Egyptian stories

When you finish reading this article, I promise you that you will see the middle east as you've never thought before. You will know for sure that nothing is as it seems and that calculations of this region are far from just a punch of good versus bad guys. All of this starts be a football match!

The intense reaction Egypt is witnessing these days after the first time savage attacks on Egyptians in Sudan exposed lots of cracks in what was called the Arab world, showed lots of hidden incentives and major players and rearranged the whole region into countless fronts each of which is alone in a way but in the same time in alliance with everyone and against everyone in the region.

The one remaining thing of Nasser's legacy broke last Wednesday this is a fact everyone must face. There is no longer brotherhoods for the Arab nations not even in public level which was the last level of pan Arabic enthusiasm remaining in the region.

Egypt, once driven politically out of the influence of the USSR by America during the late seventies and early eighties on political level, is now driven on public's level out of the Arab nationalism region by the awful attacks of Algerians. For the first time in the Republic's history, Egyptian media is lobbying for a complete separation and an ending of the worthless Arabic project and are actually getting overwhelming acceptance from public's side.

It is so hard to imagine that a single football match caused all of this tension. indeed this is true, the match didn't cause the tension at al, it just uncovered the hidden fire beneath the dirt. Why would a government like Algeria send fighter planes to Sudan carrying armed men with knifes to attack civilian fans of another Arab country?

Soon after the match, everything was explained by the behavior of the Algerian government who still imprisons Egyptian citizens on its land preventing them from leaving to any destination and using any airlines just one day after Egypt air flights were stopped still by an Algerian decision!!
The so called Arab government had a deal with another so called Arab government to replace Egypt's investment on her soil by theirs... namely the big devil of the gulf, Qatar!
Qatar did the deal with Algeria aiming for the later's very rich reservoir of natural gas and the chances of petrochemical industries' flourishing market in Algeria's newly discovered fortune. One company namely was meant by the deal, Qatar Petroleum which is currently the biggest gas exporter in the world as Qatar's fuel reservoir is mainly of natural gas unlike its petroleum rich neighbors!

So Arabs aren't on the same side against Israel all the time? Pingo!! here is the first fact

The more interesting question is, Who played a major role to see this deal getting done? you will never believe the answer!

Iran did!
Thought that Iran isn't on good tides with the gulf? well think again!!
Arabian (or Persian) gulf countries have always kept their channels open for Iran out of fear rather than of true friendship. Last year during the latest Israel - Gaza crisis an interesting fact was revealed. Iran managed somehow to have a real loyal friend not just an afraid partner. It became obvious that Qatar became Iran's newest bitch!
No matter how would it ruin its relations with other Gulf countries like the still partly occupied UAE which considers Iran its major enemy nor Saudia Arabia the major Sunni country, Qatar has already chosen a side; interestingly with a Shiite friend although the majority of its population are still considered to be Sunni. Anyway majority doesn't work here in almost all Arab nations!

So, Iran managed to get Algeria and Qatar to do a trick to expel Egyptians out of Algeria. What's the interest here for Iran?
Well, sorry to tell you this fact 30 years later. But who do you think is the number one enemy for Iran and vice versa? Before rushing to answer saying Israel or USA, I will make it easy to guess... It is Egypt.
Egypt is no doubt, The largest Sunni country in the world with more than 99% of its 70 million Muslims being Sunni and with the largest Islamic university in the world, Al Azhar that seems, unlike most of religious institutions in the world, pretty successful in spreading Sunni Islam everywhere in the world with special success in both Eastern Europe and South East Asia.

Iran is the only country in the world where there is no Egyptian embassy, quite interesting information, isn't it?

So, Iran by antagonizing Egypt's presence in Algeria is actually spreading its own domination to another Arabic country closer to its worst enemy in the whole Islamic world. Iran never forgot the major role Egypt played in Iraq's victories during their last war.

So, Iran and Egypt are like brutal enemies? Correct!
So it isn't about Sadat signing the peace treaty with Israel? well you do the math : Sadat died in 1981 so he can't be the only reason for the hard feelings. Egypt never closed its embassy in Iran until the late Shah was accepted here in Cairo, the city he chose for his exile which was the first sparkle that grew into major fire after Iraqi - Iran war.

Where does Israel stand in this whole equation? in the middle if not closer to Iran.... WHAT!!?

This is another shocking fact. Although Egypt and Israel are supposed to be on peaceful terms for like 31 years exactly the next March, yet both countries never eased on their hatred, tension or continuous preparation for the next war!
There is a huge Economical - political cooperation between the 2 giants of the middle east but that's only built on the continuously changing interests of political system in both sides. Mubarak for example, made it clear that no war will ever happen in his era except if he was first attacked by whoever the second side might be. This is a corner stone for the weak peace to rely upon but Mubarak isn't living for good. In fact, everyone here is pretty sure he isn't gonna serve the next period... AT LAST!!

The replacement is what matters in the extensive equation. a man like Gamal for example (Mubarak's elder son) sounds promising and if elected ( usually by indecent election) he will make sure nothing changes regarding the external politics of Egypt. But so far, even if just for argument's sake, other men can reach the far high throne and of those men very similar to Osama bin Ladin aren't excluded!

Israel on the other hand, the modern secular country established on the memory of a religious kingdom is currently witnessing dangerous transformations. No one can deny that religion is getting the upper hand every where in the world, Yeah we are in the time when liberals hide in caves and conservatives are called new! - but in Israel, this carries another deep meaning for its own population as well as for all of its neighbors!

Israel is ruled by the right wing with increasing power of the religious parties - those whose most polite description would be major radicalists who believe in the possibility of rebuilding the temple and reestablishing the kingdom of David - I know it sounds funny, but believe it or not, this is a very huge issue between Egypt and Israel!

Interestingly formed in majority by Sephardic Jews, Religious parties never let go what they call the great kingdom of Israel promised by god from Euphrate to Nile. That makes Egypt and its 80 million citizens, quite an obstacle.
Meanwhile Egypt's religious wing wasn't asleep all this time, it is now by far the most prevalent political and social movement especially with the amazing and unfortunate come back that the Muslim Brotherhood made. those strangely never let go the communist Nasser's ideology about wiping out Israel from the map. Both wings, very successfully managed to lobby for their causes of destruction, gain huge popularity and remind the people everyday that the peace treaty is just a piece of paper in the time after Sadat in Egypt and Rabin in Israel were both assassinated.

For the right wing of Israel, or to be fair let's say the religious parties, Egypt is the one Israel needs to take out for its dreams not Iran that falls outside the old kingdom's "holly!" borders. Iran knows that, and that implies in Iranian point of views, that the worst case scenario that may ever happen in this boiling region is that it ends as Israel's neighbor or better, that they could split Arabia into halves.. as far as Israel is concerned, its ambition stops at Medina and never existed beneath it!

But there is one obstacle, that would be Egypt. Because Egypt also knows what Iran and Israel knew!
So Egypt thinks of Iran as an outsider who just calls for his share in a lunatic game and a brutal enemy who tries to invade its land everyday with new Shiite ideas - last year only hundreds of disputes occurred and large number of people were accused of spying for Iran and Hezbellah.
While it looks at Israel as its current neighbor but a neighbor you need to watch from close... do you realize the varying degrees of brutality here, the ironic fact?
Cause Jews don't want to invade Islamic thoughts and don't give a shit to a Sunni or Shiite, for them all are the same. But Iran and Egypt do care for all it takes...

Wait wait... are you implying that: ..... Yes, if a war broke out between Najad and Nitaniaho, Egypt will stand watching and pray for the nearest neighbor to win or to be honest, for both countries to get out pretty damaged. after all if this war is happening anyway, why not benefit from it and be the new unparalleled force in the region!

But who told you that this war is happening? on the contrary, Iran and Israel are pretty close friends who planned some master works together.... want an example?? Remember last month when secret connections and negotiations between the so called enemies on TV were finally revealed... They cook the whole meal to USA and the west who gladly eat it.

And so.. Iran, having a new bitch called Qatar tries to invade Egypt's geopolitical extension with complete approval of Israel who will of course galdly share the cake based upon the main principle that Algeria is outside its kingdom's border and will also try to isolate its number one enemy in a very similar conduct to its trials in the Indigo countries (the countries where the Nile run)

Huge number of Egyptians call Mubarak to move the investments out and end diplomatic relations with Algeria. but honestly, in his place after all you read, would you have done it???........., yeah I figured so.

So he is sticking there playing one card Algerians didn't have in mind... a card called Morocco!
For those interested to know, Algeria and Morocco are also enemies! they were about to burst into multiple wars on the background of the western desert's case!
So, instead of replying directly, a method that Mubarak never uses, He will hit them so hard by supporting Morocco below the table to kick some Algerian ass..

Ah, Did I mention that Mubarak became a public hero? He did... also his beloved sons became heroes.
After the match and when the gangsters of Algeria started to attack, Mr Alaa and Mr Gamal were vulnerable to attacks but they bravely shielded the Egyptian national team until Sudan's police interfered and they got all free..
After the incident, everyone was totally surprised to see the president's son talk on TV! on CABLE TV, describing the attacks with huge bitterness like a normal man, just a human, and it did work.

