Spiegel and mentioned that some of the constituent assembly are holocaust deniers !! Up till now the Muslim brotherhood members as Islamists mock the man and yet they do not dare to speak about El Arian’s statement with all their hate to Jews.
Back to Dr. El Arian , well it seems that he truly believes Egyptian Jews should return to Egypt. I found for him an old interview from 6 months ago with Ahmed Adam on Al Hayat TV channel.

Amazingly El Arian believes that Buddha can be a prophet from God !! ElBaradei is also mocked by MB for speaking about Buddhists as an example in his talk about religious freedom in constitution !!
It is black comedy when you think about it !!
Anyhow now the trouble that these statements will cause inside the brotherhood that used to attack the Jews by name in its slogans as well in Egypt in this particular time , Mahmoud Ghozlan , the spokesperson of the MB said that everyone in the brotherhood is speaking on behalf of himself and not th brotherhood !!
You know I would be convinced with these claims if it were not these facts :
1- Yesterday leading MB member and FJP official Hamdy Hassan repeated what El Arian said on Thursday defending and even raised the bar and said there was no problem  in compensating them now on Dream TV2 Channel !!

You are speaking about hundreds of billions of pounds when you refer back to nationalization compensations whether for Jews or foreigners or Christians or Muslims in time your foreign reserve hit rock bottom !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2- Essam El Arian is not your usual MB or FJP official. Not only a leading member , he was the head of the foreign affairs in the last People’s assembly and he is currently the leader of the majority and Freedom and Justice Party bloc in the Senates council or Shura council !! In nutshell El Arian is not the village idiot in the brotherhoodville !!Of course it was worth to mention that above all El Arian is President Morsi’s adviser !!
Ironically some MB members and supporters who are trying to justify everything by their leaders are claiming that this is a wicked game by the MB to attract rich Egyptian Jews in order to invest in Egypt !!!

Adly Synagogue downtown Cairo
Adly synagogue 
I wish Egypt returns as tolerant and cosmopolitan as before but Dr. El Arian and Dr. Hassan forgot to tell us to what shall the Egyptian Jews return !? Return to religious intolerance and bad economic situation !!? Return to a new dictatorship in making through laws where media is controlled and protests are not allowed !??

Return to the Sheikhs who consider as Muslims who do not share the political beliefs are infidels !?? For God sake some of the Muslim brotherhood supporters are claiming now online that the Egyptian Christians are the ones behind the terrible economic crisis Egypt because they withdrew their bank accounts !!
Shall I remind you how Khairat El Shater , the strong man of the Muslim brotherhood and the commander of both El Arian and Hassan attacked Christians in Egypt from couple of weeks ago following the Presidential Palace clashes !!?
Many Egyptian Christian families are now packing their bags in order to leave the country for fear of future and repression under Islamist rule. In fact Muslim Egyptians now do not hesitate to leave the country searching for better life unfortunately !!
Again back to the statements that were received by a storm of anger and astonishment in Egypt. Nationalists especially Nasserites are extremely furious for the attack on Nasser once again by the Muslim brotherhood. From their side the Nationalists are reminding the brotherhood’s leaders with their past attacks against Egyptian Jews’ ghettos before Nasser would come to rule.
Liberals who believe that Egyptian Jews should not have left Egypt are amazing on the double standards of the brotherhood that attacks Christians from couple of weeks to speak about Egyptian Jews. Let alone how the local talk of the brotherhood among the its members is anti-Semitic by Western standards. Early this month Gehad El Haddad , the MB and FJP media advisor and spokesperson to Western media was quoting Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt for God sake !!
Thanks for Aalam Wassef for capturing this tweet
Of course some people began to draw some sort of conspiracy as usual from both Hassan and El Arian’s statements.People even began to link these statements with an incident that took place in October 2012 when the security forces in the airport stopped an attempt to smuggle historical documents related to Egyptian Jews’ properties in Egypt.People began to have wild conspiracies for real like Gamal Zahran , the former MP.

