Recently, the US congress announced decreasing in the aid introduced to Egypt, and they have used the human rights situation as main reason to reduce this aid. I m not writing this article to attack the US decision but to clarify many facts to this aid. The first fact I Want to clarify that many writers and politicians in Egypt trying to attack us as because of this decision but I want to remind them with this famous proverb that says” beggars can t choose”, and I m sorry to choose that word “ beggars”, I just used it to clarify my point but didn t mean Egypt at all.

Lately, I have read many news about Invitations to amend the constitution and especially amending the period of the president in the constitution to be six years each period instead of four and to allow him to candidate himself three times instead of two. As always and because of the current situation which is the media that support the president dominates the scene, No one can object that danger step from happening. When I say danger step I m not proclaiming that because of the 2 years more that will be in each period but because I m sure that this amendment will be just the beginning of many amendments in the future.

After the train accident that happened in Alexandria yesterday, there is no doubt that Egypt has to review its plan to prevent the shedding of blood on our roads. Recent statistics show that Egypt has the most road accidents in the world. Egyptians have been dying every day on the road. Even more so than Sinai, that has terrorist attacks. This is proof of the severity of the situation Egypt faces now.

Recently, I have read a statement from Dr. Baha Abu Shaka, Al-wafd Leader, stating that Muslims a new interpretation for the “ Quran” to be able to face the terrorism. I have tried to think a lot about this statement and I came to a conclusion that I don’t think that a new interpretation to Quran will help at all in this case. I don’t want go to more details of how new interpretation is useless and will not help. In fact, I believe that the only way to face terrorism will be through the education and create new chances and new hope to the coming generation. Egypt needs to invest in education double of what they spent in military and weapons.

There is no doubt that Qatar plays a role in the Middle East region since Arab spring stared and until now. What is this role and is it negative or positive role that what will try to explain in the coming lines. Since the Arab spring started, all the arb nation was thinking that this is the moment to feel the freedom and to practice it, however, few months later we found out that it wasn’t peaceful revolution as everyone was dreaming with.

Many Egyptian when you ask them how you feel in general about your life in Egypt? most properly his or her answer will not be positive. I cant blame any Egyptian especially the poor and the middle class about any negative answer they will say. Having said that, you will find most of the poor people especially from Upper Egypt, very satisfied and say always thank be to God. I can feel both sides.

Lately the church announced to cancel all trips and visits to monasteries due to security reason as mention in the brief statement released by the church lately. What clear is for me that Copts pay the price of their belief in the peaceful time and in the time that the country suffers from political tension.

After the government raised recently the prices of the gas and the electricity, the only thing everyone ask who should take care of the poor people in Egypt? Everyone understand that Egypt face a tremendous Economic problems but at the same time there are many direction the political regime take to improve the poor people life not to increase the burden and increase the poverty of Egyptian. We can see president Sisi impose only one policy to improve the Egyptian economic which is lifting the subsidies on everything which could be a step from many to improve the economy.

While we are close to June 30th, we still have the same argument about this date and if it was revolution or military coup and because I don’t want to go further in this argument I want to focus in more deep thoughts related to both terms. For those who consider it as revolution, I want to ask them many question, are we better than before? Is our economic, social and political life is better than before, Did Egyptian get what they demonstrate against?, did we achieve any progress during 3 years from June 30th until now?

Reforms in General shouldn’t take one shape. Reforms shouldn’t be only by increasing the prices especially on the poor classes. It’s very understandable that any reform will affect without any doubt the poor class but if we didn’t work in lighten these affects that might lead to social tension and may be troubles in the short and long term. One of the main problem that face Egypt right now that the political regime doesn’t even talk to the people or tell Egyptian what are they willing to do and why, on contrary they deal with the Egyptian as sub-ordinate. Egyptian should be Number one in any decision made by the government or the president, however, this is not the case and it seems that Sisi didn’t learn from the previous lessons. In conclusion I want to assure that any reforms will not be effective unless the society and community accept it and feel that they are part of the process not objectives.

Recently the parliament agreed on Terran and Sanafi treaty which will give the right to Saudi Arabia to have the sovereignty on these two Islands. Sisi in many occasions accused all Egyptians that they don’t have honor and dignity and he is the only one have it among Egyptian. We back as always to the king authority who believes that he is the best and the right person in all cases.

The terrorism that we see growing among the Western part of the world is equally heartbreaking and troublesome, but for different reasons that I want to explain here. First off, let s be clear. In Egypt, you have 90% of the population that is Muslim. The other 10% is Christian/Other denominations. The victims, as mentioned previously, are the Christians. The West, on the other hand, is primarily made up of Christians and Atheists. A large amount of the population, I can say maybe 35% is Atheist/Mixed. In this group, I do also include “apathetic” Christians that are not practicing Christians. Christians who do not have the first clue about the teachings of the Church, or of peace etc… The other 55% I can say are Christians and then 5% Muslim. The Muslim population is growing, but is still relatively small. The Western mentality is not that of “Christianity” although that s the foundation for these countries, it s more about, “let everyone just do their own thing and mind your own business”

