The United States began evacuating nonessential government personnel and their families Wednesday, while crowds piled up at Cairo's airport as more than 8,000 people played the odds in hopes of securing a seat aboard a commercial airline that would allow them to escape the chaos engulfing Egypt.
The rapid-fire events of the past two weeks, first in Tunisia, then in Egypt, next in — where? — give some indication of the need to stay in touch via technology.
President Obama on Tuesday praised embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's decision not to stand for re-election in September and urged the nation's military to "ensure that this time of change is peaceful."
About 500 people demonstrated in a central Moscow square on Monday to demand the ouster of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his "rule of thieves."
The U.S. national soccer team canceled its Feb. 9 exhibition against Egypt in Cairo because of the political turmoil there.
U.S. military and intelligence agencies would lose vital air, land and sea assets if Egypt falls into the hands of radical Islamists, as Iran did in 1979, foreign policy analysts say.
Whatever may happen in the hours after I write this column, two things are certain: The next chapter in the magnificent and ancient civilization of the Nile is yet to be known. The role that America plays in Egypt's great, unfolding story also remains in doubt.
Syrian President Bashar Assad is talking publicly about government reform as his countrymen prepare for anti-regime protests in the wake of popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
The State Department is set to evacuate U.S. citizens from Egypt on chartered planes, but it is relying largely on friends and families in the United States to relay that information to stranded Americans.
