Barack Obama films a Ramadan message and tells the Muslim world that he cares deeply about Pakistan, Afghanistan and a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. Yet again, this is effective PR dressed up as policy. Muslims across the globel aren’t going to be seduced by pretty words from the US President when Israel continues expanding settlements in the West Bank and killing innocents in Afghanistan with pilot-less drones.
Egyptian fruit sellers have named their best dates of the year after Obama in a tribute to the American leader for his outreach to the Muslim world.
Dates are a traditional food for Ramadan – which begins Saturday in most of the Islamic world – since the Islamic Prophet Muhammad is said to have used them to break the month’s sunrise-to-sunset fast each evening.
In Egypt, shops have created a new tradition of naming their best and worst dates to catch attention and boost sales – giving a little reflection of the political mood.
Obama’s vault to the top of the Egyptian date-scale marks a shift in the public mood in Egypt since the reign of his predecessor, George W. Bush, whose name was given to the worst quality dates in Egypt in past Ramadans.
“We love Obama and so we named our best dates for him,” said Atif Hashim at his busy shop in downtown Cairo.