EGYPT ON THE BRINK – AT 8:08 A.M. ET:  Egypt is the heart of the Arab world, and a key ally (so to speak) of the United States in the Mideast.  But the authoritarian government of Egypt is being threatened by the same kind of unrest that recently toppled the government of Tunisia. 

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian activists protested for a third day as social networking sites called for a mass rally in the capital Cairo after Friday prayers, keeping up the momentum of the country's largest anti-government protests in years.

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized opposition group, has thrown its support behind the demonstrations and if its significant support base joins Friday demonstrations, it will be a big boost to the grassroots movement calling for the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

The protesters could also be energized by the imminent return of Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate and the country's top pro-democracy advocate. ElBaradei is expected to return Thursday night.

The 82-year-old Mubarak, who has led Egypt for nearly 30 years, has not been seen in public or heard from since the protests began Tuesday with tens of thousands marching in Cairo and a string of other cities. The protesters have vented rage over the government's neglect of poverty, unemployment and rising prices.

The demonstrations pose the most serious challenge to date to Mubarak's authoritarian rule and culminate a steady rise in discontent that had already raised serious questions about how long he can keep his grip on power.

COMMENT:  The United States has issued a lukewarm, pro forma declaration in general support of "rights," but the spread of democracy has never been a priority of this administration.  Lebanon has now slipped under almost complete Hezbollah control, which means Iranian control, and there is rioting in Yemen, a terrorist hotbed.

We seem to have been caught off guard...again.  And of course the old Arabists who hang around Washington and the Middle East "studies" departments of our universities don't have much to say at all. 

We project weakness under Obama, and no one in the Mideast seems to listen to us, or to care at all what we say.

January 27, 2011