How Safe Is Egypt’s Nuclear Ambition?

This week’s issue includes reports on renewed Nile disputes between Egypt and Ethiopia, safety concerns over Dabaa’s nuclear project, arms imports, police killings, prison deaths, the transport sector’s militarized management failures, business ventures involving the interior ministry, and exports to Israel.

Canada has rejected my eTA, ending a month-long bureaucratic saga over my planned September visit to Simon Fraser University, where I was invited to lecture and speak at two public events. I disclosed my past protest arrests in Egypt, none of which led to trial or conviction, only to be repeatedly asked for Egyptian police and court records that I cannot safely obtain as a political exile.

Despite several explanations, supporting documents, letters from SFU, and intervention by a Canadian MP’s office, the IRCC sent the same demand three times before rejecting my application for allegedly failing to provide the requested information.

Kafka would be jealous.

A new standoff is looming between Cairo and Addis Ababa after the latter’s minister of energy and water announced his country plans to build three more dams on the Nile.

An unnamed official source issued statements published by the state-run MENA and local media outlets, warning “Egypt will not allow any party to control the flow of Nile water to the downstream countries,” stressing that “Egypt had previously declared in letters to the UN Security Council that it would take all measures available to it under international law to protect its people’s rights and interests in the river.”

Sisi’s publicists, including the infamous TV host Ahmed Moussa, made the usual fiery statements on screen, yelling, “Egypt will not allow any more dams by Ethiopia,” while the regime’s troll farms took to social media platforms, spreading false news that Egyptian jets had breached Ethiopian airspace as a warning.

This is almost a copy-and-paste of how Cairo handled the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis: shouting and fiery statements in the local press that the dam will not be built, wailing at the UN, fake news of imaginary wars and covert military operations in the parallel universe of troll farms, and then Addis Ababa does whatever it wants to do. Because Egypt is no longer a regional hegemon.

Another manifestation of Egypt’s regional power decline under Sisi.

Egypt's Intel Observer@EGYOSINT

So, for everyone who doubted that Tiran and Sanafir were handed over to KSA: 🇸🇦 A March 2026 Saudi Border Guards tender called for the installation of two supporting coastal radar systems at the Tiran and Sanafir Island centers, along with associated equipment and support.

Egypt's Intel Observer @EGYOSINT

I didn't want to say it, but Saudi Border Guard forces have indeed been deployed on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir since 2018. They recently established a camp, multiple observation points and a naval dock there. https://t.co/LLGA07oh9y

3:48 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 33.2K Views

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