“Who is the alternative?” This was indeed the most repeated and frustrating question asked by the pro-Sisi camp during the past two weeks, before and during the surreal presidential election that brought a military man to power after three years of calls for democracy.

At moments of general uncertainty, urban legends spread like wildfire giving rise to tales of the awaited prophet, the mighty warrior and visions of the righteous. Some of these legends conceal a collective failure while others reveal a lack of understanding, but they still remain a form of collective therapy that communities resort to at times of difficulty.

Evidence has again emerged indicting that if Western mainstream media actually reported more on the sufferings of Christians throughout the Islamic world, their lot would likely improve.

With a subtle smile on her face, hands crossed demurely in her lap, Intisar Amer watched the presidential inauguration of her husband Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as the new president of Egypt. The new First Lady held her head up high in a smart black and white, Spanish-style hijab. The inauguration was for her as much as it was for her husband.

There are theoretically three camps in Egypt: the military camp (Sisi supporters), the Islamist camp (Morsi supporters), and the secular camp (democracy advocates). The third camp, however, is hardly as cohesive as the other two, and represents a hodgepodge of political movements, philosophies, and plans.

From regulating demonstrations to regulating storytelling, from tightening security on the streets to securing cyberspace, and from the protection of society to monitoring it: all would be included. This was the message sent by the Ministry of Interior when it announced it would be establishing what it called “a system to monitor security risks posed by social networks”.

There is currently a fierce debate raging in Egypt around the imposition of a capital gains tax (CGT) on the stock market, which has also witnessed waves of selling that have driven share prices down significantly in an attempt to pressure the state into cancelling the tax, which is applied in developed free market economies and the majority of developing countries, and which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) itself — the backer and champion of capitalism — supported as part of the economic reform package necessary in Egypt.

In the next few days, Egypt will have both a new president and the same old problems. Among them, a sub-optimal level of investment and associated governance deficiencies that have bred and been nurtured by the country’s poor economic performance.

When I met with the European Union’s Chief Observer Mario David at a polling station in downtown Cairo last week one thing that he highlighted to me was how welcome he and his fellow observers felt.

Many of the American journalists & think-tank researchers who described what happened in Egypt 11 months ago (either our of the well-known American stupidity or maliciously) as a COUP, are now referring to what happened in Egypt between 30th June and 3rd July, 2013 as POPULAR COUP !! The same American narrow-mindness, ignorance and isolation-from-reality repeat themselves.

In 2007, mid-production of a documentary film of mine called Back in a Coffin discussing the phenomenon of illegal migration from Egypt to Italy on what is tragically called death boats, I learned about real human beings, not just a media exaggeration to sell a story to the public.

Democracy and modernisation are not western products that the west is trying to export to certain countries that have a shortage. They are universal values that, for many reasons, the west was able to espouse and implement before other countries. Among these reasons was a particular mix of culture, law and leadership that helped the western countries to be in advance of others (such as Arab World) in the application of democracy and modernisation. Although this does not necessarily mean that all westerners abide by these values, western citizens, for the most part, have come to realise that these values serve the good of society and promote personal development.

The decision by US District Court Judge Gladys Kessler determining that the US military can force-feed a Syrian detainee at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is a well intentioned but wrong decision. It allows the US government to continue a criminal practice that has been widely condemned by medical professionals and human rights activists worldwide.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, a Sudanese mother, doctor and Christian, has been sentenced to flogging and death unless she recants her Christian faith. She was 8 months pregnant when she was arrested and has now given birth to a baby girl Maya . Her baby and her two-year-old son are with her in prison.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, a Sudanese mother, doctor and Christian, has been sentenced to flogging and death unless she recants her Christian faith. She was 8 months pregnant when she was arrested and has now given birth to a baby girl Maya . Her baby and her two-year-old son are with her in prison.

The pillars of Mubarak’s regime and the aged forces of Egypt’s counterrevolution were preparing to “impress the world” (as goes the rhetoric that is used in privately owned, pro-Mubarak media) by a historic turnout at and unprecedentedly long queues outside polling stations in the first presidential election after Mohamed Morsi was ousted on 3 July. Supporters of frontrunner Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the former defence minister who led Morsi’s ouster, wanted to prove that they could outnumber those who turned out to vote in the 2012 presidential election which Morsi won.

One year after the failure of their first democratic presidential experience, Egyptians are now witnessing a bitter second episode amid an atmosphere of frustration, trepidation and a loss of confidence.

Whenever the anniversary of the Zionist rape of Palestine comes, Arab memory in general, and Egyptian memory in particular, recalls images of Palestine under occupation or the British Mandate letting hordes of rapists of all nationalities pass to its lands. Nothing unified those hordes except the Zionist dream of raping Palestine. The British Mandate gave them public lands and granted them all forms of assistance with the consent and support of the US and the West in general. It allowed them to have the most advanced weapons to form criminal gangs for intimidating and expelling the Arabs and committing heinous massacres against them.

Music is a powerful means to stimulate the memory. Certain songs take me back to specific moments in my childhood, university years, and adulthood.

Egypt’s media have been in campaign mode leading up to Monday and Tuesday’s vote. Official, quasi-official and the social media are dedicating their undivided attention to the presidential elections with reports, interviews and analyses that tackle the two candidates’ platforms, credentials and implausible promises. Yet, an Egyptian Nobel laureate and former presidential hopeful, who, respect him or despise him, helped ignite the 25 January 2011 and 30 June uprisings, is taciturn. Why aren’t the Egyptian media interviewing him?

The two candidates in Egypt's presidential election as voters decide on the nation's next leader in two-day elections that end Tuesday.