Morsi's visit to Iran could reshape political landscape

[cqo_000]

Source: China Daily

The Egyptian official MENA news agency reported on Saturday that Morsi will attend the Non-Aligned Movement Summit to be held in the Iranian capital Teheran later this month - the first such visit by an Egyptian head of state to Teheran since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

The visit is in line with popular sentiment. Since Mubarak was outed in an uprising last year, there has been a push for Cairo to craft a foreign policy independent of Western or oil Gulf countries' agendas.

"This really signals the first response to a popular demand and a way to increase the margin of maneuver for Egyptian foreign policy in the region," political scientist Mustafa Kamel el-Sayyed told AP. "Morsi's visits ... show that Egypt's foreign policy is active again in the region."

"This is a way also to tell Gulf countries that Egypt is not going to simply abide by their wishes and accept an inferior position," he added.

Read more: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-08/20/content_15687288.htm

[pipoman]

1. I wonder if he'll skinny dip in the caspian sea?

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. An Egyptian rapprochement with Iran would be interesting...

It is the most populous Arab country, if not the wealthiest, and could be a bulwark against that kind of Sunni-Shia sectarian war thing the Saudis and Gulf Arabs seem so keen on.

It could also complicate Egypt's relations with Israel and the US.