Following his amazing speech, his dad gave another one in the Parliament with a whole new glow that he looked younger than me! and the speech got to the public who now totally describe him as the father and the protector of our nation!

Who said that everyone in Egypt is so hurt by the attacks!!! here you go, one happy family at last!

But let's get to the external affairs, Do you think the rest of the gulf will forget what Qatar did? I doubted so too ...
If not out of integrity's sake, it will be out of jealously and ambition in the new Algerian cake, Qatar is gonna pay so dearly in the new gulf federation for making the worst mistake, for allying with their worst nightmare , IRAN

I mean Qatar cooperated with Israel for a decade and the gulf was totally ok with it... Now when it changes its side to another Islamic country they totally are against it... well, don't think religiously here, think ethnically! Persians think of themselves as the precious blood while Arabs are their servants and Arabs, well they think Persians are kind of stupid self absorbed little bitches!

The Gulf knows what Iran knows, what Israel knows and what Egypt knows and their side, of course will be with the only country that won't run to share in the cake being a part of the cake itself... with Egypt.
Egypt knows what the gulf thinks and so both sides are getting closer the years to come just for the fun of hating Israel and Iran and of course Iran nowadays include Qatar.

Do you see the dilemma of USA's existence here.... it is somehow in the middle of a very big volcano...

Let's see... Egypt took sides with the gulf... Algeria with Qatar.... Qatar with Iran.... Iran with Israel ... Israel with USA .... Egypt with France and the list goes on... of course we can never forget dear Turkey in the fight.

Turkey isn't growing a conscience as most Arabs called it during the latest middle east crisis when Ardogan was the first Turkish prime minister to attack Israel so violently in his speeches and to take actual situation against it in the meantime Egypt and KSA were totally into Israel for a new thing!
So Turkey, What is it with or against...
Well primarily Turkey is with itself... against the Kurds and that makes it brutal enemy with the now self run Iraqi Kurdistan that has strong alliances with both USA and Israel... Bingo!! Sorry Israel and USA, Turkey has a new bust to take.
Now do you know that Kurdistan the nation extends through half Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, Syria and Iran? looks like Syria, Iran and Turkey found a new alliance...

So Iran is now against Israel! yes... in the same time they have their arrangements going... Turkey knows what everyone else knows and it won't sacrifice its share in what was once totally its! so Turkey is in no terms about this topic with lovely Iran...

See the middle east is like the Walkers family... No body is in nobody's side and still everyone has his own side.....

Welcome..... To the real world

Of all 14658 gay Egyptian profiles on Majam.com, 5844 profiles only contain a main picture at least. the majority is of naked body organs yet certain group preferred to put on a face picture.*

A randomly selected 150 profile with face pictures were observed for their role choices from between (Top only - Versatile/ top - Versatile - Versatile/ Bottom - Bottom only - Ask me)**

The results came as follows:

# 35 profile owners chose: Top Only
# 12 profile owners chose: Versatile/ Top
# 21 profile owners chose: Versatile
# 9 profile owners choses: Versatile/ Bottom
# 14 profile owners chose: Bottom only
# 59 profile owners chose: Ask me

Conclusion: showing your face seems a challenge in a place like Egypt for so many reasons. This comparison shows clearly that role is one of these factors in Egyptian culture. only 23 profiles with bottom preferences could share their face pictures of which only 14 were exclusive bottoms*** meanwhile 47 profiles on the Top side choose to share their face picture.
The low number of Versatile/ Top ad Versatile/ Bottom categories indicates to how much extent Egyptians are role minded.. you either become Top all time or Bottom all time or in between (versatile) all the time.
Showing your face is considered enough risk by the majority of Egyptians who in return, provide the least information on their profile and references (highest number was for Ask me category)****

___________________________________
* Members wearing sun glasses were included. Zoom degree wasn't recognized as an element of rejection as long as the picture clearly shows the facial profile. members showing half of their faces weren't included while side face clear pictures were.

** The element of choice was the only criterion to classify: Members with profile names like (Egy Top) who chose (Ask Me) were included in the later category

*** There is element of mistake in the results due to foreigner profiles in Egypt. The largest element of mistake was in Bottom Only category, which indicated much less number of Egyptian profiles in this category

**** Members choosing Ask me could be with bad performance in English or didn't want to take much time selecting choices or wanted to keep the information private or didn't believe in role classification . judging the reason of the choice was made upon answers to other questions

So, Egyptians along with other Middle Eastern men are a type. I have seen strange forms of attraction and affection that some gay brothers in the west have for the middle eastern beef! Though some had just an admiration of the texture some liked to think of Egyptians as a more honest or better say less corrupted type of men supposing that the extra level of freedom in Europe and the west corrupted gay men and contributed to some promiscuous behaviors there and so they seek the man they think will be always loyal and monogamous in a long lasting relationship.

Dreams are great, aren't they? only if they can turn to truth. Let me say this line from Pirates of the Caribbean ," Life is cruel and watch for the other life cause it isn't any different!"

The choice of having a relationship with a middle eastern is a challenge that mostly fails in a short period of time except in very few and special cases.

A middle eastern guy is usually facing lots of issues with his sexuality even if he seemed to be very open like and very sure about what he want. Lots of proofs can tell you that the guy isn't ready in every level of your relationship, couple of evidences everywhere that you need to pay attention to or else you end loosing your most precious time on another failure story.

Either in a normal chat or in bed, you can for sure detect what your guy is really thinking about his identity and if he is sure about you both.

Here, let me start explaining some classic problems a European - Egyptian couple will face!
1- Religion; Your guy might be very cool about religion but still deep inside his core, his faith stays unrelieved by the idea that he is going to age and die someday and after the dark abyss he will have to face the supreme being in Islam or Christianity. The mighty power that created this world from a male and a female and is currently ragging against him for having it with a man.

This isn't me saying that homosexuality is a crime at all, I am just explaining the general direction of men's thoughts in my culture. I mean I solved religion's issue earlier.

How to know that your guy is facing a religion problem?
Simply start by asking him: he will tell you that he is cool about religion. Believe him, that's how he really is or else he would have never gone so far to sleeping with another man. Yet the more important question in the deal is a question about his opinion about gay marriage.
This question will show you exactly the fabric of your boyfriend's mind simply because you created a religious, social and political dilemma in front of him. such question puts the man in front of his religion as if for the first time he came out or adopted his sexuality.

You will be very surprised to know the number of Egyptian gay men who oppose the idea of a gay marriage or even the idea of a civil union granted by a secular constitution!
How is that? well, most Egyptian men here treat their passion for their own sex group as an unforgivable sin but in the same way as an invincible desire that they got trapped in and can't nor won't have the power to quit no matter how much they try. So they think - mostly unconsciously - that they deserve an eternal punishment of loneliness and this unconscious thought presents itself only when a guy is asked about his opinion of a civil union. He replies, this is to work only in the West not in a place like Egypt... for him, it is impossible to work in Egypt.

Then why would he think it will work in the west? well for his mind, he doesn't mean the west as the geographical direction, it is more or less the Occident! let's revise the ideas of Arab men about the occident nowadays.
In short, a man, even a gay man, thinks that the west is anti -religious community where everyone can make sins and have sex with whoever he wants. so gay civil unions worked the best in such "unethical" communities.. "sorry about the strong word"

An evidence, quite interesting one, is the mentality of Italian men!!
Italian men are also a type, they are a Mediterranean nation with hot blood as they say, although they are in the geographical distribution of the EU, they still think like Egyptians and the rest of the Middle east.

How progressed are gay rights in Italy? the answer is simple, could be the lowest progress allover the whole free world!
and the reason isn't the pope... we all know that the pope lost the battle in Europe to Atheism not Islam as some people may think!! and his power is still holding in South America. Well, at least for now!

Italy's gay rights movements were suppressed by political and social reasons. Lots of elements to discuss but the most important factor is the lack of enthusiasm of Italian gay men who still have to dream about the pope..
So, the movement had to depend on enthusiastic groups else where in Europe to change laws of the whole European union, something that took place in reality.
Gay unions became a rule in the EU constitution and so, Italy had to allow gay civil unions. only to be rejected shortly after by every state's council!

Check Italian profiles on any gay dating sites and tell me, if there is no felony in being gay in Italy, then why are the majority of men hiding their faces!!

Back to our target group, So an Egyptian man thinks that a civil union idea will never work in his country because people there have ethics and religion "including gay men as well" also because he strongly sees himself as unworthy of happiness!

It is so predictable that such a man will totally oppose the idea of marrying in a mosque or a church in front of god itself not just the community. He already refused the idea of a civil union in front of a lawyer not to mention God!

So, mostly he will answer that a marriage is something between a man and a woman only. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? well revise the pope's speeches. I know it has been a long time since you last listened to him. well, it is just for fun, I am sure you will laugh from the heart!

