Posted on 02/01/2005 12:42:03 PM PST by SmithL
The United States wants to be seen as a supporter of democracy around the world, except, of course, when supporting democracy may be inconvenient.
Among Washington's best pals in the Arab or Muslim worlds, which, together, routinely receive billions of dollars in U.S. aid: the governments of Egypt (a dictatorship), Jordan (an absolute monarchy) and Pakistan (a military dictatorship led by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in 1999). Now, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 76, has hinted that "he could stand for a fifth [six-year] term." He also has "rejected opposition demands to open the balloting to other candidates." Mubarak, one of the Middle East's most powerful politicians, "has been running unopposed in public plebiscites since replacing Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamic militants during a 1981 military parade." (Associated Press/Globe and Mail)
"Egypt is on the move," the country's prime minister, Ahmed Mahmoud Nazif, told a reporter at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, last week. (Le Temps.ch) Nazif's feel-good rhetoric, aimed at wooing investors, did not refer to Egypt's electoral system, though. Instead of direct elections contested by various political parties, "Egypt holds presidential referendums ... in which people vote yes or no for a sole candidate nominated by the Parliament," which Mubarak's National Democratic Party controls. (Associated Press/Globe and Mail)
And since no obvious successor to Egypt's long-ruling strongman has emerged, Mubarak "is widely expected to let the [NDP] nominate him for another term, possibly in May." A national referendum on Mubarak's candidacy would then take place in the fall. (Reuters/Cairo Live)
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
In other news, the fox has rejected calls to close the hen house...
This is the Egypt that Kerry wants to build an Iraqi army. Great model to follow.
Gee, Ed Gomez is a clever little weasel, isn't he?
I swear NONE of those things EVER occurred to me.
Aren't we just so lucky that Mr. Gomez is on our side?
Typical sort of whining and Monday-morning-quarterbacking you'd expect from some know-it-all in San Fran.
Mo-bar-rick is a dictator for life. Always was, always will be till he dies of natural causes or someone puts a bullet between his eyes or blows up his 1972 Toyota pickup limo truck.
Yep.....you nailed it.
Aid is central to Washington's relationship with Cairo. The US has provided Egypt with $1.3 billion a year in military aid since 1979, and an average of $815 million a year in economic assistance. All told, Egypt has received over $50 billion in US largesse since 1975.
If the President is serious about what he said during his address he'll zero out aid to Egypt in the next budget he sends to Congress.
I wish he would cancel aid to Egypt. Unfortunately I believe the likelyhood of that is small. I don't even expect a reduction.
Why bother having a ballot if your the only one on it?
"As Iraqis vote, Mubarak rejects direct elections in Egypt; . . ."
Does anyone besides me think that the fact this is even being discussed is a tremendous victory for George W. Bush?
So, I'm familiar with Democracy's, Republics, despotic government, tyrants, monarchies, etc. What do you call this, where the govt nominates candidates but they can only serve if acceptable to the people?
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