Readers' corner
Don't take it to heart
Sir-- I will never like to see even one sports fan attacked by another but let me say I also think Egypt has made a slight exaggeration. The Cairo government says 20 of its citizens were injured in Sudan (Sudanese authorities say three or four). The majority were only slightly injured, making it impossible to say that 18 November was a "massacre" and a "horrible tragedy" as has been described in some Egyptian media.
I really think that Egypt was upset over failing to go to the World Cup and its media is trying to cover up this failure -- after raising the hopes of all Egyptians for at least one month -- by overblowing the incident in Sudan.
What I believe was really wounded was Egyptian pride, that Egyptians, who are right to see themselves as the pioneer of the Arab world, were beaten by another Arab people who do not have the same long history.
Lastly, the Algerians do this all the time. Their fans go wild everywhere and against anyone whether they win or lose. They even kill themselves when they celebrate. Don't take it personally.
Fadya Malek
Tunis
Tunisia
Sad to see
Sir-- Hello to all brothers in Egypt.
I'm Algerian, and I'm very sad to see such a misunderstanding and dispute between two brotherly peoples, linked very closely in many fields like no one else. I supported Egypt during the last two Africa Cup of Nations. It made me happy and proud.
Even if Algeria has qualified for the 2010 World Cup, I feel some sadness over what we all have witnessed during these last few days. I would have been very proud if Egypt had won. I enjoyed the three games with equal pleasure. Egypt and Algeria both deserve to win, both have a high level of capacity of great teams. But what can we do? There's only one place for two great and honourable competitors.
I'm very sure that we will very soon see the Egyptian national team on the track again to fulfil its dream. We like Egyptians and we shall remain very close brothers whatever our childish disputes.
Elham Jazza
Algiers
Algeria
Scare tactic
Sir-- Re 'The Bush curse' (19-25 November Al-Ahram Weekly ) the wonderful thing about all of this, assuming it is true, is that it will draw Europe, particularly the EU and Russia, even closer together than they are already. Europeans want no more war. With two of Europe's three 20th century wars caused by American bungling, US warmongering simply scares them away from US policies.
The feedback from government of India sources is that the tensions between India and China are mostly staged for the benefit of the foreign and domestic audiences and that in fact Beijing and Delhi are consulting closely. For instance, the Dalai Lama went to Tawang with the tacit agreement of China.
Come Carpenter
Washington
USA
Not everybody
Sir-- I was sickened by the murder of Marwa El-Sherbini just like I am of any person who is brutally murdered. But it is important for Muslims to realise that Muslim immigrants have committed hate crimes every bit as bad in Europe and America. If Muslims, Arabs and Africans don't want them or their whole culture blamed for how some of their people act it is important not to use this as an opportunity to make negative generalisations of accusations against Europeans or non-Muslims.
Secondly, I noticed the perpetrator was initially brought into court because he called her a "terrorist". Muslims have long complained that it is illegal to question the Jewish holocaust in Europe, yet apparently it is also illegal to call a Muslim a "terrorist". So what exactly is this double standard when it comes to free speech that Muslims are always complaining about? I do not hear any Muslim taking issue that this man was prosecuted in the first place for simply saying a few unkind words. After all, the president of Iran, and some contributors of Al-Ahram Weekly, have spoken more hateful things against Jews and none of them end up in court for it.
Jack Straw
Michigan
USA
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