SANDMONKEY LAUGHS AT MUBARAK: One of my favorite English-language Arab blogs is Rantings of a Sandmonkey, worth going there for the name alone. The Sandmonkey is a young Egyptian living in Cairo, profanely political in his diatribes. Today's post reveals, with typical exuberance, a new hint that democracy may be about to break out all over the land of Egypt: for the first time in his life, President Hosni Mubarak is campaigning.
Yesterday my dad informed me of something that we both found very amusing: One of his friends, who happens to be one of the leaders of the Egyptian socialist Tagamo' party, received a surprise phone call from President Hosny Mubarak the other day. On the phone the president was extremely nice, informing the man how in case he decides to run again he would like to depend on their party's support, and how for it he promises to be willing to discuss things and meet their demands and how all of us Egyptians should stand with each other against "foreign intervention". The man told my dad that he started calling other political leaders to find out if this was an isolated incident and he came to find out that most of them did get a similar phone call as well. It seems that, for the first time ever, Hosny Mubarak is actually campaigning for the support of the opposition parties. [...]
I am loving it, because for 24 years this man with his god-like executive powers has done nothing but make the life of every and any egyptian opposition very very difficult. And now he is shmoozing for their support. I can't imagine how it's like for him to lose the backing of the USA so publicly to the extent that he needs, for the first time ever, to kiss ass with those he previously deemed too insignificant to even talk to. Must really really really suck!
10:44:14 PM 
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