Ahmadinejad's Less Than Warm Welcome To Columbia University
By Nicole Belle Monday Sep 24, 2007 5:30pm
There are many things for which to find fault with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His own people are fairly discontented with his presidency (largely for economic reasons), the treatment of homosexuals, intellectuals and other dissidents offends any person who values human rights (although to be fair, aside from economic issues, perhaps, much of the blame should be laid on the shoulders of the mullahs), and his tendency to do all but taunt Bush to bomb him could fill several heated blogs, to name but a few.
However, like him or not (and I don't), Ahmadinejad IS the head of a foreign state invited here to speak. That's why Columbia's Dean Lee Bollinger's scathing opening statement was so shocking in its rudeness. Can you imagine the outcry if Bush had been invited to give a speech at a foreign university and gotten that kind of reception? Can you imagine how this looks to other countries?
Our buddy Bill W. made this little mash up of Bollinger introducing and Ahmadinejad responding.
Download | play 
Download | play
Huff Po, Booman and Rick Perlstein offer some other takes on Bollinger.
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When the other nice guy was President of Iran, we (the US gov't) said he had no power, the Ayatollah had it all. Now that Mr. A is in power, the gov't makes him out to be the all-powerful head of the state, deserving of vilification.
We suck.
the iranian people are dicontent with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over their economy. take a look at the U S $. it's worth less than the canadian $ today. we have months left of bush abuse and our economy is about to go into a recession.
I am listening to the Iranian president at a news conference right now. He is acquiting himself fairly well in the face of hostile questions, many from various groups that at least believe that they have greivances against Iran. They even had Elian's (the soldier kidnapped by Hezbollah) ask him a question -- which he didn't answer.
It would be interesting to put Bush in such a situation.
He said of Columbia that they "needed practice (as we all do) in learning to listen to other points of view." He thanked the faculty and students.
http://whaven33884.blogspot.com/2007/09/george-bush-has-only-himself-to-...
He just invited all of the journalists to come to Iran to interview him.
It was bizarre. Invite someone to speak....and then insult them. What's the point?
Ahmadinejad may be a crackpot....but at least he has the balls to face a hostile audience AND take their questions. Can you imagine Chimpy ever doing that? Forget about speaking to a foreign audience....hell, he won't do it here, unless it's a fawning pre-selected group asking censored questions.
Yup, that's our strutting, tough guy cowboy.
Did anyone read Dana Millbank's piece on Ahmedinejad in the WP? what world does millbank live in??
And can an American on this board please tell me why Americans are so disrespectful and arrogant to everyone around the world? haven't they noticed that the world is changing? the era of superpowers is over. We live in a global economy where nations like pakistan and india now have nukes.
I watched the 60 minutes interview and was utterly disgusted by the questioning!! that reporter had no information about history or international affairs!!
when do you think americans will get "it"?
Christ, remember how Americans were in an uproar because Hugo Chavez called Bush the Devil in front of the U.N.? We came off looking like tacky, whiney hypocrites, that's all. We insulted him for what's going on in his country instead of challenging him to make those things we find objectionable go away...which is pretty hard to do when we've got secret prisons and the deaths of nearly 600,000 Iraqis on our hands!
anyone that denies the holocaust should be game for some knocks. i think he should have his feet held to the fire.
it amazes me that supposedly well informed journalists like Dana Millbank still believe that America can go around lecturing the world about democracy and human rights after it's illegal and disastrous invasion of iraq.
Ahmedinejad is not crazy and if you listen to what he has to say, alot of it does in fact, make sense!
Bush is crazy to think that he can still lecture myanmar, zimbabwe or iran. it's absolute madness.
Bollinger is the president, not dean.
Ok. this takes the cake. You do suck. you stupid mfer are proving the republicans right every time to you put your fingers to the keyboard.
What's with the crocodile tears for this guy? He's a despot, plain and simple. He was invited, he accepted. The Dean of Columbia DIDN'T invite him, and he obviously despises Ahmedinejad. So what? This is how you're supposed to treat despots. Now if only people would start treating Bush the same way!
Who the hell is the US to decide how other countries should conduct their business?? Just who elected the US to be judge and jury of the world?
