After 12 years of diplomatic proposals and 20 months of tough negotiations, theocratic Iran and world powers have reached a nuclear deal that, regardless of its potential advantages, is undoubtedly a victory for smart illiberalism and a potential kiss of death for the prospect of liberal, pluralistic democracies in the Middle East.

The violent murder of Egypt’s public prosecutor Hisham Barakat followed quickly by a bloody armed attack in Sinai against security checkpoints have both fueled angry calls for immediate revenge and expedited punishment for terror suspects and groups allegedly supporting them. These calls reverberated through Egyptian TV talk shows and permeated social media platforms.

The new state general budget was released 2 July, when the public was still reeling from the assassination of Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat and the escalating terrorism in North Sinai, so naturally it did not garner the necessary attention or media coverage.

Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega Gasset had described fascism as paradoxical because it presents itself as a powerful state yet uses all means to destroy that state.

After the people’s revolution by masses of Egyptians from all walks of life on 30 June, supported by the Armed Forces, against religious fascism in the form of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) rule, the leaders of the terrorist group and their followers carried out a series of violent attacks. But at the same time they raised the banner of “peaceful means”. They interpret the violence they practice, whether through sabotage at universities or demonstrators shooting at security forces or blowing up power lines which hurts millions of citizens, as “peaceful” protest in response to the overthrow of the MB dictatorship and deposing President Mohamed Morsi.

The community depicted in the TV series “The Jewish Quarter” was an open community, with relationships based on civil grounds, not on beliefs. Today, six decades later, this community hardly exists.

Those who underestimate Egypt and its might, its people's sturdiness and its army's bravery, are wrong. This nation, that founded patriotism and made it part of humanity's conscience, is capable of building and rising above all hardships.

The Al-Sisi regime, from its unofficial start in 2013, has been about wars: a war on terrorism, a war on the Muslim Brotherhood, and today a new war was declared: on journalism. It is not surprising for those holding pens near and far from Cairo that freedom of speech is under assault in Egypt. Even those who count Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as a champion of their political cause are quickly realising that the modus operandi of the Egyptian strongman is, at its core, ‘my way or the highway’. The proposed anti-terrorism law crystallises a two year long policy that seeks to tighten, generally, the police state’s grip on Egypt and the autocrat’s hold, specifically, on all matters Egyptian. Mohamed Morsi was removed from power for far less.

Is Yasser Borhamy the new Interior Minister? This question came to my mind when I read that the police had arrested Quranists. Have the police turned into a Mutawa (Saudi Arabia’s religious police)? Has the ministry changed its name and place a sign on its entrance gate reading: The Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Authority, Tora Bora Branch?

It is with much interest that I am keeping track of the coverage your respectable newspaper and website are giving to the status of higher education and universities in Egypt. I also appreciate the keenness with which you are addressing the Egyptian university issue.

The so-called "Sinai Province" (aka Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis), which is linked to the "Islamic State" group, launched several raids in North Sinai that ended in battles killing 17 soldiers and more than 100 militants, according to the spokesperson of the Egyptian army. It should be said that other reports stated higher numbers of soldiers killed. This horrible incident came after the assassination of Hesham Barakat, Egypt's prosecutor-general, in Cairo. It also happened before the killing of nine members of the Muslim Brotherhood. It looks like a cycle of violence has started and it may have severe consequences on Egypt.

Sinai, a region so unfortunate in every imaginable aspect, on Wednesday witnessed simultaneous attacks on military sites and personnel. Islamic State-affiliated militant groups have claimed responsibility for the attacks, and the Egyptian army in response has launched a rigorous operation of retaliation to target members of terrorist groups in North Sinai.

White supremacists in the United States have never lost interest in pushing African Americans around. America is not, and never has been, socially cohesive. The Charleston massacre underscored the tragic reality that racism in America is rife. The series of murders of African Americans, and black male youth in particular, is testament to the bloodcurdling truth that whites in America are trigger happy. A well-honed sense of history is in the making in contemporary America.

Friday’s carnage on three continents, in which scores of people died in Tunisia, Kuwait, and France has appalled the global community and reinforced international condemnation of the Islamic State (IS), which has claimed responsibility for them.

Imagine the Prosecutor General of France in a motorcade near the Place de Montmartre. Now imagine a suicide car bomb intercepting that motorcade and killing him. Today Egypt doesn’t have to imagine.

Ideas are endless; the important thing is that they are followed by a political will to execute them, and perhaps the most important thing is that the decision-makers think about national projects targeting the poor, who are burdened by the weight of years of oppression, poverty, disease and ignoranc

If policy-makers are keen on research, they may wish to earmark some of their time for protecting and enabling researchers and for addressing the misguided suspicions of research that pervade the public imagination.

In the mid-1940s, Hafez Assad became one of the earliest non-Sunni Muslim leaders of Syria's general student union; in the 1950s, he became one of the country's first air fighters; in his late thirties, he became defence minister; in 1970, by the age of 40 he ascended to the presidency. He acquired power through a coup that ended a decade long political struggle between various socialist and nationalist forces, the most powerful of which was the Baath (Resurrection) ‎party. For most Syrians, this did not matter much; the country's experience with liberal democracy (in the early 1940s) was short and marked with economic upheavals and chaos. Most Syrians longed for stability.

After a long wait, the cabinet has finally completed a draft budget for the coming fiscal year and sent it to the president for approval or amendment. Under the proposed budget, state revenues will reach LE612 billion next year, an increase of 26 percent on the current year, and expenditures will rise 20 percent to LE885 billion.

“Were there Jews living in Egypt?” asked my son while I was watching the TV series “The Jewish Quarter”.

The judge made his final call today, confirming the death sentence of former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a crucial step in cementing the counter-revolution and the unravelling of the uprising that had brought him to power. Morsi, who is now already serving a 20-year jail term for ordering the arrest and torture of demonstrators in 2013, was convicted of breaking out of prison during the 2011 revolution against the Mubarak regime. He has never denied that he broke out of prison, but why it merits the death penalty is hard to comprehend, particularly because he was being held in that prison without charges in the first place. The Grand Mufti of Egypt still has to confirm any death sentences.