By Dawn's Early Light: Egypt, Diplomacy and Freedom

Egypt, Diplomacy and Freedom

Drudge has a link to an article on Sec. Rice postponing a visit to Egypt.

"A senior U.S. official, citing Rice's displeasure with the arrest and other internal actions taken by the Egyptian government, said change was needed and she wanted to see what steps were taken before going to Cairo. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity."

"The decision not to go apparently caught Egypt off-guard. The country's major pro-government newspaper, Al-Ahram, reported Friday that Rice would be in Egypt next Saturday."

Apparently, it would seem the message was heard load and clear in Cairo. The AP today is reporting "Egypt's Mubarak Orders Election Reform". Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt since Anwar Sadat's assassination in 1981, who has never faced a competitive election, said the following key quotes:

"The election of a president will be through direct, secret balloting, giving the chance for political parties to run for the presidential elections and providing guarantees that allow more than one candidate for the people to choose among them with their own will," Mubarak said in an address broadcast live on Egyptian television.

The next step is for Egypt's Shura Council to amend "Article 76" of Egypt's constitution with the change then being put before the people. The change to and vote on the constitutional changes could come within 9 weeks.

We should be patient and see if Egypt does reform, but the writing is on the wall in the Middle East. It is hard to argue that this move would have been possible if it wasn't for the American invasion of Iraq, the Iraqis demonstrating their conviction in voting, and President Bush's commitment to spreading democracy that is at the heart of every foreign policy address he gives.

Posted by Bill Rice on February 26, 2005 at 10:34 AM in Diplomacy, IR: Egypt | Permalink

The comments to this entry are closed.

The Influentials

Coming Anarchy
A brilliant 3 blogger site with a global perspective and sound thinking on events of the day.
Hugh Hewitt
Radio Host, Intellectual, Conservative, Evangelical, Blogger
InstaPundit (Glenn Reynolds)
The central blogosphere source
James Lileks
Family Man, Inspired and Witty Columnist, an Inspiration and Patriot
Mickey Kaus
Center Left, Connected, Blogger, Took the Boeing
Powerline
Keeping the MSM in check, Smart Intelligent Political Analysis
Publius Pundit
The single best place on the web for a democracy roundup of world events.
Real Clear Politics
Center Right, best political website, Election polls & Analysis
Roger L. Simon
Center Left, Supporter of the GWoT
Simon's World
"East Meets Westerner" - Simon, an Aussie living in Hong Kong has Asia covered with great links and commentary.
The Belmont Club
Acute Analysis of the GWoT, America's Friend
Threats Watch
Excellent analysis by Steve Schippert and Marvin Hutchens about national security issues around the globe.
Tod Bolsinger
husband, father, pastor, author, professor, adventure lover, and triathlete (non political)
Winds of Change
Liberty. Discovery. Humanity. Victory. - The Vanguard on the GWoT

Blogs of Note

Between Worlds
By blogger Bruce Chang, Between Worlds covers Asian-American relations with a piercing insight.
Blogs for Condi
Interested in Condi Rice? This is the site for you with excellent links.
Citizen Z
A centrist Democrat with sensible analysis of domestic and world affairs.
tdaxp
Red State, National and Global Analysis from SD
EagleSpeak
An insightful Milblog covering shipping, sea lanes and logistics and the war on terror.
The Adventures of Chester
One of the finest MilBlogs with great links and indepth coverage
Little Red Blog
Covering democratic movements around the world
MeiZhongTai
An interesting blog on America-China-Tawain
The Acorn
Indian foreign policy, and current affairs in the subcontinent
One Free Korea
An opinionated blog on the need for regime change in North Korea with excellent analysis.
Quill News
Editor, writer, ex-oil manager, ex-reporter with a good deal of thoughts on foreign policy
Election Projection
Some of the best US domestic election coverage around run by a Scott a man of true character
The Word Unheard
A former US Marine with a passion for "Foreign Policy, National Defense, Politics and the Media" living in NJ
The Red Hunter
Covering Freedom & Democracy and America's interests in the War on Terror
WILLisms
An extremely witty and beautifully presented poliblog on important issues of the day

By Dawn's Early Light

About

Photo Albums

Categories

Archives

February 26, 2005

Egypt, Diplomacy and Freedom

Comments

Recent Posts

GodBlogCon '06

Recent Comments

The Influentials

Alliance

Blogs of Note

Stats & Searches