Courting self-destruction?
Baghdad can still act to defuse the rush to war, writes Ibrahim Nafie

A monument to hypocrisy
Every one of us must raise our voices, and march in protest, now and again and again, writes Edward Said

As war is being decided
What lies behind President Bush's saying "the game is over", asks Mohamed Sid-Ahmed

Thought in times of war: The logic of stagnation
Why is it the victim that stands accused? Anouar Abdel-Malek analyses the reversal of logic

Steadfast... for how long?
Famously resistant to change though the Arab world may be, the current crisis could be the end of an era, writes Gamil Mattar

This week: Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Barad'ie

Editorial:
Hollow greetings
The greeting sent by US President Bush to the Palestinians on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, in which he reaffirmed Washington's commitment to a Palestinian state, is at once more and less than it may seem...

Close up
Full steam ahead
Can the war against Iraq be stopped? The question is being asked around the world. In the past few days international opposition to the American-led war has grown...
By Salama A Salama

Soapbox
A delicate balance
The decision to free the exchange rate was badly timed, occurring when Egypt maintains a severe deficit in trade and services, with a weak tourism sector, shrinking remittances by expatriate Egyptian workers, and the strong demand for foreign currency, associated with the Hajj season.
By Ahmed El-Sayed El-Naggar

The Eid in Gamaliya
No sooner does the Eid arrive than I start thinking of the neighbourhood of Gamaliya, that beautiful section of Fatimid Cairo in which I was born and spent my childhood...
By Naguib Mahfouz