Video - Egyptian Screenwriter Mohamed El Adl: The Religious Movement Is Stronger Than Al-Sisi.

In an interview with the Egyptian channel ON TV, screenwriter and film producer Mohamed El Adl criticized the recent arrests of liberal scholars in Egypt for blasphemy charges. El Adl said that the Islamic movement is stronger than President Al-Sisi, and that despite the president’s repeated statements about the required reforming of the religious discourse, Egypt is on its way to become a religious state. The interview was aired on February 22, 2016

Russia 'Donates' Egypt a Molniya missile corvette.

Russia 'Donates' Egypt a Molniya missile corvette. (Dailynews).

The Egyptian army was gifted Saturday a Molniya missile corvette by the Russian government as part of military cooperation between the two countries.

“This move comes as continuation of the Russian supporting stance towards Egypt in the recent period, and to the uniformity of vision between the political leadership of both countries regarding the war on terrorism and supporting efforts of security and stability in the Middle East,” a statement from the army read.

The missile attack boat took part in the inauguration of the New Suez Canal project on 6 August.

The Molnyia P-32 is one of the most modern of Russian naval warpieces. It is armed with four Moskit missiles, and is designed to destroy surface ships.

In June, the Russian and Egypt Navies conducted joint drills in the Mediterranean Sea. The operation, dubbed ‘Friendship Bridge – 2015′, was described as “an important step towards the strengthening of the mutual understanding” between the two navies.Hmmmm......

HT And source:

💥 #Russia 'gifts’ #Egypt advanced top-speed missile corvette - http://t.co/Ie9XUxcSDx pic.twitter.com/512URy0KlA

— Hasan Sari (@HasanSari7) August 15, 2015

Video - New Suez Canal Opening Ceremony - Live

💥 VIDEO: El Mahrousa launches #NewSuezCanalas it did with old Canal in 1869. #Egypt" pic.twitter.com/6N2PTDx7mC

— Hasan Sari (@HasanSari7) August 6, 2015

Int'l shipping #Maersk Group welcomes expansion of the Suez Canal - Live Updates Ahram Online http://t.co/xEEdDqf1b9 pic.twitter.com/F0nB9vgfIe

— Ahram Online (@ahramonline) August 6, 2015

Today #NewSuezCanal inauguration - #NL companies @teamvanoord & @BoskalisNL dredged record 250 mln m2 in 1 year! http://t.co/xJK1Czn0H6

— Jurriaan Middelhoff (@jurriaanm) August 6, 2015

Video - Sisi makes ref to Morsi's alleged throat-cutting gesture:"They give (kill) orders from cages"

Gesture starts at 01.17.

Morsi to be interrogated over throat-slitting gesture he made in his last appearance in espionage trial,acc to Tahrir http://t.co/y3PY8mvgVd

— Deena (@deenahsn) June 30, 2015

Egypt appoints first ambassador to Israel since 2012

Egypt appoints first ambassador to Israel since 2012 (Taz).

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi appointed on Sunday a new ambassador to Israel for the first time since 2012, Xinhua reported with the reference to official MENA news agency.

Sisi appointed diplomat Hazem Khairat as new ambassador to Tel Aviv to replace his predecessor Atef Salem, whom Egypt recalled in late 2012 over an Israeli deadly offensive on the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Salem is appointed as new ambassador to Cuba.

The appointments came within a massive diplomatic reshuffle approved by Sisi on Sunday, including Yasser Reda as new ambassador to Washington, Foreign Ministry's spokesman Badr Abdel-Atty as new ambassador to Berlin, diplomat Alaa Youssef Hassan as general consul in London.Read the full story here.

Video - Egyptian Cleric Mostafa Al-Adwy Explains Jihad, States: Christians Cannot Promote Their Religion in Muslim Countries

EGYPT - Egyptian President Sisi renews call for "revision of Islam"

EGYPT - Egyptian President Sisi renews call for "revision of Islam" (Fides).[GoogleTranslate].

In Egypt, efforts made ​​so far to "renew religious discourse" and so "dry up the sources" of extremism and terrorism "are not yet sufficient". Thus spoke Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in a speech transmitted by national TV channels last night, May 12.

