Obama Consults with Bibi, other leaders

The White House just put out this release:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                                                                                                    January 30, 2011

Readout of the President’s Calls to Discuss Egypt

The President has made a number of calls to foreign leaders to discuss the ongoing situation in Egypt. On Saturday, January 29th, the President spoke to Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Today, he spoke to Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom. During his calls, the President reiterated his focus on opposing violence and calling for restraint; supporting universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly, association, and speech; and supporting an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people. The President asked each of the leaders that he spoke to for their assessment of the situation, and agreed to stay in close contact going forward.

Ali Gharib

Ali Gharib is a New York-based journalist on U.S. foreign policy with a focus on the Middle East and Central Asia. His work has appeared at Inter Press Service, where he was the Deputy Washington Bureau Chief; the Buffalo Beast; Huffington Post; Mondoweiss; Right Web; and Alternet. He holds a Master's degree in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. A proud Iranian-American and fluent Farsi speaker, Ali was born in California and raised in D.C.

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3 Comments

  1. “When President Mubarak addressed the Egyptian people tonight, he pledged a better democracy and greater economic opportunity.” – Obama

    He realized pretty soon that the better democracy bit wasn’t the best option.

    It’s interesting that he called Bibi and Saudi for advice on an orderly transition, after one of them said the Arabs were not ready for democracy while the other said the uprising was the handiwork of ‘infiltrators’

  2. RE:”The President has made a number of calls to foreign leaders to discuss the ongoing situation in Egypt.” – The White House

    FROM War in Context, 01/30/11:…Helena Cobban notes that while Obama monitors the situation in Egypt, he does so surrounded by a group of advisers none of whom know much about the region.

    Via TPM’s intriguing new “Egypt wire”, this:
    “President Obama was reportedly briefed for 40 minutes on the situation in Egypt today. Here, a photo of his meeting with National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes; Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and Robert Cardillo, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration.”

    What is notable is the absence of anyone in the group who has any serious knowledge about either Egypt or the broader region.
    So thorough-going has been the witch-hunt that AIPAC and its attack dogs have conducted over the past 25 years against anyone with real Middle East expertise that the U.S. government now contains no-one at the higher (or even mid-career) levels of policymaking who has any in-depth understanding of the region or of the aspirations of its people.

    ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://warincontext.org/2011/01/28/egyptians-rising-up-to-bring-down-the-mubarak-regime-live-updates/

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