Pictures: Ahmadinejad Demonstrates His Impressions Of Famous People

Every Middle Eastern despot has to have a hobby, a diversion -- for when they are not busy killing their citizens or showing off by threatening the United States.

As it turns out Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has one too.
In his spare time, Ahamdinejad likes to do impressions of famous people, both fictional and real.

Here are some examples:

Photos: Who Knew That Ron Paul and Ahmadinejad Travel In The Same Circles!

It appears that Congressman Ron Paul and Iranian leader Ahmadinejad have an overlapping circle of friends

Do Any Journalists Have The Guts To Ask Ahmadinejad These Questions?

Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has composed a list of questions to ask Ahmadinejad during his annual appearance at the UN--"culled from Iranian democracy and human rights activists who don’t have a chance to query the president directly".


Here are some of them:

o Somayeh Tohidlou, a 32-year-old female sociology PhD student, recently received 50 lashes in prison for having “insulted” you by campaigning for Mousavi in 2009. Do you believe that men lashing women for their political views is an appropriate form of punishment?

Iran’s Rich Eat Ice Cream Flecked With Gold--Inviting The Arab Spring?

Gold, it turns out, is also digestible. And that's good news for Sepp, because customers are developing a new appetite for gold -- literally. Over the last five years, his sales of edible gold leaf increased by 50 percent. The same stuff on the Met Life dome is now being put in martinis, chocolates, pastries. Last year, some of Sepp's gold was included in The World's Most Expensive Dessert -- an ice cream sundae that sold for $25,000. But ordinary mortals with a taste for gold can find it at the grocery store. Well, a really nice grocery store. American Public Media, Satisfying a taste for gold, June 13, 2008

Anne Bayefsky: Ahmadinejad to Address the UN on Same Day as Durban III

For Immediate Release: August 4, 2011

Contact:  Anne Bayefsky anne@hudsonny.org (917) 488-1558

Iran’s President to Address the General Assembly
on the Same Day as Durban III

This article by Anne Bayefsky appears on The Weekly Standard.

While the United Nations is doing its best to legitimize the forthcoming Durban III “anti-racism” bash, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears intent on blowing the U.N.’s cover. Each year for the past five years, Ahmadinejad has chosen to speak on the opening day of the General Assembly’s so-called general debate, when all the presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers annually descend on New York City. According to a U.N. schedule, however, this year the Iranian president will speak on a different day – the same day as Durban III. This one-day conference is the General Assembly’s 10th anniversary celebration of the hatefest held back in 2001 in South Africa, scheduled for New York City on September 22, 2011. Americans are used to Ahmadinejad speaking at the U.N. – on their dime, since a quarter of the tab for the global platform is coming out of U.S. taxpayer pockets.

Newsweek Gives Ahmadinejad A Platform

I guess the drop in revenues that the newspapers are going through is affecting magazines like Newsweek too. How else to explain Newsweek giving Ahmadinejad the opportunity to do "Guest Commentary." This way, he gets the same platform that he got at Columbia University, only with a wider audience and without the need to respond to pesky questions.

Besides the expected attack on the US, Ahamdinejad takes the required swipe at Israel as well:

The heavy shadow of America's unilateralism is also visible on the unresolved question of Palestine, which is one of the gravest tragedies of the 20th and 21st centuries. The U.S. government has succumbed to the demands of the Zionists and the Zionist regime. This is a lethal ailment that afflicts U.S. administrations. The American people do not like to see their leaders fall captive to the Zionist network. Surely the American people would prefer U.S.-inspired policies to those perpetrated by the Zionists. No fair-minded American is happy with the present situation. Regrettably, despite the objections of some of America's elite, personal and political interests—especially those of the present administration—have prevented any action to counter this fatal disease. So long as this situation persists, we will see tyranny and injustice in the region. The U.S. government will bear the heavy responsibility for the Zionist regime's massacre of Palestinian women and children in their homes and territory.

