Should we be reading anything into this?

It's been reported today that Mubarak has canceled his trip to Washington to grieve for his recently-deceased grandson. Of course, he's going to be hosting President Obama in a couple of weeks, so this meeting was probably not essential, but given the long line of leaders from the Middle East passing through the Oval Office in recent weeks, it's surprising that Mubarak would pass on the opportunity. He's also really old - 81 - so it could be that he's just not up for the travel.

Foreign Policy has an article this month claiming that Obama's approach to the Mubarak visit would give an indication of his approach to human rights, always a contentious issue with the previous administration. Guess we'll have to wait and see now.

A snippet:

For all his soaring rhetoric, Obama is a realist. He is suspicious of grand schemes to remake the world or of policies driven by moral mission; he will need to be convinced that pressing stubborn allies to respect human rights will advance U.S. interests -- that it is the smart thing to do, not just something that makes Americans feel good. Fortunately, the sober case for promoting human rights is easy to make. Realism argues for reclaiming this tradition, not rejecting it.

Admittedly, in the Middle East, the United States did derive some strategic benefit from its years of uncritical partnership with autocratic regimes, including access to oil and cooperation against Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. But a realist would also have to acknowledge that it suffered strategic costs, as al Qaeda and other violent groups exploited America's closeness to dictators to build support for their cause, and authoritarian governments stifled moderate opposition movements that could have competed with extremists. In fact, leaders like Mubarak actually gave more space to Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood than to more secular-minded democratic activists, to create the illusion that that the only alternative to their rule was an Islamist takeover. When it bought that lie, the United States reaped not just popular resentment but a rising security threat.

Go read the rest.