What about other signs of uncertain identity? Let's talk sex! ...... {Oh YEAH}

- If your guy says I am top only, ask him if he tried taking it in the ass, if he says yes then pass, if no, then another question about the possibility of him trying it onetime... an uncertain person will always say Never... Egyptians are very role minded as a means of defining the person and estimating how sinful he is.. a top is less sinner. Isn't he fucking anyway!!!

- If your guy forgets to kiss you. Please, and I mean it please, Don't go on for an extra second with him even if he has the largest dick on earth and he can fuck for 24/7. The reason is, he is already imagining that you are a girl. This rule applies specially for Egyptians outside Egypt who want free sex and are afraid of the consequences of having it with a girl (I.e. having unwanted kids and having to spend on them or having things going seriously and ending by a marriage from a girl of another religion or even if the guy has a wife waiting in Egypt) so they refer to the second best... Gay men.

Man you are beautiful. you must know that, for Egyptian eyes, you are a God of beauty ; we worship the smooth white skin, the green and blue eyes, blond or brown long hair and a smile from such a face melts our hearts! so you also are a type!

He will be enjoying all the best you can offer, the grace of your company, the beauty of your smile and of course the amazing sex! but you should know, he will never love you! to him you are just a compromise, a sex toy that he even won't kiss!
The worst might happen if you loved him. he will break your heart as no one ever did. he will dump you on the first chance to move back to Egypt or else where and marry a girl that he will offer his love. a gift he never allowed you to take a small glimpse of!

Please, don't date Egyptian man in Europe unless you are sure he is totally worth it. he is gay and he isn't troubled about it.

- If your man must be drugged or drunk to sleep with you, Stop this nonsense. he isn't mr right
- If your man cums soon once he is introduced in you or you are introduced in him. then something is going wrong. Remember, Viagra isn't the magic pill.. Most cases of premature ejaculation are due to psychological factors.

want an explanation? here it goes: once you start fucking, his subconscious goes a very strong battle between right and wrong. If what he is doing or not. If he regrets having sex with a man instead of marrying and having a family, if he will go to Eden or will be sent to hell, between religion and family, old and new relationships, past and present and the result is unbearable pain and agony to which his brain responds by sending strong impulses to his genitals to start releasing his existence from this pain and shoot the load as if dumping the reason of regrets. He cums so soon, sex becomes very bad and with sex troubles, the relationship is almost over before it starts!

- Watch out for your man after sex. This is the only period in his life when he allows his subconscious battle to surface. If he refuses to kiss you then, you should get it, he is having lots of issues.
- If he wears his clothes so fast after sex or rushes to the bathroom to get going... Teeeet... he isn't the right guy.
- If he insists on having sex in a dark room, then he has something to escape from!
- If he prefers to have sex totally silent, then his brain has something to say in objection and he is trying to repress it
- If he is less open to discovering new things in sex. Then his mind is thinking, isn't it already enough sinning!
- If he says, I meet gay men just for fun, I don't do gay best friends. Then he is still thinking of the gay life as just a way to physical pleasure not just a whole big life style.

The symptoms are very obvious everywhere, just keep your eyes open.

To be continued

Brother's and sisters; the famous successful American drama series is currently on display in the Arab world on Fox Series* on both Nile - Sat and Arab - Sat and is meeting similar success to the enthusiasm it met in the USA.

Up to the moment, The series is in season two and during a full season of "Brothers & Sisters", Kevin "the gay lawyer character played by the Welsh actor Mathew Rhys" was barely introduced.

The American channel* strangely followed the guidelines of Arab media censorship on American movies, TV shows and series deleting full scenes of Kevin ; especially those when he is with his boyfriend alone, even if just having a conversation not sex or even a small kiss.

The impressive success of season one convinced the owners to re show it again twice then a third time with dubbing to Arabic, Lebanese accent.
During the Arabic version, Kevin was referred to by the term (Shoul) (in Lebanese Arabic : شول ) a Lebanese word that best translates into "Abnormal" but still less insulting than the word (Shaz = pervert) only that the word wasn't understood by Egyptians who are no doubt the most important population in the Arab world... deleting the scenes also seems to have helped!

In season 2 ,currently on show, Kevin's character is even more mysterious with more deleted scenes with his boyfriends and even a full scene was deleted when Kevin did nothing but setting with his uncle Saul Holden "played by Ron Rifkin" asking him if he is gay or not!

Guess what? Even American media has something to fear!!

____________________________________________
Fox Series is the second channel directed to the Arab world viewers for free on Nile Sat and Arab Sat after Fox movies.. Both channels are owned originally by FOX news corporation company in the USA but they are both based in the UAE and run by Rotana media services company owned by Saudi prince and billionaire; Al Waleed bin Talal

The 18th of November 2009 will be always remembered in Egypt as the last day of the Arab nationalism established by Gamal Abdel Nasser.

On the background of FIFA world cup - South Africa 2010 qualifications, more than 4000 Algerian strong stalked Egyptian fans who were supporting their national team in the final game in Sudan. The 4000 Algerian gangsters never watched the match and were sent to Sudan with a one purpose : To kill as many Egyptians as possible in any case should Egypt win the match.

Even after Egypt lost the game 0 -1 the 4000 gangsters accompanied by more than tens of thousands of Algerian spectators in El Marich sporting club stadium attacked the Egyptian fans who hadn't expected such form of behavior and never took precautions.

Egypt's national team, Accompanied by Egypt's first sons "Alaa and Gamal Mubarak" were imprisoned in the stadium shielding from the Algerian attacks, 15 Egyptian bus were rained by large rocks breaking the windows and causing multiple casualties and the Egyptian media bus, including some of the most prestigious pan - Arab world Egyptian media stars like Fardows Abdel Hamid and Ashraf Zaki.

The crisis cause Egyptian outrage with thousands of protestants in front of Algerian embassy in Cairo and for the first time in history; a withdrawal of the Egyptian ambassador in an Arab country.

Egypt's minister of sports broke the records while speaking freely on Egyptian national television saying, "This is the end of what was called a brotherhood"
The most honorable reaction still came from Egypt's media system where dozens of actors announced their disclaimer of any honors that the once received in Algeria like Ahmed el Sakka the famous action movie star. Most of them called for a strong response to Algeria's insults and one actress, The famous comedian Nashwa Moustafa, Asked the president in an interview on Egypt's channel one to declare war on Algeria!

A diplomatic crisis between Egypt, Algeria and Qatar is expected to follow in the months to come especially after evidences suggesting Qatar's intervention in the crisis for the purpose of expelling Egypt's industries and investors from Algeria to replace them were revealed.

meanwhile, The Egyptian football federation fired a complaint in FIFA and a large file containing all evidences in the Algerian conspiracy will be sent in next Sunday.

Up to this moment , Egypt is the largest Arab investing country in Algeria's market

Few people may recall the Honduran - Salvador war on the background of a football match. well, I think that Egyptians will have more than one reason to read about that incident for the time being.

There have rarely been any inter Arab world crisis as strong as the current Egyptian - Algerian tension after Algeria won yesterday's match in Sudan to qualify to South Africa world cup in 2010.

The reason isn't who won and who lost; Egyptian public changed recently to a civilized football fans style who accepts defeat as much as loves to win. So far all Egyptian critics, daily newspapers and magazines praises the national team for what we consider " the best period of Egyptian achievements ever!"

No one even complains from the suspicious circumstances upon which Egypt lost the first match in Algeria 3-0 when 4 players had food poisoning along with the Egyptian coach Hassan Shehata and his assistant Shawky Ghareeb after having a meal in the hotel selected by the Algerian federation to host the Egyptian team!

Yet the tension before the last two matches from Algeria's side is a whole new phenomenon that we witness for the very first time in the Arab world!
Before the return match in Cairo by weeks, Algeria's most popular three newspapers started a campaign against Egypt and Egyptians publishing tons of lies and insults to Egypt to the level of calling Egyptians "enemies"

Egypt's pan Arab wold media responded very responsibly to the strange new phenomenon and kind of underestimated the effect of its Algerian counterparts at least on the relationship between both countries that was described thousands of times as eternal on channels like Egyptian national TV, Al Hayat, Dream TV and the most popular Modern Sports cable channel.

Algerian media personnels were allowed to speak freely on Egyptian cable channels and wish for their team to win simply because Algeria doesn't own a single cable channel! and some of them were even allowed to appear on Egypt's national TV!

The week before the return match in the 14th of this month was the worst in Algeria's newspapers who never stopped the torrents of insults that reached the level of personal insults to Egyptian players like Mohamed Zeidan! even after a visit from the pan - Arab world famous sportsman Ahmed Shobeir - the very famous Egyptian retired goal keeper currently a successful sports commentator, show host and member in the Egyptian people's assembly!
Orbit network's "Al Quahira Al Youm = Cairo today" along with "Al Hayat TV = Life TV" adopted a campaign to settle things with Algerian media and Algerian public before the match on terms of the Arab brotherhood and the sportive spirit to let the best team win.

