As the United States gears up for its war on the Islamic State (IS), US Secretary of State John Kerry is flying all over the Middle East to form an international coalition of regional powers to join the war. His efforts have been met with nothing more than lip service for many reasons, but primarily the lack of credibility the United States has in the Middle East under President Barack Obama’s leadership, especially in Egypt. The Egyptian government’s official position is “backing the coalition” but “not joining” it, preferring to “fight its own battle against this common enemy.”

On Monday, 23 February 2004, and at a tempestuous conference held at the headquarter of Egypt’s Syndicate of Journalists in downtown Cairo, former president Hosni Mubarak’s longtime loyalist and propaganda apparatchik, Safwat El-Sherif, declared that he would be the country’s last minister of information (a post that he had held for 22-years). 10-years later, after two uprisings, two military takeovers, four presidential elections and six ministers of information, Egypt’s newly sworn in cabinet had scrapped the ministry that oversees the country’s broadcasting scene and formulates its narrative to its domestic and foreign audiences. Yet, the cancellation of the Ministry of Information (MoI) won’t bring the expected and direly needed freedom to the Egyptian media landscape. On the contrary, a chaotic period of shifting narratives, selfish interests and incompatible policies would still ensue.

“The emigration of Egypt’s Copts is neither wrong nor dangerous; emigration is a human right. Forcible migration, however, is dangerous,” Kamal Zakher, a researcher in Coptic affairs, said at a Sunday discussion on Coptic emigration.

What matters in the Middle East is the reality on the ground. Having good ideas and some moral values – but no power – makes you a useless entity, while possessing power but no ethical values can sustain your presence for a lengthy period and enable you to gain more ground. This is Middle East realism. If you don’t like it, please move to another region. So far, working on changing this reality seems to be a waste of time.

Critics say that President Barack Obama's foreign policy is "feckless," "mushy" or "too cautious" and above all, that it lacks a clear overarching doctrine. But Obama's foreign policy is very clear insofar as it clearly reflects the unclear role of America at a time of national and global transition and is responsive to this moment in history. Call it the "Transition Doctrine." Whether one agrees with his decisions or not, it's ridiculous to suggest the President is a weak leader. Just ask Osama bin Laden. Or consider that Obama is bombing ISIS, pressing Iraq to fix its broken government, working with NATO to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to back down and making real progress in curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions. And then there are the drone strikes, including one that killed the leader of the militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Feckless? Hardly.

“I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it ... And if the high didn’t solve whatever it was that was getting you down, it could at least help you laugh at the world’s ongoing folly and see through all the hypocrisy and bullshit and cheap moralism.”

Already struggling to meet citizens’ legitimate needs and aspirations, the Egyptian economy has suffered a series of additional setbacks in recent years. So much so that, for the first time in many years, the population has had to cope with power cuts, shortages of goods, and partial controls on foreign exchange. With a new government committed to meeting the objectives of the 25 January Revolution, Egypt now needs to decisively overcome four major problems; and it can do so using four major attributes.

There appears to be no limit to the possibilities that come from combining the internet, social media, and ground-breaking innovations to achieve significant changes across the globe.

There appears to be no limit to the possibilities that come from combining the internet, social media, and ground-breaking innovations to achieve significant changes across the globe.

Prince of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah has done his best to mediate between different conflicting Arab countries, bridging the gaps between them. He and the Kuwaitis have been trying to help Syrian refugees as well as other vulnerable groups through international fundraising and delivering aid to them.

Next week, when President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrives in New York at the head of the Egyptian delegation to the UN General Assembly he will likely seek to put an end to questions of his legitimacy as head of state. He will also, according to the same diplomatic argument, be ending the “diplomatic isolation” that “some countries” – the reference is always made to Qatar and Turkey – have tried to impose on Egypt.

Reports that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates launched a series of air strikes on Islamist militias in Libya in August reflected the Egyptian government's concern over the collapse of its western neighbor, as well as an attempt on the part of Arab regimes to counter the growing prominence of political Islam.

The unfortunate daily events that are unfolding in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Libya, are prompting the question: when will the entire region fall into the hands of radical Islamists? The demise of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) reign in Egypt at the hands of its military has caused the re-emergence of terrorist attacks by violent Islamist groups in revenge for the heavy-handed tactics of the current regime. The birth of the Al-Qaeda franchise in North Africa, where rival Islamist militias are tearing Libya apart, posing a lethal threat to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, will inevitably cause mayhem in all of North Africa. Other similar incidents throughout the Arab World are sidelined when the western media are focusing on the barbaric actions of the Islamic State in north eastern Syria and northern Iraq.

Despite concern because of facts on the ground, there is hope for a better future. I mean investing in the genius of Egypt’s location by launching the new Suez Canal project, with its expected gains of increased revenue from the Suez Canal and transforming Egypt into an advanced industrial and trade centre, on the one hand. On the other, salvaging the genius of Egypt’s location by protecting the Nile — the foundation of its existence and life — through an approach of cooperation and increased mutual gains, rather than conflict and cementing reasons for mutual loss in managing the Nile with source countries such as Ethiopia.

The meteoric rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its declaration of an Islamic State straddling the two Arab countries raises the spectre of a militant Islamist state in the heart of the Middle East East close to the borders of US allies like Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. If the threat to Israel and Jordan is primarily security-based, to Saudi Arabia it is also ideological, with IS tracing its roots to the philosophy of 18th century warrior-jurist Mohammed Ibn Abdul Wahhab and other Islamic sources on which the kingdom was built.

An opinion poll conducted by the Pew Institute, which is one of the most prominent and credible centres of its kind, , mentioned that despite the major support Israel has among Republicans and Democrats, the situation is different to a great extent in American youth circles. Twenty-nine percent of American youth between ages 18–29 blame Israel in this round of aggression, while only 21 percent hold Hamas accountable. The significance of this percentage lies in that only 19 percent of the American people blame Israel, while 40 percent threw blame on Hamas. This means that the youth abandoned the American prearranged script. This indicates that there is an important political opportunity for the Arab side if they provide fine planning, sincere intentions and true will to ensure that this American youthful generation stands behind the Arab cause in years and decades to come.

The unfortunate daily events that are unfolding in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Libya, are prompting the question: when will the entire region fall into the hands of radical Islamists?

The recent Israeli aggression has created opportunities which Arabs should exploit if they wish to change the balance of power in their struggle against their historical enemy.

There have recently been fresh calls from Egypt for an initiative to resolve the Syrian crisis. It is not the first nor likely to be the last proposal put forward for ending the bloodshed there.

Arrested in July 2013, El-Gazzar was one of the leaders who were speculated a year ago to be released as part of a political deal that the European Union was trying to strike between the ousted Muslim Brotherhood and the transitional authorities before all diplomatic efforts collapsed with the bloody dispersal of the sit-ins in mid-August 2013.