Egyptians are not destined to choose between the evils of Mubarak and those of the Brothers
The tale of the poor man, the rabbi and the pig is a good allegory for the current situation in Egypt, novelist Alaa Aswani noted in his article Will Mubarak keep smiling? which was carried by the Cairo-based newspaper Al Masry Al Youm.
A poor Jewish man lived with his wife and 10 children in a small two-room house. Unable to bear the misery, he went to a rabbi for advice. The rabbi ordered him to bring a pig into his home, saying this was God's will.
The man was astounded but eventually obeyed the rabbi. The situation could not be worse. The stinky pig made the man's life a living hell.
After a week, the man returned to the rabbi, asking to get rid of the pig. But the rabbi resolutely refused.
Another week passed. The man went again to the rabbi, crying and begging for a way out. The rabbi finally allowed him to take the pig out of the house.
The rabbi later asked the man how his life was, to which he replied: "True, I live with 10 children in two small rooms and we are extremely poor, but thank goodness, we live in bliss now, without the pig".
Awsani commented that "this story is usually used to argue for the idea that a man must not complain about his miserable situation, because it could be worse".
"But whenever I read it, I wonder why the man in the story had to choose between bad and worse. Is the man not entitled to live a decent life with his family?"
In the aftermath of the revolution, Egyptians were sanguine about the future. Yet two years on, the situation has deteriorated: unrest, price rises, unemployment everywhere. The situation led many Egyptians to become nostalgic about the oppressive, corrupt regime of Hosni Mubarak, just like the man felt about his dire life before he brought the pig home.
It is the worsening situation after the revolution that led Mr Mubarak to smile during the first session of his retrial, looking confident and waving to his supporters as if he were a presidential candidate.
It seemed as if he was telling Egyptians: "You rose against me and forced me out of power, and all you've got from the revolution is chaos and misery. If my rule was bad, you can see that the Brotherhood's is much worse".
Yet Egyptians were not wrong to topple Mubarak. They were wrong to have allowed him to enjoy his power for so long; and they were wrong when they entrusted Mohammed Morsi and the Brotherhood with achieving the goals of the revolution.
The Brotherhood in power is a sad but necessary experience for Egyptians to learn how to separate religion from those who trade on it.
The revolution will continue until its goals are achieved. Then Mr Mubarak will find no reason to smile, Aswani concluded.
Boston bombings a plain act of terrorism
The bombings that targeted marathon runners in the US city of Boston on Monday need to be condemned in strongest terms, regardless of who the plotters might be, Arabic-language newspapers in the UAE said yesterday, urging commentators not to jump to conclusions about the identity of the culprits.
"The bombings are clearly terrorist attacks as they indiscriminately targeted a crowd of normal people … but that does not quite help in determining the identity of the suspects, their cultural backgrounds or intentions," the Dubai-based newspaper Al Bayan said in its editorial yesterday.
In 1995, accusations were levelled against Muslims over the Oklahoma City bombing that claimed 168 innocent lives. The culprit turned out to be an American extremist.
The Sharjah-based newspaper Al Khaleej said events like the Boston bombings, which killed three people and injured nearly 200, are painful reminders of the need to boost global efforts on counterterrorism.
"The general condemnation of this criminal act, as expressed by most countries around the world despite their diverse orientations and politics, is a reflection of a level of solidarity that must be exploited to thwart further attacks of this kind," the newspaper said.
"This roaming criminality must be stamped out … and that is the joint responsibility of all nations."
Syrian transgressions in Lebanon continue
Syrian aggression against Lebanese border towns must be treated as more than individual cases of security breaches, columnist Emadeddine Adeeb wrote in the London-based newspaper Asharq Al Awsat.
Military action has been escalating on the Lebanese-Syrian border for the past three months. Syrian authorities justify it as defensive action against "terrorist" elements in the Free Syrian Army that are taking refuge with their allies in Lebanon.
The attacks, including raids by the Syrian air force on border towns, pose a challenge to the Lebanese president who has been trying to distance himself from the fallout of the Syrian war.
"But it seems that attempts to shield Lebanon from the ramifications of the Syrian crisis are tricky, if not impossible," said the writer.
Many complications make it quite hard to prevent the war from spilling over the border. One of these is the interest that major Lebanese factions have in the Syrian conflict in which Hizbollah is taking part.
At the same time, Sunni forces in Tripoli and Tyre are implicated in supporting the ultra-Islamist Jabhat Al Nusra that fights against the Assad regime.
It is unlikely that Beirut will be able to separate itself politically from Damascus.
* Digest complied by The Translation Desk
translation@thenational.ae
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
DAY%20ONE%20RESULT
%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Charlotte%20Kool%20(NED)%20%E2%80%93%20Team%20DSM%3A%202hrs%2C%2047min%2C%2014sec%3Cbr%3E2.%20Lorena%20Wiebes%20(NED)%20%E2%80%93%20Team%20SD%20Worx%3A%20%2B4%20secs%3Cbr%3E3.%20Chiara%20Consonni%20(ITA)%20%E2%80%93%20UAE%20Team%20ADQ%3A%20%2B5%20secs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Naga
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EMeshal%20Al%20Jaser%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EAdwa%20Bader%2C%20Yazeed%20Almajyul%2C%20Khalid%20Bin%20Shaddad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHakbah%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENaif%20AbuSaida%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E22%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-Series%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGlobal%20Ventures%20and%20Aditum%20Investment%20Management%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs: 2018 Maserati GranTurismo/GranCabrio
Price, base Dh485,000 (GranTurismo) and Dh575,000 (GranCabrio)
Engine 4.7L V8
Transmission Six-speed automatic
Power 460hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 520Nm @ 4,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.3L (GranTurismo) and 14.5L (GranCabrio) / 100km
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
More from Aya Iskandarani
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Grubtech
Founders: Mohamed Al Fayed and Mohammed Hammedi
Launched: October 2019
Employees: 50
Financing stage: Seed round (raised $2 million)
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors