When a boxer exaggerates in showing off his muscles, this gives the impression that he is concerned, afraid of the next round, or unsure about how firm the ground he is standing on is. So perhaps it is for this reason that he is excessively warning against the big showdown, hinting that this would open the gates of hell and set the whole region on a fire that will spare no one.

There is no hiding the state of concern over the future of Egypt on the background of political alignment between an Islamist movement that won the first free elections since the July 1952 Revolution in a landslide and a street inflamed and showing signs of anger against both the Islamists and the military.

I have said it before, and I say it again today: God rest Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, who was a rare individual.

I published an interview with Sheikh Zayed (in Al-Hayat in 1994) when I asked him about the policy of dual containment, or the policy of the United States to blockade both Iraq and Iran. The head of the United Arab Emirates repeated the words “America,” “Iran” and “Israel” two or three times, before saying: “They are vile, and deserve each other.”

The cover of Laha, our magazine featured the beautiful singer Latifa. The magazine ran a lengthy interview with her about the program “Let’s Sing”, and her musical albums and videos. All these things are not among my interests or indeed my expertise. Rather, what interests me about the Tunisian singer (believe it or not) is that she is smart and extremely well versed on political issues. In fact, when I see Latifa, she would have always had read the newspapers, gotten up to date through the radio and geared herself up to discuss all current issues.

The Iranian-Western conflict has many dimensions, including defense and broadening of both sides’ interests in the Middle East, as well as the issues of the Iranian nuclear program and the freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf, especially in what regards the transit of oil tankers in the vital Strait of Hormuz.

It has become clear that the mission of the Arab League observers in Syria is facing difficulties. The observers have so far not been able to achieve any of their mission’s goals, at a time when the crisis remains in a predicament that could last long, with ongoing cases of violence against demonstrators and protesters, and a rising number of casualties.

The decision to close the borders between Algeria and Morocco is not final, according to the Algerian Foreign Minister, Mourad Medelci. However, the fact that the border crisis has been ongoing since the summer of 1994 tells a different story. The failure to accomplish such an ordinary step – according to all the standards of good neighborhood – is due to the accumulation of deep differences that have hindered rapprochement between the two neighboring countries, and the development of the strategic Maghreb Union.

Cheer, O Arabs, for salvation is near. What you could not achieve will now be presented to you by the Israelis on a silver platter. For they have lived among our people for 40 days, 40 years and 60 years and did not leave us, and thus became like us.

In a country divided on an ethnic, sectarian and confessional basis, rulers who contributed to this division are forced, in the name of democracy, to preserve their own share and their own group’s share of power, and thus resort to maneuvering at times and to confrontation at other times.

In the schools of Western journalism, we were strictly told not to use phrases like ‘needless to say’. We were told: If there is no need to say it, then don’t. I learned this lesson by heart, yet I find myself today compelled to start with a platitude, something we were also told not to use, namely, that peace with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is impossible. For one thing, it is a fascist far-right government, comprising neo-Nazi parties and racist religious groups, a government that seeks to grab Palestinian land and expel its people.