So besides The New York Times, The Washington Post, and LA Times (no longer found there--a copy is on The Palestine Chronicle) giving platforms for terrorists like Hamas, Newsweek gives a platform for the president who threatens to destroy Israel, and whose country is responsible for the death of US troops and Iraqis in Iraq.

How about Kim Jong-il next week?

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad and Newsweek.

Ahmadinejad on Israel: 30 Quotes

These were posted by Joanna Sugden and appear on Faith Central--Libby Purves's Guide To Religion and Thought:

1. "Israel must be wiped off the map … The establishment of a Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world . . . The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of the war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land."
October 26, 2005
(In an address to 4,000 students at a program titled, 'The World Without Zionism')

NB The translation of this quote is debated and has also been read as "Israel must disappear from the page of history"

2. "The Zionist regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat. Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation. The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."
April 14, 2006
(In a speech at the opening of the "Support for the Palestinian Intifada" conference on April 14-16 hosted in Tehran)

3. "Today, they [Europeans] have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets … This is our proposal: give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them [Jews] so that the Jews can establish their country."
December 14, 2005
(Speaking to thousands of people in the Iranian city of Zahedan)

4. "The Zionist regime is the flag bearer of violation and occupation and this regime is the flag of Satan. …It is not unlikely that this regime be on the path to dissolution and deterioration when the philosophy behind its creation and survival is invalid."
August 18, 2007
(Address to an international religious conference in Tehran)

5. "A new Middle East will prevail without the existence of Israel."
August 4, 2006
(as quoted by Malaysian news agency Bernama website)

6. "In parallel to the official political war there is a hidden war going on and the Islamic states should benefit from their economic potential to cut off the hands of the enemies."

7. "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces.... Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: Is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem? If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe -- like in Germany, Austria or other countries -- to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe."
December 8, 2005
(While speaking to journalists at an Islamic summit in Mecca)

8. "The Zionists are the true manifestation of Satan . . . Many Western governments that claim to be pioneers of democracy and standard bearers of human rights close their eyes over crimes committed by the Zionists and by remaining silent support the Zionists due to their hedonistic and materialistic tendencies."
February 28, 2007
(to a meeting of Sudanese Islamic scholars in Khartoum)

9. "Thanks to people's wishes and God's will the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards and this is what God has promised and what all nations want…Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out"
December 12, 2006
(Comments to Iran's Holocaust Conference)

10. "Though the enemy had made preparations for not allowing Iran (president) to make his voice heard, but, they could not succeed and thanks to grace of God the world people heard our voice."
September 30, 2007

11. "Zionists are people without any religion. They are lying about being Jewish because religion means brotherhood, friendship and respecting other divine religions…
They are an organized minority who have infiltrated the world. They are not even a 10,000-strong organization."
August 28, 2007
(At a news conference in Tehran)

12. "With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine . . . By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future."
June 3, 2007
(Speech, as quoted by the Fars News Agency)

13. "Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented."
August 2, 2006
(as quoted by Iranian TV)

14. "[N]o Muslim nation would put up with this entity [i.e. Israel] in Islamic lands, not for one moment … If it's true that the [Europeans] committed a big crime in World War II, then they must take responsibility for it themselves, and not ask the Palestinian people to pay the price … Those countries that support this regime [Israel] were terrified at the suggestion that [Israel] should be relocated to their neighborhood. So why should the Palestinians and the countries in our region accept this entity?"
(In a speech before an audience in the Iranian city of Qom, aired on television)

15. "They [the United States] think they are the absolute rulers of the world."
October 29, 2005
(Marching in a demonstration alongside a crowd of students in Tehran)

16. "It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals. Should such a privilege continue to exist, the Muslim world with a population of nearly 1.5 billion should be extended the same privilege."
June 19, 2005
(In an interview with state television shortly before his election)

17. "Iran's enemies know your courage, faith and commitment to Islam and the land of Iran has created a powerful army that can powerfully defend the political borders and the integrity of the Iranian nation and cut off the hand of any aggressor and place the sign of disgrace on their forehead."

18. "Soon Islam will become the dominating force in the world, occupying first place in the number of followers amongst all other religions."

