Watch Egypt, don't forget Tunisia and keep an eye on Islaimists

This is an important point in this article :'By contrast, the Obama administration has no idea what is happening or what it is doing, and Hillary Clinton is actually overrated as a secretary of state.

This means that American influence -- potentially decisive until quite recently -- can now be fully discounted.'
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(I've always felt that Hilary took the job as it has real power, whereas the VP position is only fit for a figurehead. She figured it would be a launch pad for 2012. I don't think that's going to work out.)

Of course depends on how the military decides to act. They are trained largely by America and may not turn on the citizenry. (The police and secret service is very different and could open fire on a demonstration.)At the same time they may decide Mubarak's time is up. Then what?
Either way Obama is going to lose the influence America has held for 30 years and will have to pick a new path. What is to become of future US aid to the tune of $2B/yr?

Can the US provide aid when the new political influence is possibly ElBaradi in a pact with the MB?

As 'they' say; stay tuned for further developments.

Watching Egypt

The key fact, in Egypt (paralleled in Yemen and elsewhere), is that the Muslim Brotherhood has not declared itself. The Islamists could put vastly more people on the street. They could subvert the loyalties of policemen and soldiers, who already resent the moneyed middle class. They could generate just enough heat to make large districts of Cairo and Alexandria, now simmering, boil over.

HT

But remember what is happening in Tunisia

and this from Human Events:

The Mideast presents a chaotic quagmire of unforgiving choices for Obama.  The turmoil in Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, and Tunisia is piled atop wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the civil war with Islamists in Pakistan.  Add to these woes the concerns over Islamist Iran’s emerging atomic threat, the re-emergent neo-Ottoman Turkey, the mischievous Syria, the ever-present Israeli-Palestinian standoff, and the global Islamic terror campaign. 

This collection of Mideast challenges threatens our national security interests and totally befuddles President Obama.  That shouldn’t surprise anyone after Obama began his administration by naively promising to talk Tehran out of its nukes and to resolve the age-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  

Now he must face reality and pragmatically protect our key security interests.