Unite Nation’s Rebuke: President Trump Political Blunder

Recently, President Trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and that the US Embassy will be relocated in it.

Such political decision is in violation of all UN resolution and of International Law.

Jerusalem and the West Bank were illegally occupied during the 1967 war.

The occupation was condemned by the UN. It instructed Israel to retreat to the 1967 boundaries as stated by the UN Resolution 242.

Israel has and is ignoring such instruction. It has been and is always supported by the US government who used 44 vetoes to prevent the implementation of Resolution 242 which condemn Israel.

On December 12, 2017, Egypt introduced a resolution at the UN Security council rejecting President’s Trump political order. All member of the Council voted in support of the Egyptian Resolution. However, the US representative used its veto to prevent its passage.

The same Egyptian Resolution was then taken to the UN General Assembly on December 20, 2017.  It was supported by 128 UN member. However, the US voted against it.

Since the creation of the State of Israel by President Truman in 1948, American foreign policy toward the Arab World has been the source of political instability, which led to the rise of terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS.

The American irrational and aggressive political strategy is the result of corruption that dominates American political institutions.

 H. Reid, the previous majority leader in the Senate stated that the Congress is corrupt. He further said that members of Congress who put their own personal interest ahead of the national interest should not be in the Congress.

Senator Reid was right. Unfortunately, such political behavior of the majority of the members of Congress has been the same since WW II.

One of the major factor contribution to the American political corruption is due to the role of the lobbyists in the nation capital. It represents political and economic groups in the US.

Financial contributions to politicians through Lobbyists plays a major role in influencing foreign and national policy.

I is a well-known fact that AIPAC the American Israeli Public Affairs is the most influential and strongest political committee in the US.

AIPAC influences and shape the American foreign policy toward Israel and the whole Middle East. Its motto is ‘WHAT ISRAEL WANTS, ISRAEL GETS.’

 

Unite Nation’s Rebuke: President Trump Political Blunder

Unite Nation’s Rebuke: President Trump Political Blunder

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There is a saying by Herodotus known to Egyptians that the Nile is the gift to Egypt.

Without the Nile, Egypt cannot survive.

Dr. Noor el Din, an Egyptian water expert pointed out that Egypt need at least 93,000 cu.m  of water per year. The water available to Egypt presently is 62,000 cu.m. to use per year ( Sada el Watan, 11/14/2017).

During the past three years, the water ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt met to discuss issues related to the constructions of the Al Nahd Dam in Ethiopia and its impact on Sudan and Egypt.

They discussed the technicality of such project and its impact on the countries involved. Actually, the French company that is conducting a research on the impact of the Dam on the different countries, asked for clarification about the 1959 International Agreement that guarantee Egypt 55,000 cu.m. of water per year, and if it should continue to conduct such research or stop it.

Both Ethiopia and the Sudan water ministers said it should not include the International Agreement in their research! While Egypt’s minister insisted such research should be maintained and the International Agreement should be included.

There was no consensus and the meeting ended with no decision taken.

The policy among the three countries involved has been influenced by an outside force and secret polical agreements.

For example, the Ethiopian government offered free electrical power generated by the Dam to the Sudanese government in return for their support for the construction of the Dam.

It is known that the Sudanese president is member of the Muslim Brotherhood and does not support the Egyptian government.

Qatari government has been playing a negative role towards Egypt, along with Sudan and Ethiopia.

Furthermore, prince Tamim’s mother Sheikha Moza visited Sudan to support its president granted him one billion dollars to promote tourism in Sudan. She publicly stated that there are more historical antiquities in Sudan than in Egypt!!!

The Ethiopian prime minister was in Qatar recently to request a financial loan to continue the construction of the Dam. The loan was granted.

The technical and political consequences of the Dam’s construction is getting to be quite complicated.

The Egyptian government is in a strong legal position based on international law.

The issue should be taken to the International Court of Justice. Meanwhile, Ethiopia continues the building of the Al Nahda Dam and may be Egypt will have to face reality and  accept what the Ethiopian government proposes.

