It’s clear now – the Durban Review Conference is not an anti-racism conference; it’s a pro-racism conference, sponsored by the UN. But more of that anon. Meanwhile…
I have had enough of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to last me a lifetime. He’s gone now, departed from this hotel with his entourage that I was told had taken forty rooms, the men with the machine guns vanished from the corridors and balconies. Earlier this evening there had been a party in the mezzanine for five hundred of his closest friends, which, goaded on by Claudia Rosett (she is more intrepid than I), we tried to crash. We didn’t get very far but I suspect Claudia, the only woman in sight without a hijab, had as much chance of getting in as I do of flying a biplane to Jupiter.
But perhaps she was jealous because she only arrived this afternoon in Geneva and missed the extraordinary events that occurred in the Palais des Nations today. Even now, many hours later, it’s hard to digest them, hard to even conceive that I was there. But the UN itself may have received a powerful blow to its prestige from which it will never recover. Given the circumstances, it doesn’t deserve to.
It all began for me around three o’clock. I was in Room 17, a giant meeting hall and had my eyes fixed, as did two or three hundred others, at the large television screen on stage. Ahmadinejad was beginning to address the conference in the main assembly hall just below us. But there was no English language translation coming out of my earphone. I was puzzled, but I wasn’t alone. What was the demon saying? Alan Dershowitz, seated directly behind me, was the first to speak out. He jumped to his feet and cried out, demanding the right to a translation of the Iranian’s speech. In my room at least, there was uniform agreement. People started crying out in frustration for a translation that wasn’t forthcoming. What was going on with the UN, where simultaneous translation was a given?
Just then, on the television screen, a couple of kids in clown suits started demonstrating in the aisles in front of Ahmadinejad. It seemed surreal. (I later learned they were members of a European Jewish delegation.) Everyone in my room appeared amazed, even pleased, but the clowns were unceremoniously escorted from the hall and Ahmadinejad resumed his speech. I thought this was some minor interruption of the sort one frequently sees in the US, but in what seemed like seconds, a number of national delegates were standing up in their seats in front of Ahmadinejad and walking out in his face. These included France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the UK, etc… all countries that, I knew, had made a big deal about attending the conference, not the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands – that honor roll of countries with the sense to realize what a fiasco this was in front and refused to participate (how good they look now!).
This walkout precipitated, if anything, a bigger response in the room I was in where almost everyone was on their feet now, shouting at Ahmadinejad and racing for the door. I found my cameraman and headed down stairs toward the main salon. It was almost like a stampede at that point – right in the United Nations – people were so appalled by Ahmadinejad. We took a lot of footage of this with commentary by Dershowitz, Shelby Steele and John Voigt, which you will be able to see on PJTV.
Still, by then, I had only heard snippets of what Ahmadinejad had said that had prompted this reaction. Soon, however, it was all too clear. Here is a translation of just one passage – reprinted verbatim in their own English – provided by the perpetrators themselves, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN:
“Following the World War Two, they [the West? Security Council members?] resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless, on the pretext of Jewish sufferings and the ambiguous and the dubious question of holocaust. [sic] They sent migrants from Europe, the United States and from other parts of the world to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine…”
So there you have it – Holocaust denial in what was ostensibly the main speech of the Durban Review Conference. The Vatican (among others) condemned this as “extremist and unacceptable.” I have heard too that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is quite concerned about the fallout this will have for the UN, particularly for it’s heavily US financed pocketbook, if the American people start to have enough of this reactionary nonsense masquerading as anti-racism.
But wait – there’s more.
Because I had a press pass, I was able to attend Ahmadinejad’s press conference immediately after the walkouts. I didn’t really want to, but I felt, well, as they say, in for a dime, in for a dollar. This room too was jam-packed. I kept debating whether to ask a question, not that I could have. Only about six were answered. Ahmadinejad drones on and on, of course. Listening to him answer questions is terrifying and instructive at once. I know this sounds like a bit of an exaggeration (and, yes, I’m aware of Godwin’s Law) but it must be a little like it was to have listened to Hitler and Stalin. Language is turned upside down. Everything is its opposite. “Democracy” is totalitarianism. “Human rights” are oppression. “Freedom” is repression. You head starts to spin. I think I remember from 1984 that Winston Smith got a headache listening to that kind of language. I can well understand it.
I’m too tired now to go on. It’s one in the morning here in Geneva. I am looking out the hotel window to make sure he is gone. What remains as a question is who allowed Ahmadinejad to speak at this conference in such a prominent position? It would be interesting to find out – and to understand their reasoning. More later.
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72 Comments
1. Pajamas Media » Durban II Diary: The Clowning of Ahmadinejad:[...] the entire story here [...]
Apr 20, 2009 - 4:16 pm 2. Leigh Thelmadatter:I am very pleasantly surprised by the walkout of Ahmadinejad’s speech. Given that the content could not have been a surprise to anyone… he’s said this stuff before… I have to wonder what really prompted these generally appeasing nations to find a backbone. Is something coming down the pipe that we dont know about yet?