19."What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow.''
[President Ahmadinejad's comments on an aircraft crash in Tehran that killed 108 people in December 2005].

20. "Is there a craft more beautiful, more sublime, more divine, than the craft of giving yourself to martyrdom and becoming holy? Do not doubt, Allah will prevail, and Islam will conquer mountain tops of the entire world."

21. "Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi."

22. "The wave of the Islamist revolution will soon reach the entire world."

23. "We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world."
January 21 2006

24. "Our enemies should know that they are unable to even slightly hurt our nation and they cannot create the tiniest obstacle on its glorious and progressive way."
April 28 2006

25. "By the grace of Allah, we (will be) a nuclear power."

26. "If you have burned the Jews, why don't you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel. Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?"
April 19, 2006

27. "The UN structure is one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam."
June 8, 2005
(In an interview on state television)

28. "Are they human beings?... They (Zionists) are a group of blood-thirsty savages putting all other criminals to shame."
(as quoted by Iranian TV)

29. "The Zionists and their protectors are the most detested people in all of humanity, and the hatred is increasing every day."
July 13, 2006
(as quoted by Iranian state television)

30. ''We say that this fake regime (Israel) cannot logically continue to live. Open the doors (of Europe) and let the Jews go back to their own countries."
April 24, 2006
(In a news conference held on April 24, 2006)

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad.

What Makes Ahmadinejad Different?

Ahmadinejad is a demagogue--nothing new there. But he is more than that, and that scares Iranians too.

In Search of Ahmadinejad

By Barry Rubin

A massive controversy has erupted in the United States, and across the world, around Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York, where he spoke at the United Nations and Columbia University.

Who is this man and what does he want? Is he a new Hitler or a leader with understandable grievances who should be engaged in dialogue? Apart from the passion provoked and naïveté too often shown toward this leader, how can we accurately assess him?

Ahmadinejad is a demagogue on a lot of issues for three distinct reasons:

First, he is trying to use his radical stance—extremist even on the already extreme Iranian political spectrum—to gain control of the country. As head of a faction and due to personal ambition he is trying to displace other groups. Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei remains the single most powerful person in Iran and Ahmadinejad real rival within the country.

Second, Ahmadinejad is pursuing the Iranian Islamist revolution’s long-term goal—but one not always given top priority by the regime—of spreading Islamist revolution throughout the region and emerging as the most powerful force in the Middle East. In terms of promoting Iran’s primacy, there is an inherent nationalist as well as Islamist element in his policy.

Third, Ahmadinejad seems to be a true believer in the Iranian Islamist ideology which sees international politics as a struggle between the true followers of the deity and the allies of Satan.

Ahmadinejad’s goals, then, are his control over Iran, Iran’s control over the Persian Gulf area (especially Iraq), Israel’s destruction, Iranian leadership over the Middle East, the expulsion of Western (and especially American) influence from the region, and even world domination, in roughly that order.

Basically, Ahmadinejad is not a unique phenomenon in modern Middle East history. The role to be filled is that of the leader of the Arabs and Muslims as well as prime enemy of America, Israel, and the West. In this respect, he is comparable to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s; Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the 1970s and 1980s; Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and 1990s; and Usama bin Ladin during the period before and especially after September 11, 2001. Yet Ahmadinejad has also become a symbol for the radical Islamist challenge to everyone else in the world.

What makes Ahmadinejad different?

The key element here, and one due to his own words and behavior, is that he seems not to be held back by caution, a rational calculation of the balance of forces, even if judged by the standard of his predecessors aside from bin Ladin of course. In other words, Ahmadinejad seems capable of anything and consequently far more dangerous. This conclusion is not just a matter of Western projection. I’ll bet that at times he scares even Khamenei.

Here are some elements in that set of problems:

• Ahmadinejad makes statements implying his belief that the end of the world is at hand and the Shia messiah is on the way. Thus, provoking war with Israel or the United States is not so much to be seen as risking the destruction of Iran’s Islamist regime as fulfilling its divine mission.
  
