>>>>>>>If not he has certainly signaled his willingness to do so.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/world/middleeast/29diplo.html?hp
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>IMO this is the way an American President should act in a crisis. Egypt is an ally, or as close as we have to one in the Arab world, but Obama is saying there are some things we will not turn a blind eye to. Good for him. I know there are some who will never give him a break, but I don't think Teddy Roosevelt could have done this any better. And we don't even know what private talks went on before it reached this point.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Sure we do:
>>>>>>Message #1497755
>>>>>>
>>>>>>You are waaaayyyyyy behind. Get your head out of the NYTimes for a few minutes and you'd be amazed at what goes on in the world and right in your own backyard... :o)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The same thing is happening in other countries and has been all week (Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia where it all started, Albania, small restrictions and protests in Syria, etc although on a much smaller scale than Egypt). I'm waiting for Saudi Arabia to blow up..
>>>>>
>>>>>Egypt is the end of the line.
>>>>>
>>>>>There is no chance of this happening in Syria or Saudi. You are being amusing however.
>>>>
>>>>Syria took steps immediately: It limited media of Tunisia riots, blocked online chat access, and increased heating oil subsidies to pacify the populace.
>>>>
>>>>Saudi: You may be right there since the population benefits from the oil rich spoils.
>>>>
>>>>Jordan: Protesting has already occurred, and then there was a multi-million-pound food and fuel subsidy package followed by the King making more promises of reform. He even met with the Muslim Brotherhood but that group still called for additional demonstrations.
>>>>
>>>>Yemen: Thousands demonstrated last week but not much wide-spread media attention after Eqypt exploded.
>>>>
>>>>Algeria: Thousands protested there as well but we'll have to wait and see how that develops.
>>>>
>>>>Lebanon: Still in a state of flux.
>>>>
>>>>Albania: Thousands protested, but after the 3 deaths earlier in the week in protests, on Friday the demonstrations were mostly violence-free.
>>>>
>>>>I am surprised that you find all of this amusing. It may not amount to much change in the end, but it is certainly not amusing...
>>>
>>>Lets discuss this in say 4 weeks.
>>
>>
>>Two weeks to go :o) Already we've seen changes made towards at least a limited democracy or greater freedoms and rights and better economic conditions in the other countries trying to avoid the same situation as just occurred in Egypt...
>
>Really
>
>Saudi Arabia
>Syria
>Lebanon
>Jordan
>
>I would say any movements have more to do with preserving the status quo with some cosmetic changes to do so.
>
>Ans isn't limited democracy an oxymoron. You've either go it or you haven't.

My point was that the demonstrations were serious for Egypt especially and would have serious effects in Egypt and far reaching effects in the Arab world and you called it all amusing. It has only been 18 days and look at the change (hopefully it will evolve into real elections in September but only time will tell if the military will refuse to step down then) That's after 29 years. That doesn't mean that democracy will spread across the Arab world, but it does mean the the governments in other nations will make concessions to appease the public (some already have made concessions in order to appease the public somewhat and avoid major demonstrations) in order to avoid the same situation as just happened in Egypt. We haven't seen the end of the demonstrations in all repressed countries yet. Albania, Yemen, or Algeria might have the most upheaval internally if it builds after Egypt (down the road). Now we'll have to wait and see what if anything happens elsewhere as well as in Egypt. There were a few times over the past 18 days when things could have gone horribly wrong for the people of Egypt -- especially around the time they were hassling journalists....that worried me all along from the beginning....

I think we had a disconnect somewhere....

Wow, are there a lot of typos in there or what? :o) My screen keeps flashing back to the old version and only saves parts of my text. Either I have something wrong with firefox or my keyboard or mouse... it's very frustrating. Plus I just can't type. :o) Sorry about that :o)