The US Corrupt Political System

On December 6, 2017 President trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Such a political policy is in violation of all United Nations Resolutions and International Law.
Prior to Trump declaration many world political leaders from Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China and Pope Francis as well opposed such a policy. They maintained that such policy should be part of an Israeli-Palestinians final political settlement.
President Trump in his statement said that he is fulfilling his campaign promise.
Such policy is not new in the political American arena. President Truman made a similar statement when he was campaigning for the white house in 1947 despite the opposition of his advisers who told him that the creation of the State of Israel will be against the national interest of the US.
President Truman pointed out that he needed the Jewish votes in three states: New York, Pennsylvania and California.
Israel was created by President Truman in 1948. Since then, the US government constantly supported Israeli terrorism against the Palestinians.
Israel occupied the rest of Palestine during the 1967 war. More than 350 Jewish settlements were built in the West Bank where more than 500,000 Israeli settlers are living. The US has constantly vetoed any resolution condemning Israeli violations of the UN Resolutions at the Security Council..
Since the end of World War II, the US foreign policy regarding the ME contributed to the rise of international terrorist organizations, such as al Qaeda and ISIS.
The American political system is totally corrupted. Few years ago, the Democratic Majority Leader, H. Reid stated publicly that the American Congress is totally corrupt. He further added that members of congress who put their own interest ahead of US national interest should not be in Congress.
Pressure groups such as AIPAC and others play an influential role through the lobbyists who contributed money during the elections. In return, the elected politicians implement their promises to the lobbyists. This is what President Trump pointed out publically that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel and by doing so today, he is fulfilling his promise to those who voted for him, American Jews and the Evangelical.

Al Nahda Dam and Its Impact on Egypt

There is a saying by Herodotus known to Egyptians that the Nile is the gift to Egypt.

Without the Nile, Egypt cannot survive.

Dr. Noor el Din, an Egyptian water expert pointed out that Egypt need at least 93,000 cu.m  of water per year. The water available to Egypt presently is 62,000 cu.m. to use per year ( Sada el Watan, 11/14/2017).

During the past three years, the water ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt met to discuss issues related to the constructions of the Al Nahd Dam in Ethiopia and its impact on Sudan and Egypt.

They discussed the technicality of such project and its impact on the countries involved. Actually, the French company that is conducting a research on the impact of the Dam on the different countries, asked for clarification about the 1959 International Agreement that guarantee Egypt 55,000 cu.m. of water per year, and if it should continue to conduct such research or stop it.

Both Ethiopia and the Sudan water ministers said it should not include the International Agreement in their research! While Egypt’s minister insisted such research should be maintained and the International Agreement should be included.

There was no consensus and the meeting ended with no decision taken.

The policy among the three countries involved has been influenced by an outside force and secret polical agreements.

For example, the Ethiopian government offered free electrical power generated by the Dam to the Sudanese government in return for their support for the construction of the Dam.

It is known that the Sudanese president is member of the Muslim Brotherhood and does not support the Egyptian government.

Qatari government has been playing a negative role towards Egypt, along with Sudan and Ethiopia.

Furthermore, prince Tamim’s mother Sheikha Moza visited Sudan to support its president granted him one billion dollars to promote tourism in Sudan. She publicly stated that there are more historical antiquities in Sudan than in Egypt!!!

The Ethiopian prime minister was in Qatar recently to request a financial loan to continue the construction of the Dam. The loan was granted.

The technical and political consequences of the Dam’s construction is getting to be quite complicated.

The Egyptian government is in a strong legal position based on international law.

The issue should be taken to the International Court of Justice. Meanwhile, Ethiopia continues the building of the Al Nahda Dam and may be Egypt will have to face reality and  accept what the Ethiopian government proposes.

Qatari Government’s Support of Terrorism

 

On May 21, 2017, an Arab Islamic American Summit was held in Saudi Arabia. Among the discussed topics was about the Qatari government role supporting, with money and arms, terrorist organizations such as ISIS, and Al Nusra

among others.

President Trump stated during that Summit meeting, that was the beginning of the end of a  Qatar’s role in supporting terrorists

On July 27, 2017, four Arab states, Egypt-Saudi Arabia-Bahrain, the Emirates, broke diplomatic relationship with the Qatari government and began a policy of boycotting Qatar.

President Trump ignored his public statement regarding Qatar.

Actually, Secretary of State Tillerson, went to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the Emirates in order to convince them to change their policy towards Qatar. But, he failed.

Recently, since that Summit meeting, more information regarding Qatar’s role in supporting terrorist groups.

In October 2017, two academic centers focused on the issue of the support of Qatar to terrorists: The Hudson Institute in Washington and the French International Relations and Strategic Center in Paris.

