Rice's Visit

My friend Greg says I should blog about this. Because it's his birthday, I will. Basically, due to what I'm sure was an oversight, I wasn't invited. It did, however, mess up downtown traffic, which I didn't realize was possible given its normal chaos and confusion. It sounds like she took a forceful line, and I find it more significant here in Cairo than back in Washington. However, Rice has always seemed to be one of the more outspoken members of the administration on issues of democracy, and it remains to be seen whether Bush will apply any pressure to Mubarak to achieve all this openness. Given our other goals in the region, goals for which Egyptian cooperation would be highly useful, I'm not betting on it.