Like I said...

Over at the WM debate, I said that Arab leaders were tough, nasty little weasels that had plenty of experience and the will to engineer their way to victory in elections. I also said that the Bush administration wasn't actually doing all that much on the democracy promotion front, and that Condi Rice dressing down the Egyptians over Ayman Nour was nice, but you couldn't keep dining out on the same story month in and month out. Ayman Nour in jail is so three months ago, and we haven't heard much from the US lately about the security forces cracking down on protestors, harrassment of Ayman Nour and the al-Ghad party, or other depradations. And now we see what Mubarak's NDP has in mind for the elections this fall, and, well....

Go read Brad Plumer, Josh Stacher, and Baheyya on exactly how Mubarak is gaming the system to empty those "multiparty Presidential elections" of all meaning.

Maybe Kefaya and the MB will turn this into an opportunity for greater mobilization and outrage, or not. Maybe the Bush administration will actually do something over Mubarak's amusing little spit in the administration's collective eye, or not. We'll see.

Comments

[praktike]

actually, he did mention Egypt yesterday:

Recent elections have brought a tremendous catalyst for change, and more are on the way. Elections are set to start at the end of this month in Lebanon, and those elections must go forward with no outside interference. The people of Lebanon now have the opportunity to bridge old divides and build an independent government. Egypt will hold a presidential election this fall. That election should proceed with international monitors, and with rules that allow for a real campaign.

As in other parts of the world, the work of democracy is larger than holding a fair election; it requires building the structures that sustain freedom. Selective liberalization -- the easing of oppressive laws - is progress, but it is not enough. Successful democracies that effectively protect individual rights require viable political parties, an independent judiciary, a diverse media, and limits on executive power. There is no modernization without democracy. Ultimately, human rights and human development depend on human liberty.

[the aardvark]

It's a start. But my sense is that Mubarak has been testing the administration the last few months to see how serious Bush was about the whole democracy thing. And this draft - along with the escalating clampdown - suggests that he's concluded that Bush is not terribly serious at all. We'll see if he's right.