You know it don't come easy

The Egyptians have indefinitely postponed a conference on democracy in the MidEast. It seems some Arab leaders took exception to the US criticism of Egypt for jailing Ayman Nour, an Egyptian opposition leader.

Egypt said Saturday it was putting off a U.S-backed conference originally scheduled next month to discuss plans for political reforms in the Middle East, apparently over a dispute over the detention of a prominent opposition leader.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abould Gheit said the conference scheduled for March 3 will be postponed indefinitely. "The conference is postponed and a new date will be set after consultations with the countries invited," Aboul Gheit said in a statement.

Arab leaders are still resisting the push for freedom. I think you can blame Europe for the slow progress. If Europe had supported the war in Iraq, and if Europe would support Bush's call for democracy, change would come much more quickly.

The timidity of Europeans encourages the Arab leaders to implement small reforms while delaying any substantive changes to their governments. One would have thought that Europe, of all places in the world, would have learned the lessons of WWII but apparently they haven't.