Commentators are becoming more vociferous and opinionated in their criticism of state policy, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed Regional and foreign policy concerns occupied considerable space in the press this week. Not only did the Arab League summit in Damascus exceedingly interest the columnists, but last week's visit of President Hosni Mubarak to Moscow also aroused plenty of curiosity. The mood about the Damascus gathering was mixed. As regards to Mubarak's Moscow trip, the tenor of most of the pundits was decisively upbeat. They had nothing but praise for Mubarak's political acumen and the foresight of his wise and gracious hosts. Pundits concur that Russia's incumbent President Dmitri Medvedev has made an excellent start in foreign policy with his signing of a nuclear agreement for peaceful purposes with President Mubarak. Commenting in the daily business-oriented Al-Alam Al-Yom on the growing cooperation between Egypt and Russia in building nuclear reactors, Farouk Goweida saw this cooperation as "an opportunity to broaden relations in the region, which could lead to breaking the ban imposed by the US on Arab countries, some of whom are on good terms with it and others on bad terms." Many seasoned commentators reminisced about the days when Egypt and Russia enjoyed an exceptionally close political relationship. The golden days of Egyptian-Russian solidarity were during the presidency of Gamal Abdel-Nasser at the height of the Cold War. Writing in the daily liberal-leaning Nahdet Masr, Mohamed Qadri Said wondered whether history would repeat itself since Egyptian-Russian relations have gained momentum with President Mubarak's latest visit to Moscow. "It seems that the scale of the Egyptian [peaceful nuclear] programme is very ambitious, as it aims at building eight nuclear stations. There has also been special concern for securing nuclear fuel [for Egypt] or producing it locally." Pundits were less upbeat about the Arab summit in Damascus. Views about the success or failure of the summit varied greatly. While some commentators were highly critical of the summit itself, and those Arab leaders who attended it, others praised those who braved the boycott and attended the Syrian gathering. The fact that so many Arab leaders failed to show up at the summit meant that the detractors of Syria hailed those who stayed away as heroes, and those who attended as despicable scoundrels. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was the veritable villain of the piece. Among those who espoused a neutral, albeit morose attitude, were commentators who bemoaned the pathetic reality of inter-Arab politics and the floundering fortunes of the pan-Arab dream. Writing in the daily opposition Al-Wafd, Wahid Abdel-Meguid, for example, harshly criticised the Arab leaders who went to Damascus. "The Arab summit in Damascus has reminded us that Arab regimes are suffering from old age symptoms and Alzheimer's, " Abdel-Meguid noted. He added, "the prevailing feature in the Arab world now is division, and this is not only applicable to the relationship between Arab countries but to their internal affairs." Then Abdel-Meguid hit the nail on the head. "Lebanon has become two Lebanons; Palestine has transformed into two cantons; nobody knows to what extent Iraq will be fragmented; and Sudan will eventually become two parts when the southerners vote on self-determination in 2011," he pointed out. Abdel-Meguid continued to mourn the sorry state of Arab affairs. "In every Arab country there are many forms of social divisions or political polarisation which portend many other kinds of fragmentation." Bemoaning Arab affairs did not, however, mean that the press ignored domestic concerns. Indeed, the ongoing battle against corruption hit the headlines, too. In a series of articles published in the daily independent Al-Masry Al-Yom, Galal Amin continued to tell the story of corruption in Egypt over the past four decades. "While corruption in [Gamal] Abdel-Nasser's era, especially in the aftermath of the 1967 defeat, was still in its infancy and was met with strong condemnation, it turned into a big festival in [Anwar] El-Sadat's era as people enjoyed every possible opportunity [to commit corrupt actions] fearlessly. In Mubarak's era, however, condemnation of corruption has disappeared," Amin noted. The reasons are complex "since corruption has become part and parcel of the regime itself." The problem is that matters have gotten out of hand as far as the writer is concerned, or "in other words, since the 1980s corruption has been gradually legalised," Amin concluded. In an entirely different note, foreign matters once again busied the pundits. The 17-minute Dutch film Fitna, directed by ultra-right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders, solicited plenty of commentary in the press. Commenting on the latest film released in The Netherlands, which slanders Islam, Al-Azhar professor Soad Saleh was quoted in Al-Masry Al-Yom as saying that the best policy to counter this wave of anti-Islamic propaganda was to disregard it completely. Saleh argued it was no use wasting our energy on trying to retaliate or call for retribution. That, she contended, was giving the enemy the satisfaction that they had managed to enrage us. "It is better to ignore the movie," Saleh was quoted as saying, "so as not to give an opportunity to the antagonists of Islam to further attack it." Meanwhile, the distinguished writer Osama Anwar Okasha was of the opinion that "the successive waves of slandering Islam are due to our failure to make the West know us as Arabs and Muslims." He added that boycotting the goods imported from the West and protesting would not be of any benefit since "the West does not understand any language other than dialogue." The question of the position of women in Egypt today was once again tackled with much passion in the press. Writing in the daily Al-Ahram, Manal El-Qadi vehemently criticised the religious discourse in Egypt that, she claims, systematically harasses and puts down women. "Women face fierce attacks from preachers and imams who apply the concept of halal and haram on all what relates to females. Such attacks do not come only from satellite channels but from imams of mosques who have an immense influence on a large segment of society." Last, but not least, is the ongoing saga of bread shortages. The opposition Al-Ahali, the mouthpiece of the leftist party Al-Tagammu, expected "the unseating of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif because of the bread [shortage] crisis" as its front-page headline read. However, the article itself questioned the wisdom of making a scapegoat out of Nazif, since his demise is unlikely to resolve the bread crisis.