Among the speakers that have participating in Washington, were two ex-government high officials, Leon Panetta who served as a Defense Secretary during the Obama administration.

Panetta stated that the Qatari government provided arms and financial support to ISIS, Al Qaeda, and  Al Nusra, as well as the Muslim Brothers in Syria Libya and Egypt.

The second speaker in Washington was David Petraeus, who served as Director of the CIA. He also stated that Qatar is supporting terrorist groups financially and with arms.

In Paris, the Director of the Center of International Relations, Fredrick Ansel, stated that governments around the world should realize that the Muslim Brothers do support terrorism.

The former Qatari Prime Minister, Hamad-ben Jassim has also stated that the Gulf Gang of Four, without naming them, supported ISIS, and Al Nusra’s terrorist activities in Syria through Turkey. ( theduran.com).

Furthermore, and ex-Qatari foreign minister admitted that the US coalition, including Qatar and Turkey. Supported terrorists to destroy Syrian(veternstorytoday.com). Many of those who were recruited by ISIS went to Syria through Turkey.

The Turkish press revealed that those who were recruited to go to Syria, were trained in Turkish military basis. They were then armed and sent to Syria through the Turkish borders. There, they were met by ISIS representatives and taken to where ISIS was in control.

Turkey, also bought, for their use, crude oil from ISIS that was transported by tankers from the oil fields in Syria.

ISIS were paid more than two billion dollars per year from the sale of oil to Turkey.

The 2017 Census Report

During the last week of September 2017, the Census Department began releasing the result of the 2017 census survey.

Abu Bakr el Guindi, director of the Census Department, stated that the population increase in Egypt is the most dangerous threat society is facing.

At present, Egypt population exceeds 104.2 million people, close to 10 million are living outside of Egypt.

Egypt’s rate of population growth is 2.5% per year. This requires 7.5% economic growth to maintain economic stability.

The average number of children per family is 3.5. The number of people under the age of 15 is 34.2% of the total population, and those of the age between 15-35 is equal to 34.5%. This reflects that more than two third of Egypt’s population is under 35 years of age. This classify the Egyptian society as a youthful one. The number of people who get married under the age of 18 is 18.3.

This reflects that the government is ignoring the crime committed by public officials, and the religious authority. For instance, unfortunately the ma’zoun certifies the marriage contract of people under the age of 18 with the father’s consent.

Recently a mother reported the marriage of her 12 years old daughter in mithabib village, in el gharbiya governorate.

The investigation by the government authority of that specific case revealed that the mosque’s Imam of the village conducted 27 illegal marriages in this village in violation of the marriage law that specifies girls should not be married before the age of 18.

There are 4618 government certified ma’zun in Egypt, and many of them violate the marriage law in Egypt. Such violation contributes to the population increase. Furthermore, it affects the life of many young girls negatively.

Egypt need a new a stern criminal law that punishes those who performs such marriages. They should be committed to prison for life. Moreover, there should be a reward for those who inform the government of such marriage violations.

The Problem of Illiteracy in the Arab World

The UN has designated the month of September of each year to work towards the elimination of world illiteracy. It calls for governments that have a high rate of illiteracy to reexamine their educational strategy and introduce new methods to help to lower the illiteracy rates.

Illiteracy in the Arab world is still very high. It is estimated that half of the nearly 400 million

people cannot read or write.

A quick look at Egypt where one fourth of the total Arab population reside demonstrate the educational dilemma that Egypt faces.

1.     The official illiteracy rate exceeds 33% of the total population. In addition, I will add another 15-20% of people who finished middle and high schools who are functionally illiterate.

2.     The new minister of education stated publicly that the government needs to build 100.000 new class rooms in order to cut by half the average number of students per class room which is 160 students.

Even if the above is implemented, the problem still exists. How could one effectively educate 80 students in a class room?

It has been reported that nearly half a million students were not admitted to school’s due to the lack of space (Masr el Arabia 9/24/207).

I would like to stress the fact that the educational budge set by the government is very low and could not meet the educational challenge which Egypt is facing.

Due to the poor quality of teaching, millions of families rely on private tutoring to help their children. The cost of such tutoring has been estimated to be between 16-20 billion Egyptian pounds per year. This encourages some teachers to perform poorly in their classes in order to earn more money from private tutoring.

The rate of illiteracy in the rest of the Arab world varies. For example, in Jordan, Lebanon, the Gulf States, and Tunisia have the lowest rate of illiteracy in the Arab world.