I get a kick out of the US determining whether a nation should be allowed to have a nuclear program.
Guess I missed that vote.
If Ahmadinejad was kissing Chimpy's ass, he'd still be a ruthless tyrant...but he'd be OUR ruthless tyrant. Then all would be just peachy.
The dean of columbia needs to protect the donations from Jewish alumni (he did what he had to do)
Ahmedinejad has said this of the holocaust: palestinians did not cause it. It was europeans. So, why are the palestinians paying for an event that they had nothing to do with? why didn't the british or germans carve out a piece of land for the jews who had been persecuted in Germany?
We Americans insist on rewriting history with ourselves as the heros. It might be true of every nation, I have only lived in this one so I don't know. Inconvenient facts get forgotten. If you ask Americans about Regan's shelling of civilian apartment buildings in Lebanon you will get puzzled looks. I have met people who thought that we won the war in Vietnam. Hell, even my mom was complaining the other day that the US should not have helped to overthrow the Shah of Iran! OK, she is getting up there in age but she was a teacher!
(For the historically challenged, the Iranian revolution started fairly shortly after President Carter went there to express solidarity with the Shah -- who we had just sold millions of dollars worth of military equipment to.)
When Bollinger does this with other problematic heads of state, including Bush, we'll be on the same page with you, DaveinRhodeIsland. In fact, Bollinger was playing to the pro-Israel mob outside.
He is a CIA installed sock puppet. Just like Hussein, the Shah, etc. We set up dictators and then knock them down. Wake up people.
"Now if only people would start treating Bush the same way!"
Now THAT'S the ticket!!!! Problem is, we supposedly have the freedom to do this in America, but when we exercise it, we get shouted down and called 'traitors' or 'communists'--like communism is even still a fucking issue anymore!
The Democrats we elect to speak up for us, fold like Target beach chairs and help the Republicans pass condemnations against our grassroots organizations like MoveOn...which they gladly take election money from other times!
Bollinger was under fire all week for this, and he spent the whole time defending it is a forum for free speech, for students to have the opportunity to question a controversial (to say the least) world leader about his statements and actions. What better way to hammer the point home than to set the tone like this? What would be the point of such a forum if the important issues surrounding this man would be off the table for discussion?
In looking at the two 60 minute interviews and this ad hominem laced invective presenting false choices Ahmadinejad is 3and 0 in looking better than his inquisitor's/attackers.
The way they twist this guy's words it is no wonder there is little hope for peace. When he said "there are no gays in his country" they conveniently left off the part "like you have in your country" which is open for many interpretations and a follow-up to try and understand what he was alluding to about gays in his country. Much like their restrictions on dress, tatoos, etc. the gays just do their thing only not openly like here.
He also clarified where he was coming from with Israel. If the regime there allowed the Palestinians the rights Ahmadinejad calls for it would be interesting to see the Arab world's and Iran's reaction. Unfortunately the Zionists will never allow that happen to see. If it is a bluff it needs to be called. Only then we will know if it is hate or a cause.
THANK YOU, Nicolle! Exactly what I thought, every word of your post. Rudeness is for children...Mike@12, I'm looking at you.
The one good that will come of Mr Bollinger's tongue-lashing is to get the GOoPers to stop whining about Columbia hosting Mr Despot. Well, no...I guess no-one can stop a righty from whining. Ah, well.
Who relies more on reason, Bush or Ahmadinejad.
Bonkers @ 22:
Oops! Look at that...I made an email link by accident...
Generally the definition of a despot doesn't include people who are elected. If we overuse words, they lose their meanings. Chimpy is not a despot, and neither is the elected President of Iran. They may be bad people, and they may even be thinking of becoming despots some day but they are not now. A lot of what we don't like about both Iran and the USA is outside of the control of either man -- Ahmedinejad doesn't write Iranian laws and Bush only thinks that he writes the US ones. In both cases there are large numbers of people who like the way things are because they voted for them to be that way.
If Chimpy refuses to leave office, then he becomes a despot.
In Israel it's totally and uncategorically illegal for a Jew to wed a Gentile.
