marc lynch has some middle east policy advice to the incoming obama administration:

I would argue for a more realistic approach than could be found in the Bush administration’s evangelism, of bold words with little follow-through,  but one which makes serious demands on our friends, allies, and aid recipients.  The focus should be not primarily on elections but on ‘Bill of Rights freedoms’:  our friends must respect freedom of speech, of assembly, of the press;  free and fair elections; judicial independence and the rule of law; human rights. Hosni Mubarak will never allow himself to be voted out of office.  But  we can and must demand that our friends live up to minimal standards and norms. This, I believe, is in their interests as well as ours, and we do the Egyptian government no favors by turning a blind eye to their own self-destructive policies.

this makes a lot of sense to me and provides a more realistic roadmap to the eventual democratization in the region.

marc also turned me on to a ridiculous interview with osama saraya, the editor of al ahram newspaper where we are told to be thankful to mubarak for our freedom of press and for protecting us from the moslem brotherhood.

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