In his speech, the Head of State again sought the Islamic University Al-Azhar and other national religious institutions to show more commitment in this area, as long as it could have a strong impact Egypt and other countries in the region.

During his television appearance, Egyptian President also revealed that during the month of April alone, 600 people, which he described as "terrorists" had been arrested in the country, a number that "reflects the efforts we are doing and magnitude of the challenge we face. "

Already in the earlier speech he addressed  researchers and religious leaders of the al-Azhar University - the largest Sunni Islam - Egyptian President urged religious leaders of Islam to "come out of themselves" and to promote "religious revolution" to eradicate bigotry and replace it with a "more enlightened worldview" .

During this intervention, immediately echoed by Fides (see Fides 01/02/2015), Egyptian President reaffirmed that the Islamic world can not be seen as "a source of anxiety, danger, death and destruction "by the rest of humanity and had targeted a" wrong thinking "- he opposed the true Islam - made ​​a muddle of ideas and texts that" we have made ​​sacred to recent years "and leading the entire Islamic community" to quarrel with the world. " (GV) (Fides Agency 13/5/2015)

The proposed new Egyptian capital stalled.

Source

The proposed new Egyptian capital stalled. (Or).[GoogleTranslate].

He had given fifty days for the dream shared by Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak is launched: Abdel Fattah al-Sissi claimed he could give Egypt a new administrative capital.

Discussed for several months, the project was officially announced on the first day of the conference on the economic development of Egypt in March 2015 in Sharm El Sheikh. Since then, he has still not launched and critics - including President Sissi itself - have only added to the confusion around a project as extravagant and unrealistic.

The model of the new capital, which still has no name, reveals a huge city, futuristic, very inspired extravagant cities in the Gulf, including Dubai. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had insisted that the project actually begins within fifty days following the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh on March 15 . But it is not only stalled but is also criticized.

The government justifies the urgency by the congestion of Cairo and bets on leverage for the whole economy. But the reasons are questionable and highly uncertain outcome. All urban centers relocation attempts have ended in failure, and despite the exorbitant cost of the new program - EUR 43 billion - a new capital will not promote the country's development and risk in contrast to further strengthen the divide between the haves and the poor.

As Louis XIV , who had moved his administration and his court at Versailles, the Egyptian government bunkérise with its rich, far from the centers of protest, far from poverty. While the poor and the rich Egypt Egypt still coexist in Cairo, this time could be gone with the new capital and the rupture between rich and poor would be total. Read the full story here.

Al Jazeera journalist says Canada not issuing him new passport.

Al Jazeera journalist says Canada not issuing him new passport. (AA).

Al Jazeera English journalist Mohamed Fahmy, who remains in Egypt on bail while awaiting trial on terror charges, said Wednesday Canada is refusing to issue him a new passport.

Fahmy and two other journalists were charged with being part of a terrorist group and airing falsified footage. They deny the charges.

Fahmy, who was born in Egypt and is a naturalised Canadian citizen, was freed from jail in February. He renounced his Egyptian citizenship last year as a condition of any future release from Egypt.

Fahmy said his Canadian passport was confiscated when he was arrested in 2013. He said needs the passport to get married and has run into problems at security checkpoints in Cairo.

Under his bail conditions, Fahmy must check in with police every day and cannot leave Egypt. He said he's on a no-fly list.

"I was shocked to learn for the first time that Canada has been the obstacle in issuing a new passport for me," Fahmy said in an email to The Associated Press. "I am already on the no travel list. Why are they not issuing a passport??!!"

Fahmy provided a letter to The AP that he received from the Canadian embassy that states that Canada "requires that court-imposed mobility restrictions are respected."

The letter states a passport will be provided when "court-imposed travel restrictions against you are lifted."

Erica Meekes, a spokeswoman for Canada's foreign affairs department, said Fahmy will receive a new passport once his bail conditions are met.

Australian journalist Peter Greste, also charged in the case, was deported in February.

Fahmy has long said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government hasn't done enough to win his release.