If Iranian leaders merit such a "welcome", then perhaps Israeli leaders do, too.
I *wish* more foreign countries would do this to bush.
Yeah, Columbia kind of ripped Ahmadinejad a new one, but what did he expect? I'm sure the invitation did not read "Please come to Columbia, where you'll be greeted with candies and flowers by all of New York."
Hear hear. Just because Bush is an idiot doesn't mean Ahmedinejad deserves to be treated with kid gloves.
Maybe if we had this kind of vigorous international debate, face to face, with responses, we wouldn't be knee deep in war.
But calling an orc anything but an orc is an insult to non-orcs.
I support the invite. I support the insults. I support Ahmedinejad's right to respond. I'd support Bush going to an Iranian university and standing up to the same treatment.
For all the complaints we have about Bush et al, Ahmedinejad is a thousand times worse (to his own people...not as a threat to the world or as a legitimate military target.)
If we DON'T engage in a vigorous, intellectually honest, gloves off way here then we'll be nose-walked into a war that will ruin us all, if that ship hasn't already sailed.
I spend more time outside Bubble America for life and work -- thanks to the Bush McConomy -- and some of this stuff is downright appalling for its infantile, simplistic posturing, regardless of one's ideology and personal politics.
Ahmadinejad's appalling stand on certain issues, believe it or not, isn't markedly different from a good dozen of Bush's BFFs that have been propped up (to the detriment of human rights and peace) and paraded in media as heroic allies.
What's astonishing is how acceptable this dumb-fuckedly stupid caricature of American knee jerk conservatism is domestically, and how ridiculous it plays even next to the favorite "insane" bad guys du jour the Bush Cheney Gang wag their flag-sock covered dicks at.
very poor judgment by dean shithead. lets let dean shithead address iranian students, IN iran.
i agree with this post
but first off everyone needs to know he has very little actual power in iran - and is a figurehead in a way
i hate how homosexuals and woman are treated in iran
the Persian people are Aryan descendants they are not Arabs and really most Iranians think they are better than the rest of the Arab world - and the young people of iran are very apolitical and could care a less about israel or the usa
i'm on the side of the young people of iran who are the future and will topple the religous nut cases in power
but all of the problems in iran are the problems Iranians must counter - let them rebel and kill all the ayatolahs if they want - i'll cheer them if they do
we have our own problem to deal with and his name is george w bush and his followers are the republican and democratic parties. it is the us that needs help because we really have a one party system where the corporations control everything. our right to privacy is under attack everyday. america is going to hell and the last thing we need is to play moral judge on a nation like iran that is awaking to their evil government as we are awakening to our evil government.
Head of State? No actually he's not. He has very little real political power, he's the elected figure head not the appointed Head of state.... kinda like a backward Monarchy with a little religion thrown in the mix.
Arrogant effing Americans. George Bush has not spoken to a hostile crowd ever in his entire life,let alone during his reign of terror. He would crumble and yell and pitch a hissy fit if anyone dared talk to him in that manner. I had to laugh out loud at the irony in my morning newspaper headline, (I am not making this up,really), speaking about Amadinejad:..."He bends the truth, Americans say"....My God. I cannot wait for 1/20/09.
Whatever @ 26:
I disagree for various reasons about Bollinger's duties to a foreign head of state, but the best reason is laced by Scott Paul:
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002369.php
I think a possible result of Bollinger's remarks is overlooked: a defusing of the situation in this country. If he had done anything seen as "coddling" by the Right here (and that could have been nearly anything) there would have been an outcry louder than the MoveOn pantwetting. That would have fuled the Kristol, Cheney, Nutcase, Psycho ward in this country. They can't do tht now. These things matter temendously, IMO.
Not related, but enjoy...from the early 80s!
One of the hostile questions towards the Iranian President was the claim is that some students who booed him were arrested. (He admitted that he was booed but denied that anybody was arrested -- who knows given how any event in Iran is blown out of proportion.)
Somehow, I just couldn't get the image of all the people who have been arrested at Bush rallies out of my mind. Below is just a sample.
