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Daybreak: Democracy in Half a Year

Plus Clinton mocks Iran, and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
February 15, 2011
Secretary of State Clinton yesterday.(Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Secretary of State Clinton yesterday.(Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

• Egypt’s governing Supreme Military Council laid out a 6-month timetable for a new constitution, a referendum on it, and, finally, elections. [NYT]

• Iran, Bahrain, and Yemen, inspired by Egypt’s example, experienced maybe their biggest anti-government protests yet (Iran’s biggest since 2009). [WP]

• “I find it very ironic that Iran is trying to give lessons in democracy to anybody,” said Secretary of State Clinton, referring to its government’s support for Egyptian protesters after it clamped down on its own street strife. Snap! [Laura Rozen]

• On the anniversary of father Rafik’s assassination, Saad Hariri, ousted from Lebanon’s prime ministership by Hezbollah, formally joined the opposition to the Hezbollah-backed government. [WSJ]

• An assistant to the judge who presided over (Jewish) Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s sentencing to eight years in prison on trumped-up, politically motivated charges went public with her allegation that the fix was in. [NYT]

• A Gallup poll shows Israel’s favorability rating in America remains consistently high, at 68 percent. [JTA]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.