The call of MB’s El Arian to Israeli Jews to return back to Egypt is the price of that diabolic deal with the military , the US and Israel.Have you forgotten how the Seven “NGO workers” Americans were smuggled and how McCain thanked El Shater!??
Some believe that it is a pathetic attempt by El Arian and the brotherhood to look nice and tolerant in front of Western Media. Dr. Rabab El Mahdi believes so on her Facebook account today.
El Mahdi´s FB status
I do not know why there is a lot of controversy about Dr. El Arian’s statements about Jews. The talk was not addressed to us in Egypt or even to the Jews , the talk was directed to foreign media. The doctor is trying to appear cute. Just leave him alone.
Even Salafists are amazed like Nadar Bakkar who criticized El Arian on his twitter account. I really respect Bakkar’s consistency with his Salafist views to be honest.
It is better to speak about our youth who die drowned in the sea searching for a better living.It is unfair to equalize between those who were forced to leave their land after it was occupied and those who moved to occupied land. I am speaking about Dr. El Arian’s statements. I agree with those who say that if these statements came from ElBaradei or Moses , the world will be upside down but I criticize these statements in the same way I criticized the Holocaust statement “of ElBaradei”. I totally understand the opinion worried about the Jews disputed loyalty to Egypt if they demand to return back. We can not forget the Lavon affair and other issues “ A Nader Bakkar’s true moment !!”. Our religion prohibits injustice against any creature but what is the occasion to speak about the Jews who were in Egypt !? There is a difference between your statements as partisan official and being an advisor for presidency. The politician should be careful for what he said and its impact , the return of Jews statements lack this !!
The debate about the Egyptian Jews’ return has not and will not stopped yet in Egypt.Nevertheless while I am writing this , I imagine what would happen if Egyptian Jews from Israel, France and Brazil decided to return back to Egypt after all those years and I feel it will be extremely interesting.
Post Title : Inspired by famous 1940s play of Naguib El Rihany“Hassan , Marcus and Cohen”. On the occasion of the new year and these statements here is the play as presented in early 60s starring legendary Adel Khairy as poor worker who got sick from his employers the greedy Hassan , Marcus and Cohen !!

Happy New Year #2013

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Happy New year from Egyptian Chronicler to the whole world. Hopefully insh Allah 2013 will be better than 2012 and it will be full of happiness and success. May 2013 be a good year for our struggling revolution and people insh Allah. someecards.com - Let's never speak of 2012 again.

On this occasion I would like to share this joyful song from the new underground music taking Egypt by storm aka Mahragant

I hope you like it.

New Year in #Syria : #Mleha celebrates new year El Assad's way !! "+18 Graphic"

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The new year in Syria is just like the old year !! There is no difference as people continue to be killed in hundreds on a daily basis and the negotiations with El Assad's criminal regime are still held reaching to the usual back end.
Earlier today a horrifying massacre took place in Ghouta area in Mleha to be accurate where El Assad's air forces shelled a gas station blowing up whatever around it and whoever in it !! The images coming from the scene are horrifying . Warning:Extremely Graphic



These are the injured who survived the horrible attack The photos are horrifying by all measures.
They were real human !!

These are the less graphic photos I found by far !! I do not want to apologize because I feel that as member of world community brags with humanity and so on , I believe that we should apologize to those late humans and their families because the world could have stopped this massacre like many other massacres in Syria if it acted in the same way like it had done in Libya. Of course in Libya there is oil !!
By the way do not be optimistic that Syria will return fast on track after the fall of El Assad regime , this man left too many wounds and injuries that can not be healed fast or easily.