Columbia’s Dean Lee Bollinger said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would not have the courage to address questions honestly, yet Ballessger is obviously playing to the right wing hate radio and intimidation administration fucks.
Pretty poor of him, lack of courtesy, intelligence and dignity.
The American delegation at the U.N. walked out.
Arrogant, fucking pricks...
the face of America!
gee we have been threatening this man and his country for years and it is intensifying he comes over here to state his side, he came here, not on tv but here, would bush go to iran hell no.
Actually, he ISN'T the head of the Iranian state. Ali Khamanei is. All the more reason the big whoop everyone is making over him is a joke.
and everything we are accusing him of hell we are doing it right this moment.
Mike @ 12:
This is a republican/democratic disinformation site now , happened about a year ago, DUH.
hic. . .
Prove me wrong, Richard.
Additionally, absolutely no civil marriage ceremonies are available to Jews in Israel.
All Jewish marriages performed in Israel MUST be orthodox and are overseen by rabbinical courts.
The disaster in iraq has exposed the choke hold that the pro-israeli lobby has had on American foreign policy for the last 60 years. i am very glad to see a book about this lobby sitting on the new york times best seller list (it is about time)
After trying to impose democracy in iraq and creating an utter disaster, americans should not even think they can still lecture anyone in the world about democracy.
Does bush honestly believe that anyone in the world is listening to him?????
what's difficult i guess because of my ignorance is whether to take him at what he's saying or to go along with the rest of the western world with the US leading the way and view him as a monster along the lines of sadam. I don't want as a liberal to get into the mode of defending this guy without really knowing what he's truly about. i do know from his interview that there were some truly outrageous and idiotic comments by him with regard to the holocaust; however, on the other hand with respect to nuclear power, he comments that what gives the US the right and power to have nuclear power and to deny it to other countries. that's one i've often asked myself. are we so self righteous that we just know that we will not misuse that power and lesser countries cannot be entrusted with that capability. fine if you're in the driver's seat, but what about "lesser countries." do we just accept the status quo because that's the way it is, or do we question and begin to ask of our almighty gov't why? these questions i fear need to be asked because the US is no longer on a pedestal, this country has engaged in a "preemtive war". and the american people just opened their mouths and drank of the jibberish that our gov't was passing out. at this point, very little will go unquestioned. if GW had a hand in it, then the motive and the action are suspect. That's where we have been driven to today.
Oh really? How many countries has he invaded? How many of his servicemen have died in the cause of an unjust war?
The guy is no saint, but I fear that you are falling into the conservative propaganda. When our media finds it necessary to outright lie about what the guy says you know that you have to tread with caution. Most people do not seem to realize that women not only have the right to vote, but they serve in the Iranian version of the Parliment. Women engineers outnumber the men (the men are skipping university to take high paying oilfield jobs.) Women can drive. Yes, the country enforces a stupid dress code but when I heard one Iranian activist waxing rhapsodic about how the Shah's men used to go into the country and force women to unveil at gunpoint I think I heard enough...
I am a attractive un(Iranian) homosexual. . . .
Rude? The man openly questions the well-documented facts surrounding the holocaust, declaring that more research needs to be done, and proclaimed that Iran doesn't have homosexuals. He presented himself like a self-righteous, rambling buffoon, much like your average wingnut. And just like the Bush regime, when pressed with direct and pointed questions, he embarasses himself in front of the world. Are we seriously whining about being "rude" to a fucking asshole? Are you kidding me? Just because George Bush and his mouth-breathing buddies are intent upon destroying our liberty, doesn't mean that the elected figure head of Iran, doesn't deserve to get dressed down in public, for his own public positions.
"the treatment of homosexuals, intellectuals and other dissidents offends any person who values human rights"
Have to wonder exactly Mr. Ahmadinejad position on this is philosophically different than Mr. Bush's? I mean, it sounds like the Republican platform to me.
Ahmedinejad has said that nukes should be eliminated by ALL countries.
Why is it ok for india and pakistan (a country undergoing political turmoil right now) to have nukes, but not iran?
why is it ok for israel to have nukes, or america, or france????
"an attractive. . . where's Truman?