  
• For a number of reasons, Ahmadinejad thinks that his side is winning and the West is weak and in retreat. That could provoke him to even more extreme adventurism.
  
  
• While other Iranian leaders have spoken about Israel’s destruction, he is putting it higher on his agenda and is more likely to do something to try to implement this objective.
  
  
• The way things are going he will one day have nuclear weapons to play with in fulfilling his goals. Two important points should be noted here. First, the bombs and missiles would be held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, his close ally and the main liaison between Iran and terrorist groups, itself raising the prospect of their being used. Second, even if Iran never used nuclear weapons the effect on the region would be devastating. Arab governments would rush to appease Iran; large numbers of Arabs would rush to join radical Islamist groups believing that this movement is the wave of the future.
  
  
• In Iraq, Iran has gone into a virtual state of war against the United States trying to project Tehran’s influence and killing American soldiers.
  
  
• Ahmadinejad has also become, for all practical purposes, the leader in promoting hatred of the United States and not only of Israel but of Jews in general.

What undercuts the dangers posed by Ahmadinejad? He still does not have full control over Iran and may never achieve this goal. Since he is a Shia Muslim and is not an Arab it is more difficult for him to play a leadership role over the largely Sunni Muslim Arabic-speaking world. Not impossible, as these barriers have been partly overcome, but harder nonetheless.

Thus, Ahmadinejad has not yet achieved the status of being equivalent to Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin as the world’s leading threat to peace and freedom but he is certainly trying to rise to this level.

It should be rather obvious that this is not a problem caused by lack of communication and that engagement with him will not have any moderating effect. He must be opposed and his regime pressured. Aside from the problems posed by the Iranian government in general, taking a tough stand against Ahmadinejad is necessary to convince his colleague-rivals that they must get rid of this guy and tone down their country’s behavior in order to ensure their own survival and that of their regime.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs . His latest books are The Truth about Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan) and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley).

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad adn Barry Rubin.

UN: Ahmadinejad Can Speak; Karnit Goldwasser Cannot (UPDATED)

Greg Pollowitz at The Corner writes:

Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of kidnapped Israeli soldier Ehud Goldwasser, was kicked out of a Ahmadinejad press conference for asking:

"Hello, my name is Karnit, the wife of Ehud Goldwasser, the soldier who has been held captive for over a year. Since you are the man that is behind the kidnapping due to the aid you grant Hizbullah, why don't you allow the Red Cross to visit the two soldiers?"

The president ignored the question.

Pollowitz notes:

If only U.N. peacekeepers around the world were as effective as the U.N. thought police stationed in New York City.

Goldwasser recounts:

"I told an officer that this man would decide whether my husband will come home and that this is the man that can, within a second, solve the conflict. I am sure it did something to his heart when he heard that."

It is not just Columbia University and Bollinger who should be embarrassed by Ahamdinejad's visit.

At the Free Gilad Shalit blog, Bagel Blogger quotes from the Jerusalem Post article, which indicates that Ahmadinejad was not given an easy time:

Right before Goldwasser's question, Ahmadinejad refused to answer a question from Channel 10 correspondent Gil Tamari. Tamari asked whether Iran was concerned that Israel might take an action similar to the one it took last week, in which the IAF allegedly bombed a possible nuclear site in Syria. Ahmadinejad simply said, "Next question."

We'll take that as a yes.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Ehud Goldwasser and Karnit Goldwasser and Ahmadinejad and Gilad Shalit.

Ahmadinejad Rates Over Larry Summers

Brendan Loy of Irish Trojan in Tennessee on the latest example of the new Free Speech:

In other news from the world of academia, it seems that while [former Harvard President] Larry Summers isn't welcome to be a dinner speaker at the University of California, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an honored guest at Columbia. (Hat tip: Becky.) Well, that makes perfect sense to me. Ahmadinejad may be a murderous, oppressive tyrant bent on destroying Israel, dominating the Middle East, opposing America at every turn, and potentially hastening the apocalypse and the arrival of the 12th imam -- but hey, we should listen to what he has to say, right? Only closed-minded bigots and crazy right-wing warbloggers (but I repeat myself!) would say no to an "opportunity for faculty and students to engage the President of Iran." Free exchange of ideas, understanding the "other," and all that sort of thing. Summers, though -- Summers questioned feminist orthodoxy! Tolerance only goes so far, people. The free exchange of ideas extends to Holocaust denial, but it doesn't extend to suggesting the possibility that men and women might not be biologically identical. There are some things you just don't say.

