Photo Gallery Mubarak in Power
Since former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February, his smooth relationship with the West has become awkward for some politicians.
On a tour of the European capitals in 1979, then-German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt welcomed Mubarak in Bonn. The mood was evidently good. At the time, Mubarak was vice-president of Egypt. He took power in 1981.
Mubarak was also on reasonable terms with Schmidt's successor, Helmut Kohl. The men are shown holding bilateral talks in Paris during a celebration of the French Revolution's bicentennial, in 1989.
In 2004, Mubarak met with then-German President Johannes Rau in Hannover.
He was also warmly greeted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, in September 2010.
In 1985, Mubarak met Margaret Thatcher, then the British Prime Minister, who invited him to 10 Downing Street.
In 2002, then-French President Jacques Chirac met Mubarak in Paris. France is now debating how to deal with North African autocrats.
France's relationship to deposed Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (left) has also been called into question. In mid-January, Ben Ali fled Tunisia amid protests. Only a few years ago neither Mubarak nor Ben Ali had to worry about their hold on power.
Mubarak also had ties to Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. The two held hands at a meeting of the Arab League in Algiers in 2005.
Mubarak was a welcome guest among other African despots. Here he talks with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who has held power in his own country for 31 years.
After breaking with the Soviet Union in the 1970s, Egypt became America's most important link to the Arab world. Mubarak met with then-US President Jimmy Carter in the White House Rose Garden in 1979.
Carter's successor Ronald Reagan invited Mubarak to the White House in 1984, along with Jordan's King Hussein (left).
Over the past 30 years the US has provided Egypt with nearly 70 billion dollars in support. Here, Mubarak and former US President George Bush return from a baseball game in 1989.
Bush's son, George W. Bush also maintained friendly ties with Mubarak, who visited Bush on his ranch in Texas in 2004.
Bush's successor Barack Obama invited Mubarak to the White House in 2009. The White House was criticized for reacting slowly to the Egyptian uprising in January and February of 2011.
Egypt has maintained peace with Israel ever since the two nations signed a historic accord in America in 1979. But his ties with Israel also aroused mistrust in Egypt. He's pictured here in Cairo with Israel's then-Prime Minister Yithak Rabin, along with PLO leader Yasser Arafat, in 1993.
