World View: Egypt's Morsi Shocks Iran with Statement Condemning Syria's Assad

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Australia dealt a ‘physical blow’ by ‘shocking’ deaths in Afghanistan
• Egypt’s President Morsi shocks Iran with statement condemning Syria’s Assad
• Ban Ki-moon denounces Iran over calls to destroy Israel
• Iran’s Supreme Leader slams the United Nations Security Council
• China scholars condemn inclusion of 239 English words in official Chinese dictionary

Australia dealt a ‘physical blow’ by ‘shocking’ deaths in Afghanistan

Three Australian soldiers were killed and two injured in Afghanistanon Wednesday in two separate incidents, one a helicopter crash, andthe other in a firefight. These casualties followed reports of auniform fired on three Nato soldiers and killed them. Morale hastaken a hit over this, according to the Chief of Defence Forces,adding, “This is a terrible day for all of us.” 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said: “I believe this is the most losses in combat since thedays of the Vietnam War and the battle of Long Tan. This is news so truly shocking that it’s going to feel for manyAustralians like a physical blow.”

She added that this is the worst bloodshed for Australians in combatin decades. Sydney Morning Herald

Egypt’s President Morsi shocks Iran with statement condemning Syria’s Assad

Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi created some controversy last week whenhe accepted an invitation from Iran to come and speak at theNon-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, being held in Tehran. Morsi’svisit to Tehran is being called “historic,” since it’s the firstsuch visit by an Egyptian leader since Iran’s 1979 Great IslamicRevolution. 

Iran had hoped to gain sympathy from unaligned nations for the Westernsanctions, and had hoped to get endorsement of its policy in Syria.Outside the meeting hall, they placed three damaged cars — the carsthat Iranian nuclear scientists were riding in when they were killedin bombings.

However, Iran received no support from Morsi, who gave a speechruthlessly condemning the regime of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad,and calling for his ouster:

We express our solidarity with the struggle of theSyrian people against an oppressive regime that has lostlegitimacy. It is not only an ethical duty but a political andstrategic necessity.”

The blood of the Syrian people is on our necks, and it will notstop unless there is an intervention by all of us.

In a comparison that was sure to infuriate both Iran and Syria, Morsicompared the plight of Syrians to that of the Palestinians, sayingthat both groups are “actively seeking freedom, dignity and humanjustice.”

The furious Syrian delegation walked out of the conference hall inprotest, calling Morsi’s remarks “an interference in Syria’s internalaffairs.” The Syrians criticized Morsi for not following the unalignedprotocol, and for siding with the West.

According to one analyst that I heard on Al-Jazeera, the translator onIran’s state television stopped translating Morsi’s speech into theIranian language (Farsi/Persian) when Morsi started talking aboutSyria, but instead inserted something about Bahrain that Morsi neversaid.

The Non-Aligned Movement was formed decades ago of nations that weresupposedly not aligned with either the United States or the SovietUnion. Today, with the Soviet Union gone, the “non-aligned” conceptreally doesn’t have much meaning, and a number of the “non-aligned”nations are aligned with the West, at least some of the time.

What we saw in Iran on Thursday is something I’ve been describingfor years as an absolutely craziness among Iran’s hardline leaders.They actually hope and believe that they’re going to become theleaders of the Islamic world in the same way that the Ottomans(Turkey) lead the Islamic world prior to World War I. The purposeof Iran’s invitation to Morsi to come to Tehran has been describedas an attempt by Iran to form an “Iran-Egypt axis” that dominatesthe Mideast.

The whole concept was and is insane. Iran is a Persian Shia Islamnation, while most of the Mideast countries are Arab Sunni Muslim.There is no conceivable way that Saudi Arabia was ever going to takeorders, or even guidance, from Tehran. LA Times and Al Ahram (Cairo)

Ban Ki-moon denounces Iran over calls to destroy Israel

Mohamed Morsi wasn’t the only person attending the Non-AlignedMovement summit to embarrass Iran. United Nations Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon had been widely criticized in the West for agreeingto attend the conference in Iran, but he used the opportunityto slam the Iranian regime, albeit without mentioning it by name. 

I strongly reject threats by any member state todestroy another or outrageous attempts to deny historical factssuch as the Holocaust.

Claiming that Israel does not have the right to exist ordescribing it in racist terms is not only wrong, but underminesthe very principle we all have pledged to uphold.

According to one expert on Iran, “In the history of the IslamicRepublic, nobody has challenged the supreme leader’s (Ayatollah AliKhamenei’s) position on Israel in front of him, and in such amanner. This is likely to have long-term reverberations andconsequences inside Iran’s halls of power.” NBC and Reuters

Iran’s Supreme Leader slams the United Nations Security Council

Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khameneiharshly criticized the United Nations Security Council at theNon-Aligned Movement summit on Friday: 

The UN Security Council has a completely unfairstructure, and the US and its allies have been misusing thisunfair structure to materialize their interests.

Their security in the US and Europe is important, while securityof the rest of the world does not matter from their viewpoint.They impose their own rules and bullying words on the rest of theworld [through the UN].

Everyone is tired of this situation in the world.

Ahlul Bayt News Agency (Qom, Iran)

China scholars condemn inclusion of 239 English words in official Chinese dictionary

A group of 120 scholars have signed a letter of complaint over theinclusion of English words in a newly revised Chinese dictionary.The scholars said that the inclusion of English words slylyopens a door for cultural immersion. According to one ofthe scholars: 

The dictionary is not an ordinary Chinesepublication, but a bible for people to learn from and to usestandard Chinese. The dictionary has taken words from Englishtoday. Will it take German and French in the future?

He raised concerns over the language fading out and called on peopleto pay attention to the dignity of the Chinese language.

Most of the offending words in the dictionary are actually acronyms orabbreviations, including: FBI, GDP, NBA, WTO and CPI.

Some Chinese words that have made their way into the English languageinclude: Tychonaut (Chinese astronaut), tycoon, tai pan (businessman), kowtow and typhoon. Xinhua

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