One Egyptian Pound Tax

It is of interest to read an article in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Wafd (Sept. 17, 2012) in which the Minister of Treasury Mr. Mutaz al Saeed proposed a tax of “one Egyptian piaster” per talking minute on cellular phone users. He is proposing that the tax be collected by phone companies and turned into the treasury ministry to help lower the Egyptian budget deficit that has reached 170 billion Egyptian pounds.

I posted similar proposals on my blog on December 4, 2009 and May 27, 2010. According to government statistics, there are more than 80 million cellular phone users in Egypt. I proposed a one Egyptian pound tax per cellular phone per month to be collected by phone companies and turned in to the government.

If such a proposal is implemented, it will net nearly one billion Egyptian pounds per year to be used to improve the educational system and facilities that are currently in very bad shape.

The proposed tax will not create a burden on the average user. This suggestion is more important than the one proposed by the minister of treasury. Education is the backbone of progress in any society.

A Follow Up on Islamophobia

Islamophobia continues to infiltrate the U.S. The recent showing of a film reflecting negatively on prophet Muhammad and Islam created an upheaval in Arab and Islamic countries.

The protests in Libya against this offensive film led to the killings of the American ambassador and three U.S. staffers. It was reported by the Wall Street Journal that the producer of the film is an Israeli American citizen living in California. According to the article, Mr. Sam Bacile raised five million dollars from 100 Jewish contributors to finance and produce the film, the aim of which is to show the destructive aspects of Islam. There are very few Egyptian-American Copts connected to Zionist groups and who have participated in the production of this audacious film.

The negative campaign against Islam, which has created Islamophobia especially in the U.S., is the work of Jewish Zionist organizations and Christian Zionist evangelical organizations. The purpose of such a religious-political campaign is to widen the gap between Christians and Muslims for the benefit of Israel.

It is about time the American people and U.S. government put an end to such a negative political strategy. The first amendment of the American constitution, which guarantees the freedom of speech, has been abused by some individuals and politically oriented groups. The Justice Department should investigate the motives behind the production of the film, which is offensive to more than 1.2 billion Muslims around the world, and especially, which led to the murdering of Americans.

The American government spends many billions of taxpayers’ dollars every year to protect the American national interest. The production of such an offensive film hurts and puts in danger the American national interest, despite the official statements made by the Secretary of State that the U.S. government has nothing to do with the production of the film (which provoked the death and injuries of many). I regret to say that the members of the U.S. congress do not have the courage to put an end to the abuse of the first amendment in the American constitution.

Expansion of Israeli Hegemony

It was reported, recently, that the German government agreed to sell two submarines to Egypt.

As it is always the case, the Israeli government, as usual, issued a threatening political campaign against Egypt and Germany for sales of two submarines. Germany has already sold a submarine to Israel and no questions were asked. However, the Israeli government is trying to prevent a similar sale to Egypt. The Israeli government issued an aggressive call to Egypt to stop the purchase of the submarine, threatening to stop American foreign aid to Egypt.

The political vulgarity and ethnocentricity of Israeli politicians is very difficult to ignore. First, it is the American taxpayers who support American foreign aid, not Israeli taxpayers. It should be stated clearly that the American taxpayers have given Israel more than $180 billion since 1948 in foreign aid. Furthermore, the Israeli threats also reflect that American foreign policy is formed in Israel not the U.S. Second, it is true that Israeli controls the U.S. congress due to the influence of AIPAC and other Jewish American organizations. Some members of the U.S. congress have pointed out that the Israeli government gets what it wants, no questions asked.

For that and other reasons, Israel for the past six decades has been biting the hand that feeds it and causing damage to the American national interest. Furthermore, Israel has been the major cause of world terrorism.

It has just come up in the news that the German government is reconsidering the sale of submarines to Egypt!  Of course this is due to the pressure from Israel.