What an exciting week at the United Nations Headquarters… General Assembly, general debates, speeches from heads of state, standing ovation and protest inside and outside of the building.
During the General Debate, besides the president of the Palestine National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, Mahmoud Ahmedinajad stirred up the public with his speech.
The Iranian President repeatedly impeached the United States with the terror attack of 9/11, but he did not mention the Arab conflicts and the Tehran atom program in his speech. He stated that the US used 9/11 as a peg to attack Afghanistan and Iraq.
Being present at the GA when Ahmedinajad spoke, it was very interesting to see how other delegations experienced his points. The representatives of the United States were not present from the beginning of his speech. The member states of the European Union decided to leave when in the middle of the speech he denied Israel justification of being a state. While he was continuing his speech in front of only a few people, outside the building, the public was protesting against him.
It is known that Ahmedinajad expresses the same ideas every year when he has the chance to give a speech in front of the General Assembly. What are his intensions with his repetitive statements? Is it pure épater le bourgeois or does he really have goals with these speeches?
Barbara Hanis posted above!
ReplyDeleteI believe that he does this every year to turn the conversation away from what is happening in Iran. Saying things like the U.S. used 9/11 to attack Iraq and Afghanistan is a great distraction so that he will not have to talk in detail about the negative things in Iran such as the extent to which the nuclear program has progressed (which he will outright deny) and the human rights violations that Iran is accused of. Being present at his dinner, I think that everything that he says, he really believes but it's also a good way to turn the conversation.
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