Apr 20, 2009 - 4:29 pm 3. Delia:Abso-freakin’lutely right, Mr. Simon, Sir! Absolutely DISGUSTING, SICKENING and SAD. God bless you for your efforts and for your TRUTHFUL account.
Get some well deserved REST.
(((HUGS))),
Delia =0)
Apr 20, 2009 - 4:32 pm 4. Judy, NYC:we’ve all had enough of this strutting, almost comical figure. like hitler, mussolini, he has finally achieved true dirtbag status, and let’s be done with it and him. i do hope the israelis take him and his nuclear ambitions out and include a few other psychos as well in the doing. the world and life are hard anyway, and unpronouncable and his cohorts, hamas, hizbullah, alqueda, while they remain breathing are stinking up the place very badly.
Apr 20, 2009 - 4:33 pm 5. Phineas:Ahmadinejad’s speech is just the kind of thing the MSM would hide from us, “for our own good.” It would be great if PJTV could acquire the video, provide subtitles, and let the world see this Iranian Hitler-wannabe for what he is.
Apr 20, 2009 - 4:35 pm 6. Matthew M:Will there be any consequences for the UN if its perfidy is not relayed by the MSM with – say one tenth the coverage given to Sarah Palin’s campaign wardrobe?
The fascinating question yet to be answered is what made the Euros walk out. These are, after all, people who will have no qualms about referring to Israel ghettoizing Palestinians. Maybe they were offended by Iran’s treatment of dead Jews. Too bad the Europeans don’t care about the living ones.
Apr 20, 2009 - 4:44 pm 7. Lee Merrick:Roger, on a happier note, the Laker’s won their 1st play-off game against Utah on Sunday. Keep up the good work – I am glad you are there to cover this.
Apr 20, 2009 - 4:45 pm 8. RWE:Have any of y’all seen what the cartoonist Scott Adams has had to say about Ahmadinejad and Iran in the past?
He said that Ahmadinejad is no worse than Pres G.W. Bush because they are both religious fanatics.
He said that Ahmadinejad’s threat to “wipe out Israel” was mistranslated and in reality reflects Iran’s desire for true democracy for that country, without gerrymandering of the voting process.
I find it difficult to believe that Scott Adams was being serious, but it appears that the walking fever blister named Ahmadinejad has his defenders in this country.
Apr 20, 2009 - 4:46 pm 9. Joey:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/parvez-sharma/poor-israel-sure-and-i-am_b_189011.html
“Still later as the Iranian president walked into his press conference, clueless, young (all White by the way) UN workers stood and hissed, accusing him of “racism” (a term problematically applied in this case).
Today for the first time I was witness to the extent of power the pro-Israel , anti-Iran and anti-Palestinian lobbies wield, even here in Geneva.
Cleary Ahmadinejad made provocative comments which were in poor taste.”
This is what the Huffington Post publishes nowadays. The comment section is similar.
“Any time I begin to feel sympathy for Israelis. I remember the article here on Huffpo about the Israelis
sitting on the hill sipping diet pepsi cheering while watching the IDF murder Palestinians.”
“Amen.”
“Why is it so blasphemic to label this state and regime that systematically oppresses the Palestinians for what it is? Thank you Parvez.”
“You want to know the truth. You can’t handle the truth. Ask Jimy Carter, one of the greatest President America had.”
Apr 20, 2009 - 6:05 pm 10. Hogarth:“The fascinating question yet to be answered is what made the Euros walk out.”
They were just following the rest of the clowns.
Apr 20, 2009 - 6:13 pm 11. Gringo:Lee Merrick: Roger’s postings show that even Laker fans such as Roger and you, and Celtics fans such as myself, can agree on other matters. Unity in Diversity, as it were.
As for myself, I think the Lakers should pay $50 million a year to have DinnerJacket as their point guard. You and Roger are probably of the opinion that the Celtics should pay the same amount or more to have DinnerJacket as THEIR point guard. Anything to get him of Iran, perhaps. We will agree to disagree.
Great posting. Roger must feel as if he were a witness to history.
Apr 20, 2009 - 6:15 pm 12. Freddy Hill:Hmmm… Do you think that Obama’s wishy-washiness is actually having an unintended positive effect? Europeans seem to have grown a bit of a backbone. Still soft, still cartilaginous, but who knows, it may firm up over time. Could it be that they know that they can no longer rely on the US for toughness, so it is up to themselves?
If so, this would be good news.
Apr 20, 2009 - 6:31 pm 13. LogicalUS:“Only about six were answered. Ahmadinejad drones on and on…..Language is turned upside down. Everything is its opposite. “Democracy” is totalitarianism. “Human rights” are oppression. “Freedom” is repression. You head starts to spin.”
