Al Jazeera’s video of Egypt President Hosni Mubarak swearing in intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as the first vice president of Egypt in nearly three decades has many clamoring to learn whatever they can about this person who may actually succeed Mubarak.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Brian Katulis and I had a good discussion with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow last night. Katulis made the interesting point that America’s affinity for Mubarak may be just a hangover from the Cold War, at least in part….
There is a clear broad tilt in the American and global media against President Mubarak’s regime. I have seen statements of support for Mubarak and dismissal of the protests from some Israeli leaders and oddly from John Bolton.
@PJCrowley The #Egyptian government can’t reshuffle the deck and then stand pat. President #Mubarak’s words pledging reform must be followed by action.
The Century Foundation’s Michael Wahid Hanna notes that Egypt President Hosni Mubarak’s call for the Egyptian military to deploy in and around the robust protesting crowds in Cairo could cut either way.
What is going on in Egypt now reminds me of the fall of Suharto in Indonesia, the expulsion of and collapse of Marco in the Philippines, the overthrow of Romania’s Ceausescu, and of course the Green Movement in Iran.
This is very big. The regime may not fall — but the game is changed in Egypt and best I can tell the US does not have a set of contingency scenarios for political change there.
Word is breaking that John McCain’s long time aide and many decades long alter ego, Mark Salter, is the author behind O: A Presidential Novel. Truth in advertising first. I haven’t read the novel, though I really like the graphics of the “O” and the “ears” as well as the brilliant blue of the cover….
At the 3rd Talking Points Memo Policy Roundtable hosted at the New America Foundation, State Department Policy Planning Director Anne-Marie Slaughter will share her views on America’s international engagement — particularly regarding the world’s crisis and not yet crisis (but almost) regions.