Yet, to everybody's surprise in Egypt, the insults kept going and Algeria's federation of football sent a warning to the FIFA that Egyptians are going to abuse Algeria's first team in Cairo to win the game by dirty ways!
An accustation that Egypt's Federation refused strongly denying any intention of abuse in Cairo the peaceful city that just won the best marks ever in evaluating its amazing organizing of The World cup below 21 years old.

The arrival of Algerian team was another strange episode in Algeria's dirty game. Although Cairo police did its best to make sure no one ever approaches their bus, Algerian players reached the hotel to scream at anyone and send torrents of accusations everywhere to everyone in the street after they intentionally destroyed the glass of the bus by hammers that they brought with them!!

Thousands of condemns to Egypt, Cairo police and Egyptian police were announced on the Arab world media and even some worldwide media like BBC of which Mohamed Rawrawa the Algerian chief of football federation was the toughest after he called Egyptian people a scum on Egyptian TV while he is being hosted in Cairo the Giant city and capital of Egypt!

The next day, Egyptian Crime Scene Investigation unit proved that the glass was broke from inside not from outside and that although Algerian football players held some stones in their hands claiming that they were the reason of the destruction, it is perfectly evident that a stone didn't cause the break.. or else the remains of the glass would have been in the inside of the bus not outside!

Algeria's federation sent a complaint to the FIFA to which Egypt's federation replied the second day by a file of all investigations and evidences on the inaccuracy of Algerians allegations.

Egypt won the return match 2-0 which meant that both teams have to play a final game in a neutral land ( which by the way is a whole new rule! because Egypt lead the group by goal difference!!! )
To define the neutral land, FIFA asked both sides to nominate three countries then later to restrict the choice into single country, after than a random choice was made upon which Egypt's choice "Sudan" was decided to be the site where the final game is to be played.

But to everyone's surprise the next day after the return match of Cairo, Three Algerian newspapers published another fake news about hundreds of deaths among Algerian fans who supported their team in Cairo stadium under a fake picture of a new reporter faking his death on the first page!!
Egypt responded denying the news and condemning the unprofessional conduct of Algerian media. Later this day, Algeria's ambassador in Egypt declared that all Algerian fans returned safely and Algeria's national TV did broadcast a an official statement from the Algerian government to ensure its citizens that the news they read on papers was all fake and that everyone returned safely from Cairo.

In stead of apologizing for Egypt for the fake news and the unstopping insults, Algerian public rose in riots against Egyptian institutions and companies in Algeria : Egypt Air was attacked and its office in Algeria city was destroyed by angry public! Orascom Telecom the telecommunication company owned by Naguib Saweris the famous Egyptian billionaire was attacked as well and the result was total destruction of four stories of the building and loss of more than 7000 mobile set that the public robbed!

Egyptians were the next target after their companies had its share, the next day reports about abuse of Egyptian citizens in Algeria was reported especially in the building of (Al mokaweloon al Arab = Arab constructors) Where Algerian public imprisoned more than 400 Egyptian engineer and threatened to kill them all!

The next day Egyptian citizens started returning to Cairo telling horrible stories about the abuse they were subjected to in Algeria. the number of Egyptians decreased in the next day simply because Algeria's officials stopped the flights to Egypt! even for Egyptian citizens!

The day came and it was Algeria's turn to win the final match in Sudan and qualify to South Africa 2010 after hundreds of illegal conducts including buying Sudanese share of tickets to redistribute it for free on every Sudanese citizen on condition that he carries the Algerian flag! still the day of the match, the stadium's majority was with Egypt

FIFA had strong warnings for both sides that if any spectator riots took place, the team will be punished by automatically being disqualified amongst those warnings; breaking in the playground was the most clarified one! guess what, Algerian spectator broke it before the match!

After the match, The unthinkable happened: Algerian fans, instead of leaving in joy for winning, turned to attack Egyptians with knifes and sticks and throwing stones on Egypt's buses causing casualties in Egyptian fans who had no idea what was happening. Thirty thousand Sudanese soldier tried in vain to protect Egyptian civilians from the Algerian attacks!

Saweris, The famous businessman decided to end his business in Algeria after the attacks on his company, only then he was surprised to see that the Algerian government is demanding him to pay more than one hundred million US dollars as taxes, a figure that exceeds his all profits in Algeria.
It wasn't soon until other companies received the same letter... in 24 hours, The Algerian government asked for more than 5 hundred million US dollars takes from Egyptian companies.

Egypt's federation fired a complaint today in FIFA asking for an investigation in all Algeria's crimes in the three matches and threatening of suspending its membership in FIFA for 2 years if nothing was done to grant Egypt its rights and punish Algeria.

in the same time, Samir Zaher announced Egypt's withdrawal from the project "North Africa federation of football" and asked his counters in Libya, Tunisia and Morocco to do the same and reestablish the federation with Egypt's participation instead of Algeria's after explaining the misconduct of Algeria as a government, media and people.

Egypt's minister of External affairs summoned the Algerian Ambassador to condemn Algerian attacks on Egyptian institutions early today but in the evening Egypt summoned its ambassador in Algeria for consulting.

Egyptian trying to return to Egypt today couldn't find a flight back home today

Mubarak issued an official statement today holding Algeria's government responsible for the safety of Egyptian institutions and citizens on its territory.

The insult this time is different from any other time having came from Algerian public against Egyptian public, a form of hatred that never existed before in the Arab world.. Egyptians will never forget what Algeria did.
To Algeria I say," What goes around I promise you comes back!"

Of all gay male profiles on Manjam.com; currently 14650 Only 5840 profile owner choose to upload profile pictures publicly to their pages.

100 profiles from the pictured group have been randomly selected and comparison between the main picture have been done to check whether it features a face picture or not

# 29 profiles had a face picture*
# 71 profiles had pictures of other organs, nature or comic pictures

Taking Netherlands profiles on the same site** as a control group

# Total number of profiles 2995
# profiles with pictures 1573 ... 100 randomly selected
# profiles with face picture 77
# profiles without face pictures 23

Conclusion:
In Egypt, where fear from family hierarchy and police intervention; men prefer to remain anonymous. further comparison is to include the number of people who preferred to expose their organs or show some skin and whether these profile owners did this just for safety or for the main goal they are using gay dating social networks (just for fun!)
Plotting the previous results against another scale of member's age and role will provide interesting results reflective to other aspects of Egyptian gay culture
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* members wearing a sun glasses to hide their eyes and members showing most of their face (a close up picture that shows from the forehead to the chin) were included in this category while members who shadowed their eyes or their whole face (like criminal pictures in newspapers) to hide their identity were included in the second category
Members who had pictures of just their face, their whole body or pictures taken in occasions with other friends were included in the first category .. (shadowing the other faces in the picture was rendered insignificant in the classification)
The degree of zoom in the picture and the distance of the member from the camera were also rendered insignificant issue

** Manjam.com isn't the popular gay social network in Netherlands which explains the few number of profiles. Gayromeo.com is the main channel there.
The low number of Netherlands doesn't affect the results evidenced by the significant number of no picture profiles on the site ( i.e. The same guys go to different sites, Manjam guys aren't either more or less serious than Gayromeo's. Yet, another comparison between the numbers of members on both sides would lobby for either the validity of this assumption or its inaccuracy.

Guys, this series of articles is at all against far distance relationships as someone might misinterpret them. In fact I might consider far distance relationships as one of the most important characteristics of the gay community and it makes us simply the most powerful social group in the world.

Yes, we are! Don't be surprised!

Yes, we are subjected to persecution and stereotyping almost everywhere in the world but still we are the most powerful social group in the world.. look at us: Blacks and whites, First, second and third world nation citizens and sometimes not only citizens but powerful and insightful ones just look at Europe and you will see what I am referring to!

We are the only institution in the world where a Muslim would call a Jew a real brother and even fall in love with him! we don't form typical families most of the time and so we aren't pound or affected by everyday bureaucracy and troubles and the first lesson we learn once we acknowledge our lifestyles is that our first enemy is corrupted political religion so we are mostly liberals, peaceful and don't take the shit they say on TN, Radio and even religious places for granted.

Slowly but always progressively with the development of the new world order and with globalization, Gay people will gain more and more power and fight back the persecution in the darkest places. This is inevitable even if it took centuries to develop.

Mark my words, " One day in the future, the gay community will be the major progressive power fighting neo cons and all dark forces. one day peace will be reality rather than a dream and we are going to be its keepers!"

For 2 guys, getting serious via the internet is much more easier than a heterosexual couple, even in real life. for example; a Muslim girl can never marry a Christian guy according to her religion, In a politico - pseudo - socio - religiously brainwashed societies this can unleash a civil war!
But for a Muslim guy to walk the aisle side by side with his Christian or Jewish or even Atheist boyfriend to marry in front of a lawyer! Religion doesn't have a word here... Though I still hold tight to my theory that religion, "The true religion" is never against gay rights but this is another subject.

So, what is this all about? it is about defining what is a far distance relationship. What is the thin line between a virtual nonsense and a true relationship that aims to something real. No one ever thinks of a far distance relationship as a permanent thing, that's the idea, if it is a relationship then the far distance is unavoidable but temporary obstacle that both partners are working to overcome.