That seems to be all the rage today. Sounds like another well-known demagogue we know doesn’t it. Trillions in pork is “responsible spending”, “taxes are investments”, etc.
I am sure that just like with the dictators of South America, our version and this nutjob will have tons of laughs about the fall of the American empire. I doubt Obama heard anything controversial from this nut which he hadn’t heard every Sunday from his “spiritual advisors”.
Apr 20, 2009 - 6:39 pm 14. Jamie Irons:Wonderful reporting, Roger.
Like some of those commenting here, I am surprised and — a little bit — encouraged at the walking out of the Europeans.
Be well.
Jamie Irons
Apr 20, 2009 - 6:49 pm 15. Roy Lofquist:Delia, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Come with me to the Casbah.
Apr 20, 2009 - 6:50 pm 16. Delia:4. Judy, NYC,
AMEN, Judy! This slimeball [he makes my skin crawl just viewing his picture, I can't even IMAGINE being in his actual, sleazy presence in real life] is the scum of the earth. I wish I could aim one teensy tiny nuke right at his fugly mug. Bleh. KABOOM!
15. Roy Lofquist,
“Delia, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Come with me to the Casbah.”
~
Vot, my dahlink? Do you vant to donce zee tango in zee moonlight viz leetle moi? You breeng ze champagne ont ze muzeek and I veel bring my 5-inch stilleto heels and a killer set of stems! Va-va-Vroom! Ze husband of Delia vill be votching zo be veery carefoil vare you poot your hondz or zare vill be hellz to pay. *muah*
Apr 20, 2009 - 7:15 pm 17. jerryofva:Roger:
Comparing Ahmadinejad to Hitler and Stalin is insulting … to Hitler an Stalin
Apr 20, 2009 - 7:19 pm 18. Delia:17. jerryofva:
“Comparing Ahmadinejad to Hitler and Stalin is insulting … to Hitler an Stalin”
~
You’re right. Even satan wants a pass on this one. -But, that being said, I can smell the brimstone from here!
Apr 20, 2009 - 7:29 pm 19. jimpres:Unfortunately the US is paying most of the freight for the UN and it has been a non functional organization for many years.
Apr 20, 2009 - 7:36 pm 20. Roy Lofquist:They just pontificate and call us debtor’s because we don’t pay our fair share on time. We should get out of the UN and save some money and lots of grief.
Ah, Delia. I love you for your beautiful mind. Perish the notion that I would sully your perfect being with worldly thoughts. How about if I got hubby a ticket to the Knicks game?
Apr 20, 2009 - 7:40 pm 21. Mark:If the UN is going to sponsor this kind of garbage and it doesn’t prompt the United States to leave the UN, exactly what will? When are we going to say enough is enough in regards to this organization. Oil for Food, failure to act in Rwanda and Sudan, the failure to do anything when Hussein violated multiple of its own resolutions, and the resultant chastisement of the US when we did, the repeated labelling of the UNs most generous benefactor nation, the US, as a deadbeat, the labelling of the US as stingy after a devastating tsunami, its penchant for discussing third world poverty while ensconsed in five star hotels located in European resort towns, the raping and pimping out of teenage girls by UN peacekeepers, its appeasement of N. Korea, the fact the most repressive regime in history, China has a veto, the fact that France has one too, a former Nazi concentration camp guard as a former Secretary General, a former Secretary General who steered work to his unqualified son, the unqualified son who accepts kickbacks, the expectation that the US will surrender its sovereignty and listen to insults directed at us when we don’t give up that sovereignty, the expectation that the US will pay almost a quarter of their budget after they do that insulting, the tendency of their peacekeeping forces and diplomats to flee, as they did in Iraq and Darfur the second bullets begin to fly, their failure to stop a massacre that literally occurred before their eyes in Kosovo, the fact that Libya was given temporary chairmanship of the inappropriately named Human Rights Council, the fact Libya is even on the council, their politicized WHO reports, including ones that place the United States next to Cuba in terms of health care, the fact that they believe it is reasonable to spend multibillions remodeling their office building, with the US, of course, footing most of the bill, the fact they have billions to remodel a building but continuously claim they are underfunded, the fact that they act as if Israel is the root of all evil, the passing of a resolution forbidding criticism of Islam, their criticism of US over Guantanomo, but their silence over the fact the whole island where Guantanamo is located is a prison, their poorly run refugee camps in Palestinian territories, the fact they use the term refugee over sixty years after the formation of Israel, their continued use of the term “occupied territories” to describe the territories Israel was forced to seize after multiple wars of aggression were launched from them etc., etc., etc. The list goes on and on and on. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for any US president to justify our membership in this loathsome organization. Frankly, I believe it is impossible to justify our membership, especially since the US taxpayer is being asked to foot the largest single percentage of the bill.
