Egypt rotests: Hosni Mubarak's Concessions Rejected from the BBC
"Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square for the latest protest calling for Hosni Mubarak's government to step down."
The Situation in Egypt: 'Fluid and Scary' (Brian Whittaker) from Al-Bob: An Open Door to the Arab World
"While the street protests are being tolerated, probably in the hope that the demonstrators will eventually wear themselves out, the old repressive tactics – arrests and so on – continue in the background. In the words of my friend's email, "The witch hunt has already started.""
U.S. Eases Off Call for Swift Egypt Reform from the Los Angeles Times
"The Obama administration feels the approach is needed to reassure Middle East allies of U.S. loyalty. But gradual reform isn't going to satisfy the protest movement in Cairo."
This crisis continues to ooze along it's no-win path for Obama and his team. If Obama pulls out all the stops to remove Mubarak -- and Mubarak DOES leave -- there is no remotely stable constitutional pathway forward. Elections would have to be held within weeks and the ONLY group remotely organized enough to get its shit together in that short a window of time is the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that has lagged behind the protest movement at almost every point AND whose views don't reflect that general attitude of the main body of the demonstrators. Indeed, the demonstrations owe much more to the pan-Arabism of Nasser in the 1960s (main enemies of the Islamists) than to any religious fundamentalist sentiment.
Realpolitiktian (John Heileman) from New York Magazine
"Obama’s handling of the Egyptian uprising reveals that in foreign policy, too, he is a pragmatic centrist to the core."
Paranoia Strikes Among Egypt's Protesters: A Day and Night in Tahrir (Graeme Wood) from the Atlantic
"As circumstances on the ground shift less rapidly, the protest movement now faces subtler threats, with dissent and subversion becoming major preoccupations."
How Democracy Became Halal (Reuel Marc Gerecht) from the New York Times
"Egypt’s uprising is the product of a 30-year debate within Islam."
The Arab World's Berlin Wall Moment (Fawaz Gerges) from the Christian Science Monitor
"Arabs are on the brink of a democratic wave similar to the one that swept through Eastern Europe 20 years ago. The Arabs’ democratic journey may well be rocky, but there is no turning back."
If I have to hear about another pregnant moment in Middle East history where "there's no turning back now" I will SCREAM!! Through the late 1990s, the happy talk surrounding the Israel-Palestine talks turned by the early 2000s into so much jade-inducing despair. I think everything that has happened so far in that region can not only be undone but result in something worse than the status quo. AND I am no advocate of the status quo. I think the social-economic-political dynamics of Arab society should make us all humble when we try to predict where this is all going.
Conservatives Spar Over Best Approach on Egypt (Gerald Seib) from the Wall Street Journal
"Dick Cheney and Bill Kristol have more in common than not. Mr. Cheney, the former vice president, and Mr. Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard magazine, served together in the first Bush administration, were staunch supporters of both wars in Iraq, and are admired figures in the conservative movement. Yet when it comes to the crisis in Egypt, they are striking quite different notes. "
Out of Country: The Dangers of Writing on WikiLeaks in Russia (Julia Ioffe) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"A reporter's disturbing expulsion from Russia."
For wikileak groups trying to get something going in Russia or China, they could have told you this was coming.
Inside the Secret Service (Marc Ambinder) from the Atlantic
"When President Obama and two-thirds of the world’s leaders gather in New York City, it is up to the U.S. Secret Service to keep them all safe. Granted unprecedented access, our author tells the story of how the agency pulls off the most complicated security event of the year, from counter-surveillance to counter-assault, hotel booking to event scheduling."
I can't even imagine how three-dimensionally insane this must have been for the Secret Service.
On Health Care, Justice Will Prevail (Laurence Tribe) from the New York Times
"There is every reason to believe that a strong, nonpartisan majority of justices will do their constitutional duty, set aside how they might have voted had they been members of Congress and treat this constitutional challenge for what it is — a political objection in legal garb."
You're a pretty bright guy, Larry. I hope you're right on this.
Rummey's Life in Exile (Lyric Winik) from Newsweek
"Donald Rumsfeld vanished from public life before resurfacing with a new book that takes the blame—for almost nothing. Our sources beg to differ."
For the GOP, 364 Days to the Iowa Caucuses (Ed Kilgore) from the Democratic Strategist
"[Palin], The political figure whose national approval ratings have been sinking like a stone, who has been losing to Barack Obama in general election trial heat polls in states like South Carolina, remains the decisive force in shaping the 2012 field. This could not be good sign for the GOP, regardless of what St. Joan of the Tundra decides to do"
How to Understand What's Happening to the GOP (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"Early punditry in 2005 and '06 pegged Allen as the chief threat to John McCain -- and maybe even the front-runner, given McCain's historic difficulties with the party base. Those were the good old days for the GOP, when the party controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress and when even some Democrats were willing to buy into the Rovian notion of a permanent Republican majority. And then ... everything changed."
Survey Ranks Obama 15th Best President, Bush Among Worst from US News and World Report [from last July]
"President Obama ranks 15th out of 44 in a poll of the best and worst presidents while former President George W. Bush earns a place in the bottom five, according to the Siena College Research Institute's recent survey of 238 presidential scholars released Thursday."
The Real Threat of Glenn Beck's Fantasies (Frances Fox Piven) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"It's harm not to myself, but to American democracy that I fear from the Fox News host's paranoid theories of social collapse."
POLAR BEAR NUGGET!!
Polar Scare! Children Swim Inches from Monster Bears (Not Exactly) from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"It's a heart-in-the-mouth moment that would have most parents running for help.
The massive carnivores loom menacingly over their bite-size pool companions in these remarkable pictures. But there's more to the scenario than meets the eye, in fact the children are separated from certain death by 10-inch thick plexiglas."
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