Conflicts in the Middle East & Northern Africa

[Brian]

I think we should start charging a bullshit tax. Brian, and if we can get Prolet back on, should be able to cover our quest for world domination on their own.

Even though my posts relate to articles from Reuters, CNN and other reputable media, yet you still say this. Any proof Vangelovski? You know the saying,"...bullshit walks."

By the way, "Brian's Corner" has 4316 views since 31 Oct 2011, aprox under 2000 views a month, so I guess it could just be the novelty of something new, or maybe people like my bullshit, or maybe they don't think its bullshit? Any idea what the attraction could be?


RtG

If only they created a bullshit tax.

If there was one RtG, after Vangelovski's post the MTO would go broke.

By the way, whatever happened to Prolet, now that you mention him? Loose another 'patriot', did you?

[Brian]

Sanctions are biting on Iran and soon they will be voting to extend this to Iran importing refined petrol/gasoline which would cripple Iran to her knees (Iran exports oil, but lacks the infrastructure to refine petrol, so imports it). Seems like a repeat of Japan in WW2, and like then, Iran is threatening war as it has no other option. Question is, what did Iran do that's so bad to warrant such an attack? Oh yeah, created fictitious nukes, like Iraq's fictitious WMD, by which I mean they have loads of oil the West wants for free! How many Iranians will have to die to fill-up your petrol tank?

Vangelovski can just keep chanting, "Americans are good", and Phoenix can say, "I don't believe it, it's all a conspiracy theory by kooky people."

I told you that you'd go broke with a bullshit tax, RtG.

Geithner seeks Chinese support on Iran sanctions

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/10/us-usa-geithner-china-idUSTRE80913H20120110

(Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is making Washington's case for stricter sanctions on Iran during a visit this week to China, the largest consumer of Iranian oil.

His trip is the latest step in accelerating U.S. efforts to stem Iran's flow of oil revenue and force it to abandon a suspected nuclear weapons program -- all while avoiding a spike in crude prices that could threaten the global economy.

For China, the challenge is to balance its commitments to Iran with its desire to be viewed as a cooperative partner by the United States.

"I think the key here is to try to isolate China. If the U.S. can effectively get Japan -- but more importantly Russia -- on side, then China will feel a lot of pressure to join onto any U.S.-led multilateral sanctions," said John Lee at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney.

"If it's just a bilateral sanction between Geithner and his counterparts, then I think Washington will achieve very little this week," he told Reuters Insider TV.

U.S. President Barack Obama recently authorized a law imposing sanctions on financial institutions that deal with Iran's central bank, its main clearinghouse for oil exports.

China has backed U.N. Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to halt uranium enrichment activities, while working to ensure its energy ties are not threatened. As a permanent member of the council, China wields a veto.

It has criticized the United States and European Union for imposing separate sanctions on Iran and said they should take no steps reaching beyond the U.N. resolutions.

Geithner was greeted by vice premier Wang Qishan, who oversees the Chinese economy, during a meeting on Tuesday at China's Diaoyutai state guesthouse. He is to have back-to-back meetings on Wednesday with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and future Chinese leaders Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang.

Wang noted "a positive working relationship" between the United States and China, adding: "We are also having important cooperation in the multilateral and global arena in the areas of economy, finance, trade policies and also G-20 related affairs."

Geithner responded: "As you said, China and the United States share so many important interests and among those are increasing our cooperation on global economic issues."

DISPUTE

Geithner will also help hammer out the agenda for Xi's trip to the United States and for a bilateral summit later this spring. He will then go to Japan.

Wen will visit three key Middle Eastern oil and gas suppliers -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar -- from the weekend amid signs Beijing wants to expand its options in the face of U.S. sanctions aimed at Iran.

Talks during Wen's six-day trip are sure to cover energy cooperation, at least in general terms, said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University in east China.

China cut oil imports from Iran in January and February in a dispute over contract terms and has been looking for alternative supplies.

Iran is China's third-largest crude supplier.

"Strategically, it is very much in China's interest to have a strong Iran to block U.S. dominance of the Middle East and Southwest and Central Asia. It's not just about crude supply," said Willem van Kemenade, a Beijing-based scholar on Chinese foreign policy.

"Preventing Iran from getting into a crisis or regime collapse is very much in China's interest."

The United States is unlikely to wish to cut off Iranian crude flows altogether, which would push up oil prices as China and other customers are forced to seek replacement barrels.

The price of Brent crude oil has already surged about $10 per barrel since the middle of December, the commercial deadline for Tehran and Beijing to agree on January's shipments.

The European Union, meanwhile, has agreed in principle to a ban on Iranian oil, and the United States is trying to get allies Japan and South Korea to agree to cut purchases.

That could leave China with room to continue sourcing oil from Iran at a discount, allowing it to say it has cooperated with U.S. efforts to reduce revenue to Iran while also getting cheaper oil for itself.

"I think China's going to be receptive ... China doesn't want to be the outlier," said Frank Lavin, chief executive of Export Now and a former U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade.

"They are going to go step-by-step, but they don't want to be the last person in the boat, so to speak," he said.

[Brian]

Turkey is 'cruising for a bruising' and we're not even near the end of 2012.

Turkey to Uphold UN, not EU sanctions on Iran

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/20096/53/

Friday, 13 January 2012
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Thursday that his country was not seeking exemption from the planned new sanctions against Iran, which are expected to include an embargo on importing oil from Iran.
'We haven't received notification of any sanctions and haven't asked for an exemption,' he told dpa, pointing out that Turkey is not a member of the European Union and so is not obliged to impose EU-backed sanctions.
'We're only obliged to follow decisions taken by the UN,' he said.
EU foreign ministers are expected to meet on January 23 to decide on whether to impose a ban on imports of crude oil from Iran, in response to Tehran's refusal to curtail its nuclear programme.
Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama signed into law a 662-billion-dollar defence spending bill that provides for a new round of economic sanctions aimed also against Iran's central bank.

The US law would put sanctions on all foreign firms and banks that do business with Iran's central bank, presenting the first threat to the country's oil industry.
Tildiz's comments came as the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, extended his visit to Turkey by a day.

Larijani will Friday travel to the western city of Konya with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who is a native of the city, and will visit some of the city's cultural attractions, said a spokeswoman from Turkey's Foreign Ministry.
Larijani spent Thursday in the capital Ankara at the invitation of the speaker of the Turkish parliament, Cemil Cicek. He also met Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul.

The spokeswoman confirmed that Turkish officials had reassured Larijani that a new NATO early warning radar system, which Turkey has agreed to host, will be for defence only and will have no attack capability.
There was no confirmation on whether there were any discussions on the proposed international talks on Iran's nuclear programme and the new round of planned international sanctions.

[George S.]

Well sanctions are going to be a burden on iran as the us cranks the anvil.

[Vangelovski]

Brian, its time you get off the crack pipe before you post on the MTO.

[Brian]

Brian, its time you get off the crack pipe before you post on the MTO.

Whatever do you mean? All that I have posted are from reputable news media. Could you be more specific?

Have a look at Post207.
(extract)

When they saw the Syrian massacre continuing unabated this month, the Qatari and Saudi rulers approved a crash program for the Qatari chief of staff Maj.-Gen Hamas Ali al-Attiya to weld this mobile intervention Sunni Muslim force out of al Qaeda linked-operatives for rapid deployment on the Turkish-Syrian border.

A force of 2,500 has been recruited up until now, our sources report. The hard core is made up of 1,000 members of the Islamic Fighting Group in Libya-IFGL, which fought Qaddafi, and 1,000 operatives of the Ansar al-Sunna, the Iraqi Islamists which carried out 15 coordinated bomb attacks in Baghdad last Thursday killing 72 people and injuring 200.

Qatar has just had them airlifted from Libya and Iraq to the southern Turkish town of Antakya (Antioch) in the border province of Hatay.

and then

Russia warns of Syrian no-fly zone claim

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/russia-warns-of-syrian-nofly-zone-claim-6288966.html

FRIDAY 13 JANUARY 2012
Russia has claimed that Nato is preparing to impose a no-fly zone in Syria to protect rebel fighters, a move that would dramatically escalate the 10-month uprising.

Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the Kremlin's security council, said that he had received intelligence suggesting that the military alliance is planning a Libya-style intervention, a step that Moscow has repeatedly warned the international community against.

"We are getting information that Nato members and some Persian Gulf states intend... direct military intervention," the confidant of premier Vladimir Putin told Russia's Kommersant newspaper.

The claims, however, were immediately denied by Nato. Spokeswoman Carmen Romero told Bloomberg that there was, "no discussion of a Nato role with respect to Syria". A number of Nato members also denied Mr Patrushev's claims.

Russia, a major arms supplier to Syria, has emerged as one of the main stumbling blocks to Western efforts to curb President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown against the uprising.

Mr Patrushev said that any military action against Syria by Nato would most likely be led by Turkey, suggesting that Ankara was battling for hegemony with Iran, Syria's major backer.

"This time it is true that the main strike forces will not be provided by France, the UK or Italy, but possibly by neighbouring Turkey which was until recently on good terms with Syria and is a rival of Iran with immense ambitions," he said.

Maybe you missed these bits between reloading your crack pipe - however that's done.

[Soldier of Macedon]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/world/africa/in-libya-the-fighting-may-outlast-the-revolution.html?pagewanted=all

TRIPOLI, Libya — Many of the local militia leaders who helped topple Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi are abandoning a pledge to give up their weapons and now say they intend to preserve their autonomy and influence political decisions as “guardians of the revolution.”

The issue of the militias is one of the most urgent facing Libya’s new provisional government, the Transitional National Council. Scores of freewheeling brigades of armed volunteers sprang up around the country and often reported to local military councils, which became de facto local governments in cities like Misurata and Zintan, as well as the capital, Tripoli.

The provisional government’s departing prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, suggested in a news conference Sunday night that instead of expecting the local militias to disband, the Transitional National Council should try to incorporate them by expanding to include their representatives.

“Nobody wants to give up arms now, and many tribes and cities are accumulating arms ‘just in case,’ ” said Mahmoud Shammam, a spokesman for the council’s executive board.

Noting reports of sporadic clashes between militias as well as vigilante revenge killings, many civilian leaders, along with some fighters, say the militias’ shift from merely dragging their feet about surrendering weapons to actively asserting a continuing political role poses a stark challenge to the council’s fragile authority.

“This could lead to a mess, to conflict between the councils,” said Ramadan Zarmoh, 63, a leader of the Misurata military council, who argued that the city’s militia should dissolve itself almost immediately after a new defense ministry is formed. “If we want to have democracy, we can’t have this.”

His view, however, appears to be in the minority. Many members of military councils insist that they need to stay armed until a new constitution is ratified because they do not trust the weak provisional government to steer Libya to democracy on its own.

“We are the ones who are holding the power there — the people with the force on the ground — and we are not going to give that up until we have a legitimate government that will emerge from free and fair elections,” said Anwar Fekini, a French-Libyan lawyer who is a leader of the armed groups in the western mountains and is also close to top leaders of the transitional council.

“We will make sure we are going to bring the country to a civil constitution and democratic system,” he added, “and we will use all available means — first of all our might on the ground.”

Militia leaders have already demonstrated their resolve to step into the political process. Before the provisional government named a new prime minister Monday night, local leaders in Misurata — speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid an open fight with the national council — threatened that if it failed to agree on a candidate they deemed satisfactory, local military councils from cities in western Libya might intercede to decide the question.

The choice for prime minister, Abdel Rahim el-Keeb, a Tripoli engineer and businessman, pleased the Western cities and resolved the matter peacefully. But officials of the national council say the threat of intervention itself undermines the transition to civilian democracy, in which disputes are settled with ballots or gavels, not with weapons.

Mr. Shammam said that armed intervention “would be a disaster” and that adopting a new constitution should happen “under the umbrella of the law — police stations, judges — rather than military councils and the force of arms.”

He and others in the national council say they hope that as their next transitional government takes over and begins to build a national army, a goal that has so far remained elusive, local military councils will begin to stand down. Referring to the promised election of a governing body this year, he added, “If the military councils start to extend and expand themselves, they will be a replacement for a national assembly.”

