The BBC interviewed a rather weary-sounding Syrian ambassador Sami Khiyami about the withdrawal of his invitation to attend the Royal Wedding.
It should be noted that invitations to the ambassadors from Iran, North Korea and Zimbabwe still stand– which suggests that the withdrawal was an effort to avoid embarrassment rather than a matter of principle. Or that as long as recent and egregious examples of your government’s barbarity have not been posted on YouTube, you’re good to go.
Highlights (or lowlights) of the interview include Khiyami’s admission that the disinvitation was “a little bit embarrassing” (he expressed no embarrassment at what’s been happening in Syria over the past month), and his assertion that while 51 Syrian soldiers have been killed in the uprising, he has no idea how many civilians have died. In fact he refused to acknowledge that any civilians at all have been killed.
Hint to Khiyami: they have.
And in other news likely to displease the ambassador and his government, some Syrian soldiers have apparently decided to protect rather than kill anti-regime demonstrators.
Now that’s really embarrassing.
