HOSNI MUBARAK Refuses to step down. Reader C.J. Burch emails: “It’s as if a third world tin pot dictator just told the President of the United States to stick it without fear of any reprisal at all. Now that’s smart diplomacy.” Well, stay tuned but our diplomacy does seem to have been rather confused.
UPDATE: Mubarak 1, Obama 0. “Obama was just played.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: The Spooks’ Black Thursday:
Bad day for the “Intelligence Community” here in Washington. CIA chief Leon Panetta opined that Mubarak was very likely going to resign in a few hours, while DNI (Director of National Intelligence) General James Clapper declared the Muslim Brotherhood “largely secular” and has “eschewed violence.” These analyses from our mastodontic Intel establishment no doubt encouraged the president to gush about living through an historic moment in world history, and to proclaim that young people were primarily to praise for the epic events of the day.
Except that Mubarak didn’t resign, and the Brothers aren’t secular and have long embraced and practiced violence, and we don’t yet know exactly what history is being made, let alone who is making it.
The country’s in the very best of hands.
MORE: Mubarak takes a shot at Obama.
STILL MORE: Oops! “Now, with Mubarak thumbing his nose at the president, the Obama administration may manage to achieve what only few governments in history have done: alienate their enemies as well as their friends. Worse, Obama’s actions have regionalized the Egyptian conflict. KSA has belayed Mubarak on the sheer cliff that he dangles from. It has forced a public confrontation between Mubarak and his regional allies and the unrest sweeping the Arab world. If Mubarak goes spinning into the abyss, the House of Saud will find itself pulled right after it. The narrative is set. One the one side are the aging Sunni autocrats, on the other side are the Shi’ite autocrats who are in an alliance of convenience with protesters in Egypt. And on both sides, like a ping-pong ball being swatted back and forth, is President Obama, as noisy and nearly as comical.”
Remember when I said that a Carter-era rerun was the best plausible scenario? Well . . .
Also: Protests in Iraq.
And, via Facebook: “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” That would have done it . . .
Plus, flummoxed: White House silent after Mubarak shocker.
Well, they did finally release a statement, but it’s getting bad reviews: White House statement on Egypt: Blah blah blah blah.