Arabs are becoming a type in the gay world. And they have no idea how lucky they are! but in the same time, European guys along with other races are becoming a type here as well. It's all about availability at least as I think of it.
My explanation for that, and I know some guys don't agree , is that "Rarity brings appreciation"

To an Egyptian, a European guy with blue or green eyes is sexier than an Egyptian movie star! and vice versa so guys if you are visiting Egypt and notice people gazing at you, don't worry it is just great admiration not violent rejection.

So what is a far distance relationship:
First of: it is a relationship. So, it can never be between two guys who never met each other in reality!, Right?

So you can't just chat three times with a man in another country and start calling him love, honey and sweetheart in the fourth chat! At least you would have seen a guy more than just once in real life to start calling both of you the term us!
Not only a meeting, but also you should have hit all levels of a normal relationship together. Yes, in most far distance relationships that takes place in a very short period and both guys rarely know anything about each other in the few days when they turned from total strangers to friends to sexual partners to committed partners. But you can get to know each other later, what's the use of the internet if not to chat with the guy then!?

It is a relationship; that means that the far distance is no advantage for both sides rather than a big obstacle that both sides wish to overcome to be together and start a normal eligible relationship. So having a waiting man in every port policy can hardly be called a relationship guys. The right name here is fuck buddies all over the universe thing!

It is a relationship, so it doesn't include more than two, does it?
Cause no one can just have his partner and visit another country to meet another man who has his own partner to have fun and start think of themselves as a couple even if they meet every week. This isn't a far distance relationship, this is just an indicator to tell both of the guys that their main relationships aren't working fine!

It is far distance relationship, So you don't have the choice to make it monogamous or not! it has to be open relationship where both guys are allowed to go for fun.
This is the major challenge for both guys in my opinion and that's why I say that far distance relationships aren't made to live forever. We all know that in gay relationships sex preceeds friendship in most cases. So, both guys may end finding a soul mate so fast in their locality, especially that gay men do it all the time... Remember Sean Penn's line in Harvey Milk when the killer to be was talking to him about gays being unable to conceive? "God Knows, we keep trying all the time!!"

It has a reason to exist. It has a thing that holds it to existence. I mean both sides won't be willing to take the whole agonizing wait and longing for nothing special. It has a sparkle and burning fire. Actually I do think it should have stronger sparkles than normal relationships because it faces lots of obstacles. If you start a far distance relationship with a guy because his body is ripped and his ass is muscular and tight or because his dick is huge, I strongly advice you not to go very serious because you will loose interest sooner or later cause in the gay world, there is nothing more than tight asses and big dicks! {Dude!!}... I know it is sort of so direct but it is the truth, isn't it?

It is a relationship, So it is built on mutual interest. Equal mutual interest. If it is one sided, it will fail before it even starts. Come on, what's the idea of losing your time and effort trying to get a man living thousands of miles away who is probably sleeping with every other guy he could lay a hand on in the same time you stay hours checking his photos on your screensaver!

Other than these basic rules, there is no relationship. There will be only far distance nonsense. Add to that the fact that both guys never met in real life and the result is a far-distance virtual nonsense from which you will gain nothing but losing time, efforts, money (even if you don't pay him you loose money, isn't time enough money! ) and tears that you will shed stupidly for a guy you never knew all night long and wake up the next morning wondering why were you crying and start feeling angry about your stupid hopes for couple of months losing more time, efforts and money that could be better used and more importantly screwing your mood that should be better. Cause it is more likely to find Mr. right when you are seeing the world in colors.

Coming up: Arab guys in far distance relationships! ( Yes, they have couple of special considerations... I know!)
To be continued

The Number of profiles from Cairo city only on Gaydar.co.uk* (more than 1000) is bigger than the whole number of profiles of Egypt on Gayromeo.com (902).
Although the exact number of profiles on Gaydar.co.uk can't be estimated because their search engine only displays the 1000 most recently logged on profiles. It is well known that it comes second to Manjam.com here in Egypt after years of being by far, the most popular gay social network. The change of popularity happened during the late nineties and first 3 years in this decade when the site was intensively infiltrated by fake profiles created by police agents to trap gay men and drag them through the internet.

Gaydar.co.uk is a project aiming mainly on financial profits everywhere in the world regardless of the condition of gay rights there. The site's administration once stood strongly against a trial of some Egyptian members to create an informative profile about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and offering advices about places to get screened anonymously away from any police troubles.

The administrator didn't explain the main reason of such an action. He replied to the group's question saying that the profile isn't personal and was considered a break of terms of use!

The incident raises suspicions of a kind of agreement between the site administrators and Egyptian police though it can never be perfectly proven. yet, we are accustomed to such deals in Egypt between bars and the police so that the later don't raid any party in exchange of a share in the profits!

It is worth mentioning that Manjam.com administration welcomed and supported the idea of an informative profile about HIV/ AIDS which proved itself to be a very helping tool.
Gayromeo.com offers a complete section about safe sex and a link of every profile for an easy use.
Gaydar.co.uk dones't provide any information in their site. the reason is that they are part of a group of sites including *"Gaynation.co.uk" where a section about safe sex is provided but the site is rarely visited by Gaydar.co.uk visitors!
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* Gaydar.co.uk is a British owned and run gay social network offering services for 13 US $ a month worldwide and a package of very limited services for free guests for promotional reasons.

*Gaynation.co.uk is owned by the same providers of Gaydar. it is a site of gossips, news and discussion along with a radio station called Gaydarradio.co.uk

I was on Gaydar.co.uk once when my inbox received a strange message. It was from an Asian man who was visiting Egypt and he looked like he was in his fourth to fifth decade. in his brief message, the businessman offered a deal getting directly to his target:

" Hello there, Would you like to make 5000 US $ in one week? I am ready to pay you 5000 US $ if you agree to come with me for one week to Hong Kong plus all travel expenses plus your shopping bills"

Right then I was just 21 years old but I was old enough to know that what comes easy goes way too easy. I felt deeply insulted and my pride suffered from a strong strike. What the hell did he think I am, just because I am an Egyptian young man in a third world nation means that I am on sale for any price.

I replied to the message with the nastiest words I could manage in English and asked the sender not to recontact me ever again. But to my surprise he replied and not as I expected his reply would be. He had another deal to offer!

The second message had no reply to my accusations and nasty words in the reply I sent to his first. He wrote the same text above only after changing the figure from 5000 US dollars to 10,000 US dollars plus all expenses and all my shopping bills in a week! and even promised to cover expenses of any tour I make in Hong Kong.

For instance, I was shocked by the disparate man who would pay 10,000 US $ for one week with a boy young enough to be his youngest child if not his grand child!
Up to this moment; 10,000 dollars is a sum of money I have never had, seen or ever held in my hands. And I will be hypocrite if I said that right then I didn't have second thoughts or hesitated.

The basic struggle between my mind and heart started instantly. Every thought in my brain wanted to say yes. He is ugly but yes. He is old but yes.
10,000 US $ could buy 2 apartments for me and my family in one of the new suburbs around Cairo, or can be a very good investment for the future or even could help me plan for my immigration to a western country. While a week is a very short period and I can forget it even happened.

For five minutes, my mind projected images about a flourishing future that starts by the 10,000 US $. The advantages of money versus the cheap price for me to pay, since I already have long time to live, love and forget. Five minutes seemed to be forever in my internal struggle, I never felt the urge to do something wrong in my life except when I wanted to be gay (and by that time I was still thinking that it is ethically wrong)

I was almost about to go with my mind but I didn't. As one image from my heart stopped all the nonsense I was thinking about!

And I won't lie to you. I won't tell you that a prophet came from the sky to save me from the devil nor will I say that I did it for the love of the lord. No, I did it just for my own sake.

My heart - i.e. emotions - projected an image of a glorious man. A very beautiful man in the best days of his youth wearing a very fine suit, like a designer black suit or better say a tuxedo and a natural silk blue shirt. He looked very comfortable in his clothes as he walked gracefully to a very elegant black car and got in the back seat. He was amazingly beautiful; shining with self confidence in a way but still very modest. He seemed to be an important man as well, you could just tell that from his own burning eyes.

In the back seat of the car, another elegant young man sat waiting for his lover. That one I can't tell what he looked like or what he wore. He just appeared as a beautiful shining light in the car with no details, so I don't know if his eyes were blue green or brown, his hair was black , blonde or red or his skin was milky white, wine colored, olive tanned or ebony charming color.

All I knew was that the man that just walked into the car in front of me was head over heals for the light inside. Of all things he did and all achievements he got he considered his lover to be the best, the most precious.

The car was about to move but it didn't disappear or fly at instant. instead it stopped right in front of me. I was facing the back seat trying to peek through the black glass to see the amazing couple inside.
Only the window opened and the man I saw get inside the car was looking at me, his lover as well. I knew from his light that he looked the same direction as his partner. Towards me!

And the man spoke to say one short tearful sentence full of meanings. his eyes were wet with tears although his face was perfectly lightened with a big smile as if the tears were of joy and gratitude rather than just sadness.. a type of tears I have never knew before in my 21 years!

He said , "Thank you, Ramy for taking the right choice"

The car was gone immediately after he said this word. Before my mind could make up the meanings of what was the handsome man saying and I felt strange, very strange.
His voice was very familiar, his eyes as well. his smell, his face from close distance and everything else reminded me of someone!!

The handsome man was me in the future or at least what I dream to be right then!

I recognized at once what my brief day dream meant. What my heart was pleading me to do! I knew that the future image of me was glorious, everything in me was different but not different at all!
I wore expensive clothes, had a hell of a car but I still remembered my early days of poverty. I looked amazing but I still remembered the days when acne scars covered my face and I was very great but I was modest cause I knew once upon a time long before what does it mean to be nothing.
My man didn't appear in my day dream by body cause his looks are the last thing I need to worry about. He just appeared by soul and it was lighting the space of its goodness and kindheartedness!

Even in the choice of a partner I succeeded and choose upon the right criteria, my image in the future made me very proud.

But of all of his glorious aspects, one only was the most important and most relaxing; as if it were the base upon which all other advantages were built!
He had no regrets at all, He had always been trying to do the right decision and to be good even if life told him to do the reverse. He built himself in a very honest way. His conscience was totally relieved!

at once, I replied curtly saying, "Not even for the whole money in the whole world" and sighed.
My mind spoke again after a period of silence during which I was travelling in time. It didn't object. No, It spoke with a familiar voice that I just heard in a day dream, so comforting and soothing.

it said, " Don't worry Ramy, We'll be OK... you'll be OK."

To be continued

The number of Egyptian profiles on Manjam.com right at the moment is (16091) which is slightly less than the number of all profiles of the African continent on gayrome.com* (16407)

Randomly selected 50 profiles of gay men in the age period between 30 and 45 who had profile pictures (out of 1554 profile) revealed that the owners responded to residence questions out of the following choices { Ask me - with Partner - with family - with friends - alone} as follows

13 profiles chose ... With Family (26%)
14 profiles choose ... Alone (28%)
23 profiles choose ... Ask me (46%)

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* gay romeo.com is a Netherlands based gay social network run by gay stuff offering free membership services to gay people living in places where gays are oppressed!

Joseph Mosaad the famous orientalist once wondered if the western type of classifying people into gay, straight and bisexuals was a major cause of disturbance in the Arab world whose culture was used to homosexual attraction as a normal variant of life without any thoughts of how it happens or why or what could be its circumstances.

"I am gay" this short sentence is one of the most important concepts ever acquired from the occident. It isn't that I am complaining at all, the western style is proven more likely to cope with our modern aspects of life and eligible homosexual relationships with equal rights is the most accepted compromise for all members of that community who lost -among lots of opportunities - an accepted standard regulations for their lives like marriage, monogomy and in lots of cases; the typical family.

Although most men here in Egypt who made it to the gay dating social networks are sexually active on a "western" like way, most of them are consciously or subconsciously in no peace with their life styles.
In Egypt, the Middle East, The Arab world and other Mediterranean communities, men don't do it with women until they get married. Instead they are allowed to go out together, kiss but nothing beyond that.

I remember the first time I promised myself to stop fighting my attitude and fight for it instead when I was just fifteen, ever since then I never had second thoughts, doubts nor did I ever wish that I was straight except in one occasion.

This year, while I was reading Stepheny Meyers's (Twilight Saga), I couldn't help but to envy straight people right then; they knew where to start and where are they heading. a relationship can succeed or fail, it can end either ways. when it is working a man gets a beautiful pride walking through the aisle and they are joined in martimony in front of the people, legal system and even God if they believe in one!

Yet for an Arabic guy like me, nothing is clear. In the west, it starts by a sparkle of admiration or maybe some butterflies and it moves on directly to the physical level. If chemistry is intense enough, both sides come back for more and it hits another level. a level of what we call "Fuck buddies!". one of the guys might happen to admire certain character in the society or an artist that the other guy is head over heals for and together they decide to discover their mutual interests to end up as friends who sleep together, a transitional level that ends so fast by the L word. Then everyone of the guys refers to the other as his boyfriend.

For the last transition to take place here in Egypt, Logistics as well must be in favor of their relationship!

This is common factor in both homosexual and heterosexual relationships even in straight marriages - which are still the absolute majority in Egypt - for two guys to be boyfriends they should at least find a place to live together at least on part time basis or even to just have sex.
In Egypt, it is rare to see guys independent from their families, hell yeah, check Manjam.com for example and you will see that the majority of guys above 30 or even above 40 are living with their families! this is a custom in Mediterranean families but more importantly due to economic factors

An apartment of a 60 Km Sq in a very distant suburb from downtown Cairo can cost more than 150,000 LE. Compare that to the average income of an Egyptian young guy who makes around 12,000 LE per year and you get to see the big picture!!

A place is what starts a relationship here not just mutual attraction and admiration; you can be disparately in love with a guy that you can't have sex with a common story here that usually ends swiftly before it begins!

Even if logistics were in favor of the relationship and even if they made it to the boyfriend level, what next is still the question, isn't it?
Places like the USA are even included in this category of anti- gay rights places. where relationships aren't allowed to end happily by a strong matrimonial bond so that it hangs there depending to survive on love which doesn't work in most case, even in heterosexual relationships. of course you know what am I talking about!

So, no marriage for gays is like a judgement of failure and a big obstacle in the face of every gay relationship. in Europe, or precisely the European union, a quite good compromise exists in the form of legal civil partnership which is still less fair for gay love. But at least it can allow two guys to form a family and live almost normal life, but unfortunately in some countries wrongfully considered as gay friendly like France this option is even not available.

This "dead end" in front of normal gay relationships here in Egypt contributes undoubtfully to the high prevalence of so called "internet virtual relationships" or the commonly used less shocking term "Far distance relationships"
The guy isn't getting lucky tonight anyway, he lives with his family like everyone else and there are no bars to go hang out. He thinks that he will have it only with his hands "as usual" but he gets a message from a European, Canadian, American, Australian or what so ever guy asking him politely for a chat or mentioning a sweet compliment for his profile pictures. Both guys chat for a while on a messenger while their hormones start to rise and they come back for more and where does this leads them: to a virtual relationship

It isn't even a far distance relationship, it can't be called such because both guys never met, no one of their friends, families or neighbors know about their relationship. In short, it isn't even a far distance relationship.
The irony here is that such comparison may make far distance relationships appear as a good aspect of life. I can honestly say and quote me " Nothing on earth is worse than far distance relationships except virtual internet relationships which shouldn't be called relationships"

Most men in the west don't understand what are the consequences of their virtual relationships. Most of them don't know anything about the Arab culture nor have the Arabic concepts about love and relationships and the truth is that most of them don't mean a thing in the beginning and they only start to understand what they got into until it is already too late.

A kind offer of friendship to a disparate young man can end as a very nasty breakup on the internet where words alone are used to inflict the worst pain imaginable. But not few of them, and we gotta admit, offer their friendship as a means to getting to the next level; if you are Australian guy who is interested in having new friends anyway, why not look for new friends in Sydney!
If you are interested in knowing friends from different culture, look for them in your country ; Globalization made the world a small village and this kind of constructive friendship will even help the world in the time of xenophobia and neo Nazis!

To the outside eye it looks like a decent loving and caring far distance relationship, but most of the cases it is built on mutual business interests if I may say, a man who has a free space and some money gets to help a boy interested in the western heaven and the price is his love... only if they made it to that level without a major breakup on the internet!

Am I making any sense! Perhaps I should stop explaining general rules and start telling some true stories.

Around 10% of Lesbian profiles on manjam.com were created by gay males who clearly announce their true sex by either pictures or description paragraphs. the majority of these men (more than 90%) are exclusively receptive in bed.
The choice of female sex can't be considered a true transsexuality as the site has different category for MTF (male to female) genders. This is mostly attributed to the gay culture in some places of the world where roles are being emphasized upon as a means to identify the whole person.
In Egypt , and the whole Arab world, The culture demeans bottoms in the same time it considers "or even praises" Gay top men more masculine than even straight ones. {in the sense that they can make it with a man, so imagine what they can do with a woman!}

The idea here is derived from the concept of the dark ages of Arab culture "before the dawn of Islam" where women were considered as a lesser species and treated as such!

"The lack of important and influential feminine movements in the Arab world is one of the leading causes of gay rights oppression"* {Brian Whitaker , The unspeakable love : Gay and Lesbian life in the Middle East}

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*statement translated from the Arabic version of the book

Something must have told the 20 years old kid that he has something to sell even in his most doubtful time during adolescence. Yes, this thing could be nothing specific; maybe his own needs or his family's financial troubles but don't we all know that for a certain good to sell and stay in market, it should have an interested customer!

Although most of those guys think of themselves as intelligent and discrete, the story isn't quite like they expect; You can detect priceless information about a guy by a careful analysis of his profile, a method proven to be very efficient most of the time especially in homophobic places where guys learn to develop this skill so early as a defensive mechanism and a means of survival!