"This situation manifests my fears that the reason I had been left behind in Egypt after going through the disturbing motions of the renunciation of the Egyptian citizenship in order to be deported may have been partially due to the bureaucracy in Ottawa and the hyper-conservative approach Mr. Harper's government embraces," he said. Hmmmm......The Canadian gov thinks since he's on a no fly list he's going no where , no need for a passport. Extremely hard to get off that list.

'Islam à la Sisi' - Egypt's state religious body puts Islamic centres under control, tightens grip.

'Islam à la Sisi' - Egypt's state religious body puts Islamic centres under control, tightens grip.(AA).

Egypt’s ministry of religious endowments (Awqaf), one of the country’s top state bodies, has decided to put all Islamic cultural institutes and preacher training centers under its control starting next academic year.

In a statement on Friday, Awqaf said it will not allow the educational centers, which used to be run by independent religious groups and associations, to be used “as a backdoor for extremism or terrorism.”

The move comes in a series of measures taken by the ministry and the country’s leading Sunni Islamic institute, Al-Azhar, to control the message and curb extremist ideas.

The latest decision mandates that only the syllabus assigned by the ministry will be allowed for study because text books “representing certain affiliations” help to feed radicalism and are “tearing apart the societal texture.”

Starting next academic year, only those certified from the ministry can head the center and those teaching should be “qualified and specialised.”

“No association or group will be an exception to this rule,” the ministry said, warning that any cultural or educational institute, not certified “with a written permit” from the ministry or Al-Azhar, would be deemed “illegal.”

The ministry said it will increase the number of its affiliated centers “to accommodate those wishing to receive the correct Islamic knowledge.”

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has on several occasions blamed religious discourse for the extremism that Egypt and other countries in the region are suffering from.

Last year, Awqaf ministry mandated all preachers to acquire a permit before giving religious sermons on the pulpit, ruled out hundreds of preachers and banned holding Friday prayers at the small less-regulated mosques known as Zawaya, which were often dominated by preachers from the Brotherhood and the fundamentalist Islamist Salafis.

According to a law passed under former President Adly Mansour, unauthorised preachers face jail terms of up to a year and maximum fines of LE 50,000 ($7,000).

“The danger coming from some of these institutes…is no less danger than claiming control over some mosques and Zawaya which some groups attempted to do,” the Friday statement said. Hmmmm.....You can expect the Muslim brotherhood to react as a devil been given a baptism.

Turkish Whistleblower claims Erdoğan apologized to Sisi at secret meeting in Saudi Arabia.

Turkish Whistleblower claims Erdoğan apologized to Sisi at secret meeting in Saudi Arabia. (TZ).

A government whistleblower who tweets under the pseudonym Fuat Avni has alleged that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan apologized to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during a secret meeting in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

Fuat Avni tweeted on Friday night that Erdoğan had sent three mediators to Sisi to mend ties and the Egyptian president was convinced to meet with Erdoğan after new Saudi king interfered in the issue. “Yezid and Sisi met in the presence of the Saudi king in Saudi Arabia. Yezid apologized to Sisi,” the Twitter whistleblower claimed.

Fuat Avni refers to Erdoğan as Yezid, which is a reference to the Umayyad caliph, who according to Islamic belief allowed his opponent Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, to die of thirst in the Battle of Karbala.

The whistleblower also claimed that Erdoğan “begged” Sisi and Salman not to disclose the secret meeting. Hmmm.....How i would love to see that video......bow baby bow.Read the full story here.

Russia and Egypt to hold joint military exercises in the Mediterranean Sea.

Russia and Egypt to hold joint military exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. (RN). [GoogleTranslate].

Russia and Egypt on Tuesday agreed to strengthen military ties, in particular to carry out in 2015 a joint naval exercise in the Mediterranean Sea and the anti-terrorist exercises "on the ground".

To the agreement came to the defense ministers of Russia and Egypt, Army General Sergei Shoigu and Colonel-General Saeed Ahmed Sobhi Sedky, told the representative of the Russian Defense Ministry.

"The parties agreed to continue the practice of participation of Egyptian troops as observers to the exercises conducted in the Russian Federation, as well as to hold this year the teaching of naval forces in the Mediterranean Sea and anti-terrorism doctrine rapid reaction force", - said the representative of the Ministry of Defense.

