When screams for help weren't heard, begging for the human sense in everyone in the world didn't reach out, lighting a million and 300 thousand candles wasn't enough to light up dark cold nights, women in Gaza decided to break through the walls of stone and steal on the boarders while UN men were not up to the task. I woke up this morning on the news of thousands crossing the boarders to Egypt regardless of Ramallah's Karzai, Israel's Zionist supremacists, and the rest of the blind world. Every family has the challenge now to buy its children food and milk, and maybe some diesel to startup their backup generators to cope with the need to stay in the 21st century.

While Americans were celebrating their history of civil society struggle against hatred and disenfranchisement - based on race and gender - through the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., another system of hatred and religious supremacy is shading another part of the world. The human tragedy continues in a different style, where KKK hoods were replaced by IDF helmets. The continuous mass-lashing and group punishment continues in Gaza Strip for their democratic choices.

The humanitarian depth of this problem is not but an echo to the political situation supported by stupid politicians in Israel, Palestine, and US. The 2 neighboring states solution continues to illustrate lousiness and ridicule throughout the results. One state is allowed to create an acceptable theocracy and religious supremacy, and the other to serve that picture with a supply of partial human workers. This is a denial of human dreams of a just distribution of rights and status. Standing against this is another chapter in human struggle against German Nazi's, S.African Nats, and now Jewish Zionism.

So.. Since I stepped on the US soil, all what I had were around $300 and a couple of $50/$20 notes in my wallet, plus a dime and 2 nickels a friend of mine gave me when I was in UAE. So I would claim that I knew that US currency is either green notes - pinkish now - and metallic coins that held some value.

What couldn't understand was the pennies part. Small copper pieces that the cashiers gave me every time when I sincerely would have accepted a round-down. Although very insignificant in value, I always picked any falling penny even if it ran away on the metro stop , till Ashleigh told me one day to ignore it. It was like a light led up and told me I don't really need to care about these pieces much, since they were almost of no value. I started avoiding putting them in my wallet and would place them in my jackets or pants to give them to any homeless guy around the corner; which was another problem. Actually I found out it's quite a cheap donation to give the pennies you had, even if it was a whole scoop of them - they should be counted by that. So, I actually didn't know what to do.

To be honest, I started ignoring them. ask he cashier to keep them, or leave them stroll till they bury themselves under a pedestrian shoe, or whatever they wanted to do; it's America at the end.

I just had a question about them. I started wondering how many pennies I ignore, and whether or not it was a fortune that I'm losing. I tried thinking of losing a penny a day, and to make the math easier, made it 300 pennies a year. Reasonable enough ..
but there re around 300M Americans wandering around this country, and I am quite sure they learned like me - quite a FOB - not to pick this running away infinitesimal fortune. so that would be 90,000,000,000 homeless pennies, which is around $0.9 Billion. To be honest again, I didn't know America had this much money on the floor..

did you ?

- "They actually didn't count my last year.."
- "What do you mean ?"
- "I was enrolled in 2007.. I should have got my first rank in 6 months then in 2008 I should get a Mulazem (Lieutenant)"
- "what difference does that make ?"
- "Well .. I'm paid 1000 NIS and should get 2000"
- "wow"
- "bastards"
- "but technically, did you work last year for the security forces ?"
- "No .. we are not supposed to help Hamas government"
- "so what do they pay you for ?"
- "To stay home"
- "What ?"
- "If you were known to work for the government in Gaza.. They cut your salary right away"
- "wtf ? you are paid to stay home ? what kinda job is that ?"
- "these are the Ramallah bastards.. we are not supposed to support Gaza government"
- "The first government to hear that ever does that.. "

This conversation I had with my friend in Palestine - Hamas occupied territories (Gaza) at a very interesting time for me after finishing reading a book my wife gave me "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" which coincided with reading an interview with Jamal Ayesh - a co-founder of Fatah and a member in PLO's national committee. He mentioned how a bunch of "businessmen" are handling the Palestinian most critical issues like the Refugees, Jerusalem, water, and Settlements. This group of people is trying to hijack the Palestinian long and honoring history of struggle and self-sacrifice for personal agendas. No mentioning a number of examples of Dahalanism "Mohammed Dahalan case" and Qrai'ism "Abu Ala'a Qrai'a case with settlements". Some people like Dahalan had their cards burned by a more national group in Gaza - Hamas, but Qrai'a is leading the negotiations with the Israelis on our most important set of Palestinian red lines.

