It looks like the U.S. embassy in Cairo saw the writing on the wall last week when American N.G.O. workers were stopped from leaving the country, and will now opened its doors for workers to hide out for fear of a government crackdown. Opening the doors to expatriates is an unusual move, The Washington Post points out, and it's an indication of just how bad U.S.-Egypt diplomatic relations have gotten. After the U.S. workers were stopped from leaving last week, U.S. lobbying firms that represented the Egyptian government ended their contracts with Cairo because of the growing diplomatic disconnect.  Embassy officials haven't pointed to any specific threat that led them to offer shelter to the U.S. workers, and they haven't said whether Sam LaHood, the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, was among those at the embassy compound. But LaHood is still in the country, saying he's being stopped from leaving because of his work with the International Republican Institute. "Nothing has budged in our legal case,” he told the Post. “Office still sealed, still on travel ban.”

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Adam Martin