I m sure by now everyone has heard about the multiple acts of terrorism that have been happening not only over in the U.K, but also in the States and across the world. The enemy is showing their true colours, and Westerners are showing theirs as well. In Egypt, we are faced with many difficulties when it comes to persecution of the Copts. First of all, we are a vulnerable minority. Many will disagree with that statement. We, the Copts are strong! We are fearless! We defend our faith! Before we all jump over each other in protest, I want to clarify, by means of reason, we are a vulnerable minority. We make up 10% of the population. We are faced with 80 million non-Christians. We are vulnerable, why? I don t mean we are not strong in our faith. I mean, whenever there is unsettling, anger, civil unrest, the first ones to suffer are the Copts. How easy is it for an aggravated Muslim to walk into a Church with a bomb nowadays? Families look for any reason to start trouble with their Christian neighbours. This is a fact. Copts have been, and will always be the first target when the Egyptian population is faced with any kind of turmoil.

There are a few flowers that have been known to be very hardy. Hardy means that it can survive many different conditions. Cold or extreme hot climate, drought, being cut down. No matter what happens to these flowers, for example, the daisy, they keep growing and becoming stronger. What any gardener will tell you is this: if you cut the beautiful flowers that daisies produce, a new one will grow in its place. You may even see more blooms by cutting the flowers off. Since we are in the heat of summer, and flowers are beginning to grow and take place, I can’t help but think about what happened to our poor little flowers that were killed on the bus from the St. Samuel Monastery recently. You hear about innocent lives being taken by acts of terrorism and murderers, and wonder when will this end? How many more lives have to be lost before this world changes? I’ve mentioned before that in order for us to see peace in this country, and among the people, we need to grow a new culture, a new understanding, a new respect for each other. It only takes 1 Sheikh to tell a Mosque that to make “Allah” happy, go an slaughter innocent Christian children. 1 Sheikh is all it takes to infect the minds of hundreds of people.

Education in Egypt needs to be amended sooner than later. Sisi always keep asking to renew the religious speech but never mentioned to renew the education method and approaches. Education for Egypt should be the first priority not the last one. Sisi started to spent Billions of Egyptian pounds in building the new capital and different projects and forget that to build a new society you have to start with building their brain.

Among the turbulence and political instability, I would like to take the time to focus on another aspect of our country, tourism. Only recently, a group of archeology students discovered 17 new mummies in central Egypt. Using radar technology, the students were able to locate the burial chamber of mummies, which they believe go back as far as 1500 years, the time of the Roman Empire. Why is this important? I'm focusing on this, because I read something quite interesting in the news. A writer was discussing the implications of this find, and that perhaps Egypt itself has means to try and lure tourists back to it's natural heritage. The country is basically advertising for itself and trying to get back on the world stage but for different reasons. Currently, all people hear about and speak about is the political instability, the persecution against the Copts, the rising prices and inflation. This is the first positive thing to emerge from Egypt for a long time.

It seems that we will keep talking about the Egyptian Economy for long time. Lately the Central bank of Egypt has decided to raise the interest rate again for the third time in a row. The president of the central bank and its committee seems insisting in not listening to any advice from the economists except from international monetary fund. The measurements that the central bank tries to take, I believe will lead Egypt to declare Bankruptcy sooner or later. It’s impossible and insane to increase the interest rate to curb the inflation, while you don’t have any other source of foreign currency after tourism stopped and the productions decreased.

We can’t ignore the visit of Pope Francis without pausing and thinking about the implications of this visit, and what this visit could do for Egypt in general, and more specifically for the Christians around the world. We can’t deny that this visit will open many doors that were closed before. One of these doors, is “hope.” I consider hope the most important door for Egyptians and for everyone around the world. When I say hope, I mean the hope for living in peace, not clashing between civilizations as Samuel Huntington was trying to portray in his book by the same name, “Clash of Civilizations.”

Tomorrow President Sisi will be going to Saudi Arabia for an official visit, after along time of tension between the two countries, especially after the Egyptian situation that occured with the UN by supporting the Russian and French Revolution relating to the Syrian War. The question we need to answer here is as follows: Are there any benefits from the Saudi Arabia - Egypt relationship? It's difficult to say that the relationship between Egypt and Saudi Arabia has reached to a level we can call "strategic". Basically, Saudi Arabia wants to have Egypt as a support system in case any other country attacks. It is well-known that the Egyptian Army is the only army tha remains now among all the Arab countries.They are the only force that we can consider organized enough, and ready enough, to participate in any war that may occur in the region.

Although Easter is tomorrow, I want to express my condolences, not my congratulations to all the loved ones and friends of the martyrs of Tanta and Alexandria, after terrorists bombed the two churches on Palm Sunday, leaving more than 50 dead hundreds injured. Also, I believe that cancelling the Easter Celebration was the right decision from Pope Tawadros. I don’t think that celebrating Easter shows respect and sorrow for the people enduring this horrible attack.

After the horrible Palm Sunday terrorist attack, I've noticed many people attacking our beloved Pope Tawadros for supporting Sisi and sharing in the responsibility for what is happening to the Copts in Egypt. It Is irrational to attack Pope Tawadros especially in this time. We need to show our solidarity, not attacking our Pope becuase he has chosen to support the State not the Regime, regardless of who becomes president after this.