Americans in Egypt

As Egypt unfolds, and I presume everyone is watching the civilian protests in some way (I recommend Al Jazeera over the web, but Twitter is great too). It is worth remembering there are some 90,000 Americans in Egypt. Nothing has been decided, but preparations are being made just in case.

The U.S. Marines have a pair of warships -- the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce -- just hanging around the southern end of the Red Sea waiting to see if they're needed to rescue U.S. diplomats and citizens from Cairo. They're half of the Marines' 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a mini-armada that recently dispatched 1,400 of its 2,000 Marines into Afghanistan. But they've got a "fair number" of helicopters, and Marines, still aboard.

Something to keep an eye on.

There have been some folks who have commented on the Suez Canal uncertainty. I'm not sure it is as big of a concern in the long run as people have made it out to be, although disruption is certainly possible. Ultimately, the Suez Canal is an important economic enabler for Egypt - and it doesn't make much sense that the Egyptian people would protest over the poor economic situation only to see the government turn off the economy of the Suez Canal. That's like suggesting that someone who laments being poor will burn a wallet full of money. Not likely.

As the actions unfold in Egypt it does not appear that an evacuation of US citizens will be necessary, but that won't stop the planning process just in case.