Free Republic

Now that Barack Obama has given a green light to Muslim Brotherhood participation in a new Egyptian government, it is unlikely that the organization will be kept out of power. And since the Brotherhood is the largest and most ideologically committed group in Egyptian politics, most likely it will end up in the driver’s seat in any new regime, and set the nation on course toward becoming an Islamic state. Obama almost certainly knows all this, and yet approved of Brotherhood involvement anyway. A look at some of his appointments, associations and activities shows that this should come as no...

Freedom: Egypt's revolution has rattled dictators everywhere. Some are responding by moving toward reform, others by cracking down. Yes, there's a difference between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Judging by the chain reaction of responses from as far away as Belarus, Venezuela and Thailand, it's as if an invisible activating agent detectable only by dictators sounded an alarm. Seems no one wants to be "the next Egypt." But they haven't all acted alike, which calls to mind the distinction made by former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick in a 1978 essay titled "Dictatorship and Double Standards." In the context of the Cold...

Wednesday, Feb. 2, President Barack Obama delivered an ultimatum to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman and the army and security chiefs: Mubarak must be removed in the coming hours or else US aid to Egypt will be cut off, debkafile's Washington sources exclusively report. Pressure on the Egyptian armed forces to oust the president forthwith was further applied by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who called Vice President Omar Suleiman, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates who called Egyptian defense minister Mohamed Tantawi, and US armed forces chief Adm. Mike Mullen in a telephone call to the Egyptian chief of staff...