And of course by extension, protesting Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia--or challenging Mearsheimer, Walt, Carter, or biased Columbia professors--is not free speech but the most heinous form of stifling free speech.

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad and Larry Summers.

Ahmadinejad Comes Clean On Why He Wants Nuclear Power

For those the benefit of those who thought that Iran really wanted that nuclear technology purely to meet its energy needs, Ahmadinejad is being more explicit.

Noah Pollak writes:

MEMRI reports on a recent speech in which the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declared that Iran will put its nuclear technology "at the service of those who are determined to confront the bullying powers and aggressors" (i.e. the U.S. and Israel). Ahmadinejad has thus declared, for the entire world to hear, that Iran intends to supply nuclear weapons to terrorists. The extent to which Iran continues to be brutally honest about its intentions is simply astonishing. I wonder what all those people who have been arguing that a nuclear Iran is "containable" have to say about Ahmadinejad's latest announcement?

Me too.

Technorati Tag: Iran and Ahmadinejad.

AHMADINEJAD, THANKS FOR THE INVITATION! Rhymes With Right has a great idea, based on Ahmadinejad's generous invitation the other day:

Iran's outspoken President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Israel to "go find somewhere else" for its state and leave its territory for the creation of a Palestinian state, according to an interview published Saturday.

Rhymes With Right even has the map all figured out.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Ahmadinejad and Iran.

AHMANDINEJAD REPLACING SADDAM? That's what it sounds like:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reiterated Iran's support for the Palestine nation and their resistance against the Zionist regime.

...The president vowed that Iran would do its best to support the Palestinian nation.

Considering the money Iran is putting into its nuclear program, Hizbollah and Hamas--not to mention their own economic problems, this would hardly sound encouraging to the Palestinian Arab on the street.

Also, here is the photo and caption that appear in the article:

Ahmadinejad meets Palestinian leaders

Who are these guys? Even "Press TV" doesn't know?
If the big names among the Palestinians could not make it to this photo op, what does that say about what Palestinians think of Ahmadinejad?

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad.

DAMASCUS PEACE WAR TALKS. Ahmadinejad has been on the road:

Ahmadinejad, Nasrallah meet in Damascus

Iranian leader meets Hizbullah secretary-general during Syria visit. In meeting with President Assad, he says Iran and Syria 'are united against the enemies of both countries.' Ahmadinejad also set to meet with leaders of terror organizations residing in Damascus.

Nothing good will come of this.

[Hat tip: Hot Air]

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad.

AHMADINEJAD IN TROUBLE AGAIN: The good folks in the Iranian legislative body (the Majles) are trying for the 2nd time to have Ahmadinejad's term as president shortened by 18 months--and this time, according to Pajamas Media, they might be able to do it.

...this move by the parliament his isolation should be taken as a clear sign by the West — among other recent signs — that they are dealing with a weakening politician, and not the nuclear champion of Iran, as he would like the world to think.

The question is whether this will affect Iran's proxy Hizbollah or lessen Ahmadinejad's threats--and Iran's strategy--against Israel.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Ahmadinejad.

DOES AHMADINEJAD CAUSE PEOPLE TO MISREAD SHI'ISM? Masoos Farivar believes that Ahmadinejad's 'rhetoric' is mostly for political effect and his invocation of the Mahdi doesn't mean that he wants to hasten Armageddon.

I'm not sure Israelis will sleep any better.

Technorati Tag: Amadinejad and Mahdi.

German Protest Against Ahmadinejad

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad.

Without Rumsfeld and Bolton, Who Will Keep Rice From Overcooking?

