Random Pictures and Commentary From the First Day in Cairo

I can finally upload my backlog of pictures and video now, so expect a glut of posts soon. I've got some good posts coming up on Palestine and Israel, so stay posted. Here's just from Cairo today:

SECURITY

Egypt is the birthplace of modern Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, as well as the corresponding ideology of jihad, as meaning terrorist attacks against political figures and civilians.

Aside from Jerusalem during the intifadas, Egypt is the most terror-prone country in the Middle East.

In my senior thesis I argued that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, occured partly because the United States haphazardly (though not innocently) became involved in a very subtle but very real civil war in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Dahab, where I recently came from, experienced a major bombing just three years ago. Even in Cairo, security is intense, but unlike Jerusalem (in which security forces seemed geared to counter violent protests), it is clearly focused on bombings. See this mobile bomb unit, positioned at innumerable key locations across the city:


BIRD FLU

Normally when you think of the bird flu you think of China and Southeast Asia. In reality, Egypt rivals both locations for the number of outbreaks (bird-to-human only), and is considered a high-risk area where poultry and humans are in close contact.




And the public health conditions are less than perfect:



But in a wierd way, it's also what makes the city so endearing.