The Post reports that Obama's address to the Muslim world will be made in Cairo, not Indonesia as was first expected. It's a shame the President didn't have the courage to make his speech from the capital of a free and democratic Iraq. Indonesia, too, is a vibrant democracy. But Cairo is the heart of the old Middle East. At least there is a statement here that Obama is siding with the bloc of Arab autocracy against Tehran. But there is little else to redeem this choice of location. It is not bold, it is not new, it will be of a piece with his apologies for America in Turkey and Europe and on Al Arabiya.
Per Ben Smith, the most interesting question posed by this choice is just how the President will balance the need to advance human rights and democracy in the Arab world against his own foreign policy goals -- whatever they may be. And given how that balance has been struck in China, democracy activists in Egypt shouldn't get their hopes up.