#Chomsky and #UAE lecture

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I can not believe that I will spend my time denying and repeating that Professor Noam Chomsky did not speak about Egypt and UAE in the so-called lecture in Columbia University from two days ago as spread by Muslim brotherhood media !!
The MB claimed that Chomsky spoke about Egyptian revolution and why the UAE is fighting the revolution and Morsi as Dubai will pay a huge price if Suez canal zone is developed !! This talk is used in the current confrontation and on going war between UAE and Muslim brotherhood.
According to my knowledge Chomsky did not say this.
First of all you can check the official website of the world famous professor to know if he spoke in Columbia university or not.Here is the talk section
The last time Chomsky gave a lecture in Columbia university was in October 2011.
Second the news is published in untrusted news websites whether Al Masryoon or Youm 7 , they are untrusted. Already it was published for one hour in Shorouk Newspaper without the knowledge of Emad Hussein , the managing editor and it was removed after knowing it was fake news.
I do no think that Shorouk is untrusted newspaper.
Third a tweet called "Aabed Saud" allegedly sent directly to Professor Chomsky asking him about those allegedly statements and the man denied these statements completely.
Source : Nermeen Bedair
Now when people began to search for the source of this news spread like among Islamists and Muslim brotherhood's supporters , we found out that it started as another Facebook Status page copied among the MB without any mention to Chomsky from near or far.



Dr. Ali El Zeftawy publishes the same claims in MB FB group
The case of detained Egyptians in UAE is extremely important yet it will not be solved through such rumors that will deepen the fight between the two regimes for God sake.
The last screen capture is by @Kazakhelo

The problem of Muslim Brotherhood “2” : Pawns or Kings !!

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This is my attempt to understand what is wrong with the Muslim brotherhood now in Egypt. You can read the first of the series here.Warning :This is not an objective analysis , this is what I think now regarding the Muslim brotherhood.

The Muslim brotherhood got a goal it wants to reach , it wants to revive the Islamic Caliphate. It is not a secret or something hidden as their own hierarchy of power inside the brotherhood. It is in their literature and books.It is in their speeches and talk. Here was Safwat Hegazy speaking about it in 2012 on TV.

He spoke about over and over causing controversy when he screamed in one of Morsi’s rallies saying that the Islamic Caliphate will return on the hands of Morsi and its capital will be Jerusalem.

Aside from the capital , the dream of Caliphate is in the teachings of Hassan El Banna who believed that the New Caliphate should be centered in Egypt and not in Turkey or Saudi Arabia.

It is not a secret thing again nor it is something wrong to have a certain political goal but of course how you are going to reach this goal and how. Politics is a dirty game and since the Umayyad Caliphate“Check how it came to rule”, the Muslim Rulers did give damn for what Islam said truly about rule . We are speaking about human universal nature when it comes to politics and deception as well regional and  international alliance.

Now the Muslim brotherhood is in power in Egypt , I believe somehow they are torn between their own goal and what the reality they are facing from regional perspective aside from all the local jazz. I believe that their own Caliphate dream will clash other Caliphate dreamers in the region, ironically their own allies now : Qatar and Turkey.

You got in one side Qatar and its prince who wants to become the patron of democracy in the Arab world except in his own country  in direct rivalry with Saudi Arabia. That rivalry is not a new thing but rather an old one starting with the fact that Saudi Arabia hosted for while his father Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad after his palace coup. Sheikh Hamad got plans for political expansion and already just like Saudi Arabia he got the economy that would help him to do so. It is not bad to have plans to become one of the main regional and international powers.

The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is seen clearly in the media war between the two countries. It is seen crystal clear between Al Jazeera Network and Al Arabiya Network for years. After all it is widely believed that Saudi Arabia supported Al Arabiya to hit back at Al Jazeera Network. Al Jazeera of course expanded internationally and is getting powerful but regionally there is a competition between them when it comes clear bias. Ironically this media war reminds me with the old media war between Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan backed by Saudi Arabia in 1960s in what was known as radios fight.

Mubarak and the kings of Saudi Arabia form an alliance against the so-called resistance alliance led by non other Qatar, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia likes old rulers then Qatar supports the wave change in the Arab world directly and please do not look to Egypt only as you got Libya and Tunisia as well.

Saudi Arabia and Mubarak hate the MB and considers them from its old enemies and so Qatar is in alliance with the Muslim brotherhood. Of course sometimes the interests of both countries meet like in Syria and in Libya for quite some time. By the way  the US approves the rivalry between them as both regimes give it what it wants in the end of the day.

I see that the Muslim brotherhood is being used by the Qatari regime as its strong arm among its several arms from Islamists in the region to hit back at Saudi Arabia in that race of power not only in the Gulf but the Arab region.

