Ten days ago, the world respected and some even loved him. However with the recent riots in his homeland of Egypt, the world has turned against him. The man who Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, once considered a "friend of the Clinton family" and former President Ronald Reagan saw him as a close friend and partner in peace-- is now left standing alone, with no one to back him up.
After 30 years of ruling, he is being demand by his own people to leave, not just leave office--but leave their country. However,before the commotion in the last week, Mubarak was actually loved, by Presidents,Prime Ministers, even the Royal family. Although most of these political figures knew of his under hand ways, they all turned the other way to secure this middle eastern country an "ally".
Jimmy Carter told a reporter on Jan. 30 that he felt he knew "Mubarak quite well," the former U.S. president also said that the Egyptian president had become "more politically corrupt" than he was during their Camp David days.
Mubarak visited U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1985 in an attempt to rebuild the relationship. After the meeting, Reagan declared that he and Mubarak were "close friends and partners in peace."
Egypt was a key player in the 1991 Gulf War: President George H.W. Bush had hoped that President Hosni Mubarak could help broker a solution to the border dispute between Iraq and Kuwait. When Iraq invaded, Mubarak assisted in the creation of the international military coalition that ultimately liberated Kuwait, contributing 35,000 Egyptian soldiers, the third-largest force in the coalition after the United States and Britain.
U.S. President Bill Clinton dubbed Mubarak a "longtime partner in building a safer and more peaceful world," highlighting the Egyptian president's role in the Middle East peace process.
When a reporter described Mubarak as "authoritarian" in a 2009 interview with Obama, the U.S. president objected: "He has been a stalwart ally in many respects, to the United States. ... I think he has been a force for stability."
Under Mubarak, Egypt assumed a leading role in helping negotiate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and cooperated in fighting smuggling into Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Mubarak successfully forged friendly ties with Libya's leader. Qaddafi and Mubarak have been especially close allies in the Arab League.
Saudi King Abdullah has been the most vocal among Arab leaders in supporting Mubarak through the past week's turmoil in Egypt.
Mubarak and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi look like they could be cousins, two leaders' countries have long enjoyed close relations -- Italy is one of Egypt's largest foreign investors.
Mubarak has been friendly with France's last several presidents, and Nicolas Sarkozy is no exception.
The friendly relationship with Dmitry Medvedev, who Mubarak once said he found difficult to distinguish from Putin (whom he also had a close relationship with.)
Egypt is Germany's third-largest trading partner in the Arab world, and Mubarak has chosen to show his appreciation by making Germany his favorite medical tourism destination.
Egypt is a popular tourist destination for British citizens--the two countries also work together in military training exercises and maintaining the security of the Suez Canal.
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1 comments:
I think the President is right to write his memoirs as he has now stated he intends to do. As can be seen above he has met so many world leaders during his time as President. I think he has suffered enough now and should be allowed to go free and live in peace somewhere. He has lost his job, health, family life and good reputation and it is just revenge that has led to his being on trial. Dwelling in the past and persecuting Mr Mubarak will not bring about the great, modern, democratic Egypt that the uprising was supposed to bring into being.
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