The call for the destruction of Israel by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – the religious psychopath president of Iran – has brought down the ire of even Kofi Annan. Well, if not ire, at least “dismay.”
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has voiced his “dismay” over remarks by Iran’s president calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.
In a rare rebuke, Mr Annan reminded Iran that, as a UN signatory, it had undertaken not to threaten the use of force against another state.
While President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s words provoked international outrage, Tehran said the West was over-reacting.
Israel has called for Iran to be expelled from the UN.
A statement released by the UN said the secretary general “read with dismay the remarks about Israel attributed to Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”.
It is rare for Kofi Annan to publicly rebuke a UN member state, says the BBC’s Laura Trevelyan in New York.
Tony Blair, no surprise, was a bit more forthcoming:
“If they carry on like this, people are going to believe they are a real threat to world stability,” Mr Blair said. “If they carry on like this, the question people are going to ask me is, ‘When are you going to do something about this?’”
Describing himself as “very angry” and Mr Ahmadinejad’s comments as “a disgrace,” the Prime Minister said he held very little hope of Iran changing course without some form of international intervention.
The Arab states were silent on the matter.
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14 Comments
1. mikem:With Iran seemingly begging to be attacked, I just hope and pray that Israel has excellent intelligence on the locations of ALL Iranian nuclear assets.
I would hate to see the process in Iraq hopelessly complicated by an attack by Israel against Iran. On the other hand it would be unrealistic to hold that Israel should be forced to live with a continuing direct threat to wipe it off the map. Especially by an Iran whose bullying bluster gives every indication of their having achieved some milestone.
Oct 27, 2005 - 11:40 pm 2. OJ:Sad days are these that we have ourselves been handed the ammunition… perhaps after we requested it!
http://www.rightviews.com/article.php?id=328
Over the past years, RightViews.com has followed this stalagmite; growing to reverberating heights. Are we there yet?
The question is if the day after tomorrow will tell! If it does… it is too late!
Hope to see you there…
(no inadvertent predictions made should be accredited to the author of this post, explicit or otherwise.)
Oct 28, 2005 - 1:11 am 3. OJ:Sad days are these that we have ourselves been handed the ammunition… perhaps after we requested it!
http://www.rightviews.com/article.php?id=328
Over the past years, RightViews.com has followed this stalagmite; growing to reverberating heights. Are we there yet?
The question is if the day after tomorrow will tell! If it does… it is too late!
Hope to see you there…
(no inadvertent predictions made should be accredited to the author of this post, explicit or otherwise.)
Oct 28, 2005 - 1:12 am 4. Mike_Nargizian:WABC Mews Update at the top of the hour on WABC Radio tonight talked about Iran’s statement and then played a clip of Tony Blair’s actual comment – He says -
“If they carry on like this………………
…….pause….. pause….thinking…
people are going to believe they are a real threat to world stability,” Mr Blair said. “If they carry on like this, the question people are going to ask me is, ‘When are you going to do something about this?’”
The last part I don’t remember hearing they may have clipped his statement on the radio update.
WABC update then reports at the end -
“Arab States were upset with Iran “whom they see” as a fundamentalist Islamic Government”
Who the H slipped that into ABC’s summation?
WABC Radio is conservative but for their updates I believe it is a feed from the parent TV company, though I’m not sure about that.
Oct 28, 2005 - 1:46 am 5. Mike_Nargizian:They also included Saeb Ereket’s Statement (there are 1000 no 500 no 250 why are you talking to me you should be stopping the Israeli War Crimes) that he is opposed to that statement…. lol….. If there ever was a crook, snake and liar this guy would be it… I believe its his cement company this is supplying the cement for the Wall parts by the way as he ‘decries’ the wall.
Oct 28, 2005 - 1:50 am 6. Martin Lindeskog:Did you know that the mullahs have banned foreign films in Iran?
All the Best,
Martin Lindeskog – American in spirit.
Gothenburg, Sweden.
