"Chinese Graffiti in Egypt Causes a Stir in China," reads the title of one article concerning the defacement recently discovered in Egypt’s Luxor Temple: a Chinese boy wrote, atop a millennial carving, that he “was here”. The story [...]
For Foreign Policy: Transitions. You’d think we'd won the World Cup: cars honking, loud celebratory music, people carrying flags. There are also flags hanging from the military helicopters flying at low altitude above Egypt's [...]
Slightly longer version of the version published at Foreign Policy. Hundreds of thousands of readers saw this image in their newspaper: A woman in a niqab with a bruised and bloodied left eye that you [...]
Originally published at Foreign Policy: Transitions. These little bastards were responsible for blocking Tunisia's internet. Tunis, Tunisia. The humming of the censorship equipment that ran in Tunis is barely audible, but intimidating nevertheless. You can't [...]
For Foreign Policy: Transitions. Lately I've found myself thinking back to those horrible American soap operas (the "Bold and the Beautiful," etc.) that my late grandmother used to watch. She managed to find [...]
For FP: Transitions. I don't know much about the code of conduct of U.N. Peacekeepers, such as those deployed in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). But I'm going [...]
I liked Carmen. She was a cool lady. She will be missed. Originally published on Foreign Policy Transitions. "You must be Esti's grandson," said one lady as she pinched my cheek. "Leave [...]
I had the pleasure of speaking at the TEDxCairo conference last December - my first TEDx speech in Arabic, and it was a ton of fun. Titled "Democratising Entrepreneurship", I spoke of the opportunities and [...]
[Originally posted on Foreign Policy.] Mocking rulers is a tradition almost as old as rule itself. At times mockery is subtle and allegorical; at others it is blunt, sometimes gauche, but always funny. [...]
I feel really strongly about Bahrain - not only because of friends there, but also because I feel that I am probably not doing enough to publicize what's going on there. So here's a very [...]