The fact is Bollinger demonstrated the rudeness and ill-manners Americans are often accused of. He invited this man to his college and he behaved like a jerk. Ahmadinejad demonstrated much more poise and culture than the President of one of our foremost universities.
I have no use for Ahmadinejad, but I do know that the propaganda machine is out in full force and we cannot judge his views by listening to our leaders, because our leaders are liars, too. We must hear Iranians to judge their motives. Our government's motives are not pure.
Nicole Belle:
Bush? At a university? Answering questions?
... imagination malfunction... irony meter broken....humor unit causing pain...unable to formulate snappy reply....
To all Americans:
outside of America and western europe, homosexual acts are performed in extreme privacy. The rest of the world, especially the developing world is extremely conservation on this issue.
nm @ 7 & 10-
I watched the 60 minutes interview and was utterly disgusted by the questioning!! that reporter had no information about history or international affairs!!
Have ya seen the interview Ahmadinejad gave to Charlie Rose?
http://www.charlierose.com/home
Rose is ten times the interviewer Pelley is. Rose is informed, his questions are balanced. Ahmadinejad was still very evasive.
Ahmedinejad is not crazy and if you listen to what he has to say, alot of it does in fact, make sense!
No, some of it makes sense. Specifically, when he shoots down Bushco's reasoning fer hostility towards Iran.
Remeber, Ahmadinejad is the figurehead for a theocracy, and a theocracy that falsely claims that it's a democracy. Iran supports its fellow Shi'ia in Lebanon, Hezbollah, arming that organization against the Sunni/Druze/Christian coalition government in Beirut as well as attacks against Israel- fomentin' the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in '06.
And that remark about there bein' no homosexuals in Iran(durin' the Columbia appearance) would be laughable if it weren't so fuckin' frightenin'.
But yer correct: Bush is crazy. But that doesn't make Ahmadinejad sane.
If you want to go on about Israel, how about the fact that people from Gaza or the West Bank are not allowed to marry Israeli citizens.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=3989
Now this is not about relative evil. We do not have to prove whether Iran, Israel, or the USA is the worst country. The real question of the hour is if there is something about Iran that makes it necessary for us to attack them. Some in this country seem to think that if the Iranian President denies the Holocaust, his entire country is therefore fair game for another one. I reject that.
Greig Byrne @ 9:
Actually it is important to note that he says he does not deny the Jewish Holocaust... he takes issue with the numbers somehow. I'm not sure if it's the number of non-Jews or the number of Jews, but in any event, he does not deny that it happened. In fact, he asked that if it was Europeans (Germans) who perpetrated it, why is it the Palestinians are being punished by having their lands taken away to atone for it. Frankly, I wonder that myself.
There is one gay person in Iran and his name is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I'm not interested in defending this guy.
What does interest me is this orchestrated effort by the American government,media and apparently its universities, to insult and embarrass the president of Iran.The march toward war has never been so transparent or so ignoble.I've never seen such a display of intellectual cowardice.
The argument should not be whether the Iranian President is a nice man or not, it should be whether that warrants our country bombing his.
Here are some questions:
Has Iran done anything worth getting bombed for?
If we go to war with them, will it be legal?
Because you dislike how a country is ran, does it give you the right to kill thousands of it's citizens and overthrow it's government?
Other than 'he said bad things', is there any other evidence that Iran is a threat to us?
Is that evidence more or less credible than the evidence we used to attack Iraq?
What does any of this have to do with peace?
Andy,
As someone here said: ahmedinejad said they are no homosexuals in iran like in america (or something like that) - which is very true. In most developing countries, homosexuality is not something you express in public.
What's wrong with supporting hezbollah? israel illegally invaded southern lebanon and hezbollah grew out of that chaos (it was southern shia lebanese who formed the group to fight israeli aggression)
Who else is iran supporting? the shia's in iraq. why? because the shia's had no weapons after the fall of sadam and they went to iran and said..."if you dont help us, the sunnis will destroy us".
And why were eastern european jews settled in the mid-east? why did the europeans (who did the killing in the holocaust) carve out a piece of protected land for them IN EUROPE??