Some point to neighboring Egypt, where the council of military officers that took power at the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak has delayed a transition to civilian control. Others say there is a danger Libya could resemble the chaos in Yemen or Syria because there are several autonomous militias poised to take on a political role — in Tripoli, in the western mountain towns like Zintan and its neighbors, in Misurata, and in the eastern city of Benghazi.

In the east and in Tripoli, some of the largest, best-equipped brigades are associated with Islamist groups now forming political parties. “They will keep their arms as long as they are not part of the power,” Mr. Shammam, who is a liberal, predicted.

There have already been clashes between armed groups. Two weeks ago, fighters from Zintan and Misurata fought briefly at the Tripoli international airport, leaving about three dead, said Abed Rzag al-Bakesh, 40, a military leader from Zintan. He said provocations by a Qaddafi loyalist in disguise were to blame.

Last week, a shootout erupted between two groups in the capital’s central Martyrs Square, which the local military council has now banned other fighters from entering.

After the conquest last month of Colonel Qaddafi’s last holdout, in Surt, fighters from Misurata and Benghazi clashed briefly over looting, Mr. Zarmoh, the Misurata commander, said, though he said none were injured.

And early Monday morning, a group of Zintan fighters attacked a Tripoli hospital, searching, they said, for a Qaddafi loyalist seeking treatment inside, according to reports on Tripoli radio.

“The N.T.C. appears to be helpless,” Abdurrahman K. Shater, a respected columnist in one of the dozens of new newspapers, The Nation, said of the transitional council, “like a deceived husband who does not know what’s going on behind his back, or who knows but goes along.”

The Transitional National Council has pledged in a “constitutional declaration” that within eight months after the selection of a new government, it will hold elections for a national assembly, which will oversee the writing of a constitution. (Mr. Jibril, in his news conference, appeared to suggest casting the “declaration” aside without much fuss, raising questions about how binding it is.)

With no history of electoral democracy, Libya’s provisional authorities must draw electoral districts and devise a voting system — decisions with inevitable winners and losers, politically and geographically.

During the uprising, officials of the Transitional National Council vowed to give equal voice to all Libyans, regardless of their location or political position.

But leaders in Misurata, a commercial center that withstood a long siege to emerge as the arsenal of Libyan revolt, say they are advocating a four-point set of criteria for representation that would increase their say, at the expense of smaller towns or those who stayed loyal to Colonel Qaddafi: population, size, economic output and “priority in liberation.”

Some in the eastern areas around Benghazi, neglected under Colonel Qaddafi in favor of the West, are now arguing for Libya to return to a loose federal structure that could protect them from domination by Tripoli and Misurata.

But Azza Kamel Maghur, a human rights lawyer who recently held a conference in Misurata to talk about the transition process, said she was particularly surprised by the open determination to introduce weapons to the political process. “They stood up and said, ‘We are not going to give up our arms until the constitution is drafted,’ ” she said. “You cannot have a civil democratic society with weapons — how can you make elections?”

[Vangelovski]

Brian, are you even going to try to reconcile your abhorrence for American "imperialism" and your use of one of their most effective tools or achieving their "imperialistic" goals? Or are you just a straight up hypocrite?

[Brian]

Brian, are you even going to try to reconcile your abhorrence for American "imperialism" and your use of one of their most effective tools or achieving their "imperialistic" goals? Or are you just a straight up hypocrite?

I don't need to reconcile anything, it's your stupid definition - be against the USA, then don't use anything of theirs eg the Internet OR admit you're wrong and the USA are good and then eg use the Internet OR admit your a hypocrite.

See "Republican Presidential Candidates" Post097 (before and after posts as well).

Try to stay on topic. This line of discussion is in the other thread.

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6244&page=10

Are you too stupid to stay on topic?

[Vangelovski]

Brian, you claim the Americans have some sort of evil imperialist agenda. If true, then the internet would be their most effective weapon - brainwashing the masses worldwide. But you also disputed the most important American achievements and the impact that they have had on your life personally, including American technological advances (yes, that includes the internet). So, you're actions betray your claims as its obvious that you cannot go one day without using the internet, one of those great American technological advances which you attempted to claim was worthless and in some warped logic that only you can understand, part of some larger conspiracy to spread evil throughout the world. If you sincerely believed that crap, then you really should take a moral stand and refrain from using the internet, which you claim is part of that useless American technology anyway. But, you can't do without it and yet you still claim that the US has had no good influence on your life - that just makes you a hypocrite in this instance.

