'We are all Egyptians'

More fine work from Nicholas Kristof, who is risking his life to report what may become the story of the decade.

His latest dispatch, for the New York Times, can be found here.

Ronald Reagan, who would have turned 100 this Sunday, would have loved this democratic display in Cairo. He taught us to always strive to be the Shining City on the Hill, promoting democracy throughout the world, forever looking forward to a better tomorrow.



Iran-Contra notwithstanding, I believe that Mr. Reagan believed in the cause of freedom more strongly than anything else save the inherent goodness of ordinary Americans. Don't forget that the Gipper was once an FDR Democrat. Although he became disillusioned with the Democratic Party, he never lost his idealism.

Another popular president, John F. Kennedy, stood in the shadow of the Berlin Wall during his final summer and declared, "Ich bin ein Berliner," -- "I, too, am a Berliner."



We wait for the smoke to clear in Cairo, yes. Free and legitimate elections must be allowed to happen or else this becomes one big mess.

But reading the accounts of those on the scene, observing Hosni Mubarak's heavy-handed response to the anti-government protesters during the past couple of days, learning, if you bother to do so, that the Muslim Brotherhood appears at best to be a bumbling fringe element in Egypt, it's difficult not to yell "Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen!" at the top of one's lungs.