CBC: World must back Syrian rebels, Egypt's president says

[pampango]

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, left, shakes hands with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
at the opening session of the Nonaligned Movement summit, in Tehran, Iran, on Thursday.

In a clear rebuke to Syria's key ally Iran, Egypt's new president said Thursday that Bashar Assad's "oppressive" regime has lost its legitimacy and told an international conference in Tehran that the world must stand behind the Syrian rebels.

The rallying call by Mohammed Morsi — making the first visit to Iran by an Egyptian leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution — showed the huge divide between Iran's stalwart support of Assad and the growing network of regional powers pushing for his downfall. It also drove home the difficulties for Iran as host of a gathering of the 120-nation Nonaligned Movement, a Cold War-era group that Tehran seeks to transform into a powerful bloc to challenge Western influence.

Iran's leaders say the weeklong meeting, which wraps up Friday, displays the inability of the West's attempt to isolate the country over its nuclear program. But Iran has been forced to endure stinging criticism from its most high-level participant as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cited concerns about Iran's human rights record and said Iran's condemnations of Israel were unacceptable.

Morsi's address to the gathering further pushed Iran into a corner. In effect, he demanded Iran join the growing anti-Assad consensus or risk being further estranged from Egypt and other regional heavyweights such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/08/30/egypt-syria-nonaligned-summit.html

Seems that Iran deserves some credit for inviting disparate players to its Nonaligned Movement summit. All sides of the Syria debacle were aired.

[Scootaloo]

1. Aaaaaand that's Assad's cue to shuffle off the stage

Better make it fast before C.P. Lacey does it for him.

[Bonobo]

2. Pressure good. Weapons bad.

Distributing weapons to people just because they oppose someone you oppose is not a great idea and it is one that has bitten many people, including us, in the ass before.

Those of us that oppose all wars don't simply do it because we are peace-loving, flower distributors. It is also pragmatism.

[denverbill]

3. Wow. That's interesting.

It would be one thing if it was a US 'puppet' like Mubarek saying that or some Saudi prince. The have the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt saying it to Iran has to be a wake up call for Iran.