Egypt's NBE, EIB sign investment grant deal to support green industry drive    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    EGX plunges on Sunday    Egypt's Al-Sisi, IFC Managing Director discuss boosting private sector investment    Scatec signs power purchase deal for 900 MW wind project in Egypt's Ras Shukeir    Egypt's President stresses need to halt military actions in call with Cypriot counterpart    Egypt's GAH, Spain's Konecta discuss digital health partnership    CBE Deputy Governor attends ceremony appointing DPI as new manager of 'Nclude'    Gold surges 3.7% amid escalating Middle East tensions: Gold Bullion    Environment Minister chairs closing session on Mediterranean Sea protection at UN Ocean Conference    Egypt deploys over 2,400 ambulances to support high school exams nationwide    Egypt nuclear authority: No radiation rise amid regional unrest    Grand Egyptian Museum opening delayed to Q4    Egypt delays Grand Museum opening to Q4 amid regional tensions    Egypt's Foreign Minister condemns Israeli strikes in calls with European, Iraqi counterparts    Trump faces MAGA backlash as Israel-Iran conflict tests non-interventionist promise    Egypt slams Israeli strike on Iran, warns of regional chaos    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's EDA joins high-level Africa-Europe medicines regulatory talks    US Senate clears over $3b in arms sales to Qatar, UAE    Egypt discusses urgent population, development plan with WB    Egypt reaffirms commitment to ocean conservation at UN conference    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Egypt, Serbia explore cultural cooperation in heritage, tourism    Egypt discovers three New Kingdom tombs in Luxor's Dra' Abu El-Naga    Egypt launches "Memory of the City" app to document urban history    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    

Articles of the author Issandr El Amrani
The next battle will take longer than 18 days
Political discourse in Egypt at the best of times can be strange and full of empty talk ("kalam fadi"). But some of the statements recently made by presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq and the media that support him are rather odd. In the lead up to (...)

17 - 06 - 2012
Is it the Islamists vs. the military?
Last week, over the Eid break, the celebration and over-eating were marred by the news that Ali al-Selmi, the Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs, had proposed a new version of the "super-constitutional" principles that would place the (...)

15 - 11 - 2011
What Egypt might learn from Tunisia
I've spent the last week in Tunis, which has been exhilarating for me, and I think for most Tunisians who have just held the first truly free election in their country's history. The results — a large plurality for the moderate Islamist Nahda Party (...)

26 - 10 - 2011
Which Turkish model?
The visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Cairo this week was probably the peak of a now well-established phenomenon of Turkophilia (some call it "Ottomania") in Egypt. Indeed, there is much to admire about Turkey. It's a regional (...)

19 - 09 - 2011
In Sinai, Egypt should be tough but fair
On 29 July, a group of around hundred armed men rode into the town of Arish in northern Sinai on motorbikes. They proceeded to attack the central police station, as well as a hospital morgue where they were reported to have taken a body of one of (...)

06 - 09 - 2011
Why the success of the 25 January revolution resonates beyond Egypt
I recently returned from a trip to Morocco, where a new constitution proposed by King Mohammed VI has just been approved by popular referendum. The new constitution is a mixed bag: it offers some advances, notably recognition of Tamazight, the (...)

10 - 07 - 2011
Never mind the firsters, get the process right
Let us start with the good news: the unveiling, a few days ago, of a blueprint for what the new Egypt should look like by Sheikh al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb is a positive development. Like a similar proposal by the head of National Association for (...)

27 - 06 - 2011
A dalliance, not an alliance
The recent announcement, much trumpeted by the Muslim Brothers, that they - or more accurately their new party, Freedom and Justice (although who can tell the difference?) — are forming an electoral alliance with the Wafd Party (and a bunch of (...)

21 - 06 - 2011
The plot against Egypt
For a while, we've been hearing newspaper and television commentators speak, in their usual ominous tones, about various intrigues to subvert the revolution and bring Egypt down to its knees. In their view of the world, Egypt is very much umm (...)

