Trouble zone

For once, regional blunders and concerns dominated, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed

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After generations as history's losers, Lebanon's downtrodden Shia population deserve a better future. And, a bigger say in the running of their country. The Iraqi Shia are doing it, so why can't Lebanon's Shia? These were some of the questions that preoccupied the pundits. It is ironic, perhaps, that unlike the countries of the so-called Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula, where Shia are often suspected of being traitors and of being fifth columnists for Shia Iran, in Egypt hardly anyone takes this into consideration -- at least at the level of politics. During the Israeli aggression against Lebanon in the summer of 2006, Egyptians were firmly behind the heroic Hizbullah, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah became a household name, an icon not of Shia triumphalism, but rather a hero of Arab and Muslim resistance to Israeli oppression and hegemony. This was clearly reflected in the Egyptian press this week.

Yet, there was a hint of ambivalence that was not to be found two years ago. Nasrallah should be fighting the Israelis, not his own compatriots.

Among the countries of the Arab Mashreq, Egypt was uniquely unperturbed by a perceived Shia danger, real or imaginary. And, yet there is a genuine regret in the country that the Lebanese are tearing their country apart. Egyptian pundits pondered the ramifications.

"Without pessimism or exaggeration, I think it is virtually impossible for matters to return to normalcy in Lebanon after the events of last Thursday," mused Editor-in-Chief of the official daily Al-Akhbar Mohamed Barakat. "The moment Hassan Nasrallah declared war on his political opponents... the moment Hizbullah seized the airport and terrorised innocent civilians it was clear that matters would never be the same again," Barakat lamented.

Sudan, too, was the subject of much speculation. "Cautious calm in Khartoum after rebel attack", ran the front- page headline of the official daily Al-Ahram. "The release of Al-Turabi after interrogating him for 18 hours", the paper disclosed. Al-Turabi is, of course, a chief opponent of the Sudanese regime. A former speaker of the Sudanese parliament, he fell out with Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir in the late 1990s and is suspected of supporting armed Darfur opposition groups.

Writing in the daily liberal Nahdet Masr, Mohamed El-Shabba reflected on the current state of affairs in the Arab world. "From Om Durman to Khartoum to Beirut, I regret to say that the state of the Arab order is shameful," El-Shabba warned. He added, "Corrupt politicians and their thirst for power is the main reason behind the shameful state of the Arab political scene."

Indeed, many commentators expressed their horror not only concerning the events in Lebanon, but also about the situation in Sudan. There was much indignation at the surprise storming by fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement of the Sudanese city of Om Durman. The event hit the headlines of both official and independent papers.

On a very different note, the state of the Arab economy and the reaction of Arab governments to the crisis received much attention in the press. Writing in the daily popular independent Al-Masry Al-Yom, professor of political science at Cairo University Hassan Nafaa criticised the government's approach to the crisis of skyrocketing prices of foodstuffs. "Some Arab governments believe it is enough to cite the reasons behind skyrocketing prices [of commodities] and emphasise its external dimensions so that citizens absolve these governments of their responsibilities and become convinced that their governments have done everything possible."

Nafaa added, "this is a strange and illogical view of the state of affairs, since [Arab] governments are supposed to be preoccupied with solving the problems their peoples are facing, especially those that endanger the security and stability of societies. Governments should not be content with diagnosing the reasons behind [soaring commodity prices], since hungry people don't care whether these reasons are local or international. What they care about is that governments provide them with means of sustenance that keeps them alive."

In much the same vein, and writing in the daily business-oriented Al-Alam Al-Yom, Lamis El-Hadidi criticised the set of decisions taken by the government last week. "Certainly, subsidies on petrol couldn't have been kept as they are in light of soaring oil prices... but the timing seemed odd and raised many questions. Either [the government] used the 30 per cent increase in salaries as a prelude to the decision [to lift subsidies on petrol] or the government was surprised by the salary rise [which President Mubarak directed the government to pay to civil servants] and couldn't find a way out except by putting its hands in the pockets of the people to make up for the funds spent on salary hikes."

Writing in Al-Masry Al-Yom, Tarek El-Ghazali Harb sees the recent 30 per cent increase in salaries as "anesthesia injected into the agitated bodies of Egyptian citizens who suffer from soaring prices of everything."

Economic concerns dominated the coverage of domestic affairs. Writing in Al-Ahram, Mahmoud Moawwad criticised the recent government economic decisions. "Why didn't the government think about [imposing taxes] on the incomes of businessmen to find resources to finance the salary rises? Is it possible that income taxes on millionaires and billionaires remain unchanged?"

Education, too, received some attention, prompted by the concerns of President Hosni Mubarak and his official remarks on the subject. Official newspapers were preoccupied with the national conference on education development inaugurated by Mubarak this week. "Upgrading the secondary school system to lighten the burdens of the Egyptian family", ran the headline of Al-Akhbar, quoting Mubarak. "The necessity of filling the gap between education and the labour market", another headline read.

The deplorable state of the country's roads came under scrutiny. Al-Alam Al-Yom ran a feature on road accidents that claimed the lives of several tourists of late. "The victims of tourist coaches exceed the number of the victims of terrorism!" ran the headline of the feature. "Drivers are not only to blame for these accidents... tires and the poor quality of roads are two reasons," the writer of the article argued.

Health concerns also grabbed the attention of commentators. Indeed, a close correlation between the state of people's health and the state of the economy was drawn. A good example was hypertension. The incidence of the illness has risen sharply in recent years. Al-Masry Al-Yom reported, "One in four Egyptians suffers from high blood pressure". Quoting a famous professor at Cairo University, the paper reported that, "the increase in high blood pressure has hit the highest levels in Egypt due to the economic crisis."

Some writers adopted rather fatalistic and philosophical conclusions to the concerns of our times. Writing in the daily opposition Al-Wafd, Sekina Fouad opined that "Change doesn't happen in Egypt unless Heaven intervenes". Heaven help us.