East of Egypt
Relations with Asia have been neglected for too long. Ibrahim Nafie comments

Primacy of NATO over the UN?
In the light of the sudden outburst of hostilities in the Balkans, Mohamed Sid-Ahmed discusses the implications of NATO replacing the UN Security Council in resolving present-day crises situations

Twenty years of experience
The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty is a model of cooperation, writes Ahmed Nafie -- and a lesson for would-be peacemakers today

Wresting power from le pouvoir
Will promises of democracy be fulfilled in Algeria? Eqbal Ahmad reflects on a nation's long agony -- and a glimmer of light, at last

Close up
By Salama Ahmed Salama
A long and muddy battle
There is no longer any doubt that the war in the Balkans has expanded, and could well extend beyond the time-frame envisaged by the NATO allies. The staunch Serb resistance means that air strikes by US Stealth planes or Cruise missiles cannot be just one more military parade, or an exercise in the use of new weapons technology. --read on--

Naguib Mahfouz Once, in the desert Critics from many parts of the world have produced innovative interpretations of my works, finding therein entirely new themes that no one has dealt with before. One critic, for example, has interpreted the Nile in my books as representing the worldly and sensuous, and the desert as purity and spirituality. --read on--

Soapbox
A state of choice
Tahsin Bashir

This week: Slobodan Milosevic