Apr 20, 2009 - 7:49 pm 22. Promoguy:My take on the walk of Euros is as follows. When Israel decides to do something about the Iranians nuke capabilities, the Euro retort will be….why oh why did you do that. Didn’t you see us walk out in your support.
Apr 20, 2009 - 7:50 pm 23. Mark:When did Jeremiah Wright start a lucrative career in the field of political speechwriting?
Apr 20, 2009 - 7:50 pm 24. Barrett:Roger,
Thanks to you and PJM. I do not know what kind of coverage or superficial analysis this will get in the MSM.
Ahmadinejad and the Iranians are a real risk to global stability because of their apocalyptic views. A nuclear Iran is unacceptable.
Brigette Gabriel commented that Obama’s video message to Iran would be interpreted as surrender. At best, it will be viewed as weakness.
Israel knows it cannot trust Obama. I am concerned about another black swan event – Israel launching a pre-emptive strike on Iran. This would also cause huge dislocation in an already weakened world economy.
I would sleep better if Obama was not so milquetoast. I hope he doesn’t get more of us killed with his foreign policy naivete and inability assess the character of others.
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:01 pm 25. Delia:19. Roy Lofquist,
ROTFL! You nawty, nawty Roy Boy! The Hubster isn’t a Knicks fan but zank you joost za zame, dahlink!
Sully my “perfect being”? I have been called ‘Angelic” and my real nickname IS “Angel” but A ain’t no Angel in the literal sense. You’re speaking to moi, right? The girl who gets herself into muchos ‘trubble’ for speakin’ her mind and letting her freak flag fly? Are you sure you have the right Delia?
Nyuck-Nyuck! 
Beautiful mind? Oh stop with the flattery! Goofy, silly, naughty mind maybe…not so sure about the ‘beautiful’ part. I’m a right-wing ‘extreeeeeeeeeemist’ after all.
Let’s see, here’s my right wing extremism in a nutshell: I comment here and on a few other blogs in between web-mistressing my hubby’s website for our contstruction business. I was a ‘model’ for a short period in my life. I’ve had my songs published that I wrote when I was 25 years old but they didn’t go anywhere because the publisher wanted ME to sing them and I was more concerned with homeschooling my daughter than trying to seek ‘fame’ and/or ‘fortune’ as some ego fix. I’m a poet, a sculptor, a painter, a computer geek and not too shabby at the game of chess. I look 25 years old even though I’m 42 (my husband and friends’ going joke is that I have a painting of the REAL Delia aging in a hidden closet ha-ha), and I was just asked for my i.d. at a Sushi bar of all things just weeks ago. I believe in holistic medicine, organic/raw foods and treating my body as a temple that GOD blessed me with. I have shyed away from using the gifts GOD has given me because I’m not self-serving but if the good Lord wants to use me in some way, I’m willing and ready to do my part for HIM if he chooses me to do so.
Whoops. I kinda waxed on about me… Sorry ’bout that…
All I can say is we are up against a Lefty Goliath of frightening proportions. There are times when I cry my blue eyes red.
To those of you who believe and have faith in GOD…please pray…and pray A LOT. We need HIM right now.
Mr. Simon, I hope I didn’t hijack this thread. I’m feeling very emotional about all of this. I’m so disheartened and frightened…there is a tear rolling down my face as I type this…
God bless you, Roger.
*off to grab a kleenex*
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:04 pm 26. Terry Gain:Barrett
Can anyone this naive actually become POTUS? Is there another explanation for Obama’s behavior.
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:06 pm 27. kenny komodo:Interesting and amusing article but the real question is asked at the end. Who did invite that Iranian gasbag? Well if you follow the money you’ll probably find it was the UN. I’m sure there’s some money involved in this somewhere, maybe in direct payments, or investments, something. Now if the community of nations would just come together and exclude Ahmadinejad from everything, from trade, from communications, from technology, the idiot would get the message fast and strong. Then perhaps we can bribe the Israeli’s to take out their nuclear development sites and we’ll all be happier. Oh and incite unrest and revolution within Iran through the use of the young and willing.
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:08 pm 28. Laura:Mark, that is one AWESOME list. Technically I’d read about all the evil UN stuff at one time or another, but seeing it all in one post (including some, to my shame, I’d forgotten about) is DAMN impressive.
Sadly, I believe we will never leave the UN, because the MSM has never covered even one item from your List Of Awesomeness. Thus, the vast majority of Americans don’t even know about any of it.
Sigh. If the Democrats/MSM/general liberals had cared one tenth about UN “Peacekeepers” (in several different countries!)using food to bribe children to sell themselves as they had about (self-sworn!) terrorists in Gitmo…
But they don’t care, they don’t talk about it on TV, they don’t write articles about it, they don’t blog about it. The famous rage liberals pride themselves in will never be directed at the UN, no matter what horrible things it might do. Ever.
