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Business
Monthly
October,
2001
Published before the strikes on
Afghanistan, some of the material in this issue still strikes
a chord. "Egypt is now left in the same place it was
before September 11," writes editor Neil MacDonald.
"with a sagging economy and a stalled privatization
program -- but will now have to overcome heavier handicaps to
address these issues." Much ado is made of Orascom's
heavy investments in Pakistani telecommunications, especially
in light of the heavy military activity going on in that part
of the world. While analysts' gut reaction is that this is bad
news for Orascom, Naguib Sawiris is quoted as saying the
opposite. No stranger to the benefits of US aid, the OT
chairman claimed it was "positive news" since
Pakistani assistance to US forces would likely be remunerated
with US financial assistance or debt forgiveness. That is,
indeed happening. Mohamed Mansour, head of Cairo's American
Chamber of Commerce, credits the organization's regular door
knock missions to the US to drum up stronger business
relations with
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 Rose
El-Youssef
October
13, 2001
An article on bin Laden
entitled The False Prophet" harshly criticizes the man
who stunned the world with his statement on Al-Jazeera just
as the American attacks on Afghanistan began. "Bin
Laden has never fired a single bullet against Israel,"
writes Abdalla Kamal, "though he buys and sells the
Palestinian cause." A real do-gooder would turn himself
in to save the poor, wretched Afghan people -- "The
harvest of all this," Kamal writes, "is that we
are in front of a true hypocrite." Taking as swipe at
al-Jazeera channel as well ("We have always said that
Jazeera plays a hidden, dangerous role... against both the
Arab and Islamic worlds."), the author says that even
though the US appears to be complaining about the station's
bias, it is benefiting tremendously from the channel's
actions at the same time (ie. Helping it build up an enemy).
The author explains the false prophet metaphor of the
article's title by alluding to the way bin Laden phrased his
call to arms, as if he was a modern day Mohamed aiming to
rThe magazine also features an article by Tony Blair
addressed to the Muslim world, and a photo feature story
showing how Western armies always seem to be accompanied by
beautiful starlets to entertain the boys in the brigade. The
occasion, of course, was last week's ex-Spice Girl Geri
Halliwell's show for the British troops in the Gulf.
Elsewhere, squash star Ahmed Barada says he's changed his
minds about calling it quits.
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Wighat
Nazar
October,
2001
The prestigious literary
monthly Al-Kutob Wighat Nazar (Books: Viewpoints)
headlines a powerhouse of an issue, as always, with the
writing of senior Egyptian political analyst Mohamed
Hassanein Heikal. In "An American and Global
Inferno", Heikal seems to be saying that the United
States destroyed the Soviets -- and is now in the process
of becoming like its old enemy. But that is just one part
of what Heikal is saying -- the broad-ranging essay
touches on how George Bush seemed kidnapped in the first
hours of the crisis, and how Osama bin Laden had to make a
choice after the US pulled away its support for the
mujahideen in Afganistan once the Soviets withdrew. He
also posits that some very new global force is behind the
attacks. For an in-depth analysis of Heikal's article,
click here. An essay in the magazine attempts to explain
the difference between the "real" and the
"fantasy" bin Laden, while another argues that
"Understanding New York begins at Durban". A few
colorful pages see US comic characters Superman and Batman
as evidence that, starting from childhood, the US is
convincing its own people, and then the rest of the world,
of its superiority. Amongst the rest of the magazine's
articles and book reviews, is one that looks at several
new titles exploring religion in the 21st century,
including Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and American
Religion.
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