For example : The paragraph of introduction, mostly unread for some guys who just stick to pictures and ignore the nonsense words, just to get to the main point, can provide general information about the guy's educational level and his backgrounds. His religious views and to what extent is he relaxed in his own shoe as well can be detected easily had he wrote something meaningful there. But not writing is also a sign of what are his aims; just for fun or something more!

His pictures as well are very informative even if they don't show his face as the custom habit here - to avoid being recognized by either someone in his family or neighborhood also a safety precaution against police harrassement - the best example is simply guessing the guy's level from the type of his underwear , if he was wearing one!

In case of "business" profiles, pictures are usually taken to reveal beauty and hide any drawback, so you see the guy posing in his underwear with a broad chest ( revealed by deep inspiration at the time of capturing the photo), a six packs, a tight muscular ass.... etc

The level of "professiency" can be detected via how serious the guy tries to improve his profile so that it attracts more customers. some "massage only" profiles has a profile picture of a nude very well built athletic young man with bronze skin!
These profiles are just like everywhere in the world, opened for male prostitution by professional organized and experienced individuals!

Meanwhile, The "new phenomenon profiles" are very spontaneous indicating the lack of experience of the owner (a young boy mostly) with normal pictures in nonspecific poses that neither aim to reveal beauties nor to hide drawbacks. just a normal profile of a boy asking for money to do it with older men. Yes, most young guys here adore men over 30 (Hallelujah! for the sugar daddies!) but this boy is asking for money as well.

Looking to the bright side, the boy is adopting his life style and is actually using it for his own good - at least according to his confused judgement - and trying to gain easy profits while having uncomplicated easy fun. of course he is wrong and the escorting job will soon loose its advantages but after it leaves permanent scars in his young soul and make him age faster "as one of my friends once described it"

The number of boy profile numbers is constantly increasing, I am not sure if that can be considered as a sign of a good market and flourishing business or not, it is just happening that the number of boys asking for money is increasing.
This behavior has lots of other reasons to explain rather than just knowing that a young body is worth banknotes, but jumping to this analysis is going to take us in long unending circles away from the purpose.

Just for arguments sake, an enumeration would be sufficient for the time being: the causes of the increased escorting profiles "especially in the nonprofitable section in manjam.com and other gay social networks" could be: the lack of an ethical system of gay relationships -unlike the known red lines in straight ones - the homophobic society, poverty, capitalistic changes in the Egyptian aspects of life, media's wrong images about the gay people here, availability of purchaser and the list goes on.

It is worth mentioning that this new phenomenon isn't only affecting the boy but can extend to attract and trap new victims either directly as the now professional boy ages and needs to hire a replacement or indirectly by impacts on the family, STDs...etc

Such corrupted atmosphere created heaven for perverts and pedophiles who started free profiles on the same social networks to hunt new youngster meat! I personally recall - and I have physical evidences to what I say here - reporting a member on manjam.com whose profile name was simply "PEDOPHILIA"

Believe it or not, the popular gay social network didn't recognize the nickname and allowed such a man to open a profile! in his "desire" space (the space where the member defines his target group" he defined his target ages from 18 to 20: as the site is already designed to allow no less numbers (according to both international and USA legal age of consent)
But in his description paragraph he wrote only one information and it was as follows," FOR LESS THAN 16 ONLY... THIS IS THE CHALLENGE!"

His profile was removed of course after my report, but if you take this example in mind, you will reach a very important conclusion; Yes, everyone can apply to free membership at gay dating social networks no matter how old he is provided that he can speak English and would accept to the agreement and terms of use without actually reading them.
But more importantly, there is no mechanism in such sites to ensure at least a simple revision of the profile names! not to mention the written texts... Even profile names aren't being revised.

You can be Mohamed, Ali, Mary, Jesus, Joseph or you can be "Pedophilia, Daddy for children, child lover, fun with youngsters, pay money for a tight ass, big dick for less than 18, or just use a more complicated name like xxx<18!"

Such an environment for a boy to start selling himself!

And to add more to the problem, if profile names aren't even revised, then how could we be sure that the 20 years old boy isn't just 18 or maybe younger! one of my dates for example told me that he started dating men online when he was just 14 years old!

This isn't just the responsibility of the site, I know. It is the responsibility of the republic of Egypt and of all people in Egyptian society and families all holding his share of guilt, yet the Republic's defense to any accusation in this point is solid I am afraid to announce!

Why blame the state for some crimes being committed online in gay social networks while the state never acknowledged its gay community nor acknowledged any law for their rights, hell yeah, the gay social network itself is a crime to the state!

Meanwhile, it is the site that provided its services worldwide and it is the site that started a section for Africa, Middle East and other places in the world where gay rights are being oppressed.
let me remind you here to read Joseph Mosaad's article about Gay movements in the west and their effect on the Arab culture
The response expected here is also solid : Nothing personal, it's just a good business "Captain Jack Sparrow!"

Then the family is to be blamed for their son's behavior... or not! the family didn't even know that their son is gay not to mention that he is seeing other men for dating purposes. how can we blame them for something they didn't know ... the answer is: Ignorance alone is a crime!
but again most of these family members aren't even educated nor can read even their names in Arabic, so whose to blame for their ignorance ... The state again!

And the circle goes on, unending, bringing more victims to their unbearable end, adding more and more suffering for the third world crushing the bones of young fishes to feed them to the big whales. Ignorance's bill is always very expensive and those who weren't lucky enough to learn about life from a book, a TV show, an article or a paternal kind advice will have to figure it out on their own after of course paying life's expensive price!

To be continued

Currently, there are 16078 profiles on Manjam.com of which 14609 profiles of male owners, 130 profiles of females, 257 of MTF gender (Male to Female) and 17 profiles of FTM (female to male)
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Manjam.com is a British owned and run gay social network based in London and owned by HubJet LLC social network providers

I hardly had the idea that once my basic Egyptian face will enjoy such popularity amongst western gay men the first time I decided to have a profile on a gay dating site back when I was still 21 years old after one of my contacts told me about the new "thing" by chance.

You can say it was just adolescence and everyone should feel kind of ugly right then of course if you are trying to compliment! or that my profile is interesting to non - Egyptian eyes or even that I am like an Aladdin, a diamond in the rocks! only then I will start getting suspicious that maybe you fell in love with me.... nay, just kiddin.

Anyway, for whatever reason, my face and character seem to rebel men of my nationality as if I am the Phantom of the opera! in the same time they attract men from outside the Arab world like a giant magnet!

And I am not about to start analyzing this "Phenomenon" or whatever it can be called. For me, it just happened this way and I don't have complaints at all, I am even enjoying the dozens of messages and compliments from allover the world from men that my culture and people would consider as way much more attractive and charming than I can ever be!

This is the good side, the half full part of the cup. But like every other thing in life (unfortunately) there is a dark side to every gift; a second blade to every weapon

I don't know why do this huge number of men offer to buy me!!!! [Dude!] ... Sorry, that sounded a little shocking and too direct, let me try another way!
Maybe cause almost every gay man in the world knows that Egypt and the Arab world in general are to gays like hell on earth, they simultaneously assume that leaving this place would be a cause rather than a mean to local gay men - which is obviously true.

So.. to few of western guys - who are the majority of people that write to and check out gay profiles in the dark places as I like to call it - inviting someone of the tormented to Eden of the west is a short way to score a goal!

But that's not the rule, I mean we are in a small world and people are becoming friends on the internet on every site so why not on gay social networks! lots of decent men love to just have a nice chat and exchange a little piece of info about the culture, people ...etc)

Yet others do misuse the grace of modern technology, thinking that one can be boyfriends with a man whom he never met in real life, what I personally like to call, a virtual relationship in a virtual life.
With dreams of the west, of the materialistic heaven and acceptance, lots of young men - me included - were dragged -either purposefully or not - into a virtual relationship with western guys.

Dreams that never come true, simply because the angel of salvation surfs the web constantly and he finds a new boy in need of his "angelic services" so he choose to change his toy, even if just for fun!

Guys, this is still a minority so I am not generalizing anything, if you have your guy abroad, this isn't the manual of your relationship, every case is unique......... and quite not in the same time!

For Mr angel, the old boy is long forgotten, he even may wonder why he wrote him the first time! suddenly he starts to see the acne in his face or maybe that his hair wasn't as long as he thought and his ideas are kind of fool! and if he gets second thoughts; opening both profiles and comparing the pictures side to side can help his confused mind.

But for the young man on the other side of the world, the story is quite well, different!
He was betrayed and his heart aches, he has a broken heart for someone he never knew or loved. he can't run to his dad, mom or friends to ask for condolences or even their advices. I mean come on, if he could tell them from the start, he could have been either killed or sent to a psychiatric facility!

