ahmadinejad-columbia university-un

The farce that was Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York

In order to have understood the significance, if any, of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York, there were but three requirements.

First, the awareness that the illiterate buffoon given the office of presidency of the Islamic Republic is not the exceptional character carefully and painstakingly portrayed in the media, but only another representative of an Islamist regime that (thanks to states and multinationals who benefit by it) has been in power for nearly three decades.

Second, that by the very fact that the numerous, seemingly different, but basically similar, reactions and outcries were directed against the person of Ahmadinejad (by the media, the “experts”, and the organizers of the protests, including Jewish and pro-Israeli organizations), none were directed against the regime he represents; a regime which, I emphasize, had existed for 26 years before Ahmadinejad was designated as its president.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, that the event be seen in view of the treatment towards the so-called “reformists” of the Islamist regime, and parallel to their portrayal by the same media and “experts” even in so short a period as since Ahmadinejad’s “election”.

Given the absence of any criticism that could make sense, and no criticism of a mere representative to the exclusion of that which he represents can make sense, the significance of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York, I believe, should in fact be looked for in the publicity surrounding it.

That the Islamic Republic’s latest president is a charlatan and a liar may be a revelation to some, particularly to those unaware that that has been true of all its officials. That may be a good thing.

But my opinion is that the publicity surrounding this visit told us far more about the policy the west will continue to pursue vis a vis the Islamic Republic---a policy that, needless to say, was reinforced through this event---than it was able to reveal about Ahmadinejad.

It may also explain why many Iranians, such as myself, did not participate in the protests.


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While on the subject, please see this photo and its description by the Associated Press. I think a rodent would have been written about with more respect.