Monday punditry. See Egypt mothership for more up-to-date details.
Department of State:
The U.S. Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens avoid travel to Egypt due to ongoing political and social unrest. On January 30, the Department of State authorized the voluntary departure of dependents and non-emergency employees. Violent demonstrations have occurred in several areas of Cairo, Alexandria and other parts of the country, disrupting road travel between city centers and airports. Disruptions in communications, including internet service, may occur. The Government of Egypt has imposed a curfew from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez until further notice, and U.S. citizens should obey curfew orders and remain indoors during curfew hours. U.S. citizens currently in Egypt should consider leaving as soon as they can safely do so. Cairo airport is open and operating, but flights may be disrupted and transport to the airport may be disrupted due to the protests. Travelers should remain in contact with their airlines or tour operators concerning flight schedules, and arrange to arrive at the airport well before curfew hours.
NY Times:
Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood and the secular opposition banded together Sunday around a prominent government critic to negotiate for forces seeking the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, as the army struggled to hold a capital seized by fears of chaos and buoyed by euphoria that three decades of Mr. Mubarak’s rule may be coming to an end.
Al Jazeera:
Egyptian protesters have called for a massive demonstration on Tuesday in a bid to force out president Hosni Mubarak from power.
The so-called April 6 Movement said it plans to have more than a million people on the streets of the capital Cairo, as anti-government sentiment reaches a fever pitch.
WSJ:
The State Department put into place an evacuation plan that includes emergency flights out of Egypt for U.S. citizens, while warning Americans there to remain in their residences or hotels.
The country's intensifying political unrest has prompted governments to step up travel warnings, including urging their citizens to leave, while airlines and tourism companies are canceling trips.
"U.S. citizens currently in Egypt should consider leaving as soon as they can safely do so," the U.S. State Department said Sunday in a travel warning.
Getting an estimated 50,000 people out (including students spending a year abroad) won't be easy.
Anne Applebaum:
Mubarak didn't provide stability -- he provided repression.
Ross Douthat:
As the world ponders the fate of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak, Americans should ponder this: It’s quite possible that if Mubarak had not ruled Egypt as a dictator for the last 30 years, the World Trade Center would still be standing.
NY Times on Tea Party challenges to establishment Republicans like Dick Lugar:
In Maine, there is already one candidate running on a Tea Party platform against Senator Olympia J. Snowe. Supporters there are seeking others to run, declaring that they, too, will back the person they view as the strongest candidate to avoid splitting their vote. In Utah, the same people who ousted Senator Robert F. Bennett at the state’s Republican convention last spring are now looking at a challenge to Senator Orrin G. Hatch.
The early moves suggest that the pattern of the last elections, in which primaries were more fiercely contested than the general election in several states, may be repeated.
NY Times on Republican schizophrenia (really, it's just GOP heads exploding when dealing with reality):
One House Republican wants to create the state health insurance exchange required by the federal health care overhaul law for fear that the federal government will do it for Texas otherwise. Another has filed a bill that would make his colleague’s efforts — really, those of anyone trying to carry out “Obamacare” in Texas — illegal.
Meanwhile, early versions of the Republican-written state budget include cost-saving pilot programs like changes in medical payments, with little mention that they are key components of the much-maligned federal law.
It is an uncomfortable balancing act: Texas Republican lawmakers hate few things more than the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the overhaul that became law in March. But even as the state pursues a suit attacking the law’s constitutionality, and Gov. Rick Perry and other top Republican politicians assault it with the relentless enthusiasm of 9-year-olds hitting a birthday piñata, some state officials are reluctantly laying the groundwork to carry out parts of the law.
Paul Krugman:
Last Saturday, reported The Financial Times, some of the world’s most powerful financial executives were going to hold a private meeting with finance ministers in Davos, the site of the World Economic Forum. The principal demand of the executives, the newspaper suggested, would be that governments “stop banker-bashing.” Apparently bailing bankers out after they precipitated the worst slump since the Great Depression isn’t enough — politicians have to stop hurting their feelings, too.