It is a well-known fact that no society progresses economically without good education as well as scientific research.

The UN Human Right Report

The UN Human Rights organization has recently issued its annual report. It revealed that Turkey and Israel are the most abuser of human rights. It also listed China, India, Pakistan, Minimar and Venezuela are also abuser of human rights (Al Nahar Newspaper,9/22/2017).

Andrew Gilmore, Assistant Director of Human Rights organization, stated in the Report that there are cases individual kidnapping, and jailing without trial, and disappearance of some people.

The Report was indeed a surprise to me because it did not listed Egypt as abuser of Human Rights

On the other hand, private Human Rights Organization, that is, non-governmental, do focus on Egypt

It is a fact that those private organizations are paid by Qatar to turn the world opinion against Egypt.

It is a well- known fact that the Qatari government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support terrorism world- wide.

International Ranking of Basic Education in Egypt

Recently the International Economic Council evaluated the quality of basic education in 138 contires as of 2016,
Egypt ranked 134 out of the 138 countries. Such low ranking reveals that the Egyptian government is not considering basic education as number one priority, despite of the fact that more than one third of the 94 million Egyptians are classified as illiterates.
There are a number of factors that contribute to this problem. The two major factors are:
1. Not enough money is allocated to the educational budget to build more schools to meet the need of the high population increase. Egypt adds 2.6 million people to its population per year. The government allocates more money for energy subsidies than for education and health care.
2. There are not enough schools and class rooms to accommodate the influx of young students who have reached school age.
Recently, the minister of education stated publicly that the government needs to build 100,000 new classrooms.The number of students per class in the majority of public schools exceeds 170 students.
This, of course, is a major factor that contributes to the poor quality of education.
In any country, the dynamo of economic growth, depends on the quality of education and academic research.
I am of the opinion that the Egyptian government should rank education as  number one priority. 

The US Missiles Attack on Syria

The US missiles attack on al shuirat Syrian military base was in retaliation to the Syrian government air attack on khan shaikhoun. It is said that the Syrian government used poison gas which led to the killing of more than 100 innocents Syrians, many were children.

Both Russia and the Syrian governments condemned the US air attack stating that it was in violation of the UN Charter and international law. This US attack will lead to negative consequences.

The Syrian government denied the use of poisonous gas in its air raid. It bombed a hidden armament storage which stored gas bombs which was smuggled from Iraq to al Nusrah terrorist group who happen to be in control of khan shaikhoun.

The UN was investigating the Syrian attack and the US should have waited for the UN investigation report prior to the bombing.

It is a fact that the US government is consistent in its aggressive behavior and for its lack of consideration to the UN Charter or the international law.

Many Europeans governments, Turkey, Israel, Saudi-Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the Emirates and Jordan supported the US attack. Russia and some Muslim countries condemned the attack.

The Egyptian government criticized the US air attack stating that the US should have waited for the UN investigation, but it refrained from either supporting or condemning the US air attack

I would like to conclude by stressing the fact that the US missile attack reflects the consisting aggressive behavior of the US government through history.

President El Sessi Made History

President El Sessi official visit to the US reflects president Trump new political foreign strategy towards the Middle East, which was ignored by president Obama.

President Trump warm reception of El Sessi was more than one expected from the usual political protocol.  There are reasons for such warm welcome.

Fist, president Trump objective is to bring a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has been going on for more than seven decades. This conflict contributed in many ways to the rise of international terrorism.

Egypt is the major political power in the Arab World and the most influential. President El Sessi could play an effective role vis a vis the Palestinians in order to reach a common solution with the Israelis regarding the eternal conflict.

Furthermore, the Egyptian president will be influential in obtaining political support from other Arab countries to support a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. President Trump took this opportunity into consideration and encouraged president El Sessi to meet with political leaders of the American congress and the Pentagon. If president Trump strategy is successful in bringing an end to the conflict, the negative views of the majority of American and European people will change.

Second, president Trump’s positive attitude towards El Sessi is also attributed to Egypt’s role in fighting terrorism in Sinai

Terrorism has been a major issue before the US presidential election. Hence, after the election president Trump with the help of Egypt vowed to defeat ISIS and eliminate terrorism in the Middle East and hopefully worldwide.

Third, the American president encouraged the American Chamber of Commerce to urge American companies to invest in Egypt. This will help the Egyptian economy which is in dire need for economic help. It will enable Egypt to be a strong power in one of the most important geographical area in the world.

