Without Mubarak, U.S. power in Mideast will diminish

Revolution is romantic, but let's not forget about the day after.

By Zvi Bar'el

Alas, the stampede has begun. The planes of U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon land in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where they will pull improvised banners out of their backpacks and shake their fists in the air - shouting alongside the demonstrators: "The world wants Mubarak gone."
For a moment, though, let's put the hypocrisy aside. After all, these are not the righteous gentiles, but the world leaders who have said nothing about the Saudi king, the sultan of Oman, Libya's Muammar Gadhafi or the Algerian regime, and who a moment ago considered Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a pro-Western island of sanity and as providing a major obstacle against Iran's spreading influence.