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Nasser: Forgotten colossus of the Arab world (Jan 15 is Gamal Abdel Nasser’s 100th birth anniversary)

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By Vikas Datta
An abiding image of much of the Arab world now would be members of an indiscriminate and unconscionable violent Islamist terror group, but it was not always like that. A few decades ago, the model was a hugely charismatic and genuinely popular ruler (despite coming to power by revolution) who inspired hope and dignity in his own countrymen and the region — but was reviled and undermined by the West.

Egypt’s travails may have started under the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-70), whose 100th birth anniversary is on January 15, but he also deserves credit for ending the rule of a ruinous “foreign” elite, finally evicting the British colonisers (and cutting them to size) and striving for social justice, modernisation, and a cultural revival — a famous TV clip shows him laughing at the Islamist demand that women should be compulsorily veiled.

During his nearly decade-and-a-half rule, he was always accessible to all, at home among the people in a way that his contemporaries — or even present statesmen — can rarely imagine.

Nasser made mistakes too, like laying foundations of authoritarian rule but especially leading his country and the Arab world into a ruinous war in 1967, subsequently seen as the root of West Asia’s problems — but, to be fair, it was one he never wanted.

And while his legacy was long sought to be discredited by his successors as well as detractors in West Asia and elsewhere, it has endured. During the Arab Spring, protesters not only in Cairo but other Arab capitals too brandished his pictures — making him possibly the only Arab statesman to be so honoured.

Born in Alexandria in the family of a postal employee, Nasser was politically active from his student days, getting injured while leading a protest in 1935. Due to his police record as an agitator, his first application, in 1937, to enter the army was rejected but he succeeded the second time.

He saw action in the First Arab-Israeli War of 1948, in which the performance of his unit in the battle of Falluja pocket — where he was also wounded — cemented his reputation and led him to be promoted. He was a prominent leader of the Free Officers, though the more well-known General Mohammed Naguib was its “face”, that deposed King Farouk and proclaimed Egypt a republic.

He himself came to the forefront after the October 26, 1954, assassination bid on him by a Muslim Brotherhood activist in Alexandria when he was delivering a speech, broadcast across the Arab world, to celebrate the British withdrawal. The gunman, who was only a few feet away, fired eight shots at him, but all of them missed.

Amid the tumult, Nasser remained composed, and loudly appealed for calm and emotionally said: “My countrymen, my blood spills for you and for Egypt. I will live for your sake and die for the sake of your freedom and honour. Let them kill me; it does not concern me so long as I have instilled pride, honour, and freedom in you. If Gamal Abdel Nasser should die, each of you shall be Gamal Abdel Nasser… Gamal Abdel Nasser is of you and from you and he is willing to sacrifice his life for the nation.”

That was a turning point. Naguib was soon placed under house arrest (though he ended up outliving his junior) and his supporters sidelined. Under Nasser, Egypt made enormous strides — the Aswan Dam and Helwan City, and his Pan-Arabism united the region, or most of it, quite effectively — and the 1956 Suez Crisis made him a global figure.

But it was 1967 that finished him off — though Nasser angled for a political resolution to the Palestine issue despite his assessment of Israeli obduracy, his “sabre-rattling” led to a war that thoroughly tarnished all modernist, secular nationalist Arab leaders and left the way open for radicals and Islamists.

The final nail in his coffin came when Nasser attempted to broker an end to the Palestinian-Jordan infighting at the Arab League summit in 1970, despite the intransigence of both sides. His deputy (and successor) Anwar el-Sadat recalled him upbraiding Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that “I haven’t done all this for you… wrecked my health in this manner… to be rewarded with such ingratitude”.

He was soon dead of a massive heart attack, aged only 52.

For Indians, the burly, broad-shouldered but graceful and photogenic Nasser will be remembered as towering over Jawaharlal Nehru and Marshal Tito, as the three steered a new “nonaligned” course in global affairs. Unfortunately, the Egypt of Nasser is long gone, and so has Tito’s Yugoslavia, while attempts are being made to revile Nehru and change the India he built.

We should draw the necessary lessons.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at [email protected] )

–IANS
vd/vm/sac

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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.

Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.

The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.

Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile

The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.

CasinoDays India

The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.

“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.

Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings

Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.

 

CasinoDays India

Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).

Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.

The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.

Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.

Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities

The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.

On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.

Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.

“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.

The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.

 

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