In The News

A Harmonious Protest

Gihan Shahine March 10, 2003
Normally tense relations between the Egyptian government and opposition parties were quiet during a recent protest against the possible war in Iraq spearheaded by the U.S. The government did not engage in the customary pre-protest security checks and allowed all participants to freely express their views. A statement prepared by the organizers claimed that "any Arab country that facilitates...

Summit Challenges

Ibrahim Nafie February 28, 2003
This opinion article in Egypt's Al-Ahram weekly says that the upcoming Arab summit must address two pressing issues: the impending war in Iraq and the plight of the Palestinians. The first issue requires a concerted effort on the part of Arab regimes to convince Saddam Hussein to comply with the weapons inspections to stave a war in the region. Solving the second issue, the plight of the...

President Bush’s Nation-Building

February 27, 2003
In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, President Bush announced plans for rebuilding Iraq in the wake of a war against Saddam Hussein. The plan would likely require hundreds of thousands of troops and years of occupation, not unlike the occupation of Japan and Germany after the Second World War. Turning Iraq into a democratic and peaceful nation would serve as a model for other...

Pushing Saddam Against the Wall

Joe Clark February 27, 2003
While there is no clear consensus for invading Iraq, the international community agrees that Iraq must not be given any alternative to eliminating its banned weapons. Joe Clark, Canada’s 16th Prime Minister, and Alton Frye, Presidential Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argue that although France and the US are currently at odds about an invasion of Iraq, they can still work...

Marching Towards a High-Risk War in Iraq

Richard K. Betts February 22, 2003
Now that a US-led war against Iraq is a near certainty - unless a coup d'etat removes Saddam Hussein - the focus is shifting to the question of its consequences. Political and strategic analyst Richard Betts looks at the possible outcomes of the war, which he thinks is a "bad idea" to begin with, and sees the risks as very high to catastrophic. He reckons there is thirty percent...

The Middle East Belongs in the World Economy

Charlene Barshefsky February 22, 2003
As part of its long term strategy, Charlene Barshefsky, former U.S. trade representative, argues that the U.S. must promote economic liberalization in the Middle East. The region has more trade barriers than any other part of the world. It also has a fast growing population of young people without jobs. Eight of the eleven largest economies in the Middle East are not members of the World Trade...

Where Did All the Anger Go?

Amira Howeidy February 21, 2003
Protesters on every continent marched for peace on February 15, but the turnout in Egypt was rather small. The few hundred that did show were largely stifled by a massive police presence; public protest has been illegal in Egypt since a state of emergency was declared in 1981, and lately authorities have been jailing dissidents with more frequency. Though many were frustrated by the...