In the widening gyre of perplexing conundrums, politics, crime and punishment preoccupy the pundits, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed Make no mistake: reactions to the slinging of a pair of shoes at United States President George W Bush by an Iraqi journalist at a press conference in Baghdad was not the sole obsession of the pundits this week. However, pundits were perturbed about the implications of a sole Iraqi striking back in most uncanny fashion. You get very different experiences if you sit at a press conference in Baghdad than if you sit at one in Washington or Cairo. Or, do you? Debate over the hurling of a pair of shoes by Muntadhar Al-Zaidi at Bush in Baghdad last week persistently dominated the headlines. While most of the commentaries were sympathetic to the cause of Al-Zaidi, there were some voices that dissented. There were those who did not approve of the Iraqi journalists' brazenness, explaining that it amounted to sheer insolence. "The flinging of shoes at Bush contributed to the tarnishing of Islam's image abroad," Rushdi Abu Zeid, an Islamic Sharia professor was quoted as saying in the daily liberal-leaning Nahdet Masr. "Islam stipulates rules on how to treat guests. Al-Zaidi should have used respectful dialogue instead of flinging his shoes at Bush," he summed up. An Al-Azhar scholar, Mohamed El-Birri, begged to differ. "Bush deserves more than this insult because he caused the death of two million Iraqi citizens," he was quoted as saying in Nahdet Masr. Writing in the daily Al-Masry Al-Yom, Amr Hamzawi argued that even though Bush was guilty of ruining Iraq, he should be treated with civility. Hamzawi argued his case in terms of respect for human rights. It was not up to Al-Zaidi to arbitrarily mete out justice. "Yes, Bush presided over one of the worst American administrations in contemporary times, an administration that reduced foreign policy of the sole super power to using the military arsenal and ignoring international law by invading Iraq. Yes, his administration violated human rights here and there as in Guantanamo. However, all these awful practices do not give people who suffered from these policies an excuse to violate his right to physical safety or his human dignity," Hamzawi insisted. "The flinging of shoes at Bush by Al-Zaidi should be condemned as it contradicts with the principles of human rights," he concluded. Meanwhile, on a more philosophical note Mohamed Salmawy argued in his weekly column in Al-Masry Al-Yom that Iraq has not dramatically changed with the ouster and execution of Saddam Hussein and the American occupation of the country. "What will happen to Al-Zaidi will determine whether the Iraqi society has really become free after the US occupation or it is still a society where detention, oppression and torture are still reigning supreme," surmised Salmawy. The head of the Egyptian Writers' Union sarcastically argued that Bush would only attend press conferences that are held inside mosques (where people must ritually take off their shoes and leave them outside the sacred premises). Magdi El-Gallad opined in his column in Al-Masry Al-Yom that the flinging of shoes was an act of desperation that reflected the general state of Arab impotence and powerlessness. "The psychological analysis of the jubilant reaction of the Arabs to the flinging of shoes at Bush reflects, in fact, our very inadequacy," El-Gallad claimed. "The shoes have become a symbol of US oppression and might and a grim reminder of the shameful ineffectiveness of the Arabs." Moving on to the Israeli siege on Gaza and the mounting pressures on Egypt to open the borders with Gaza, Egyptian columnists stepped up their criticism of the authorities. The plight of the people of Gaza continued to make headlines. The opposition and independent papers were particularly virulent in their attacks on the authorities' hard-heartedness. "Egypt absolves itself of the Gaza tragedy," ran the headline of the daily liberal opposition Al-Wafd. "The Gaza Strip is an occupied Palestinian territory and Israel is committed to provide its residents with basic stuff," the paper quoted a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. "Considering Gaza a liberated territory is a perfect way out for Tel Aviv to throw the responsibility for the Strip on Egypt," another headline referring to the statement read. In much the same vein, Egypt's passivity and inaction were compared unfavourably with Iran's vehemence in coming to the defence of the hapless Palestinians. Official newspapers, however, harshly criticised the Iranian regime because of the protests staged by Iranians in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Tehran accusing Egypt of taking part in the siege on Gaza. Many a writer argued that Tehran is also behind the demonstrations staged by hundreds of Syrians in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus this week calling upon Egypt to open the crossing points leading to Gaza. "A dubious Iranian-American deal aimed at widening the gap and augmenting divisions between Palestinian factions," ran the headline of the weekly official Akhbar Al-Yom. "The Syrian coma," was the headline of an article by the editor-in-chief of the official daily Al-Gomhuriya, Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, in which he remonstrated with the Iranians and Syrians for failing to understand the delicate diplomatic position in which Egypt finds itself embroiled. He harshly criticised the demonstrations of Syrians in Damascus during which demonstrators insulted President Hosni Mubarak and Egypt for failing to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza and lifting the siege of Gaza. The demonstrators called for the stopping of all kinds of negotiations with Israel, a matter which provoked Ibrahim who argued that how come Syrian demonstrators insult leaders of Arab countries who negotiate with Israel while Syria itself has entered into Turkish-sponsored negotiations with Israel over the Golan Heights. He accused the Syrians of duplicity and hypocrisy. Official newspapers were awash with reports about the inauguration on Thursday of Cairo International Airport's third terminal. "Mubarak inaugurates the new terminal which cost LE3.3 billion," ran the headline of the daily official Al-Akhbar. "The president calls upon the government to develop Egyptian airports to be able to compete with international ones," another headline read. Most of the columnists concurred that Egypt is in dire need for better infrastructure to cope with the influx of tourists and the increasing demands on air travel as the country has become an economic hub of the region and a hot tourist destination. On an entirely different note, the global financial crisis continued to interest the commentators. Writing in the daily Al-Akhbar, Galal Dweidar hoped that "our government economy officials be well aware of what George W Bush said about his country's abandoning of the free market economy until he is able to save the US economy from collapsing. I hope that our economy officials are not more enthusiastic about the free market economy than the leading capitalist country -- the US." Dweidar sang the praises of the old-style command economies and the welfare state of yesteryear. He concluded that economic policymakers should not pretend to be more Catholic than the pope is. Talking about religion, and moral standards, brings to mind the poignant question of the unprecedented rise in crime in Egypt today. Why has the crime rate risen so sharply in recent years, and why are the crimes so much more vicious than before? Commentators and columnists have debated this unsettling puzzle. The daily Nahdet Masr ran a feature about the significant increase in violent actions that erupted over the past few weeks in different Egyptian governorates between families and competing clans. "The disappearance of customary reconciliatory sessions led to a significant increase in violence in Egypt," argued Asaad El-Hariri, writer of the feature. However, human rights activists had a negative view of these sessions. "These sessions represent a return to a lawless state and represents a setback to the civil state," argued Hafez Abu Seada, head of the Egyptian Human Rights Organisation.
