<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/world/africa/20egypt.html> September 20, 2006 Mubarak's Son Proposes Nuclear Program By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and MONA EL-NAGGAR
CAIRO, Sept. 19 — Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egypt's president, proposed Tuesday that his country pursue nuclear energy, drawing strong applause from the nation's political elite, while raising expectations that Mr. Mubarak is being positioned to replace his father as president.
The carefully crafted political speech raised the prospect of two potentially embarrassing developments for the White House at a time when the region is awash in crisis: a nuclear program in Egypt, recipient of about $2 billion a year in military and development aid from the United States, and Mr. Mubarak succeeding his father, Hosni Mubarak, as president without substantial political challenge.
Simply raising the topic of Egypt's nuclear ambitions at a time of heightened tensions over Iran's nuclear activity was received as a calculated effort to raise the younger Mr. Mubarak's profile and to build public support through a show of defiance toward Washington, political analysts and foreign affairs experts said.
"The whole world — I don't want to say all, but many developing countries — have proposed and started to execute the issue of alternative energy," he said. "It is time for Egypt to put forth, and the party will put forth, this proposal for discussion about its future energy policies, the issue of alternative energy, including nuclear energy, as one of the alternatives."
He also said in a clear reference to the White House: "We do not accept visions from abroad that try to dissolve the Arab identity and the joint Arab efforts within the framework of the so-called Greater Middle East Initiative."
When President Bush called for promoting democracy in the Middle East, he looked to Egypt as a leader in that effort. But with all the chaos in the region, and with the United States in need of strong allies, the administration has backed off on pressing for democracy here.
Instead, it has witnessed the country reversing earlier gains, arresting political opposition figures, beating street demonstrators, locking up bloggers, blocking creation of new political parties and postponing local elections by two years.
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>