Geez, I’m gonna sign off; I’m really depressing myself.
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:20 pm 29. Mark:“The Vatican (among others) condemned this as ‘extremist and unacceptable’.” Is this the same Vatican that loudly criticized the United States and other European nations for not attending this farcical conference?
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:37 pm 30. Concerned One:What if the One is not naive? What if he knows exactly what he is doing and why. Think about that rather than the explanation that he is naive. Personally, I harbor no such delusions, and I don’t think anyone else should either. I hope I’m wrong, but naivety doesn’t really explain the actions of a very smart man. You can draw your own conclusions as to what the results of his policies and actions will be for America, and the world, but whatever the results may be, they will not occur because he is naive.
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:47 pm 31. Winston:Shame on racist Jew-hating Europeans and UN for allowing this to take place.
Apr 20, 2009 - 8:52 pm 32. Promoguy:#30-Concerned One
No what ifs. You are right on the mark. He is fully aware of what he is doing. I have never considered him to be naive.
Apr 20, 2009 - 9:05 pm 33. john lynch:He must have been surprised. It’s not like he hasn’t said this stuff thousands of times. And all of a sudden people get angry?
Apr 20, 2009 - 9:09 pm 34. Delia:30. Concerned One,
You’re fears are on point BUT, I believe 0bama is a puppet with even WORSE behind the ‘green curtain’ people pulling his strings. Is Zero smart? I’ve yet to see ANY proof of that. He’s an ‘okay’ ACTOR at best and he even sucks at that when his teleprompter ‘Linus blanky’ isn’t there for him to rely on. His voice grates on my nerves and I find no grand ‘eloquence’ when listening to him. The ‘ONE’ has an almost masturbatory self-ingratiating way of speaking that annoys me to no end and I quickly turn the channel when I hear his icky voice.
The self-fawning, self-preening, self-loving, AMERICA HATING sleazoid in office is backed up by someone/s more powerful than he. There is no explaining away the money behind his campaign, no explaining away why he spent so much money hiding his real birth certificate [yeah, the birth certificate argument is tiresome by now but it's STILL strange and creepy].
We have a ‘dictator who wants to be KING’ in the making. What will he do to our Constitution when all is said and done?
Was he a supposed ‘Constitutional Scholar’ for the sole purpose of tearing it apart bit by bit whilst staying under the radar with the help of the MSM? How much do we know about this bozo? Enough to tell us that this guy is a full-on CREEP but people looked the other way and got all caught up in the ‘race-card’ our white-American president played oh-so-well.
There is a quiet riot growing in the true heart of REAL Americans who LOVE not HATE their country… We shall see…we shall see…
Apr 20, 2009 - 9:09 pm 35. Delia:‘YOUR’ not You’re from my last post. ARGH! It’s a curse I tell ya! I hit submit and Blammo! I see my errors. *pouts*
Apr 20, 2009 - 9:11 pm 36. Mouse line:OK, wwhat do we learn there ? that the stoopid Eurotrash attended a conference that the good ol americans didn’t want to ! even if it was of Obambi’s administration decision ! LMAO
Now, as it’s a medias war that is maintained by lunatics (in other times we would call them “paper-tigers”, where a racist monkey wanted to lead the show, then it was necessary to ruin it, for sure, America couldn’t have made it, or it would have been one more apologizing seance LMAO
Apr 20, 2009 - 9:49 pm 37. David P:“What remains as a question is who allowed Ahmadinejad to speak at this conference in such a prominent position?”
EVERY NATION, that engages in dialogue while quietly orchestrating business ventures allow and grant this tyrannical regime voice.
Apr 20, 2009 - 10:08 pm 38. PatriotUSA:Amadinijerk is a perfect example of why the USA should re-institute it’s policy of assasinating thugs and scum like this litle hitler of the islamofacist world. Like that would ever happen with the mullah obamaham occupying the White House.
Apr 20, 2009 - 10:20 pm 39. Paddy:People, why all the hype because a nutcase speaks at the UN. This is the best thing that could have happened. Now the UN itself has confirmed that the USA and the other countries did the right thing by staying away. Think what would have happened if the ‘muslim midget’ had said nothing about Israel, the UN would have had a field day saying that the US and others were wrong. Now there is definite confirmation that the UN and its Arab and Persian very good friends are bullshitters to the hilt.
Apr 20, 2009 - 11:42 pm 40. Delia:Good on you Ahmadinejad, keep up the ‘foot and mouth’ disease – every time he opens his mouth he puts his foot in it. And forget the other ‘third world country’ yokels sitting there clapping with grins on their faces – not a penny between them and you know that next week they will come running to the US and Europe for a loan. Payback time will come.
39. Paddy,
Great points, Paddy!
Only I’d give a “pox on you” to Ahmalingadingdangdong rather than a “good on you” but, otherwise, great post. HA!
