Blame "others." Obviously, these protests aren't your fault. "Your" people, of course, have enjoyed your wisdom and steady hand for decades, so they must now be infected by foreign agents. Emphasize that the vast majority of the population still supports you and that the protest movement is being financed and supported by foreign intelligence agencies, Western media, Israel, George Soros, 83-year old nonviolence guru Gene Sharp, or "the bearded ones" -- Islamic terrorists. Whenever possible, deflect criticism toward external forces.
The regime of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak made a last-ditch, concerted effort at playing the "foreigner blame game," as Human Rights Watch emergencies director Peter Bouckaert termed it. Bouckaert described how paramilitary forces were directed to attack "an alliance of Israeli Mossad spies, American agents, Iranian and Afghan intelligence, Hamas provocateurs, and other sinister elements." Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman also claimed that the protests in Tahrir Square were the work of a "conspiracy" of unnamed "foreign influences," while Mubarak announced his resignation by defiantly stating that he would never "listen to foreign dictations, whatever their sources, pretexts, or justifications were."
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