The NYT spotlights the role of Egypt's young people in the wave of protests there following the success of Tunisia's revolution. Front and center is Muhammad al-Baradei, perhaps the most prominent leader of the democracy movement (and the former director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)), who applauds how young people have gotten out in front of the movement, and then expresses his surprise at Hillary Clinton's very tepid acknowledgement of their struggle:
He was stunned, he said, by the reaction of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Egyptian protests. In a statement after Tuesday’s clashes, she urged restraint but described the Egyptian government as “stable” and “looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.”
“ ‘Stability’ is a very pernicious word,” he said. “Stability at the expense of 30 years of martial law, rigged elections?” He added, “If they come later and say, as they did in Tunis, ‘We respect the will of the Tunisian people,’ it will be a little late in the day.” That "stability" word again. Keeps coming back to bite the US in the butt.
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