According to UPI: no one.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice now enjoys far greater clout in foreign policy-making following the fall of her arch-nemesis, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And Rice has repeatedly made clear she wants to see a revived Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The secretary of state defied powerful neo-conservative pressure at a time when the neo-cons still dominated the White House, the National Security Council and the Department of Defense to choose David Welch, a highly respected veteran Middle East hand, as her assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs.

Also, the departure of John Bolton from his key diplomatic position as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations removes a passionate opponent of any revival of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

It's not clear who is going to replace Bolton, what we do know that Robert Gates is going to replace Rumsfeld. Gates, is described as a 'traditional moderate Republican internationalist'--whatever. He is also supposed to have close ties to James Baker and was a member of the ISG until he was picked to replace Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.

According to UPI, things will be very different for Israel in particular--and the article gives the nowadays obligatory hint at the "Israel Lobby" claim:

Under Rumsfeld, Israeli military officials had the run of the Pentagon and enjoyed unprecedented access to Rumsfeld and his top officials. They could count on the enormous clout of the DoD, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Rumsfeld himself to block any diplomatic initiatives by the Bush administration that the Israeli government did not like. But once Gates is running OSD, he appears far more likely to make common cause with Rice to pressure the Israelis to make new concessions on reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Whether this is actually true or not of course remains to be seen. Powerline, for example notes that remarks made by Gates at his confirmation do not reveal the opponent of Iraq that Bush's opponents claim Gates is:

I agreed with President Bush’s decision to go into Iraq. Our men and women in uniform and our coalition partners have served admirably there, and, if confirmed, I look forward to working with them on a daily basis to help make the future better for the Iraqi people.

...I believe that leaving Iraq in chaos would have dangerous consequences both in the region and globally for many years to come.

But on Iran, Gates does not take Iran's nuclear threat seriously, nor does he see in Iran a serious threat to Israel either. Powerline quotes Claremont's Seth Leibsohn about one exchange in the hearing:

This exchange between Lindsay Graham & Bob Gates today is disturbing, to say the least. Asked by Senator Graham if Iran would use nuclear weapons against Israel, Gates responded, "I don't know that they would do that, Senator." Somewhat astounded, Graham pushed back:

Graham: The president of Iran has publicly disavowed the existence of the Holocaust, has publicly stated that he would like to wipe Israel off the map. Do you think he's kidding?

Gates: No, I don't think he's kidding, but I think there are, in fact, higher powers in Iran than he, than the president. And I think that, while they are certainly pressing, in my opinion, for nuclear capability, I think that they would see it in the first instance as a deterrent.

As Powerline puts it, according to Gates--other religious fundamentalists higher up than Ahmadinejad are going to keep him in check and act as a moderating influence.

In any case, with Israel's greatest mortal threat reduced to the rantings of an underling, the Israel-Palestinian conflict is free to become a central theme for Rice to continue to hammer away at.

Can 2008 come soon enough?
And will it make any difference?

Technorati Tag: Israel and Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates and Iran and Ahmadinejad.

International Symposium To Bring Ahmadinejad To Justice

The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs have hosted an international symposium: Bring Ahmadinejad to Justice For Incitement to Genocide. The goal of the symposium, as stated by Irwin Cotler, is to bring

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Justice for the Public and Direct Incitement to Genocide in violation of both the Genocide Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide and the Treaty for an International Criminal Court.

The symposium is getting some media exposure too:

Outgoing U.S. U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and former diplomats from Israel and Canada called on the United Nations on Thursday to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with inciting genocide.

The U.N. International Court of Criminal Justice should charge Ahmadinejad for his threats against the United States, for calling for the destruction of Israel and for instigating discrimination against Christians and Jews, the group said.

“It’s important that if we are in this stage where we’re being given early warning, unambiguously, on what his intentions are, then it’s time to take action,” Bolton told a Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations symposium.

Besides Cotler, other International Legal and Diplomatic Experts at the symposium were: Ambassador John Bolton, Ambassador Dore Gold, Ambassador Meir Roseanne, Professor Alan Dershowitz, Hon. Dan Naveh, Martin Peretz and Dr. Ruth Wedgwood.

