An interview of Mubarak by Charlie Rose aired Monday night. I found most interesting Mubarak's explanation of human rights and his claim that he has not discussed succession with his son.


While Mubarak treads lightly when responding to Rose's questions about Barack Obama and former president George W. Bush, Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour says that the current US president is neglecting reform in Egypt.

Mubarak's visit to Washington was met with skepticism by the Middle Eastern press, while US media have focused on 'the power transfer'.

Meanwhile, Ramadan is set to begin this week. While I respect those who sincerely espouse the ideals of this holy month, I am not particularly disappointed to be missing a good portion of it. To learn more about Ramadan, visit the CBC's succint FAQ page.

In Rotary news, I just discovered (shame on me, since it's been posted for a few months now) that the economic downturn has forced Rotary to discontinue two of its three ambassadorial scholarship programs. Read more on the decision here.

  Cynthia and I just got back from a relaxing and satisfying dinner outing to Café Arabica in Zamalek.  Stuffed with salad and fiteer and frozen yogurt, we stopped to get her some phone credit on the way home.  Perched on one of the Mobile Store's stools was a distinguished looking man in his 60s who inquired where we were from.  I told him America and he wished us a good visit.  I politely corrected him, telling him we lived in the neighborhood.  He told us we had more courage than he, as he, though Egyptian, had been living in Australia for 38 years and was only here on business.  You know you're in trouble when an Egyptian's giving you kudos for living in downtown Cairo.

  Alas, Bab al-Luq isn't so very shabby.  The water and electricity have been working far more consistently this semester and a couple of the doors in the apartment aren't broken.  

  I finished my contributions to the mock convention that is our group project for Comparative Migration Law and tonight I plan to make a dent in my final paper for that class.  I can't believe next week is the last week of classes for this semester.  Al-hamdulillah!

  AUC hasn't been doing much to garner my favor lately, it having been revealed to me today that I may have to register for the "thesis guidance" course during the spring semester of 2010 rather than doing so this fall.  Meanwhile, its student newspaper has revealed that a majority of the student body at this university whose mission includes "advancing the ideals of American liberal arts education" and "promoting international understanding" do not believe that Israel has a right to exist.  AUC produces many members of Egypt's élite.  The ideas of today's AUCians is likely to bespeak the direction of future government policy.  

News:

Egypt court ruling bans pornographic websites

Mubarak says Israeli FM still not welcome in Egypt

Tone for future of US-Egypt relationship to be set by Obama speech

  Today wasn't particularly exciting for its hours of analyzing SSPS data and making a Power Point presentation for tomorrow, but I did call and chat with my grandma and my mom to wish them a Happy Mother's Day.  I also had a phone interview for a half hour.  It seemed to have gone well and I'll know for sure whether or not I've been awarded the scholarship by Thursday.

Lynch from Abu Aardvark not thrilled with Cairo as choice of location for Obama's pivotal speech

Israel PM Netanyahu coming to Egypt tomorrow

Saudi judge okays physical abuse should wives spend too much of husbands' money

Two Battles

Yesterday was quite a productive (and successful) day in a number of ways. I started off by heading to the main downtown campus to complete the process for obtaining my student visa. Leaving my passport with foreign nationals has never felt like such a relief. Ha! My next stop was the campus bookstore, where I picked up some cards and postcards in order to send correspondence to people I've neglected. After this, I hopped over to the Greek campus where a letter from my grandma was waiting for me. Getting mail is always nice, especially when it arrives in one piece and unopened; my mom is sending me a package and I'm not holding my breath for its final integrity upon arrival. Back at home, I polished up my midterm and began a reflection paper before classtime rolled around.
After three hours of nervous fidgeting in class, wondering how the election was going, my classmates Phil, Erin, Brandy, Mary-Anne, and I headed to Zamalek, first for Cairo's best pizza at Maison Thomas, then to a professor's apartment to watch the battle for the presidency unfold. Meanwhile, back in my apartment building, something equally dramatic was taking place. The attempted eviction of my Danish neighbor, which had raised the hackles of her American flatmate, Catherine, turned into a full-blown and mildly violent event involving lawyers and police. In fact, after some physical altercations, the inhabitants of apartment 8, my landlord, and the rest of those present ended up at the nearest police station. My histrionic landlord apparently was shrieking wild threats at the girls across the hall, reminding them that his uncle who lives upstairs worked for the Interior Ministry (think intelligence, national security, immigration), that he was an auspicious doctor and Catherine just a lowly novice lawyer who, because she was American, did not have the advantage legally. His upperhand proved non-existant as Catherine managed to get a restraining order on him, a promise he would return her deposit, and final month in the apartment before she has to move out. Craziness.
Compared to this, the other battle going on between Senators Obama and McCain seemed far more tame. I was glad to have been in Zamalek watching CNN International with other Obama-supporters (as I've said, McCain supporters are few and far between here), a Palestianian-Australian, a Brit, an Iraqi refugee (who, incidentally is a McCain fan), aFrenchmen, etc. I returned home around 4:30 AM, staying up a while longer in hopes of seeing the results. I caved, however, and went to bed, waking up to find out that the candidate I supported was now the president-elect. Realizing the implications of this for our foreign policy (a main issue in my decision to vote for Obama) and a whole slew of other arenas was so invigorating. I did not feel the same way four years ago when I helped re-elect our current president.
Well, I could babble on a lot about all of this, but I'm meeting an old friend that I knew from Dunlap High School who happens to be in Cairo and I've just spent too much time watching the Obama victory speech and the McCain concession speech. McCain was exceptionally gracious, even if some of his supporters were not.