Fourth, the American Secretary of State, stated that Egypt is a safe country to visit, and encouraged Americans to visit Egypt rather than Turkey which is a dangerous place.

Fifth, president Trump new political strategy changed the US negative views of Egypt.

The Chicken Came Home to Roost

Yesterday, March22, 2017, a terrorist attack occurred in front of the British Parliament.

A vehicle and knife attack let to the injury of 40 people. A policeman and the terrorist were killed.

I used to above title because of Tony Blair, an ex-prime minister and president George W. Bush.

They ordered the invasion of Iraq without any justification. This    unjust war let to the killing of more than one million Iraqi and 4500 American soldiers.

The political, physical and economic Iraqi settings were completely destroyed.

Actually, the Iraqi invasion that started in 2003 and lasted until 2011 led to the rise of ISIS.

Hence, both Tony Blair and George W. Bush are to be considered as war criminals.

Rarely does the Western media refers to the fact that the rise of international terrorism is in fact the result of the Iraqi invasion.

Political leaders commit war crimes and are rarely held accountable for it, and It is the innocent people who end paying the price for such horrendous crimes.

International Women's Day

The International Women’s Day is a reminder of gender equality. Sadly, the majority of world societies have failed to achieve such goal.

In general women are still discriminated against and are not equally treated with men, even in the USA.

The Arab world is not different. Women are left behind despite the fact that Islam does not differentiate between men and women, as it is apparent in some Qur’anic verses.

Recently, the Egyptian Census Department (February 2017) revealed the recent result which depict the total number of Egyptian living in Egypt. It was estimated at 91 million people, of which 51% are women, and 49% are men. Furthermore, the survey states that 33% of women are illiterate, while 17.3% of men are illiterate. Hence, this demonstrates that more than half of the Egyptian population cannot read or write.

The percentage of families headed by women is 18.1%, and 27.3% are economically supported by women, despite the fact that only 22.5% of women are employed.

Religion is not the reason for the gender inequality in Egypt, but rather tradition and culture which is the cause for this inequality. Actually, Islam as a religion, does not differentiate between gender.

Israel and American Foreign Poilcy

During the past week, the media began to speculate the outcome of the meeting between President Trump and Mr. Netanyahu regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The discussion focused on the issue of one or two states solution.

In my opinion, the President provided some suggestions, but Netanyahu smiled and will continue his aggressive annexations of Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank.  Such policy has been in violation of U.N. Resolutions and International Law.  Prior to the creation of the Israeli State the first Israeli prime minister, Mr. Ben Gorion in a public speech to the Jewish Zionist Community stated that; they should accept whatever the U.N. will give them, it will be the first stage of the implementation of “Eretz Israel” which means greater Israel. 

Since 1948, the Israeli government began to implement that policy.  Such aggression is reflected in the following:

1. Israel, has demolished more than 600 Palestinian villages

 2. Israel, demolished thousands of homes in the occupied West Bank since the 1967 war,  3. Israeli government built more than 350 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, where more than 450,000 Jewish Settlers are living.

 4. Hundreds of homes were demolished in East Jerusalem which led to more than 222,000 Jewish settlers living in East Jerusalem.

 5. Israel annexed more than half the Palestinians lands. Such aggressions are an act of violation which the Israeli government committed since 1948, and is in total violation of the U.N. Resolutions and International law. 

This type of political conflict took place with the direct and indirect support of the American Government.  The U.S. used its veto power at the U.N. security council more than 50 times to prevent the passages of any resolutions against Israel.  It is of interest to notice that only in the last two weeks of his presidency, President Obama allowed the passage of one resolution condemning Israel for its aggression in the West bank. 

 He instructed the U.S. representative not to veto a resolution that was supported by a majority of the member in the U.N. security council condemning Israeli violation of increasing settlements in the occupied lands. 

