Middle East News
Ahmadinejad in New York amid protests, US election controversy
Sep 22, 2008, 23:36 GMT
New York - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived Monday at the United Nations in New York in the face of protests, amid the US presidential election fray.
Jewish-American groups held a rally Monday morning outside UN headquarters in New York and planned another major demonstration on Tuesday, when Ahmadinejad is to give his formal address to the General Assembly.
The rally was catapulted into the US political limelight last week after it emerged that Sarah Palin, vice presidential running mate of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, was scheduled to speak.
Palin had to withdraw after organizers, fearful that the protest would become a partisan rally, rescinded her invitation. New York Senator Hillary Clinton had earlier withdrawn after it appeared that Palin would be there.
That didn't stop the McCain campaign from releasing a strongly worded speech that Palin had planned to give at the New York rally, branding Ahmadinejad a 'madman' who 'threatens the entire world.'
Ahmadinejad 'must be stopped,' Palin would have said, charging the Iranian president with denying the Holocaust and seeking the destruction of both Israel and the United States.
'The world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us,' her text said, adding that Iran must be prevented from gaining access to nuclear weapons.
Palin, a first-term Alaska governor, will be in New York Tuesday. She plans to hold meetings with world leaders in a bid by the McCain campaign to bolster her foreign-policy credentials.
Few details of the visit have been revealed. The New York Times reported that she would hold talks with the leaders of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Georgia.
Ahmadinejad met Monday evening with UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon. Earlier Monday, Ahmadinejad gave a strongly worded speech during a one-day UN conference on African development, accusing Western nations of sowing divisions on the continent in a bid to maintain control of Africa's natural resources.
The Iranian president said that colonial powers had committed 'irreparable' crimes against Africans in the past. There were still 'hegemonic powers who have turned their eyes with greed to Africa,' he said.
Ahmadinejad will address the UN General Assembly and hold a press conference on Tuesday. On Thursday he plans to join a religious forum hosted by five Christian groups, an event condemned Monday by the World Jewish Congress.
'These groups, who claim to hold up values such as peace and mutual understanding, make a mockery of themselves by shamelessly providing a cruel dictator and racist with a platform for his invective,' Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said in a statement.
COMMENT
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Older Talkback
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What a joke, the World Jewish Congress is calling President Ahmadinejad racist. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Anyway, Ronald Lauder must have confused Iran with Israel, for Israel is the most racist country in the Middle East, and the only country with an occupation and engaged in genocide. Israel divides the people living within its borders with segregation laws and apartheid walls. Iran does none of this and treats the people living within its borders with equality. Israel is the country that the World Jewish Congress should be protesting against. Israel should be treated no different than other countries that commits human rights violations and war crimes against a people.
I find it rather strange that people rant and rave about Ahmedinejad while he talks calmly and politely, and then they call him a fanatic. He has never threatened to destroy Israel or USA. That is simply distortion and/or fabrication of the hysteria mongers. There is no proof whatsoever that Iran wants to make a nuclear bomb. Those with nuclear bombs of their own should look in the mirror sometime. An attack against Iran would kill millions of innocent Iranians, and yes, Iranians are innocent just as Americans and Israelis can be considered innocent though they have elected fanatics and tyrants to high office. Thus far Iran has attacked no one, invaded no country and is being besieged and attacked by forces sponsored and promoted by US and Israel. Terrorists in other words.
Ahmadinejad is a dictator! What a thoughtless statement. How could someone who was elected by popular votes (unlike George Bush)be a dictator? King Abodullah of Jordan, King Fahad of Saudi Arabia, Housni Mobarak of Egypt, Haj Mohamad of UAE, Ruller of Qatar that incidentally all are US Allies, may be called dictators but not Ahmadinejad. The only thing Ahmadinejad can be labeled is that he is against opression and has the guts to stand up against opressors and corrupt leaders who are the real danger to the wolrd peace.
Hi,
Two weeks after John Kenedy Announced that no country in middle east is allowed to have atomic weapons he was dead and we became Israeli popet. That is why we attacked Iraq and we will attack Iran. No one can be elected in this country without Israeli permission.
Thanks
Francesco
We are no one's puppets, we can elect anyone of our choosing, we strive to curb corruption, we are always needing to protect our rights.
To lash out at a particular people is a moral injustice, and such comments do not merit the good intentions of free speech. This country does not want to create puppets, this country sees the condition of others who are under oppression and tries to fight against the atrocities that often accompany dictatorial rule.
You, if you do, have a right to choose to live under barbaric practices, or to live for a better day for your peoples. No law or government entity will have the perfect solution for a better quality of life for all. Yet, that kind of life is the ideal that all reasonable folk ever hope to achieve.
In parting, I know that sides will be taken, arms will be proliferating, and various factions will decimate a lot of peoples' dreams. Our futures depends on the right people making the right decisions.
Respectfully,
One Amongst Many
Marge, you may be the most ignorant person in the history of humanity. Have you ever been to Israel? Have you ever been to Iran? Do you even know what the word 'genocide' means. From your comment, my guess is that the answers to all of the above questions are no.
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Past, Present, FutureSep 23rd, 2008 - 07:53:42
The Jews were once slaves to the Egyptians. What does that matter if relations are better in this day and age? The past does not speak for the present and the present does not speak for the future. Presently, the leader of Iran sees America and Israel as enemies to be destroyed and that is enough for just protests.
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