[Brian]

Off topic discussion. Please refer to the thread "Republican Presidential Candidates" See from Post076 onwards.

[Brian]

Well, DUHHH!!! The Olympics or going to be on.

Don't laugh, NWO games can't be disrupted by a NWO war.

EU Iran Oil Embargo Said Likely to Be Delayed by Six Months

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-18/eu-iran-oil-embargo-said-likely-to-be-delayed-by-six-months.html

January 18, 2012
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- A European Union embargo on imports of Iranian oil will probably be delayed for six months to allow countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain to find alternative supplies, an EU official with knowledge of the talks said.

The embargo, which would need to be agreed by the 27 nation-bloc’s foreign ministers on Jan. 23, is also likely to include an exemption for Italy, so crude can be sold to pay off debts to Rome-based Eni SpA, Italy’s largest oil company, according to the official, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. A ban on petrochemical products would start sooner, about three months after ministers agree to the measure, the official said. Oil prices fell as much as 1.9 percent on the news to $98.93 a barrel in New York.

“Work by experts from the 27 member states is in a very intensive phase,” Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, said by phone today from Brussels. “They are looking into different options for restrictive measures with a view to adoption on Jan. 23.” She declined to comment on possible phase-in periods or exemptions.

The phasing-in of the embargoes would satisfy the concerns of countries with the largest dependence on Iranian oil, including Italy, Greece and Spain, the official said. Those three countries accounted for 68.5 percent of EU imports from Iran in 2010, according to European Commission data.

The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment on the prospects for a delay in the EU embargo.

Three-Month Review

Iran, the second largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped 3.58 million barrels of crude a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates.

There will be a review every three months to assess the impact on EU economies, whether countries are managing to get alternate supply and to monitor the effect on oil prices, the official said.

France, Germany and the U.K. have been pushing for the embargo to increase pressure on Iran over its nuclear program and it has the support in principle of all 27 member states, the official said. Western countries allege that Iran’s nuclear- development plans are aimed at building atomic weapons. Iran says they are for civilian purposes and to generate electricity.

There are currently no plans for compensation to the affected European countries, the EU official said, and the current emphasis is on finding oil from alternative sources at similar prices.

Nuclear Scientists

The Iranian government said in a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that a civilian nuclear scientist, Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan, who was killed by a bomb yesterday was the fourth victim of a foreign terror campaign. Iran has accused the U.S. and Israel of targeting Iranian nuclear scientists.

“We are very active in this branch of science,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani told journalists in Ankara today, referring to his country’s nuclear program. “If Israel thinks it can stop us with four acts of terror, their logic is flawed.”

Tensions over the ratcheting up of sanctions led Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi to threaten on Dec. 27 that Iran may block the Strait of Hormuz, the transit for about a fifth of the world’s oil, if the EU bans exports from the Islamic Republic. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey said on Jan. 9 that Iran can temporarily choke off the waterway, through which 17 million barrels of oil pass each day, the Energy Department estimates.

[Big Bad Sven]

Most Syrians back President Assad, but you'd never know from western media

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/17/syrians-support-assad-western-propaganda

That is some very unfortuante news for the "democratic spreading" americans, the aussie diggers and Israel, who along with their allies the muslim Brotherhood and Al-Queda want to remove the current Syrian regime and introduce a fanatical muslim element that will no doubt at first have pro american agenda (but as history repeats, they will turn on the americans).

How is this democracy when the majority of Syrians want Basher Al-Assad in power, yet america and its friends Al-Queda want him removed? How is it democracy that a small minority of fanatical muslim kooks in one small part of the country have the power to change the regime when most want the current president to stay?
FYI, the "peacefull protestors" in Syria are suicide bombers and are attacking police with weapons, yeah real innocent and peacefull....

In some ways this situation reminds me how things started in Tetovo and how a small minority some how was able to control the country....

