| Amr Moussa or Mohammed Elbaradei... What a dilemma for the voters. |
Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa... who has been head of the Arab League since about the time Jerry and Dean split up ...
, an often-scathing critic of Israel through his decade heading the Arab bloc, enjoys wide popularity in Egypt and would be a leading candidate to replace Hosni Mubarak, ousted on February 11 after 30 years in power.
The state news agency MENA announced Moussa's decision via its text message service.
"I intend to run in the next presidential election, and an [official] announcement will be made at the right time," MENA quoted him as saying, adding that a new Egyptian figure would be picked "very soon" to head the 22-member pan-Arab organization.
If adopted in a national referendum, Egypt's proposed constitutional changes would open its presidential elections to competition and impose a two-term limit on presidents -- a dramatic shift from a system that allowed Mubarak to rule for decades.
| Come to think of it, President Mubarak was merely chased out of office by what was essentially a national sit-in (with violent aspects, yes, but even so). Both of his predecessors were murdered. So that is an improvement... |
"The Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession," he told a meeting of Arab leaders. "The political problems, the majority of which have not been fixed... have driven the Arab citizen to a state of unprecedented anger and frustration."
| All passive voice. Things happen to the Arab citizen, inshallah. |
... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
and international law, while praising Turkey for challenging Israel's blockade on the coastal territory.
He has often questioned Israel's commitment to the grinding of the peace processor.
"Israel has not accepted the two-state solution. Until now there is not one official statement that Israel accepts the two-state solution and accepts to have a viable Paleostinian state," he said in February 2009. "The Israelis do not want a Paleostinian state."
Moussa, 74, has also criticized the United States and its allies for what he views as double standards in singling out Iran's nuclear program while ignoring Israel's own reputed arsenal.
"Israeli policy disregards international opinion," he told French television in April. "They believe that they have that right according to their own logic, which no one else agrees with."