Apr 20, 2009 - 11:53 pm 41. stuart Williamson:Who invited him? Pick any one of the 80% or more of the members who not only sat through it all but applauded him afterwards. The UN is a totally failed, totally inefficient, totally corrupt, totally anti-American organization. Its headquarters a scab on the face of our nation. We should insist that it’s time is up and that it move to anywhere else. Won’t hapen on Fearless Reader’s watch: he just knows they all hate America but love him because they understands that he hates it too.
Delia, you’re right on the mark, He is the figurehead, the puppet of the Ayers/Alinsky Chicago cabal that hyped him into the White House, and David Axelrod, the puppet-master who orchestrated his campaign, is his Minister of Propaganda. his Herr Dr. Goebbels. Look up Joseph Goebbels on Wikipedia. The parallel is spooky.
His primary employment over the years, other than Community Organizer, was as a lecturer (not a professor) on Constitutional Law – not in the sense of Justice Clarence Thomas, but on how to subvert and change the Constitution to a Socialist Manifesto. That’s the Change he Audaciously Hopes for.
Apr 20, 2009 - 11:59 pm 42. Brian:Isn’t this about the 942nd time A’jad said something disgusting and outrageous in a speech? What did anyone expect?
That being said, compare the walk-out response of the UN delegates to the friendly reception A’jad got when he spoke at Columbia (after the idiotic bluster from Bollinger.) Makes the delegates look like moral giants in comparison.
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:27 am 43. Marian Kechlibar:Holocaust denial is a big no-no in the European Union. In half of the EU countries, it is a crime, and in the rest, at least a showstopper. Except for neo-Nazis, no one touches this subject with a 10-ft pole in Europe.
While anti-Zionism is modern in circles of loony intellectuals in the whole world (not just Europe), holocaust denial is not. Anyone who will do it publicly will lose most of the support of the chattering classes.
Ahmadinejad is either stupid or does not care, because he rushed into holocaust denial head-on. If he, instead of “going postal”, donned a mask of oh-so-oppressed-brown-person-from-third-world, he would no doubt have success with the lefties. This way, no more.
That said, it is better to have at least one sincere ugly Islamist there to show the real face of the Iranian Islamic Republic.
A forked-tongue smooth ideologue like Tariq Ramadan is much more dangerous and subversive, because he knows how to speak soft English words to the Western public, while sticking to the same ideas and objectives like the rest of the Islamist gang.
On the other hand, guy like Ahmadinejad is a walking wake-up call. Not for everybody, but still for some of the fence-sitters.
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:34 am 44. Delia:41. stuart Williamson
Stu [can I call ya Stu?], your wiki direction sent chills down my spine…and don’t forget Hitler who almost had a verbatim childhood with Hitler.
Will ISLAM win? Will Jews and Christians be thrown under the racist bus? I hope not. I pray not. I will fight the good fight and I will not put my throat before the sword. EVER.
For the good of our country, we need to awake from our slumber while those of us [middle class worker bees] who can afford an internet connection still can.
I waver between anger, disgust and fear. There are good days and bad days but, today was a bad day for my husband and I. We lost our equity line of credit from our properties we own in one fell swoop and now we are going to be tightening our belts even tighter. Our employees are scared. The trickle down economics is now the trickle down broke-enomics.
Not kewl. Not Kewl at all. UGH!
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:39 am 45. Delia:Correction: Hitler who had an almost verbatim childhood with OBAMA.
Delia is up too late for her own good.
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:41 am 46. lefroy:The disturbing thing is not so much that he said the things he said – I mean, he’s just a no-account little grub who’s out of his mind – but that this preposterous “conference” happened at all, and we paid for it.
Talk about a loss of nerve and will on the part of the civilised world! Our pollies tiptoe around the thing and congratulate themselves on “staying away”, as if we’re doing something courageous.
Let’s call it like it is, shall we? This was a motley gathering of crooks, grubs and wingnuts, mostly from rogue and failed states, gibbering away on the international public purse.
What would Washington or Lincoln, what would Disraeli or Churchill, have said about the idea of being lectured to by Mahmoud Ahmadinijad?
Apr 21, 2009 - 4:56 am 47. judyinjerusalem:See how one Jerusalem think tank has been trying for a few years already to have Ahmadinejad brought up on incitement to genocide charges…http://www.jcpa.org/text/ahmadinejad-incitement.pdf
Apr 21, 2009 - 5:13 am 48. yasser:Read this:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1079938.html
“UN: Ahmadinejad dropped Holocaust denial from speech”
“The United Nations said on Tuesday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dropped a reference to Holocaust denial from his speech the previous day at the Durban II conference.
The prepared English text of Ahmadinejad’s speech said the West had used the “ambiguous and dubious” question of the Holocaust in setting up the state of Israel.
UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze said he omitted the remark in his delivery in Farsi on Monday. The French and English interpreters also dropped the phrase.”