Election Politics over Lebanese

For lunch, I met up with my friend Maged who you may remember from my excursion to Ras Sudr at the Red Sea. He and his cousin and I went for Lebanese food at Taboula. Or at least, I went for Lebanese which is despite some similiarities to Egyptian cuisine, too foreign for Maged. He opted for some meat and french fries alternative from the "international dishes" options. I had fatteh with eggplant and a delicious fresh salad. Over the course of our meal, we began discussing politics and I find it quite telling that as I was typing just now I almost wrote "disgusting politics".
Apparently, Maged's been hearing things from relatives in America and from Fox News about how bad Barack Obama would be for America. Naturally, I reassured Maged that he was definitely not a Muslim and that it shouldn't matter if we had a Muslim president anyway and also suggsested that perhaps allowing gays to marry was a little less evil than turning Iraqi civilians into casualties. Firmly pro-life myself, I agreed with him that Obama's proposed policies on abortion and adoption did not go as far as I'd like them to, but posited that a McCain presidency would do little to change the status quo. I think that a more rigorous sex ed. program in public schools would also help reduce unwanted pregancies, in turn reducing the number of abortions. This is more likely to happen under Obama. Anyway, Maged wasn't having any of it. Fox News and his relatives who swear Obama's a Muslim poised to cause the downfall of America had already won his heart and mind. Defeated, but glad Maged wasn't a US citizen with a vote, I did the only thing I could, called up Catherine, my favorite McCain supporter (the only American I know here who is) and got them together to chat about the economy, their reservations about Obama, and a host of other unrelated non-political things. They exchanged phone numbers and plan to hang out soon. I'm fostering cross-cultural relationships and goodwill even among those whose political views drive me nuts. Go figure.
For the past hour or two, I've been working on my midterm, which is actually a great deal of fun. My law professor, Mike Kagan, has a great sense of humor and has incorporated it into this three theoretical cases to be analyzed. Maybe now I should start on another paper I have due Tuesday or my Rotary report. Yikes! So much to do.

News:
Online counter-convention held by Egyptian opposition
Egypt to recognize Kosovo's independence soon
Students associated with Islamic Brotherhood launch xenophobic campaign on campuses
Mubarak pledges reform

Lazy Day

I managed to get my reading done for Refugee Law, but I don't recall what else became of the last ten hours that I've been puttering around the apartment. I did dash outside wearing a Swiss flag shirt to drop some postcards in a postbox just down the street. I couldn't help but wonder if wearing a bright red shirt with a large white cross in the middle was something of a statement in the (ever-transfixed) Egyptian eyes that were on me as I ran my errand. Then again, those eyes are always on me. People aren't exactly discreet with their staring here.
Oh! And I also made dinner. It was a variation on the most recent homemade dinner's theme: veggies, lentils, tomato sauce, and pasta. It was, if I do say so myself, quite delicious. With a bit of sea salt and ground black pepper it would've been fit for serving normal people.
I managed to watching the entire debate last night on Al-Jazeera English. The whole thing seemed to be a lot of bluster and very little substance. Due to my current whereabouts, I was interested on the candidates' positions on the Middle East and I fear that John McCain's approach would further isolate our country and alienate potential partners for peace and cooperation. Obama's responses seemed measured and calm, though he's naturally a better public speaker (which is why I think a lot of people are unthinkingly entranced by him). McCain's blood seems always to be on the verge of boiling, like something rash and offensive is waiting to burst from his mouth. His smarmy, patronizing demeanor didn't help lighten the ink filling the box next to Obama's name on my absentee ballot, that's for certain. Anyway, pardon my opinion and allow me to reiterate that this is my blog alone and the opinions contained herein in no way represent those of Rotary, a non-partisan, non-sectarian service organization. ;) And for that very reason, I'll continue on just a bit more to say that I'm highly disappointed that I didn't receive a response from the Schock campaign to an email inquiry I made hoping to clarify the candidates positions on a number of issues.
Anyway, ostensibly this blog is meant to be about Egypt, so here's some news:

Faulty wiring again blamed as more of Cairo up in flames (not so very far from where I live, but far enough that I only know about it from the news online)
Sexual harrassment, Egypt's ever-present and glaringly obvious social ill
The blog entry of a friend who's experienced and observed such harrassment herself-she highlights clearly AUC's woeful negligence in helping young women deal with this issue and, in fact, claims the university actually places them in vulnerable positions
Somali pirates free Egyptian ship and crew
Egyptian prisoners being allowed to order in, kebab and pizza being the most popular choices
Media and morality in the Middle East