But his body is young so is his brain and his heart and he gets over it with a very precious information about the world he will be dealing with for lots of years to come. Never believe that Eden is so easy to reach, even if you look like angels; had it been about beauty, Lucifer would have never been exiled from there

Of course some men need more than one fall to learn, some need only one fall to see the world via dark glasses and never trust anyone anymore. but the result is usually one at the end, cause these two diverse behaviors are just the 2 far ends of the scale and human beings aren't machines so their responses are kind of in between.

( Read more... )

Rayya and Skeinah (Arabic: ريا و سكينه) is a comedian musical play, first shown in Horriah (freedom) Theatre (Arabic: مسرح الحريه) in Cairo. Opening in 1984, Rayya and Skeinah is considered as the most profitable play of all time in Arab theatre history although it closed just 6 seasons after its opening due to Shadia's retirement from artistic life.

The play is based upon real story of the most famous female killers in the Arab world (Rayya and Skeinah): two sisters from upper Egypt who moved to Alexandria on the Mediterranean and killed about 29 ladies to steel their jewellerys causing a case of public horror allover Alexandria until finally arrested with both husbands and sentenced by hanging till death.

Rayya and Skeinah's manouver was very simple; the two sisters would go to the market, mark a lady and walk with her in the market complaining of how bad goods are then offer to show her special cloths just imported by Rayya's husband. The victim agrees and go with them to the house where the sisters' husbands (Hasaballah and Abdel Aal) (Arabic: حسب الله و عبد العال) would strangulate and bury her in the house itself..

Rayya and Skeinah's gang moved through three houses where the government discovered later 29 corps of their victims, they used to live with the smell of decaying corps! and the goal was just to steel jewels.

The whole story of Rayya and Skeinah affected Egyptian society in everyway and it was featured more than any other crime story in Egypt's history, there are 3 movies about them, one Tv series produced by MBC 2 years ago which had major success but the most successful of all was the comedian musical play.

Book by: Bahgat Amar (Arabic: بهجت قمر)
Lyrics by: Abdel Wahab Mohamed (Arabic: عبد الوهاب محمد)
Composer: Baligh Hamdy (Arabic: بليغ حمدي)

Main Cast:
Rayya: Shadia (one of the greatest singers of all time in Egypt) (Arabic: شاديه)
Skeinah: Soheir el Bably ( one of the greatest actresses of all time in Egypt) (Arabic: سهير البابلي)
Hasaballah: Abdel Moneim Madboly (one of the greatest comedians of all time in Egypt) (Arabic: عبد المنعم مدبولي)
Abdel Aal: Ahmed Bedair (Arabic: احمد بدير) who replaced Hamdy Ahmed (Arabic: حمدي احمد)
and it features Said Saleh (Arabic: سعيد صالح) who is one of the giant comedians of Egyptian theatre by voice only as news reporter.

Dances were the chreography of the most important Choreographer in Egypt's history Mahmoud Reda (Arabic: محمود رضا) and his band.

Directed by : Hussein Kamal (Arabic: حسين كمال) and costume designed by Farida Fahmy (Arabic: فريده فهمي)

This number of giant artistic names rarely cooperated in one play before so the results were outstanding... after the major success in Cairo, the play moved to Alexandria to show at the same place the awful crimes took place early in the 20th century..

( Changes between the plot and reality )
And now to the lovely soundtrack of the play:
1- the first song is about Alexandria market where all ladies used to go for shpping, the intro to the play...
Ya Banat Eskendria_OhDaughtersOfAlexandria_.mp3

2- the second song features the great Shadia, Madboly duet as Rayya trying to seduce Hasaballah to marry her after she killed her first victim in the play and needed him to help her get rid of the corps, so she seduced him to marry her telling him that she is in agony loving him and he can't believe her cause she rejected him lots of times before..
HobakGannena_YourLoveDroveMeMad_.mp3

3- The third song is my favorite, after news break out about the gang killing ladies, Rayya and Skeinah try to draw people's attention away from the reality and say, this is all just gossips: Esha_at_Gossips_.mp3

4- the fourth song is when Rayya and Skeina finish their demostration against gossips, they go hunting and this time they get a very rich fish only the discover that she is the wife of Police chief of Alexandria but they kill her anyway cause she saw too much after they offer her the regular Zar music (heavily used in Sufi Islamic practices) this is one rare piece to give example on sufi music but instead of singing to god, they sing for the victim's turn to face death! Eldor...Eldor_HerTurn_.mp3

5- the fifth song features (Soheir el bably) as Skeinah trying to seduce the innocent officer to marry her asking him who cleans his clothes, shines his shoes... etc Meen_who_.mp3

6- and the last song, when Skeinah's plan succeeds the murderers celebrate their success in getting involved with the government or better say engaged to the government : shabakna el Hokoma_EngagedToTheGovernment_.mp3

N.B: Click the song to download it... then in windows Media player, click .. (Play) then (Lyrics, Captions and Subtitles) click in the side menu (On if available)  cause all songs have attached translated lyrics to the main file... you will love the song when you understand the dialogue ... so follow the instructions for the translation... and Enjoy :)

This is a tiny example in time but huge in meaning! to see what the Arab world has in common or an example on what is the strong bond between the Arab nations just watch this one moment video of Egypt's goal in Italy yesterday but here is the difference!

Mr, Esam el Kariky is Libyan sports reporter who was hosting several guests and was the Football commentator on ART, and when Egypt scored the goal, The libyan commentator looses his nerves and explodes in joy making millions of Egyptians cry just for his reaction listen to this video (Remember he is not Egyptian, he is Libyan!)


This is what he is saying: Egyptian team is gettting closer to Bofon's nets, let's pray for a goal I say Amen, The ball is at the corner with Abou Treika who will pass the ball in the few remaining moments of this term, the ball is out (Exploding begins)

Goal Goal Goal ... etc) My Allah...etc) My voice is gone, Allah allah allah allah... allah be merciful on my heart (= my heart is going to stop of joy) allah be merciful on my heart... Allah bless you Hommos .. (trice), allah bless you Egypt, Oh Egypt, oh the mother of all nations on earth (that's how we call it here!) Allah bless you Egypt, Oh Egypt!
Indeed Hommos did it, no second thoughts, scored the goal

then switches to the Egyptian reporter who seems more cool !!

by the time the match ended, Pan Arab world celebrations started, cities in Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon, KSA, Morrocco, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia didn't sleep last night, of course in addition to Egypt...

in one tiny moment like this, what we call the Arabic devotion appears, the intense love every one in the Arab world has for the other surfaces, the eternal bond reveals itself in the form of brotherhood of all nations in the Arab world..

Yes we failed to make an economic bond and our leaders failed millions of times to just meet and agree on one single thing, but check that video and you will know for sure that such a union will take place in the future, no doubt it will!!!

What a nice and shocking conversation that I had with 5 Muslim colleagues of mine about Coptic rights... the conversation started by the usual curious question anyone of my Muslim colleagues asks me whenever no Christian friend of mine is near.... and this is rare by the way, almost all of my close friends are Christians and that day I had an unexpected traffic troubles so I missed the lecture and waited outside with some friends who were all Muslims by coincidence... we were in the place where the students who belong to Muslim brotherhood usually hang out!

And my reply was clear, most of my friends are Christian because most of the students in our study group are Christians! also because I am very sympathetic with their case.

I won't go too much in the details and will mention the main points of disagreement between me and the Muslim brotherhood students:

First point: A secular constitution!
Their opinion: The Egyptian constitution is very secular and doesn't acknowledge any minorities in the republic, so it is totally wrong to speak about minority rights, especially that Christians had always accepted the nature of our constitution and worked through it, then why now speak about their rights and demand it in the time of the American interference in our internal business!?

My Opinion: Yes it is right, the Egyptian constitution is secular and doesn't recognize minorities. I am sure of that... well but let's take a look at reality and see these facts:

1- Compared to France (which is the nearest political system to Egypt in the western world) Egypt still enlist every citizens religion in the ID, then why is that if our constitution look to us as totally equal and with no minorities.... as long as I know, France never enlist your religion in the ID or passport

2- During Sadat's time; the constitution had several changes which include the second Amendment of the Egyptian constitution: (Egypt is an Islamic country, ruled democratically with a secular constitution by means of a socialist system) instead of (Egypt is a democratic country ruled by secular constitution in meas of a socialist system)
WTF? what is that? how can a secular constitution says that the country is Islamic! but excuse me first, How can Egypt be Islamic, did Egypt speak! I don't hear her voice! she is silent and she never told me of her religion! so where is the secular constitution that acknowledges no minorities! it already admited that Egypt is Islamic country, so congratulations from that moment on we have religious minorities called Coptic Orthodox, Roman Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Bahais and others!

( The rest of the discussion )

They say that curiosity killed the cat, well gentlemen this is the only case when curiosity can save the cat! We must ask questions about each other, visit each other, get near each other and learn to respect each other. Cause if we didn't, then, only then, The Lebanese case will be repeated and we will take decades to learn the simple lesson that we can learn right now in great peace, brotherhood and prosperity

Simply we have two choices and we must take one, and I pray that we choose the right one... not only pray, I am fighting for it everyday in peace. This gentlemen is the simple and clear answer to your question in the start, this is why I love to have so many christian friends