American Foreign Policy especially in the Middle East, since 1948, has been a major contributing fact to the rise of International

Corruption

Corruption is considered to be a global universal cultural trait. The United Nations Transparency International estimated the global corruption to the public at $1.4 Trillion per year. The Middle East and North African countries share was estimated at $400 billion per year.
            Egypt is ranked at the Transparency Scale 68 out of the 168 countries.
I am not surprised at such ranking. The Egyptian press almost on a daily basis refers to corruption cases in both the public and the private sectors. Unfortunately, corruption takes place at all government levels. Former president Mubarak, his two sons and a group of corrupted high government officials  are well known to the public, which is known as the Swiss Banks Frozen Funds which exceeds one billion Euros.
            Another classic example is the latest and big corruption scandal committed by two high rank government officials. One committed suicide while in jail and the other, Gamal Al Laban, whose large amount of money found in his house was confiscated by the government.  It was estimated at 24 million Egyptian pounds, 4 million USD, 2 million Euros, and 1 million Saudi riyal. Such large amount of money is collected as bribes through government contracts.
            Recently, the minister of interior issued the yearly report on corruption. The report revealed that the number of crimes committed during the year 2016 was 1400 criminal corruption cases. The criminals are being prosecuted for financial bribes and other administrative crimes.
            Such crimes increased by 61% during 2016 by comparison to 2015 according to the report. Furthermore, another report by the “Partnership Association Transparency”  revealed that 51 cases of corruption were committed by government officials during the month of December 2016.
            The daily cases reported by the Egyptian press regarding corruptions  reflects that the legal system is not adequate enough to discourage such illegal acts. Strong legal indictments, even death, should be implementable. Such harsh penalty might not stop corruption totally, but it will decrease it.

Special Government Departmental Funds

Recently the Treasury Department sent a report to the Egyptian parliament regarding the special financial boxes. During the past few years, there has been so much talk in public about public officials misusing that fund. The money in such boxes is not part of the yearly government budget. The report sent to parliament estimated the money at 52 billion Egyptian pounds in 7,282 special boxes. The best and most effective policy for such funds is to close such boxes and allocate the 52 billion pounds to build badly needed schools all over Egypt.

According to the Ministry of Education, there are over 47,000 schools in Egypt, and many are unfit as a place for learning. Furthermore, he stated that Egypt needs to create more than 50,000 new classrooms to cut the number of students per classroom by half. He said that the number of students at present per classroom exceeds 140 students. Such a situation will lead to poor education and an increase in the illiteracy rates. There are hundreds of villages with no schools. I have seen some schools with no roofs, windows, or even chairs for students to sit on.

            No society will progress economically and socially without a progressive education system which should be available for every person. The situation of the educational system at the lower level reflects a disgrace for the society at large due to the meager government budget allocated to education.

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Special Government Departmental Funds

Recently the Treasury Department sent a report to the Egyptian parliament regarding the special financial boxes. During the past few years, there has been so much talk in public about public officials misusing that fund. The money in such boxes is not part of the yearly government budget. The report sent to parliament estimated the money at 52 billion Egyptian pounds in 7,282 special boxes. The best and most effective policy for such funds is to close such boxes and allocate the 52 billion pounds to build badly needed schools all over Egypt.

According to the Ministry of Education, there are over 47,000 schools in Egypt, and many are unfit as a place for learning. Furthermore, he stated that Egypt needs to create more than 50,000 new classrooms to cut the number of students per classroom by half. He said that the number of students at present per classroom exceeds 140 students. Such a situation will lead to poor education and an increase in the illiteracy rates. There are hundreds of villages with no schools. I have seen some schools with no roofs, windows, or even chairs for students to sit on.

            No society will progress economically and socially without a progressive education system which should be available for every person. The situation of the educational system at the lower level reflects a disgrace for the society at large due to the meager government budget allocated to education.


Foreign Political Interference

During the past few months, prior to the election of the United States president, the mass media was focusing on Russian interference in the American election. The Los Angeles Times reported (1/17/2017) that president Obama slapped Russia for meddling in the United States presidential election. He ordered dozens of Russian diplomats to leave the United States.
            It is of interest to notice that what the Russians have done was not unusual by comparison to what the United States has been doing for many years. The United States has a long history of attempting to influence presidential elections in many countries. According to database amassed by D. Levin of the Carnegie Mellon University, the United States interfered 81 times in the presidential election of foreign countries between 1946 and 2000.
            In my judgment, such political interference by the United States government is still going on. I have witnessed the American interference in the presidential election in Egypt during 2013. The United States was supporting Dr. Mursi who was the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, against General Shafik. According to the Egyptian press, the United State ambassador, A. Peterson, called Shafik and told him he was not the winner. The result of the election was delayed several days. At the end, Mursi was declared as the elected president. Nevertheless, most Egyptians were aware that Shafik was the winner.