MOHAMED ELBARADEI NAMED INTERIM PRIME MINISTER OF EGYPT TODAY -- OR NOT? *UPDATED*

EGYPT HAS A NEW 

*INTERIM* 

PRIME MINISTER 

MOHAMED ELBARADEI 

 (second from left, glasses) 

Smiling at the "Family Photograph" 

of the Expanded G8 

St. Petersburg, Russia, July 2006 

Others, from camera left, Hu Jintao (then president of China), 

Jacques Chirac (then president of France), and 

Paul Wolfowitz (then president of the World Bank) 

At the time of this G8 summit, ElBaradei was Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and 2005 co-winner, with the IAEA, of the Nobel Peace Prize. 

He was mentioned as a potential leader when Hosni Mubarek fell from power, but was passed over.  Now the interim president, Adly Mahmud Mansour, has named ElBaradei the interim prime minister.  Initial reporting and analysis can be found here and here.      

Update:  Someone's having second thoughts; see here. 

Update to the Update (July 9, 2013):  ElBaradei was appointed
"vice president in charge of foreign affairs." Question:  Is there to be another vice president, presumably in charge of domestic affairs, or will that be the job of the finally (?) appointed prime minister, Hazem el-Belawi?  Washington Post account here. 

Five weeks later: Blood on the streets, and ElBaradei resigns, today, August 14, 2013.  From the Reuters dispatch: 

Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who lent liberal political support to the ousting of Egypt's first freely elected president, resigned in dismay at the use force instead of a negotiated end to the six-week stand-off. 

"It has become difficult for me to continue bearing responsibility for decisions that I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear. I cannot bear the responsibility for one drop of blood," ElBaradei said. 

WEN JIABAO, WEBCASTS, WHISTLES, & WASHOUTS: JASMINE SUNDAY #2

JASMINE 

SUNDAY 

#2 

CHINESE PREMIER  

WEN JIABAO 

(Photographed at Harvard) 

(A Beijing photograph is here) 

On Sunday, February 27, 2011, Wen Jiabao, "Grandpa Wen," the smiling face of the leadership of the People's Republic of China, went on line in a big way. On the eve of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, Premier Wen took questions in a special webcast, and made news: Beijing would not push the economy quite so hard; he was mindful that rapid price rises hurt the people. 

Out on the street, the story was different. For the second Sunday in a row any whiff of jasmine was smothered; any possible protest was washed out -- literally, this time, by street cleaning machines and a water truck -- and whistled away -- by incessant police whistles. 

And journalists -- apparently especially photojournalists and videojournalists -- were harassed and detained and even physically assaulted. 

So there was no protest to speak of or to see -- China was not Tunisia or Egypt -- and the regime seems either prudent or paranoid -- someone in authority still thinking A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire? 

EGYPT, OBAMA, & THE TEAM OF RIVALS REVISITED

EGYPT

OBAMA

&

THE TEAM OF RIVALS

REVISITED

BARACK OBAMA & HILLARY CLINTON

TRY TO CHART A COURSE TOGETHER

(TOGETHER, EXCEPT THAT

HE IS NOW THE BOSS, OF COURSE)

What do you get when you (Barack Obama) put on your team both the adviser (Samantha Power) who called your presidential rival (Hillary Clinton) a "monster," and the "monster"? You get a juicy article in the New York Times detailing the divisions in the foreign policy/national security team that has to help you come up with a policy for dealing with greased lightning: the revolution in Egypt.

And what does that say about you?

WISH I WERE ... PARAGLIDING

WISH I WERE ...

OUT GLIDING

PARAGLIDING OVER LIMA, PERU

As for the News of the Day: To get a real feeling for how long HOSNI MUBARAK has been president of Egypt, have a look at this posting.

A SUNNY DAY AT REAGAN'S WHITE HOUSE

A SUNNY DAY AT

RONALD REAGAN'S WHITE HOUSE

AMERICAN PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

HOSTS EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK

AT THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, JANUARY 27, 1983

This week President Reagan's unabridged diaries go on sale. They reportedly offer an "unvarnished look at people ranging from Pope John Paul to Mother Teresa to Mikhail Gorbachev." It should be interesting to look up the date of this meeting (above), and see what kind of comments Reagan offers (there is an official transcript of the report on their meeting and brief Rose Garden Q&A session).

Ronald Reagan left office in January 1989, and died in June 2004. Hosni Mubarak is still president of Egypt.

Update, June 2, 2012: HOSNI MUBARAK is "sentenced to life for complicity in killing of protestors."