14 - 06 - 2011
Out of Arabia
Seen from the Middle East, the American debate on US foreign policy in the region is frequently tiresome, even if it can often have radical consequences on the lives of millions. President Barack Obama's latest speech on the Middle East on May 19 (...)

12 - 06 - 2011
What Obama will not say
Tonight, US President Barack Obama will make his first major speech touching on the situation in the Middle East since the uprisings began in late 2010. The speech is intended to bring some clarity to US policy in the region in reaction to the (...)

19 - 05 - 2011
Egypt, I like your style
The Fatah-Hamas reconciliation that was inked in Cairo on 4 May is important mainly for Palestinian reasons: For the first time since 2006, an opportunity exists to form a united Palestinian position to address the impasse of the peace process. But (...)

08 - 05 - 2011
A new era for US-Egypt relations?
It is too early to know what the outcome of the 25 January revolution will be. We know that, for now, there have already been major improvements: presidents can no longer serve life terms, the mafia that ran the government has begun to be (...)

08 - 04 - 2011
The khawaga''s lament
As Al-Masry Al-Youm's only non-Egyptian regular columnist, I have the painful but necessary task to highlight how foreigners residing in Egypt have lived through this revolution. This is, admittedly, a matter of tertiary importance: Egyptians are in (...)

30 - 03 - 2011
This is more of a revolution than you think
Seeing the images of the storming of the State Security Bastilles in Nasr City, Alexandria, Beheira, Aswan, Siwa and elsewhere, it dawned on me that many--including myself--have underestimated the scope of the events of the last few weeks. On 11 (...)

09 - 03 - 2011
The year of spontaneous combustion
January 1, 2012 At first, when it began nearly a year ago, many people thought it was just a copycat fad that would soon disappear. Inspired by the events of the Tunisian uprising, people--mainly young men--began to set themselves on fire. It began (...)

19 - 01 - 2011
Tunisia: A warning sign for Arab regimes
As I write these lines, a 7pm curfew has been imposed in Tunis, perhaps the clearest sign thus far that the wave of protests and discontent that has taken over Tunisia since 17 December is not about to end. I have spent the day following the scraps (...)

11 - 01 - 2011
In tragedy lies opportunity
Al-Masry Al-Youm published a poignant article written by Noha El-Hennawy two days ago. It was about 22-year-old Mariam Fekry, one of the victims of the bombing at Alexandria's Church of the Two Saints, who had written on her Facebook page that 2010 (...)

05 - 01 - 2011
Politics vs. Economics
A few weeks ago, in a meeting with Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid, I asked how the uncertainty over Egypt's future leadership was affecting investment in the country--a portfolio Rachid has overseen since the departure of (...)

29 - 12 - 2010
The Khaled Saeed project
There is something definitely strange about Egyptian politics. Opposition parties decide to participate in elections, even though they know from experience that they will be rigged. Having decided to fight for scraps--or, perhaps, for the nobler (...)

21 - 12 - 2010
Where do the Brothers go from here?
Suppose that a person with absolutely zero knowledge of Egyptian politics just arrived into the country. Inquiring about all the colorful electoral banners, they would be told that an election had just taken place in which the biggest opposition (...)

07 - 12 - 2010
What do these elections say about Egypt?
What is one to make of the first round of elections that took place on Sunday? One could note, as every civil society monitor and every human rights group has, that fraud was widespread, from candidate registration to polling day itself, and that (...)

30 - 11 - 2010
Bullies can''t be bribed
The latest developments in the Middle East peace process have been mind-boggling. After a 10-month settlement construction freeze in the West Bank, during which Israel continued to expand settlements, the United States is trying to bribe Israel into (...)

23 - 11 - 2010
Shazli country
For several days, rumors of Kamal al-Shazli's death had been circulating. The man himself had threatened to sue his Wafdist rival over spreading false allegations of his demise to secure an electoral advantage, a tactic he must have grudgingly (...)

16 - 11 - 2010
An Egyptian test for Obama
Last Tuesday, an unusual meeting took place at the National Security Council (NSC), the body that advises US President Barack Obama on national security policy and foreign affairs. It was unusual because NSC Middle East grandees such as Dan Shapiro (...)

09 - 11 - 2010
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