Oh well, hopefully the americans and their noble allies Al-Queda and the muslim brotherhood can introduce fanatical islam into Syria and we see the destruction of another great arab country

[Big Bad Sven]

Just a bit of food for though, lets look at some of america's key allies in the middle east (and also those who are the most vocal against syria)

Yeman and Bahrain, the government is killing thousands of civilians/protestors, ruled by undecomocratic governments

Saudi Arabia - ruled by "kings", no democracy there. Also supporter of radical islam around the world.

Khazakstan - last week 16 protestors will killed protesting for pay rise, president has been in power for over 20 years, is trying to secure another 30 years of power and rule.

Bit rich to attack Syria when your friends are just as bad

[Soldier of Macedon]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/egyptian-voters-reject-salafi-hardliner-run-off-192750422.html

Egyptian voters reject Salafi hardliner in run-off

..CAIRO (Reuters) - The hardline Salafists surging in Egypt's first free elections suffered an unexpected setback on Wednesday when a prominent spokesman lost a run-off vote to an independent candidate backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Abdel Moneim el-Shahat was one of the most outspoken candidates of the Salafist Al-Nour party, which stunned Egyptians by winning 24 percent of the first round of voting last week against 36 percent for the more pragmatic Brotherhood.

During the campaign, the bearded engineer outraged more moderate Egyptians with his clear calls for Salafi Islam - a strict interpretation inspired by Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi sect - to be made the law of the land in Egypt.

His defeat in the run-off in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria came because liberal, Christian and young voters rallied behind the independent Hosni Dewidar, who also had the Brotherhood's endorsement.

"The Brotherhood doesn't represent me, but they are better than the Salafis," Coptic law student Beshoy Gerges, 23, said in Alexandria. "I would rather die than have a Salafi represent me in parliament."

COMPARISONS WITH THE TALIBAN

Shahat, who is highly popular among Egypt's Salafis, aroused unpleasant memories of Afghanistan's hardline Taliban when it was reported he wanted priceless statues of Egypt's pharaohs to be covered or destroyed because they amounted to idolatry, which is strictly forbidden in Islam.

The Taliban blew up two ancient Buddha statues in Bamiyan in 2001, also arguing that the pre-Islamic art was idolatrous.

Shahat denied the statues should be smashed, but the remarks raised questions about the lengths to which the Salafis would go to make Egypt conform to early Islam.

"If people want to see these statues and they bring income, and if it is proven that sharia does not allow them to remain as they are, then cover them with wax," he told Dream Television. "People would be able to see through wax."

During a television interview last week, Shahat also angered many intellectuals by trashing the novels of Nobel Literature Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz as books "inciting promiscuity, prostitution and atheism."

"We have not had a revolution so that the likes of Shahat come to smear our cultural symbols and call us atheists as soon as they start rising to power," novelist and critic Howeida Saleh told the daily Al Ahram.

Even though Al Nour appeared to have lost out in most of the run-offs it took part in over the past two days, its strong showing in the initial phase of voting looks certain to guarantee it a sizeable chunk of seats in the next parliament.

LAYING DOWN THE LAW

Shahat, spokesman for the Salafi Call umbrella group that includes the Al Nour party, told Reuters before the election that his party would be flexible in enforcing sharia, the Islamic moral and legal code. "We won't force it on you, so the country doesn't turn into a battlefield," he said in Alexandria.

But he made clear Al Nour took a narrow view of what should and should not be allowed in the new Egypt.

"In controversial issues, we are open to what early Muslims were open to and we refuse what they refused," he said, referring to the strict teachings of the early Muslims.

"For things that need a general law, religious doctrine ends the argument," he said, adding Islamic doctrine could be interpreted by an oversight board of senior Islamic scholars from Al Azhar, the famous seat of Sunni learning based in Cairo.

Shahat was blunt about second class status for the Copts, the Egyptian Christians who make up about 10 percent of the population and fear the Salafis will limit their rights strictly if they get into a position to shape future legislature.

"We are very clear about Copts in high posts," he said. "It is neither logical nor religiously or constitutionally valid that they can hold the post of presidency.

"A Copt shouldn't assume authority over Muslims."