Greig Byrne @ 9:
Grieg,
If you actually took the time to READ the transcript, you would see that Ahmadinejad accepts the historical fact of the Holocaust. What he objects to is the price that Palestinians have been forced to pay.
Learn to be a little skeptical when our government and press try to portray foreign leaders in negative light.
From the 60 minute reporter, the President of a University, the US delegation walking out in the middle of his speech to w and Condi not listening to his speech, it was a disgraceful spectacle.
They deserve to be hated but on the blogs we can show them we are disgusted with their behaviour and we are not them.
Our government can't be trusted by us or the world, so the world will listen to him and see how he was treated with total disrespect.
This accomplished nothing but further hatred.
transcript here
George @ 58:
You seem to be one of the most rational people on this thread.
greg,
you are absolutely right. why was palestinian land forcefully taken from them?? the palestinians had nothing to do with the holocaust.
FilthyHarry @ 51:
BRAVO!
I got a kick out of seeing one uptight, ultra conservative, religious wingnut after another slam Ahmadinejad for his country's position regarding gays.
Just classic.
His opening statement was an overreaction to the criticisms thrown at the University for even having a dialog with the man. We're going to have deal with this guy with sooner or later. We can't afford another war. Having dialog and seeking diplomacy ( anyone remember that f#*king word?) with this man is a must before we start sending Marines, dropping bombs, and borrowing more money from China to pay for another conflict/occupation/resistance/mess!!! What was the goal of his visit? Was to have a dialog? Do Q/A? To enlighten or just to trash? Was it supposed to be a roast? The man is a HEAD OF STATE and agreed to talk and take questions from the audience. Honestly, the audience reaction ,questions, and post analysis would have provided all the necessary contextual framework for the man's hypocrisy and bellicosity. It was quite an unnecessary and drawn out opening statement.
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2007/09/25/columbia-university-and-evi...
Legalize @ 50:
actually, he doesn't question the fact of the holocaust, asshole. he objects to the fact that innocent Palestinians have been forced to be the permanent BoatPeople, a population without a land, because of no fault of their own.
Go read some Edward Said.
what israel is doing to the palestinians is very similar to what the boers did in apartheid south africa to the black.
mort zuckerman is losing ground with his pro-israeli propaganda pieces.
Personally I enjoyed the attempt at straight talk and calling out the Iran President. Bollinger said at the start that we call out our government leaders all the time. This never ending game of everybody smiling ... speaking lies... and then going right about their dark business is old old old. Lets start calling things like they are... lets call out bush for being a coward for not meeting with the Iran President and call out the Iran president for his bigotry and refusal to take any blame for anything.
Lets stop kissing these peoples asses as they lead us into disaster.
Whatever @ 45:
You're right that there are no civil marriages available in Israel and that all Jewish marriages must be performed by Orthodox rabbis who will not marry a Jew and a Muslim (or an Orthodox Jew and a reform Jew). Imans in Israel can marry Muslims but the Imans will not marry a Jew and a Muslim. However Israelis can go to another country, marry there and Israel will then recognize the marriage even if between Jew and non-Jew. This is not illegal (and trips to Cyprus for this purpose are routinely done- there are package vacation/marriage trips routinely advertised in Israeli newspapers). In fact, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled this year that the state must register a same-sex marriage performed outside the country. To say that it is uncategorically illegal for a Jew and a Gentile to wed, as you stated, is therefore untrue.
Brian Lehrer of WYNC interviewed Bollinger today. Listen here... http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/09/25. I don't accept Bollinger's explaination btw.
He doesn't take issue with the numbers, as far as I can tell from the translations he takes issue with the focus exclusively on the Jews who died and the use of the Holocaust as the trump card in any dealings that Israel has. A large number of non-Jews died in the Holocaust as well, including Poles, Russians, and almost all of the Roma. There is an industry dedicated to enshrining the Holocaust as the greatest tragedy in history (we spend millions each year on Holocaust memorials in this country) when of course large numbers of people of other races have perished in Holocausts of their own. (Seen many Native Americans lately?)
A lot of people have an emotional investment in viewing the Holocaust as a great evil that arose out of nothing, when in fact the Germans were only applying a new technology to treatment that the Jews had recieved for hundeds of years. Ironically, the Crusades were equally hard on Jews and Muslims.