The problem is branching into a number of problems that is topped by having our top leaders get involved in a set of generous financial advantages that will change them from lousy statesmen to benefiting capitalist businessmen. On the other hand, a whole nation is dipped into a day to day life dilemma that will not push them to secure their most basic security, health, and food needs and not further care about self-determination or actualization. A whole nation leadership was trivialized in running a state's errants and beg for the next set of medicines to get into Gaza Strip or enough fuel to be shipped to keep patients from dying.

Throughout the confessions of the EHM I fell in love with the same personality the writer loved - Omar Torrijos that was murdered in a CIA style of plane crash if I'm not mistaken. It's a basic result of putting your nation's interest in front of uncle Sam's, or in Gaza's case to be boycotted and isolated and viewed as a terrorist with a beard. The stamping of the national heroes that spent their lives battling injustice to be extremists or terrorists is not a new theme, but it's a shame to fall in the same trap that has been used for the past century ..
As American's say "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" .. though Bush never knew how to say it right ..

It was really funny this morning to watch NBC 4 going nuts .. I mean, sure this makes it more watchable, but give me a break. The world is going green.. but I'm not sure how green things can get. Today on TV they were talking about "green sex toys". well.. when I heard that I thought they will start talking about cucumbers and carrots .. but they actually were talking about commercial sex toys made of ceramic and recyclable glass - I'm not sure if we want that to be recycled though.

I wasn't very surprised to see this going on TV, since Americans have shows like "sex & the city" and a New York "sex museum" .. so it's in the air .. but I'm not sure about the green part. Let's throw Al-Gor a party celebrating Nobel prize for his "role" in making the world "greener". I'm sure the US could help the world get greener by ratifying the Kyoto agreement that President Bush says about it:

This is a challenge that requires a 100% effort; ours, and the rest of the world's. The world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases is the People's Republic of China. Yet, China was entirely exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. India and Germany are among the top emitters. Yet, India was also exempt from Kyoto … America's unwillingness to embrace a flawed treaty should not be read by our friends and allies as any abdication of responsibility. To the contrary, my administration is committed to a leadership role on the issue of climate change … Our approach must be consistent with the long-term goal of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere."

I am sure that Mr. President knows who is the number 1 emitter. We should all thank Mr. Bush for his "effort" and "leadership" in committing to make the world greener - maybe by using phosphor bombs - with their green flashing - on Afghanistan, Iraq, and wherever he goes next.

Green: signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, Yellow: signed and hoping to ratify the agreement, Red: signed but not ratifying.

Nevertheless, green is a trend here because people are committed to the greener world. This doesn't at all conflict with their love of SUVs and sports cars, since cars or industries that provide the quality of life are not the issue here. It is about the type of paper you use, the cups provided in the coffee shops, and most importantly, sex toys.
Let's use the term self-hypocrites with my beloved Americans. They have a very genuine want to make and do better, but it might get harder when it is about being better. It makes oneself feel so good wiping the butt with a recyclable toilet paper - they don't use water here - because one knows this good for the environment, but how about buying a small car that will consume less energy ? This makes me always wonder why the hydrogen and battery cars are not picking up as a trend if cars are the number 1 polluting machine in the world ? or is it the corporates benefits and network that has more interest driven by profit from gasoline based cars ?

don't get me wrong, but it takes more than regular courage to go in the opposite direction, where responsibility measures up to the level of privilege and power. Investing almost 4.2% of the GDP is worth it if your emittions are affecting 6.5 billion human beings alive.

What attracted me to buy the Fourtine magazine this month was their cover page little title "Khartoum Boom" .. This reminded me of Hashim .. and all our conversations about the virgin land of Sudan that we have ever studied it as the "food basket of the Arab countries" .. it also reminded me of my older brother's weird projects that included a farm in Sudan .. he just loves this idea and thinks of Sudan as the best place to do it .. eh .. why not .. Fourtune magazine agrees ..

Google Earth surprised me with the highlight it has on the area of Darfur as a crisis area .. though I couldn't find Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya, Kossovo, Oganda, or any related legacy crisis areas on the map .. well .. this markets the common public image the American's have about old tribal fightings that was bloated through Robert Murdouch's owned big media across US and UK .. if you are naive enough to ask why would they do that .. I would answer by telling you that in 10 years .. the production of oil in Sudan might move from 0.5 million barrels to 3 millions a day - as per the report .. good answer ?


well .. "Sudan ranked the 1st on this year's "failed states" list compiled by the Carninigie Endowment for International Peace in Washington" .. interesting enough .. this ridiculously failing state is scoring 9% economical growth last year .. Foreign investment rose to around $5 billion .. it is the oil that drives the trend .. but not Chevron nor Royal Dutch Shell .. It's Chinese Nile Petroleum Company ..

here is a good lesson .. Sanctions enforced on Sudan are hurting west more than Khartoum .. hurting companies' chances to make use of the great chance .. China is getting the most of these sanctions and flooding Khartoum with investments .. workers .. Why not .. if it was the biggest customer of their oil .. When Hu Jintao - the Chinese President - visited Sudan .. he was treated in Sudanese traditional generosity because of the respected role played in Sudan ..

