Ruling by force
Bent on realising its "imperial ambition", the US seeks control over a "stupendous source of strategic power", oil. Noam Chomsky explains how, in a talk he delivered at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on 27 January

The final frontier
US military strategy in Iraq relies heavily on overwhelming power to realise short-term goals. Galal Nassar digs at the roots of the US's most strategic war

Before the fact
With US military buildup in the Gulf in high gear and diplomacy making its case, the window for peace seems to be closing, writes Salah Hemeid

Message to Baghdad
Upcoming Arab meetings will attempt to spare Iraq from US military aggression, reports Dina Ezzat

The last hope
Confusion and resignation abound as Iraqis await war, writes Michael Jansen in Baghdad

On record: Lost glory
Before Saddam Hussein assumed power in 1979, and before he launched a devastating war with neighbouring Iran that lasted most of the 1980s, Iraq was the envy of many countries in the region having used the enormous revenues from selling its oil to build up its economy and cultural infrastructure.

In solidarity
Anti-war demonstrations and events have become a regular item in Egyptian activist circles

Taming the beast
In an exclusive interview, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice talks to Ibrahim Nafie about the countdown to war, the two-state solution and the war against terrorism

Before the storm
Moves in Ankara to prepare for a refugee influx indicate that Turkey is resigned to war on its borders. James Martone reports from southeastern Turkey

Slipping and sliding
Gavin Bowd looks at the problem with Old Europe

In extremis
Iraq's salvation now seems to hinge on Saddam himself -- or even on an assassin, writes David Hirst in Beirut

Democracy is...
Nyier Abdou talks to Iraq Institute for Democracy head Hussain Sinjari about change from within, the message of the anti-war movement and life after Saddam

Playing with fire
Can the US initiate democratic transformation in the Middle East? Scholars from a leading American think tank were in Cairo this week to find out, reports Aziza Sami