During the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak, his sons and senior officials – known in the media as the trial of the century – defence lawyer Farid El-Deeb stood up to rebut the accusations against his client. He denied Mubarak gave any orders or directives to shoot peaceful demonstrators, arguing that the Muslim Brotherhood was the one who killed these protesters. He reminded everyone that Mubarak is a symbol of the glorious October War who did not sell out his country or betray it as others have done. This was all under the assumption that everything that took place was a conspiracy plotted by the US and carried out by the Brotherhood and their allies to harm the people.

Hiking up the 2,629 metre-high Mount Catherine (Gebel Katherina) at dawn, under a star-filled sky and with the first morning light at the horizon, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the scenery that served as a backdrop for some of the main stories of the Abrahamic religions.

The great projects that make Egypt proud include the High Dam, the greatest twentieth century infrastructure project in the world. It is a shield protecting Egypt from the ravages of destructive annual flooding and killer droughts. The dam gave Egypt a central reservoir of water at Lake Nasser and allowed it to add two million feddans of new agricultural land, and electric energy that enabled the country to expand industrially and remove rural areas from centuries of darkness.

Egypt is in need of a coherent economic vision complemented by explicit economic policies. Undermining both, or using economic initiatives as substitutes and surprising citizens with an assortment of mega investment projects (even if they are beneficial) will not do our country any good.

No European capital has been brought to a standstill by a march expressing outrage. There are few calls for war-crimes trials of the perpetrators.The crime is the wholesale eradication of Christianity from the continent that gave it birth. Across the Middle East, with the exception of Israel, Christians are in the process of being ethnically and religiously cleansed.

The great projects that make Egypt proud include the High Dam, the greatest twentieth century infrastructure project in the world. It is a shield protecting Egypt from the ravages of destructive annual flooding and killer droughts. The dam gave Egypt a central reservoir of water at Lake Nasser and allowed it to add two million feddans of new agricultural land, and electric energy that enabled the country to expand industrially and remove rural areas from centuries of darkness.

It is now clear, to all those concerned, that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi does not depend on political parties or forces in his administration of the country’s affairs. He has been clear and careful in emphasising this since he was elected into the presidency. Although he was trying to win support from various factions during his campaign, these did not include political parties and forces, though they requested meetings with him more than once before and after he became president. Even until this moment he has still not consulted with them. If this is the case, who or what does Al-Sisi depend on to run the country?

The power vacuum began emerging years ago opened the way to ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), one of the most atrocious non-state powers to extend its influence over vast areas in Syria and Iraq and to proclaim the "Caliphate" in a cheap exploitation of Islamic heritage.

The general budget is a key document in defining a state's socio-economic policies. It reflects its social biases or balance between the interests of the poor, middle class and wage workers on the one hand, and the interests of the wealthy, and local and foreign large-scale capitalists on the other. It reflects the balance between consumption and enjoying the present through investing in the future and achieving economic leaps through major improvements in future standards of living. It also reflects the government's choice to mobilise society and state to trigger an economic boom based on self-reliance or borrowing or burdening future generations with heavy debts.

It is now clear, to all those concerned, that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi does not depend on political parties or forces in his administration of the country’s affairs. He has been clear and careful in emphasising this since he was elected into the presidency. Although he was trying to win support from various factions during his campaign, these did not include political parties and forces, though they requested meetings with him more than once before and after he became president. Even until this moment he has still not consulted with them. If this is the case, who or what does Al-Sisi depend on to run the country?

We are really surprised by the report of the Human Rights Watch who claimed the violence on the governmental side and the peacefulness of the Muslim Brothers in Rabaa and Nahda squares.! ! The Muslim Brothers acted aggressively since they assumed power in Egypt in 2012. They held all important posts in the administration and government.