The question is about Arab Entrepreneurs that should not miss such a chance in Sudan .. They would be welcomed for sure to play a part of building and constructing Sudan's real image as the "treasure basket" of the Arab world .. I think my Sudanese friends would have a say in that ..

Today I was at the airport police section following up with a case that involves me against my boss as a part of a labor dispute we hadn't settled yet ..

this is not the point ..

I was reading at the walls ..
criminal cases in 2004 : 348 ..
criminal cases in 2005 : 345 ..
criminal cases in 2006 : 606 ..

by the way .. my case number was 500+ (no need to tell the exact number) .. and we are still in mid 2007 .. we should expect more or less around 1000 cases for 2007.. which is showing a doubling trend across the time of the buildings boom ( eh .. not babies boom like US's 1945 ) ..

what was more interesting than these numbers was my file waiting almost 25 days in the hands of incompetent and weakly educated police personnel .. there is a brain and 20 members in the records section .. this is an example that you'd find in all the departments of the police around Dubai ..

sad .. right ?

This is only one part of the story .. everything else seems to be connected to threads of dangers .. after we all heard about the high risk mortgages problem in US and the black Thursday stock markets lived the past days ( Arab stock markets were off for a weekend except Egypt .. luckily ) .. The market keeps bloating the balloon created by people riding the bull ..

UAE market lost most of its value .. Emaar's share reached lowest since 2 years .. 10 Dhs a share .. this is the leading stock ..

so .. is the crisis covering only this part ?

inflation exceeded 10% ..
property prices doubled and even tripled in some places ..
education expenses are a nightmare ..
salaries are not moving up ..
people are less well off by 5% a year (inflation - raises) ..

but dude .. Burj Dubai is almost done ..
eh .. I think who are interested in this building getting done are the workers that are getting paid in the range of 150-200$ a month .. these people don't have any type of education that would guarantee them a basic understanding of their rights .. while some white skinned Brits are paid a 100 times more salary for signing the project.

what was more interesting .. is the move of the headquarter of Haliberton to Dubai .. they are contracting with some training companies to train them to exploit people as being a daily practice by companies .. almost 250,000 companies are assigned only 80 labor officers and investigators to check on labor status ..

so .. the turn is going to hit the properties market for sure .. no matter how much was learned from past countries experiences .. what we feel is being done does not exceed giving a daily dose of Panadole to silence the pain instead of visiting the doctor to deal with it .. this worsens it .. and creates a foggy reality that will not continue ..


There is nothing wrong with sitting down and drafting ways to live away from the tall buildings shades to adapt UAE's place and give it its specific context .. dealing with specifics is not going to happen through hiring overseas committees to do so .. creating job knowledge and adequate personnel development will take time and effort .. but it pays off in terms of vision and future of a country's well being ..


so .. my lady .. sneakers aren't too bad .. though they might not give you the shape you are looking for ..

Azmi Bishara has a lion share of the daily media we watch these days.. He comes from my beloved Nazareth - (EL Nasrah) city. and leads the Balad party he established.
Dr. Azmi resigned in the 22th of April after serving for 10 years in Knesset. leaving the charges against him unattended. He was charged to help Israel enemies in 2006 Lebanon war.

Away from the usual media chewing.. Azmi was a clear advocate of communism and Marxism and so on.. as well as a Christian-Arab voice of democracy. A fighter against the proclaimed American-Israeli democratic masks that are proven with time to be as we say.. good words for bad intentions..


To make it short.. where do we stand from Azmi ? is he our hero that fights for real democracy ? is he a new Jazeera tool - as well as Mohammed Haikal - to mix real life with communists/Nasserists dreams ? are we actually trying to fight through these people the overwhelming trend of western-style democracy ? are his wise and well said words actually listened to ?


I remember one time he was on TV discussing the GCC fear from Iran's possession of nuclear technology.. "GCC should be afraid of neighboring a real country like Iran. When we look at Iran, we see a country with a system and a vision.. when we look to the rest of the region, we see no countries - including the country-for-army Israel. In the GCC, the private and public ownership mixed up to make a mess. The country is a single person vision, and the army is a show for his power." .. well .. how far do we understand his advocacy for a new us through these words ?

This is his talk about the last colonial question..