Obama Urges Mubarak Not To Run Again

[WilliamPitt]

Obama Urges Mubarak Not To Run Again

WASHINGTON — President Obama has told the embattled president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, that he should not run for another term in elections in the fall, effectively withdrawing American support for its closest Arab ally, according to American diplomats in Cairo and Washington.

Al Arabiya television, citing unnamed sources, reported that Mr. Mubarak would announce in a nationwide address Tuesday evening that he would not run for another term.

The message was conveyed to Mr. Mubarak by Frank G. Wisner, a seasoned former diplomat with deep ties to Egypt, these officials said. Mr. Wisner’s message, they said, was not a blunt demand for Mr. Mubarak to step aside now, but firm counsel that he should make way for a reform process that would culminate in free and fair elections in September to elect a new Egyptian leader.

This back channel message, authorized directly by Mr. Obama, would appear to tip the administration beyond the delicate balancing act it has performed in the last week — resisting calls for Mr. Mubarak to step down, even as it has called for an “orderly transition” to a more politically open Egypt.

The rest: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/middleeast/02transition.html?hp

[Bluebear]

1. Well that's brave. nt

[emulatorloo]

44. = go away in "diplomatic language"

But you already know that.

[defendandprotect]

2. Let me be the first to urge Obama not to run again -- !!

[mike_c]

4. +1!

[Schema Thing]

I think idiots and freepers beat you to it.

[sufrommich]

10. +1. nt.

[kentuck]

3. Not good enough.

He needs to say he is resigning immediately.

[Bluebear]

5. For all Obama's awe at Reagan, he could have had a "Mr Mubarek, tear down this wall" moment.

[tabatha]

11. Reagan as an example?

"Tear down this wall!" was the challenge from United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall.

In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin,<1><2> by the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear it down as a symbol of Gorbachev's desire for increasing freedom in the Eastern Bloc.

.......................


At the time, the speech received "relatively little coverage from the media."<11> Communists were also unimpressed by the speech,<1> and the Soviet press agency Tass accused Reagan as giving an "openly provocative, war-mongering speech."<2>

Twenty-nine months later, on 9 November 1989, after intense East German protest, East Germany finally opened the Berlin Wall. By the end of the year, official operations to dismantle the wall began. With the collapse of the Communist governments of Eastern Europe and, eventually, the Soviet Union itself, the tearing down of the wall epitomized the collapse for history. In September 1990, Reagan, no longer President, returned to Berlin, where he personally took a few symbolic hammer swings at a remnant of the Berlin Wall.<12>

[emulatorloo]

45. I think you are hoping for a George Bush moment.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. Yes BRILLANT just give him ANOTHER 12 MONTHS OF POWER

8 months until the election and then the lame duck session.

. THAT DOG WON'T HUNT.

[WilliamPitt]

7. Might be enough to get Mubarak to split

Possibly. The ground is falling away all around him.

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. That's enough time for him to dismantle the Pyramids

the royal museums and the national treasury.


LOL

[Junkdrawer]

15. 12 months to punish political enemies....

12 months to rig the election to favor his hand picked successor....

12 months to find an excuse to delay elections....

[defendandprotect]

17. Exactly ... and it looks like an Obama trial baloon to stonewall this uprising ...!!!

[tabatha]

28. I doubt it.

[HughBeaumont]

8. I believe the word you're looking for is "RESIGN".

Get the eff outta dodge with your hide and let these people go.

[monmouth]

9. Wasn't Mubarak's son going to run in his father's place?....n/t

[tabatha]

12. Won't happen.

[TBF]

14. That dude's already out of the country. Bit brighter than his father it appears ... nt

[defendandprotect]

18. Mubarak reported to speak again soon --

[TBF]

29. Maybe he'll fire his new government too ... I really don't care to hear anything

from him absent his travel plans out of the country. Let those people form the government they choose.

