Now I am not normally paranoid, but let me get this straight. The Washington Post publishes an editorial suggesting that before Obama meets with Mubarak, the president (dictator would be a more accurate term) of Egypt, it would be nice to see some sort of progress on the human rights front.
I have no idea whether the Post was commenting on diplomatic outreaches that were already occurring, or whether Mubarak, or one of his deputies, decided this was a jolly good idea after the article was printed. But, a couple of days after that editorial came out, lo and behold, the suggested 'bone' was thrown.
As much as I detested George W. Bush, he did put his finger upon a thorny issue. Specifically, how should the US handle dictators that happen to dovetail nicely with the American geopolitical strategy? Saudi Arabia and Egypt would be the two best examples of countries whose leadership is both nicely aligned with US interests, yet happen to be utterly undemocratic.
It will be quite interesting to watch how the Obama administration handles this particular issue. And while this is thoroughly excellent news for Ayman Nour and his family, it is far from clear this means anything at all substantial for Egyptians in general.
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