Israel Matzav

Smart diplomacy: Egypt extends 'emergency' rule

The Washington Post reports that President Obumbler has done such a good job of making Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak 'feel good' after eight years of being ''by George W. Bush to allow democracy in Egypt that Mubarak has decided that he wants to be dictator for another six years.

Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak, who celebrated his 82nd birthday last week, arranged for his rubber-stamp parliament to extend, for another two years, the emergency law under which he has ruled since October 1981. In so doing, he flouted an emerging mass movement that has called for the law's lifting, so that elections for parliament and president scheduled for the next 18 months can be genuinely democratic. He also violated the repeated pledges that he and his ruling party have made to end the emergency regime, dating back to 2005.

Last but not least, Mr. Mubarak took advantage of the policy of the Obama administration, which has chosen to soft-pedal the cause of democracy and human rights in Egypt and across the Middle East. Even as it has publicly demanded that Israel freeze Jewish settlements and that Mr. Karzai reform his government, the administration has gently stroked Egypt's strongman, on the theory that the U.S.-Egyptian relationship needed mending after the Bush administration.

The result is that Mr. Mubarak, despite his failing health, has been encouraged to work toward granting himself another six years in power in next year's presidential election. His previous presidential campaigns have been marked by massive fraud and the jailing or violent suppression of the opposition -- which is why he needs the emergency law. It allows police to arrest and indefinitely detain people without charge and makes free assembly by opposition groups virtually impossible. Mohammed ElBaradei, the former U.N. nuclear inspector who now leads the domestic reform movement, has pointed out that it will be impossible for him or anyone else to challenge Mr. Mubarak in the election if the law remains in place.

Smart diplomacy. What could go wrong?

UPDATE 9:46 PM

Egypt has rebuffed criticism of the emergency decree's extension.

Egypt's foreign minister has dismissed US criticism of Cairo's decision to extend its three-decade-old emergency law as "overly politicized."

Ahmed Aboul Gheit says the US stance reflects an ignorance of the "real situation" in Egypt. He said Wednesday that the US criticism was aimed for an audience of Western media and rights groups.

What's the 'real situation' Ahmed? That the Muslim brotherhood would win a free election and then the mask would be off 'our friends the Egyptians'?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:47 PM