The picture  by Al-Masry Al-Youm truly reflect Egypt’s surreal reality. Twitter via @tomgara

Main Headlines:

Monday

• Morsi opposes French intervention in Mali
• Armed Forces reject  Qatari or Non-Egyptian Projects in Suez Canal
• Uncertainty looms over the chances of new Salafi alliance
• Central Bank allows temporary foreign currency facilities
• The big impact of Sawiris’ Orascom construction exiting Egypt and becoming Dutch.
• Premier League on schedule, behind ‘closed doors.’
• Morsi: Egypt and Saudi Arabia are ‘one tribe.’ Arabic
• Presumed lifespan of 4000 Egyptian hospitals has expired.

Tuesday

• Report: Sixteen deaths by police under Morsi’s rule.
• Sabahy: Opposition could win a parliamentary majority if it rises above differences.
• Salafi Nour Party launches ‪tourism campaign
• Muslim Brotherhood’s Katani: Iran is an emblem and the source of all revolutions. Arabic
• Morsi will not meet writers at Cairo book fair.
• Several governorates witness protests ahead of revolution’s anniversary.
• Thousands of Egyptian prisoners remains in Iraqi jails

Wednesday 

• Agreement between Egypt and the IMF to be renegotiated.
• Iran suggests Cairo nuclear power talks.
• Nour party calls for abolition of marriage age for girls and to lower it to after puberty.
• Government signals bridge project with Saudi Arabia is moving forward.
• Brother of al-Qaida leader sanctions violence against West to avenge the French intervention in Mali.
• Armed forces produce film about Tantawi

Thursday

• Interior ministry asks Egyptians to keep celebrations peaceful.
• Gulf cash help ‘appease’ pound cash crisis
• Police use tear gas against Tahrir protestors.
• Egyptian women march on Jan. 25 anniversary
• Muslim Brotherhood secretary general Egypt’s ‘undemocratic opposition‘ is losing the street.
• Head of Shoura council calls for stopping hot movies on plane trip.
• 12 Egyptian Central Security conscripts injured in clashes with officers in Sinai

Friday

• Violent clashes continue in Cairo and other governorates
• Security forces fire tear gas at protesters near presidential palace.
• Police use tear gas to disperse protestors in Suez
• Katatni: No-one has right to violence, vandalism or sabotage under any justification.
• Morsi addresses nation on Twitter
• A ‘Black bloc‘ emerges in Egypt.

Saturday

• Court gives 21 death sentences in Port Said’s stadium attack on football fans.
• Death sentences over football riots  spark violence
• Thugs, misleading media and opposition are behind Friday turmoil.
• Egypt’s main opposition sets five demands from President Morsi.
• Ministry of supply and American University catch fire in fresh Cairo clashes
• Eyewitnesses say military storage facilities set on fire.
• National defense council calls for dialogue

A Few Thoughts: 

Week 4 of 2013 has seen enough events to fill a book. 36 dead in response to 21 death sentences over football riot that killed 76, in addition to 4 died in Suez yesterday. The flaws of post-revolution Egypt has come back to haunt the country in a big way.  Words like stability, renaissance, and legitimacy have been reduced to a meaningless clichés that mock their original meaning. One can easily write volumes on what went wrong and why we are struggling at this critical juncture of our history, but for the sake of brevity, my opinion will be limited to four events that in my opinion summarize the current surreal scene: A court verdict and a presidential trip to Ethiopia that was scheduled one day after the anniversary of the revolution, a ruling party that decided to celebrate by selling cheap clothes and vegetables, a president who sent his condolences to his people with 40% illiteracy through Twitter, and a sentence sending 21 young Egyptians to their death. These events indicate that we have a leadership that can neither think ahead nor demonstrate willingness to act decisively when crisis looms.

However, the opposition are not saints; they share a huge share of the blame. They are fully aware of the problem and the violence that became a prevailing theme in most demonstrations these days, yet they offer no clear plan or alternative. They desire to show their strength, overriding their critical thinking abilities. In fact, I think they partly considered violence as desirable in order to expose the weakness of the government.

In Egypt, proactivity is an alien concept that has been neither used nor appreciated. We love our knee-jerk reaction, as if we want to negate thousands of years of frustration as a result of oppression and submission. Violence became addictive, an easy way to prove our relevance and satisfy our egos through our angry youth.

Yes, our youth are angry. They are the kids we didn’t raise, the students we never teach, and the citizens we like to abuse to reach power.

Now many are talking about the possibility of Egypt becoming a failed state; with a bad economy, a fractured political scene, and weak leadership, this is not an unrealistic possibility. Currently, both the brotherhood and the opposition are pointing fingers at each other, pathetically exposing the immaturity of both.

I have one message to both groups: Grow up. To the Brotherhood I say, either lead or leave, and to the opposition I suggest you either come up with a realistic plan (not just abstract, academic suggestions), or simply (with all due respect) shut up.

 As for the rest of us Egyptians and for the specific events of the revolution anniversary and the Port Said verdict, I will try to write a piece in due course, hopefully when I have calmed down, as frankly the events we currently face are too overwhelming to describe.

I also leave you with this Friday prayer for Egypt by Jayson Casper.

Good Read 

• Two years after the revolution: How our families changed. Sarah El-Masry
• Qatar’s Brotherhood ties alienate fellow Gulf States. Sultan Al-Qassemi
• The Supreme Constitutional Court in post-revolution Egypt. Nathan Brown
• Egypt’s tenacious opposition. Ana Maria Luca
• Egypt’s revolution as it might have been. Hani Shukrallah.