WE NEED U.S. POLICY THAT SIDES WITH DEMOCRATIC PROTESTERS IN EGYPT

As the NYT article by Helene Cooper and David E. Sanger describes, the ruling party of Egypt headed by Dictator Mubarak refuses to give up power, refuses to end the "state of emergency" that denies freedom of speech, freedom of dissent and other basic civil rights, refuses to hold free and fair elections. Why can't Obama unequivocally side with the pro-democracy demonstrators?

SILENCE OF ARAB LEADERS ON ISRAEL'S ILLEGAL ATTACK IN GAZA

I criticized Tony Blair yesterday for his silence on Israel's barbaric and cruel military action against the Palestinians in Gaza. Surely Israel will need to answer for its actions which in all likelihood constitute war crimes. And Blair, who happens to be the Middle East Envoy for the Quartet (Russia, the EU, the UN and the US) has enabled Israel's illegal actions by his silence and complicity. Blair thus shows himself to be as ineffectual on diplomacy in Middle East as he was in stopping George Bush in Iraq.

But if Blair is himself complicit in Israel's unlawful killings in Gaza, others too need to be confronted. Where is King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia? How come he has remained silent? Where are his condemnations of Israel for the terrible suffering it has inflicted on Palestinian civilians?

And how about Mubarak, that dictator in Egypt. A few days before Israel began its campaign, Tzipi Livni met with Mubarak in Egypt to discuss Israel's plans. Mubarak, like Tony Blair, has much to answer for.

ANOTHER DOSE OF HYPOCRISY FROM BUSH IN MIDDLE EAST

I don't understand how come Bush said nothing yesterday to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak about Mubarak's trashing of democracy in Egypt where dissidents are thrown in jail and members of the political opposition are deemed "terrorists." Yet a few days before, Bush made that pompous speech in Abu Dhabi where he said that freedom and democracy were God's gift to mankind.

At the same time Bush rants against Iranian president Ahmadinejad and threats the Iranian nation with annihilation for sending five small speedboats out to investigate warships of the U.S. fleet in the Straits of Hormuz. Yet he is strangely reticent with the president of the Egyptian dictatorship. Remember Egypt is one of those nations where Bush illegally sent American prisoners to be "interrogated." He once boasted about this, saying, in effect, that they disappeared thereafter, and he was not unhappy about that.

Bush wants democracy where the outcome of the vote agrees with his pre-formed opinions. But he rejects democracy where the outcome does not suit him. Witness his rejection of the democratically Hamas government in Gaza. Bush calls Hamas a "terrorist organization." Another example - Bush's contempt for Hugo Chavez, democratically elected as president of Venezuela with more than 70% of the vote. Where the outcome does not suit Bush, he claims that either the election was rigged or that the elected government oppresses its people.