This is what Ahmadinejad actually said:
“Following World War II, they resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering. They sent migrants from Europe, the United States and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine. In fact, in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine.”
Apr 21, 2009 - 6:38 am 49. Mike_K:Not all the HuffPo comments were of the reflex variety. I kind of liked this one:
Wow. A gay Muslim standing up for Iran, a country that routinely hangs homosexuals.
Don’t you know that one of the biggest reasons fundamental Islam hates Jews is that the Jews are “corrupting the culture” through “promotion” (read: Tolerance) of things like homosexuality, women’s liberation and freedom of speech…all values that are held to be crimes punishable by death or imprisonment in Iran (and, now, Gaza)?
I always thought the Log Cabin Repuglicans were a bunch of self-deluded fools in need of counseling and psycho-pharmaceuticals, but you my friend make them look minor-league. You’ve got a self-made blind spot in your self-identity. It presents as a hole in your logic big enough to drive one of those rolling Revolutionary Guard mobile scaffolds straight through it.
In all seriousness, I urge you to take your peace-loving views to Teheran, announce yourself, and count the seconds before they hang you by the neck until dead.
I have believed for a long time that Islam is a Jewish heresy. Mohammed tried to convert the Jews of Medina to his new religion and they weren’t buying. No Pork, Abraham, diet laws, study of The Book… A lot of similarity.
No wonder the Muslims hate Jews. They know where their beliefs came from and then were rejected.
Apr 21, 2009 - 6:56 am 50. glenn:Actually it is kind of interesting watching the Euros, led by France of all countries, grow a pair in response to figuring out that big brother isn’t going to protect their interests anymore. I’ll bet there are a lot of them who go to bed at night secretly wishing the Israelis do something about this nutjob before he gets nuclear weapons. Not that they won’t be very vocal criticising Israel after the fact.
Apr 21, 2009 - 7:01 am 51. John from Toronto:No clash of civilizations? A number of countries did walk out. But what about all those countries that stayed and applauded Ahmadinejad?
Apr 21, 2009 - 7:09 am 52. Xanthippe:The walk-out was dramatic, but no less so than the applause and cheering Ahmadinejad received by those remaining.
Chilling.
Apr 21, 2009 - 7:32 am 53. jerryofva:Promoguy:
To the contrary. The Euros just green-lighted an Israeli premptive strike on Iran.
Apr 21, 2009 - 7:39 am 54. HoosierHoops:Nice report Roger..Good job and be safe..
Apr 21, 2009 - 8:26 am 55. tehag:Thanks for the report, Roger. Good work. It’s appreciated. However…
“But the UN itself may have received a powerful blow to its prestige from which it will never recover.”
I wish. But the UN passed anti-Semitic resolutions in the past and hired as its secretary-general a man who had participated in the extermination of the lesser races under Hitler. Hiring Waldheim as fuhrer of the UN didn’t kill the UN. Neither will this. Anti-semitism will remain popular in Europe, Eurabia, and Arabia as long as those places exist.
“reactionary nonsense”
You mean progressive nonsense. The reactionaries (the Vatican) denounced it.
tehag
Apr 21, 2009 - 9:06 am 56. Terry Gain:What remains as a question is (1) who allowed Ahmadinejad to speak at this conference in such a prominent position? (2) It would be interesting to find out – and to understand their reasoning. More later.
A. (1) Barack Obama allowed it. The United States is the largest contributor to the United Nations budget and it is currently led by a man who has received the greatest outpouring of unqualified international support in the history of mankind and yet this president did not use his office to attempt to prevent this outrage.
Apr 21, 2009 - 9:48 am 57. Fragmentarian:(2) Reasoning, or lack of it? The dictates of soft power required Barack Obama to fail to use his office to try to prevent this outrage.
CBCPravda showed a handful of disgruntled folks walking out of a room in which several hundred remained all the while clapping and cheering. What message does that send without talking to those who walked? Instead they spoke to a mealy mouthed UN employee. I love their oh so balanced approach. Good and evil are seen to both be acceptable choices! No wonder people who don’t get their news anywhere else are so confused between Israel and Palistinians!
Apr 21, 2009 - 9:52 am 58. RebeccaH:Those that didn’t come to this conference and those that walked out should stay out. Start an alternative UN for democratic and free nations and with much stricter membership qualifications. That would be progress. We could move on from there towards something better.
Perhaps the appeasers and opportunists that are the UN are finally realizing that Ahmadenijad’s nutball religious philosophy and nuclear ambitions are a threat to everyone, not just Israel. If so, it’s not a moment too soon.
I’m not generally a believer in political conspiracies, but could the disparate elements of the UN have come together to give this mad, grinning little ape his forum, so that the world might finally see him for what he is, and unite against his regime?
