In the Guise of Democracy: Governance in Contemporary Egypt by May Kassem. Pub: Ithaca Press, Reading, UK, 1999. Pp: 210. Hbk: £35.00.

Last month people around the world marked the first anniversary of the attacks in the US last year. The second anniversary of the beginning of the Al-Quds Intifada was also in September.

The deafening noise of Washington’s war-drums is making it increasingly certain that a military effort to depose Saddam Hussein is on the cards. The question then arises of potential alternatives for Iraq.

espite major developments in the politicking over Iraq during the past two weeks, there can be no doubt that the US remains as determined as ever to go to war against Saddam Hussein at the earliest possible opportunity, with the avowed intention of replacing his regime with one that will be more amenable to Western interests in the region.

Tens of thousands of Muslims are living in renewed fear in Gujrat as Crescent goes to press, after government and police officials blamed Muslims for an attack on a Hindu temple in Gandhinagar on September 24.

In yet another attempt to legitimize its rule, India is again trying to impose a ‘democratic’ poll on Kashmir. The first phase took place on 16 September and the second on 24 September; the polls end later this month. With coercion by security forces, election boycotts in general...

Macedonia, which a year ago was on the verge of civil war, has held elections. They were marred only by sporadic incidents of violence traceable to criminal elements and Slav extremist groups. As in Kosova, the Muslim Albanians are blamed for the unrest.

Pakistan is again in the grip of election fever as people prepare for polls on October 10. With the leaders of the two main political parties, Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, barred from participation because of corruption charges, the election has become a localized affair.

When Khartoum and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) signed the Machakos peace deal on July 20, American officials said that they would exert pressure to make the deal stick.