Behind the Arab League's suspension of Syria
cnn / Ben Wedeman
13-Nov-2011 (2 comments)


Cairo (CNN) -- I strolled through the halls of the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo the other day, perusing all the family photos of Arab leaders at various summit meetings over the years.

There was deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, deposed and violently disposed of Libyan "Brother Leader" Moammar Gadhafi, exiled Tunisian President Zine Abedine Ben Ali, Yemen's beleaguered President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Syria's embattled President Bashar Al-Assad.

Uneasy, I thought, must sit the other heads of state featured in those photos.

But it was those surviving leaders, of such less-than-democratic countries as Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Sudan, to name a few, who instructed their foreign ministers to vote Saturday to suspend Syria from the Arab League over its bloody suppression of the eight-month-old uprising there.

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recommended by Darius Kadivar

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Rea

Surely, the Arab League is

by Rea on Sun Nov 13, 2011 03:39 AM PST

..... no more than a bunch of autocrats. But the two countries that voted against are not to be recommended either, for their motives are just as questionable.

On the one hand, Liban with its complex political scene highly influenced by Hezbollah. On the other hand, Yemen whose regime has yet to justify its own brutal repression.

Thx for sharing, DK.


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Darius Kadivar

CNN's Ben Wedeman Insightful Analysis on Arab League on Syria

by Darius Kadivar on Sun Nov 13, 2011 02:53 AM PST


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

 

There is more to the vote against Syria than the "Arab Spring"

           

As much as Arab autocrats fear their people, they also fear Iran

           

Iran's regional position has strengthened in the last decade

                       

America's isperceived to be withering


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