The "holocaust denier's" conference that he called was in response to criticism of Iran's censorship and jailing of journalists. He was trying to call attention to the fact that historians are jailed in Europe for "denying" the Holocaust, or even disputing the magnitude of it. (What difference does it make if it was half a million, six million, or twenty million?)
This sort of stuff plays well in the Middle East. Remember that the President of Iran has his own goals, and they are not to please progressives in this country. He feels (wrongly in my opinion) that he is actually safe from attack by the US so he has nothing to lose by taking a more confrontational approach. His approach has, in fact, changed the rules of the game to Iran's advantage in the short term. We are demanding that they suspend enrichment and offering incentives for them to do so. If they suspend enrichment, then Iran's nuclear program would be back to where it was in 2000 when they had a voluntary suspension and were not offered incentives to continue so doing.
why is the iranian president a bigot?
it would be like someone calling an african president a bigot for opposing the apartheid regime in south africa!
ahmedinejad is pro-palestinian. does that make one a bigot?
For a minute I thought he was introducing Bush.
Richard:
Like I said, In Israel it is completely and absolutely FORBIDDEN for a Jew to wed a Gentile.
Mr Lee Bollinger you exhibit the sign of a smelly intellectual wanker. You cite and endorse the words of US officials & their anti Iranian propaganda ,limiting yourself to a shadow of a pro-governmental propaganda echo chamber. "the revulsion at what you stand for ,state sponsor of terror, misusing of sciences,humanity capacity for evil", are you projecting you hypocritical ass faced clown.You talk about intellectual courage. where is yours in regard to the revolting attitude of your own government who promotes and is engaged in state terrorism, war crimes, torture & physical abuse of prisoners, and the illegal detention of foreign nationals, as we speak. At least the Iran president had the courage to face an unfriendly and critical public, and stand by while listening a litany of insults, before personally responding to the most biased questioning. In his 8 years of embarrassment, George Bush never had the guts to do that. If The president of Iran has the monopoly on lunacy, Bush is on a 50-50 share base with him. Monopoly of nuclear terrorism, Iran has the right to develop and possess nuclear technology, and i hope they'll get their nukes before you filthy Americans have the opportunity to invade yet another country and slaughter hundreds of thousands of collaterals.......in Arabic, science is the means to rescue man from ignorance, Mr Lee Bollinger you really need a big dose of science right up your infected rectum.
the armenians suffered a holocaust. what country was carved out for them?
the kurds? where is their country?
the tutsi in the congo and burundi? where is there country? should they be repatriated to romania? can we carve out some land for them there?
I get suspicious of people who talk about science and reason and then inject the word "god" or "almighty" or "truth" into every other sentence. I don't like theocrats. Granted, he's a smart man... he's probably just playing upon his base... his radical fundamentalist islamic base... just as Bush panders to his radical fundamentalist christian base.
Oh, and that comment about how there are no homosexuals in Iran... and the audience just laughing at him...
hahaha... that was priceless. This was the smart move. Let him speak, but don't hesitate to ridicule him.
P.S. Have you ever read the stories about what happens to homosexuals in Iran???!!! Consentual sodomy is punishable by death.
wikipedia cites the "Boroumand Foundation" in saying that at least 107 people were executed for gay crimes between 1979 and 1990. So if Ahmadinejad is so sure Iran has no homosexuals, then who did they execute?
Bollinger told the truth. Ahmadinejad is a brutal, tinpot dictator.
Under this man Iran executes gay people. Hello? This on top of arresting people who dare speak their mind, closing newspapers, etc.
This is not a nice person. This is not a nice regime. We do not have to be nice to them.
Just because we on this blog hate bush (and rightly so) doesn't mean that we have to embrace everything Bush loathes. The enemy of our enemy (metaphorically speaking, Bush) is NOT our friend.
The knee-jerk rush to do whatever the opposite of Bush does is incredibly silly and childish. In this case, in crying about being 'rude' to a brutal dictator, that knee-jerk reaction is truly morally repugnant.