The alliance between the MB and Qatar is not because the prince of Qatar is a secret MB member in closet ,on the contrary it is just a political interest issue. Qatar needs a strong ally and what will be a better ally than the old kingdom’s sister in the region Egypt. Qatar is still regard small Gulf state unlike Egypt with its old and past leadership role.

The Muslim brotherhood members believe that Qatar will save Egypt economically and this is why they have this alliance now. Yes Hamad gave them huge support but they need his support economically more than ever in Egypt but of course Egypt will pay for this a country , as a great nation.

Now the question Does the Muslim brotherhood understand that they are currently a pawn in that regional gulf game of power !? Yes because they need financial support. Another question will the prince of Qatar with his dreams of control clash one day with the Muslim brotherhood !?? After all I am sure that prince Hamed wants the Caliphate for himself in his own way and not in Hassan El Banna’s way.

Another important historical fact : messing around with the Islamists in the Arab world is like messing around with fire , you will get burned. The Saudis tried before and Anwar El Sadat tried before. When the allies turn enemies , I do not know it is not any time soon.

Now moving to Turkey and the Neo-Ottomans. Turkey and Erdogan are trying to restore an old glory in more realistic way that we are doing in Egypt. “Whether Islamists or Non Islamists , we are restoring that leading role of 1950s and 1960s”

The Turks want to restore their control in the region through economy as well politics but let’s say at Turks things can not be easy for them due to the old not so good history of the Turks in the region as it will hunt them down whether you like or not. Just like Qatar , the Turks need a powerful alley or rather a follower in the region to be the face and voice of Turkish policies in the region. Egypt is not only attractive for Turkey because of its Arabic leading role but also it is the gate to Africa.

Does the Muslim brotherhood understand that the Turks are not their allies but actually a competitor when it comes to the revival of Caliphate in a modern way !? May be year and May be No.

By the way when I think about Erdogan and the experience of his party with secularism and the army , I believe that the Muslim brotherhood did not get the memo that the Turks find a common goal based on the Turkish Nationalism that combine secularism and Ottoman empire. The MB actually refuses any other ideology except theirs in Egypt and this is why Egypt will not restore its former glory or build a new one.

I believe in the unity of the Arab states and Muslim states as well the third countries states yet as a Muslim who lives in the 21st century and read our history well I believe that any political unity now or in the future should not be in the terms of Caliphate but rather a similar union like the European union. God only knows that since the founding of the Arab league in 1945 Arab countries were discussing the old dream of the Arab common market but what you know that Arabs agree on disagreement !!

Again these are random thoughts , they may be right and may be wrong. I do not claim to be a “strategic analyst or expert” but I am just using my mind.

Not a representative Diplomatic Action

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At the same time we got this huge political crisis with UAE , we have got a diplomatic crisis with Cyprus, yes Cyprus and it does not involved the offshore gas fields. It involves our ambassador in Cyprus.

From couple of days ago we read in the Egyptian press that the government of Cyprus apologized officially to ambassador Menha Bakhoum after she was mistreated by the security in the Larnaca airport while she was saying goodbye to some of her relatives. Most of us did pay attention to the news compared to the action going on in UAE. Then we found out that despite the government in Cyprus officially apologized that Mrs. Ambassador slapped a policewoman and that’s why she was detained by the security in Larnaca airport aside from all the Diplomatic laws jazz.

Now part of the incident was recorded on tape and it is not good for our ambassador.

I think ambassador should apologize to that policewoman and apologize to Cyprus as well to Egypt because she did not respect her position as the ambassador of Egypt and slapped that policewoman in that way !!! I think she should be recalled to Cairo. She is not above humans. Slapping a policewoman in that way is not a representative diplomatic answer , Mrs. Bakhoum should have known better.

For all those nationalist Egyptians , I hope that you think what you will feel if an Egyptian policewoman was slapped like that by a foreign ambassador !!

By the way late Pope Shenouda III was also mistreated in Heathrow airport in London in 2008 and had to undergo that airport search despite he had a diplomatic passport. He did not make that scene despite he was the Pope of one of the world’s old churches and by the way UK officially apologized to him and to Egypt then.

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