Egypt's Potemkin Election

Freedom isn't on the march in Cairo; at best, it's a slow crawl. But compared with the chaos in Iraq, maybe that doesn't look so bad to the Bush team. Or maybe there just isn't the stomach to insist on more.

- Jackson Diehl in WP.

Another excellent column in today's WP is quoting Dr. Rice's speech in Cairo in June:

"The day must come when the rule of law replaces emergency decrees -- and when the independent judiciary replaces arbitrary justice."

Perhaps Rice did not mean that the day must come in time for the approaching Egyptian elections.

- Robert Kagan, WP