The New York Times > International > Middle East > Mubarak Pushes Egypt to Allow Freer Elections: "'This is a way to improve his image with the Americans and to please them with some formal changes,' said Ibrahim Eissa, a columnist and political analyst. 'While at the same time he is keeping everything else unchanged, like the emergency laws, imprisoning the opposition, the state controlling the media and political parties existing just on paper. This is deception.'
Essam el-Eryan, a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist group that is banned as a party, noted that the revised amendment might limit the choice of candidates by barring those not endorsed by a legal political party."
Mubarak makes an empty gesture. The LRWM* swoons over this evidence of democracy in the Middle East. Il Ducetto claims credit for this "democratic," gesture, pointing to Condi's pique. Little has changed.
*Lying Right Wing Media