[defendandprotect]

33. Me, either! And protesters are preparing with tents and food to stay the night -- !!!

setting deadlines for Mubarak to depart on his own!

[TBF]

36. They have been so courageous - would love to see that kind of dedication

and solidarity here!

[defendandprotect]

39. Imagine ... !!!!

[Better Believe It]

16. Egyptians should reject President Obama's proposal to keep Mubarak in power until September

And they will.

How bold of President Obama!

Eight months would give Mubarak plenty of time to pick his successor and gradualy suppress the mass movement. A movement can't sustain a months long mobilization. Something has to give soon, either the resignation of Mubarak and his cabinet or a new progressive and secular transitional government that honors human and democratic rights.

[defendandprotect]

20. +1000% --

imo, interesting deception -- !!

But Pax American by MIC needs to ensure that the people don't win here --

hold on to Mubarak as strongly/steadily as possible ... and if you can't ... then

bargin WHEN he leaves ... and win as much time as possible to create favorable

conditions for hawks and weapons dealers in the future in Egypt -- still abusing

and suppressing the people.

[tabatha]

21. I am hoping that this will be a case of moving goal posts.

Every time Mubarak does something it is rejected, so he goes a step further to where he should actually be, but cannot bring himself to get there.

I am sure this will be rejected, and he will have to think of another step.

[Renew Deal]

27. Mubarak is the "elected" leader.

If people suspect a "successor" is tainted, they can vote for someone else.

[defendandprotect]

34. What? Like us, they are complaining of stolen elections --faked elections -- !!!

Do you think these people were voting for Mubark for 30 years?

:rofl:

[Better Believe It]

19. President Obama's emissary to Egypt, Frank Wisner, is a friend of the dictator Mubarak. Oh good!

"Mr. Wisner, who is now heading back to Washington, is among the country’s most experienced diplomats, and a friend of Mr. Mubarak."

[defendandprotect]

25. Egyptian protesters must defeat not only Mubarak but US/Israel pressures against them -- !!

US can't allow this to happen!

[tabatha]

26. It is easier for a friend to break bad news.

[blogslut]

22. Isn't he grooming his son, Gamal, to follow in his place?

?

[tabatha]

24. Will NEVER happen.

The son was the first to flee.

[Iggo]

43. He was, but that ship has sailed. (n/t)

[Renew Deal]

23. That's the best solution.

Have truly fair elections that Mubarak isn't a part of.

[Major Hogwash]

30. That's the same advice Obama gave to McCain.

Probably just used the same e-mail, but replaced all of the "McCain"s in the e-mail to "Mubarak".
Some word processors, like WordStar, are capable of that on a "global" basis, throughout the document with just a few keystrokes.

[JackRiddler]

31. Two weeks ago, that would have been something. Today, it is beneath contempt.

[defendandprotect]

35. Agree --

[tekisui]

37. So weak, too late and split the baby BS.

[JuniperLea]

38. OFFS

It's never enough. :eyes:

You were screaming for this, now it's not enough... what the fuck ever.

[JackRiddler]

40. I doubt I was "screaming" at all. I would have heard that.

Perhaps the screaming was in your head as you read something I wrote. But that would be your problem.

At no point did I or would I ever write that Obama should support another nine months in office for Hosni Mubarak. You must have me confused with someone else.

[JuniperLea]

41. Sure...

Not what I said. Whatever.

You moved the goal post.

[JackRiddler]

42. Um, hello?

If you can find a case in which I said Obama should tell Mubarak to remain in power until September 2011, please do link so that I might recall.

Otherwise, kindly refrain from putting words in my mouth. Thanks. Because what I said was, Obama should tell Mubarak it's time to go now, exactly as his people (and his army, for that matter) are saying.

At this point, Obama is actually trying to preserve Mubarak from what is becoming the likeliest outcome - exile now.

[L. Coyote]

32. TIME Magazine awards Barack Obama their much-coveted "D'oh Moment of the Year" award!

:rofl: