Ahmadinejad and the city
Ahmadinejad, petty or not, cruel or not, is above all a world-class celebrity of the sort that a New York backdrop only flatters.
By Shmuel Rosner Tags: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran UNWASHINGTON - The president of Columbia University apparently believes that he evinced extraordinary courage - not only once, but twice. First, when he faced down his critics and, in the name of "freedom of academic discourse," hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and a second time when he insulted his guest. "A petty and cruel dictator," he called him.
Standing at the podium in his university, facing his faculty, protected by American police, Professor Lee Bollinger really is a big hero. However, both the invitation and the insult said more about the host than about the guest. What has become clear beyond all doubt this week, if there had been any doubt, is that Ahmadinejad, petty or not, cruel or not, is above all a world-class celebrity of the sort that a New York backdrop only flatters.
How natural the news broadcasters sounded as they skipped from the Iranian's adventures in the big city to those of O.J. Simpson in Las Vegas on his way to a failed bank robbery. Nonsensical chatter about academic freedom alongside the tabloid Simpson story. Like the publisher that wanted to publish Simpson's book, If I Did It, Columbia University simply could not resist the temptation.
For three days now, the university's name has been mentioned on every news broadcast. Its backers were invited to be interviewed on every obscure program, and broadcast vehicles were kept ready since early morning to bring that man's words to a thirsty nation. Did they expect that Ahmadinejad would suddenly decide to tell them the truth, of all things? Did they believe themselves when they said that they would ask him "probing questions?" Did they think that he would in fact answer them? Did they know that he would lie, but not care, as long as he came?
It is hard to know which would be worse: The former would be indicative of a degree of stupidity, unacceptable even at academic institutions; the latter would indicate deliberate, ugly cynicism. In either case, the president of Iran received a platform and publicity that others can only dream of.
John Coatsworth, the dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, pressured the president for "a simple yes or no answer" to an important question: Does he want to destroy Israel? And supposing he had answered "yes" or "no," instead of evading the question as is his wont - would that have made any difference?
On one hand, it is possible to hope that no great damage was caused. He came, he spoke, he left. We can only guess what impression was made in New York by this momentary visitor who, like Madonna in Tel Aviv, appeared for a moment and immediately disappeared, leaving behind a mysterious smile and heaps of words open to interpretation. It is hard to believe that the Iranian president is having panic attacks about America's strength just now. If he has been blessed with any sense of humor, he will no doubt be able to amuse his friends with stories of this strange visit.
But in the big city, and sometimes this is easy to forget, public relations are an important matter, but not the most important. More important is a shipment of Iranian arms that was caught in Afghanistan last week on its way to the Taliban rebels. More important are the talks on tightening sanctions on Iran, which, if they do not produce results, will spell the end of the illusion of resolving the crisis by means of the United Nations Security Council.
Today and tomorrow, there will be meetings of the countries that are supposed to decide on those sanctions: the five permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany. At their meeting last Friday, which was reportedly "excellent," no agreement was reached. Therefore, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns took the trouble to send a warning in advance of the next round of talks: The credibility of the Security Council is on the line. It is possible to see this as good news of a sort: Burns apparently believes that it still has some shreds of credibility left to lose.
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Because he came out of this episode smelling like a rose, sort of. Comparing to the crude and UNCILIIZED behavior of Bollinger. Bollinger by behaving like a hulligan by insulting his "guest" who represent an entire country, cause Ahmadinejad to have a live sample of an "ugly American" to be shown to the audiences that HE is interested in. I leave it up to you to figure who those are.
Ahmadinejad states that there are no gay people in IRAN, yes its true and there are no GAY Arabs, yes its true, and yes there is a Santa Clause and the cow actualy did jump over the Moon. Yes, Ahmadinejad the best polition in the USA, yes its true and yes all these people in talk back that believe in him are all sane, yes it's true and the World is Flat not Round, yes it's true, believe me and please tell me I'm a Martian from Mars, because it's true. Oh, ya and lets not forget that Haaretz is the most honest online news outlet in the World and would never tell false news, why would they, they are all retired and do this just to help poor and deprived become rich and famous; yes it's true
When the rhetorical smoke from self-styled (as opposed to actual) progessives, such as our own N. Durson, clears, it is rather easy to see the hypocrisy inherent in the defense by such self-styled progressives, of people who variously deny the existence of homosexuals in places like Iran (on account of all of them that are found being executed, apparently), support "honor killings" of women who violate oppressive patriarchial mores, and who engage in all manner of activities that any actual progressive would find abhorent.
This was a political chess, to invite or not to invite, to insult or not to insult, to tell harsh words or to be soft. I guess end result, it was a win-win. Columiba's Boullinger managed to package his cowardly act as bravery and Ahmadinejad managed to package his lies as Truth. One thing to mention, they had different agenda for different audience. For sure, the questions asked were pity, pity for an academic environment repeating what's being said on Fox News and CNN 24x7 and Ahmadinejad had an interview with 60 minutes, he had a video conference just answering the same stuff over and over. So What novelty Columbians did implement or what Challenge to that matter they brought up? well none. Ahmadinejad proved to them that he's a much better politician than political-to-be academia of Columbia answering stupid questions with stupid answers, lies and denials. I guess he matched the level of audience intellectuality with his answers!! Helas...
First of all, Ahmadinejad may be many things, but he is NOT a "dictator." What little power he has as Iran's president is circumscribed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and by the Iranian parliament (majlis). He makes no decisions about Iran's nuclear program (other than defending Iran's right to it) and does not have the power to authorize an attack on Israel or anyone else. Bollinger conveyed his own ignorance about Iran's power structure. Second, the Arab media (Abu Dhabi television, which I just watched, for example) "explained" in reporting the Ahmadinejad story that most of the protestors, and the students at Columbia, are Jewish. Jews, and Israelis, re now going to be blamed for Columbia's rudeness, on the one hand, and transforming Ahmadinejad into a victim worthy of the sympathy of his people and of the "moderate Arab world" on the other.
Abu Dhabi Television and other Arab stations covering the story have reported that the protestors of Ahmadinejad's visit and most of the students at Columbia are Jewish.
Throughout Jewish history there was always some clown who stood up & announced he was going to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. None succeeded, but they always caused major damage & suffering in the process. I hope by this time we've learned enough not to let this clown even come close to trying.
Is how it will appear thro the Islamic world.
Russia, China, Germany, and others are balking at introducing new sanctions against Iran. They know they are illegal. Iran has the right to enrich uranium as signatory to the NPT, period. Sarkozy is half jew and that explains the change in France's position.
Ahmadinejad would be aware of the Zionist aspirations set out in the document, "A Clean Break: Securing The Realm," as would Syria and Lebanon... Iraq, Lebanon and Syria have been hit...
We in the `free` west won`t see or here Bollinger anymore, but the Iranian leadership will make sure the entire Arab and Persian world will often be reminded of the insulting behavior of the president of Columbia University. The importance of the rules of hospitality in the Arab world Bollinger doesn`t understand (he should have consulted one of his professors in the department of Semitical studies) and this lack of understanding is harming the US efforts in Iraq and Aghanistan, too. As a supporter and ally of the US, it is my duty to warn against this mistaken sense of superiority and to first think properly before giving the enemy such a double win. (first win: the platform of Columbia University, which has made Ahmadinajad look respectable, second point by Ahmadinajad being able to prove to the -Arab- world how insensitive and rude Americans are.
He does not have the power. The power resides with the supreme leader and the guardian council, and with the Revolutionary guards. He is essntially insignificant. It is therefore all the mor surprising that others make a fuss over him.
I believe this would be a PR man's and thus a diet-Leftist's dream partnership. Ahmany gets himself a new haricut, cans the Brill-Cream, gets rid of the bad barber shoe-shine boy look. Paris puts on a bit of weight maybe fifty pounds, does a stint at the "Grace Hotel" in Sukumvit road in Bangkok, learns the ropes of playing slave girl and they hit the spots together. Cameras clicking, Achmany screams into the blurr of "Journalists", "Kill the Jews". Paris smiles "He's such a kidder" and the couple pile into their stretch limo. Now I cannot imagine this in Tehran, since their are no homosexuals for Paris to rely on for fashion and makeup. I thought maybe France, but with Skorzezy exorcising the ghost of Chirac from French politics, I fear he would not be welcomed by both the French gov't and the large Sunni community. San Francisco? New York, too many Jews. So what we got is LA. Hip LA, Hollywood would offer him the part of the "Peace Maker".
America loves Celebs, and if they had to choose between a bad boy celeb or a goody goody celeb, then the bad boy wins most of the time. This is especially true when you have a stuffy school official coming on stage prior to the celeb and telling people what to think. Ahmadinejad could have scripted this visit himself, with the Jewish protestors out front and Bollinger absolutely blowing his 15 minutes of fame by showing off an amazing lack of class and grace. Ahmadinejad showed a lot of courage and fortitude in just showing up for this event. It's true that Ahmadinejads rhetoric upsets Israels supporters in the same way that Hugo Chavez's rhetoric upsets Americans, even though Ahmadinejad is not his countrys leader. Israelis seem to embrace the hate more though, as if they really need that feeling of being a universal victim. Most Americans just consider Chavez a clown.
Ahmadinejad IS a world class celebrity and this is the only reason he was invited, as a way to create spin for Columbia. Insulting him on place is nothing but sheer cowardice, a pathetic way to make it look like the ivitation was something else than a PR coup. Or are we to belive that he was invited so the president of Columbia University could deliver a childish insult? Ahmadinejad is a dangerous politician and he is playing the UN with a subteltie that Sadam could only dream of. And this is a far worse problem than the Columbia Freak Show. Heavy santions will not be imposed, military action will not happen, and the dictatorship fastens its screws on the - mostly good - Iranian people.
Professor Bollinger, a host, was obviously very rude to his guest, but he told the truth about Ahmadinejad. I think the title, Liar the Great suits him beter.
ah returning ! he matches the members of the flat earth society that regularly post here proving that it aint so and israel dont exist ! and you shouldnt kill the poor terrorists that have plagued israel for 90 years !! it aint fair cos israel built a fence to keep out the suicide bombers and the kangaroo court the icj never even mentioned it in their judgment ! israel doesnt lie down and die for the anti semites so its an israeli foul !! they cry tears becuse ther aint no ref to send israel off !
After his yesterday speech, everybody who are trying to prevent Iran to gain nuclear technology will become the forces of DARKNESS in the eyes of the world communities.