You can watch video excerpts of the symposium here.

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad.

Iran and the Holocaust Denial Conference

Iran and the Holocaust Denial Conference

By Dr. Alex Grobman

On Monday, the Iranian government opened a two-day conference ostensibly to discuss the Holocaust in an open environment where all sides of the story can be analyzed. Aside from well-known Holocaust deniers, no Holocaust scholars are in attendance. The conference raises a number of questions: Why has Holocaust denial become popular in the Middle East? Why is Iran holding the conference? How can we respond to those who seek to deny our past?

According to Itamar Marcus, who monitors and reports on media of the Palestinian Authority, the objective of Arab Holocaust denial is to reject the connection of the Jewish people to their immediate history, erode the legitimacy of Israel, and allow the Arabs "to appropriate the role of historical victim and apply it to themselves. Television and modern technology have provided authoritative vehicles for defaming and denying the Jewish people, their religion, history, nation, and land ... in order to sever contemporary Jews from their past and the Land of Israel."

A number of governments have denounced the Iranian Holocaust denial conference for what it is: a forum to deny the Holocaust and advance the Iranians’ own agenda. In a televised address on Dec. 14, 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, raised Holocaust denial to an international level when he said: "They [the Jews] have created a myth in the name of the Holocaust and consider it above God, religion and the prophets ... If someone were to deny the existence of God ... and deny the existence of prophets and religion, they would not bother him. However, if someone were to deny the myth of the Jews’ massacre, all the Zionist mouthpieces and the governments subservient to the Zionists tear their larynxes and scream against the person as much as they can."

"On the basis of this myth," he said a couple of months later, "the pillaging Zionist regime has managed, for 60 years, to extort all Western governments and to justify its crimes in the occupied lands — killing women and children, demolishing homes, and turning defenseless people into refugees."

Why has Ahmadinejad become such an advocate of Holocaust denial? One plausible explanation historian Victor Hanson offers is that he understands the West’s fixation with "multiculturalism, moral equivalence, and relativism." As "a Third-World populist," he assumes that his own fascist government will "escape scrutiny" if he continues to list the past misdeeds of the West. He also appreciates the importance of victimology. If he wants to annihilate Israel, Iran has to be seen as the victim‚ not Israel. He turns to the Europeans with a question: "So we ask you: If you indeed committed this great crime, why should the oppressed people of Palestine be punished for it? If you committed a crime, you yourselves should pay for it."

He knows that there are millions of educated people in the West who question the need for nuclear weapons and do not hold their culture in high regard. If the West can have nuclear weapons, why can’t Iran? "Your arsenals are full to the brim," he says, "yet when it’s the turn of a nation such as mine to develop peaceful nuclear technology you object and resort to threats."

Ahmadinejad also understands that relativism has become part of Western thought. In this environment, who can be sure that the Holocaust was not overstated, the facts embellished or even made up in order to steal Palestinian land?

Iran’s success in analyzing Western malaise, Hanson concludes, has persuaded them to create a reality without the Holocaust, thus enabling them to become the victims and Jews the aggressors who need to be punished. In this way, "Ahmadinejad’s righteously aggrieved (and nuclear) Iran can … finally set things right in the Middle East. And then a world that wishes to continue to make money and drive cars in peace won’t much care how this divinely appointed holy man finally finishes a bothersome war of destiny."

Rather than ring our hands in frustration, we should seize the opportunity to teach about Holocaust denial, which is a threat to the way we transmit history to future generations. If the history of the Jewish people can be distorted, so can the history of other groups. Holocaust deniers seek to make Fascism and National Socialism legitimate alternatives to democracy, which makes this a problem for all those who cherish a democratic way of life.

Dr. Alex Grobman is co-author, with Michael Shermer, of "Denying History: Who Says The Holocaust Never Happened And Why Do They Say It?" His latest book is "Nations United: How The UN Undermines Israel and the West."

Technorati Tag: Dr. Alex Grobman and Holocaust and Israel and Ahmadinejad.