In addition, Shoigu proposed colleague to send the Egyptian military in Russia to participate in international military games and international military-technical forum "Army 2015". 

The reaction of the Egyptian Minister for the proposal is not reported.

According FSMTC Russia in September 2014, the Russian Federation and Egypt initialed arms contracts worth $ 3.5 billion. According to the general director of "Rostec" Chemezov, these contracts involve the supply of small arms, artillery and air defense systems. It was also reported Egypt  is interested in buying Party MiG-35.

Of the impending deal to buy Egypt various types of weapons from Russia first began after the failure of the US military aid to Cairo in connection with the overthrow of the military-Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013. 

Egypt: Sisi meets with ex-Muslim Brotherhood leaders "The best game wardens are former poachers".

Egypt: Sisi meets with ex-Muslim Brotherhood leaders "The best game wardens are former poachers". (Aawsat).

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has met with a number of ex-Muslim Brotherhood figures to discuss ways of confronting Islamic extremism in the North African country.

Cairo designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in December 2013, less than six months after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.

Sisi met with a number of former Muslim Brotherhood officials, who have become outspoken critics of the group, at the presidential palace earlier this week, including Tharwat Al-Kherbawy, Kamal El-Helbawy and Mokhtar Nouh.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, lawyer Kherbawy who has written a number of books about his time in the Brotherhood, said: “President Sisi met with us because we have firsthand experience of the Islamist and extremist project.”

“We have carried out a number of studies and a lot of research on confronting extremist and terrorist ideologies, and this is what we put forward to the president,” he added.

However Kherbawy denied that the meeting was to discuss future policies aimed specifically against his former group. “The concept of terrorism is broader than the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.

The meeting comes as part of Egyptian efforts to clamp down on Islamic extremism in the country. Egypt’s Ministry of Awqaf [Religious Endowments] issued a decision last year to impose more stringent controls on the country’s mosques, including banning clerics who have not graduated from Al-Azhar. Al-Azhar University, the highest religious authority in Egypt, has also played a more prominent role in recent days in combating extremist discourse and promoting religious tolerance.

In a speech earlier this year, Sisi called for a “revolution” in religious discourse to confront extremist ideology. “This renewal [of religious discourse] must be conscious and preserve the values of true Islam, eliminating sectarian polarization and addressing extremism and militancy,” the president said.

Sisi’s meeting with the breakaway Brotherhood figures comes as part of official attempts to produce a comprehensive anti-extremism policy in the country.

“President Sisi held dialogue with us on a number of important issues. We talked for three hours and I can say that this was an uncommon meeting with an uncommon leader. We can be reassured about the future of Egypt under Sisi,” Kherbawy told Asharq Al-Awsat. Hmmm.....Egypt is blessed to have such a leader in these times, the U.S. .....well they have an Obamination.

Egyptian Pres. Sisi: The Fight Against Terror Needs New Muslim religious Discourse

Egyptian Pres. Sisi: The Fight Against Terror Needs New Muslim Discourse. (Matzav).

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday said the fight against “terrorism” needs a new Muslim religious discourse in addition to security and military measures, AFP reported.

“The rise in terrorism… requires a thoughtful response from the international community,” Sisi told the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

“The fight must not only be restricted to security and military aspects… but should include a reformed religious discourse from which false ideologies that could lure some into adopting violence to impose their ideas have been removed,” he added.

Sisi’s comments on Monday follow ones he made in a speech to Islamic clerics at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, in which he said Islam had become “a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction” for humanity.

Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enjoy a close relationship and cooperate in various fields besides military activities.

Both governments are hostile towards Islamists and have blacklisted the Muslim Brotherhood, branding it a terrorist organization.

Gulf security is “a red line” for Egypt, Sisi said, affirming his country’s unwavering support for efforts by the UAE “to preserve its national security” and urged “increased” action to “confront all attempts to breach the security of Gulf countries.”

The UAE last year jailed a group of 30 Emiratis and Egyptians for terms of three months to five years for forming a Muslim Brotherhood cell. Hmmmm.....Be sure the 'Caliph' of the Muslim Brotherhood declared him a target.