Oct 28, 2005 - 2:11 am 7. TigerHawk:The most amusing aspect of Blair’s statement on Iran was his threat, if you will, to have “discussions with Washington.” The United Kingdom, together with France and Germany, has pushed hard for a “diplomatic solution” to the Iranian nuclear crisis, whatever that may mean in dealing with a murderous, racist, theocratic tyranny. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has humiliated the erstwhile great powers of Europe. There was a time when it was very dangerous for Persian potentates to do such a thing. Today, though, a sabre-rattling tin pot fascist can weather the storm of, er, protests in the world’s diplomatic salons, because that is the price that he is likely to pay. Blair, alone, has the stones to risk the rage of his own party and threaten the ultimate escalation: “discussions with Washington.”
One might well ask what Blair would do if there were an anti-war Democrat in the White House. George W. Bush, it seems, has his uses.
Oct 28, 2005 - 4:57 am 8. Laurence Simon:The silence of the Arab governments is expected.
It’s saddest to read the waffling of the Russian Foreign Minister in light of the fact that they are the ones helping construct Iran’s tools for their own version of the Final Solution.
Oct 28, 2005 - 6:19 am 9. Nomennovum:“A rare rebuke” by Kofi Annan? A “rare rebuke”!
I love that. The irony! The dead-pan way it’s said! Its … shall we say? … incompleteness.
It should have been written, “A rare rebuke of a despotic regime — especially of a Muslim one.”
Kofi Annan has seldom shied away from rebuking the United States (a in calling the Iraq War “illegal”).
A rare rebuke indeed. Kofi Annan est un ver.
Oct 28, 2005 - 6:43 am 10. Mark Razak:Ahmadinejad`s statements have been a blessing in disguise for the world`s, particularly European, leftists. The opportunity that Ahmadinejad has given them is one of a political “I’m not an anti-Semitic’’ inoculation. By “denouncing in the strongest terms’’ or “summoning the Iranian ambassador’’ etc these leftists and sorted anti-Israelis can now use their “disgust’’ over Ahmadinejad’s statements as “proof’’ that their not anti-Jewish. The true test is action. Will major contracts be cancelled? Will the Iranian opposition be supported?? There is a saying that goes something like this faith that does not act is not sincere.
As for Arab governments remaining silent on this matter, of course, they are silent they agree wholeheartedly with Ahmadinejad. No issue unites Arabs from Morocco to Iraq more than the desire for Israel’s destruction. I would wager that in the Arab world you would find more agreement with Ahmadinejad’’s statement in principle than with the statement that tooth decay is bad. Ahmadinejad maybe Persian but he speaks to the Arab heart.
Oct 28, 2005 - 7:05 am 11. Veeshir:The Arab states were silent on the matter.
I actually think that’s a good thing as I think that any response would include the de rigueur “but Israel…”
I bet he figured a bunch of Arab leaders would endorse his speech.
Oct 28, 2005 - 7:39 am 12. PJ:He’s emulating Hitler. Will the world snooze, as they did in the ’30s?
I saw this documentary at the film festival. It was great. Kofi needs to see it, too.
http://www.honestreporting.com/obsession/
Oct 28, 2005 - 9:08 am 13. Kevin P:Roger:
Wow! Dismay, Kofi, you better take a pill, your response is so ,ummm, eh, urrr, I don’t know, …..flacid? Dismay doesn’t cut it. You are the head of an organization that supposedly upholds the highest standards of the world and is supposed to be the future headquarters of the world government that so many leftists lust for and the best he can do is dismay? If Iran managed to drive the Jeeeeewwwwssss into the sea would Kofi be distraught? I bet he would even have to take a tums and miss his sushi reservation because he would so upset. Guess what Kofi, meglomaniacs don’t care if they cause anyone any sense of dismay. Oh gosh, Kofi is distraught, I guess we won’t wipe out the Jews. Yeah, that will cut it.
Oct 28, 2005 - 7:51 pm 14. charles austin:A minor pedantic point, but Iran is not an Arab state. It would, I believe be more correct to point out that the Muslim states are silent on the matter, since it is a peculiar virulent anti-semitism that motivates their genocidal mania.
Oct 31, 2005 - 6:12 pm