Apr 21, 2009 - 11:42 am 59. Crusader:Israel will not launch any air strikes against Iran. It’s a neocon wet dream, never gonna happen.
Apr 21, 2009 - 11:44 am 60. Ed Driscoll » Quote Of The Day:[...] is not an
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:02 pm 61. Michael T:Does any one know which countries’ delegates applauded the jerk? I can imagine to which group most belong, but were any non-moslem countries laying it down for dinnerjacket?
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:11 pm 62. Daniel:The reason for all this is quite simple. To most countries and most people respecting human rights is so ingrained that it is a bore. We see nothing controversial about it and nothing interesting about it. However those nations that routinely violate human rights, persecute minorities and women and etc, have governments that care very much about being embarrassed by their behavior. They are the ones who make great efforts to get on human rights commissions and the like, to protect themselves from criticism. The Castros, the Aknuts the Saudis etc, make sure that they are exempt from denunciation. Since no other countries care, they come to dominate the human rights UN organizations. And what do they do once they dominate? They do not dare attack evils in the Sudan or elsewhere. Instead they pile on phony human rights violations that they invent in the West. Israel is a particularly good target but if it did not exist the scum who run the UN human rights organizations would pick on some other western nation. Perhaps the Danes for allowing pictures of Mohamed.
Apr 21, 2009 - 12:55 pm 63. Neobuzz:It is getting to be time to close the books on the UN like we did with the League of Nations.
Roger,
Your posts usually leave me feeling amused, entertained and generally uplifted. These Durban posts have left me feeling totally creeped out.
Thank you for being our eyes and ears.
Yours truly,
Neobuzz
Apr 21, 2009 - 1:25 pm 64. Hangtown Bob:Roger,
You said,”Language is turned upside down. Everything is its opposite. “Democracy” is totalitarianism. “Human rights” are oppression. “Freedom” is repression. You head starts to spin. ”
This is exactly what I think when I listen to zerO, the One.
Apr 21, 2009 - 1:53 pm 65. Meryl:16.25 Delia
See, now, that’s why I just like you! You and Roy behave yourselves now!:)
A serious sense of humor is going to be a MAJOR asset through this time.
Apr 21, 2009 - 3:25 pm 66. Terrye:I am glad they walked out, but it would have been even more appropriate to deny this crazy man a forum in the first place.
Apr 21, 2009 - 4:08 pm 67. Derek:From here http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/04/that_ahmadineja.html
“On Newsnight last night, Jeremy Paxman challenged UK Ambassador Peter Gooderham and obtained the information that the walkout had been agreed upon by EU states before the session, ie before they heard a word Ahmadinejad had said. They did not have a text in advance.”
meh, much ado about nothing.
Apr 21, 2009 - 4:28 pm 68. Joanne:I hate to burst your bubble, but the fact that the European delegates walked out does not mean any real change in their attitudes towards Israel. That is, if they were walking out to protest Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial.
It seems to me that many European anti-Zionist writers will go on and on about their sensitivity to the Holocaust as proof that they are not anti-Semitic. With their non-bigot bona fides established, they can then savage Israel but righteously say “I’m not anti-Semitic, only anti-Zionist.”
Apr 21, 2009 - 6:49 pm 69. Kurtlane:I never thought I would write this, but here it is. What happened is good, but not enough. We need not ask questions from Ahmadinejad, we need to kill him. Yes, KILL!!!
Just think of how many millions of lives would be saved if Hitler were killed in time. And this is the new Hitler. If he were killed now, billions of lives would be saved. Yes, BILLIONS!!
If there were just 506 thousand people in that hotel or palace or whatever in Geneva with true desire to kill him, he’d be dead.
I never thought I would write this, but there it is. This is one case where we should behave like those Arabs in Ramallah. To hell with being civilized when the price is the death of billions of human beings!
KILL AHMADINEJAD!!!
Apr 21, 2009 - 11:52 pm 70. Commentary » Blog Archive » Ahmadinejad Stinks Up Geneva:[...] Durban II conference in Geneva, Switzerland, and dozens of national delegates from Europe walked out in disgust. The sheer number of people who refused to sit there and listen to him must be seen to be believed. [...]
Apr 22, 2009 - 6:26 am 71. Durban II Diary - Part 3: The Clowning of Ahmadinejad « ACT Northern Virginia/Richmond/DC Metro Chapter.:[...] Source: Pajama’s Media [...]
Apr 23, 2009 - 10:29 am 72. » Some of this Week’s Events News of His Land: A Blog focused upon Israel and current events from a Christian Zionist view:[...] Part 1 – packing / Durban II Diary – Part 2: Sleeping with Ahmadinejad / Durban II Diary – Part 3: The Clowning of Ahmadinejad / Durban II Diary – Part 4: The UN folds its cards / Durbin II Diary – Part 5: Arrivederci, [...]
Apr 25, 2009 - 6:41 pm