On 5 June 2014, a few days before Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi became president, temporary President Adly Mansour issued a law covering the issue of elections to the Egyptian House of Representatives. Mansour had consulted the state council, discussed the resolution in the cabinet and a few days before it was issued, submitted the draft law for public debate. This debate, however, had not been completed and had been limited to brief, secret meetings with a small number of the political elite. The law was then issued in an even worse form than the draft law of a few days before. As soon as he issued the law, a number of public figures, intellectuals and political activists expressed their deep anxiety and resentment of the law, which puts the future of parliamentary and party activity at stake.

The Islamic State can be put in its place. But Iraq and the international community need to take quick action against this group and expose its atrocities before it is too late.

Egypt, the heart of the Arab world, could and should be a major player today in finding resolution to all of the chaos and violence in the Middle East today. Instead, it is returning to the kind of repressive, police-state ways it experienced under former (and now jailed) President Hosni Mubarak.

The Islamic State can be put in its place. But Iraq and the international community need to take quick action against this group and expose its atrocities before it is too late.

It is difficult for me to believe that Israel’s political leaders are so superficial and naïve to think they can entirely eliminate Hamas with such a military operation. Therefore, whether it is proclaimed or not, I believe the military campaign aimed to curb Hamas’s capabilities and to destroy a large part of Gaza’s infrastructure, to distract Hamas with rebuilding efforts until the next war. Second, tactically, to appear in front of Israeli public opinion as willing to go to the farthest point to maintain Israel’s security in response to the kidnapping and killing of three settlers. Third, strategically, to obstruct reconciliation between the governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which seemed to be closer than at any other point. In reality, reconciliation would mean returning to a united negotiating stance for all Palestinian factions. Fourth, destroying Gaza tunnels to prevent Hamas from developing its defence capabilities through smuggled weapons.

UN Security Council Resolution 2139 of 22 February 2014, ordered all parties to the conflict in Syria to end the discriminate use of barrel bombs and other weapons in populated areas. In spite of that, both the Syrian and the Iraqi governments continue using them against civilians. Human rights groups have characterised them as weapons of terror and illegal under international conventions.

The Cairo sun beat down mercilessly upon landing at the airport; it would not compare to the emotional assault of a 40-day odyssey into the valley of the divided: Egypt. What made the trip eventful was not that it was a return home. Though the nation was not at war, per se, this was still the dominant tone at nearly every gathering I was privy to during that time. A coup had unfolded only three weeks before, but cognitive dissidence played its hand, and through this writer’s eyes the tumult was still categorised as a revolutionary coup. Every hour of every day was a learning experience of the sort that few wish to partake in.

The Arab map and its collection of traditional balances are currently poised for major changes. Our Arab countries are the target of successive assaults by their enemies overseas, forces of evil and impedance, and domestic terrorism that is complicit or compatible with foreign agendas. Large areas and major states are the targets of these attacks. Whether the enemy is abroad in the blatant form of colonialism - as is the case of Palestine - or domestic or a blend - as is the case in Iraq and Syria in the East, Egypt and Sudan in the centre or Libya and other Maghreb states in the West of the Arab world - the threat facing Arab countries is the same.

The Arab map and its collection of traditional balances are currently poised for major changes. Our Arab countries are the target of successive assaults by their enemies overseas, forces of evil and impedance, and domestic terrorism that is complicit or compatible with foreign agendas. Large areas and major states are the targets of these attacks. Whether the enemy is abroad in the blatant form of colonialism - as is the case of Palestine - or domestic or a blend - as is the case in Iraq and Syria in the East, Egypt and Sudan in the centre or Libya and other Maghreb states in the West of the Arab world - the threat facing Arab countries is the same.

In his address marking the celebration of Laylat Al-Qadr by the Ministry of Religious Endowments, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi mentioned non-Muslims in Western countries who malign Islam as a religion and Mohammed as the good prophet (PBUH). Then he asked an important question: Do we — as Muslims in Egypt and elsewhere — not insult our own religion? "Do we distinguish ourselves among nations with honesty and compassion?"