The debacle this week was, above all, a natural product of the U.N. system. The real basis for fighting racism is neatly summed up in five words from the U.S. Declaration of Independence: "All men are created equal." But in the U.N. calculus, it is not the equality of individual men or women that matters most. Instead, the U.N. tends to exalt the "equality" of sovereign states--as if there were no difference, say, between North and South Korea; Iran and the U.S.As an aside: The person who almost single-handedly convinced the Useful Idiots that Ahmedinijad never said Israel should be destroyed - my old friend Juan Cole - seems to have managed to get through this whole week with nary any mention of the event. A blogger's prerogative, of course, to talk about what one wishes and be silent on other matters.
Personal musings on Israel, Jewish matters, history and how they all affect each other
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Friday, April 24, 2009
Post Mortem for Durban II
Claudia Rosett explains why the fiasco of the United Nations "Durban II" conference was inevitable given the way the UN understands the world:
I'm afraid to think that this guy (Ahmadinejad) has more "fans" than you or I would like to admit.
ReplyDeleteI think the media this time put far too much emphasis on the anti-Israel rhetoric in Ahmadinejad's speech. I read the whole speech and he was attacking the west and our culture more than he was attacking Israel. This excerpt is telling;
ReplyDelete"I also want to lay emphasis on the fact that Western liberalism and capitalism has reached its end since it has failed to perceive the truth of the world and humans as they are. "
That was aimed right at those who read the Guardian, they identify as liberals. Self-claimed liberals also represent the largest anti-Israel bloc. Can anyone hope that our liberal friends have the intellectual capacity to understand the message from Ahmadinejad there? I bet not, they're too stupid.
Gavin
Are you assuming that Ahmadinejad gives lucid and well-reasoned criticism of the "west" whe he speaks? Are we to parse his rhetoric and separate his informed, reasoned statements (like the one above, I'm guessing)from his inflammatory anti-Israel mishaguss? What, to Ahmadinejad, is the "truth of the world and humans as they are?" Is he suddenly a psychologist? An anthropologist? The phrase stinks of empty rhetorical filler--big words saying nothing.
ReplyDeleteMarc. No I'm merely saying that his speech was more against the west than it was against just Israel. The press didn't report it as such. His speech would likely have prompted a walkout by western reps even if Israel wasn't mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAhmadinejad was also less discreet than he usually is with his public speeches. Anyone with half a brain knows what he thinks of the west, but he normally avoids targeting liberals in the manner he did because that group is the primary source of the useful idiots. You read too much into it.
Btw I read his 'truth of the world...etc' as being Islam. I thought that one was pretty clear.
Gavin
Sure, but he knew full well he had they eyes of the world on him. He had the stage all to himself. He was the --ahem!--keynote speaker. I doubt anyone would've walked out, though, had it not been for the Israel-related stuff. Is he a madman or just a cynical, deranged and power-hungry minor despot? Your guess is as good as mine.
ReplyDeleteI was more interested in the media reporting Marc. Ahmadinejad's speech may have been full of rhetoric but he meant what he said about the west. He may be a raving bigot but he's not a fool. Iran's support in the west is from the same groups who are anti-Israel, mostly the liberal left. Much of that support is the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' construct, Iran hate Israel too so they can't be that bad eh? There's also the line that Iran only hate the west because of the west's support for Israel, get rid of Israel and Iran will love the west again.
ReplyDeleteLiberals are not deep thinkers, they need to be told, frequently and in simple terms, that the mad mullahs of Iran hate them and all they stand for. Islamists really do hate liberals with a vengeance, they're the most permissive sector of western society and a gross insult to sharia and Islam. The western media don't get the message across that support for Iran is support for people who want to wipe us out as well as Israel. If the liberals can be made to see that Iran threatens their own cosy existence too then they'll develop a more positive view of Israel.
Gavin
They will never see this because they do not want to. They can't imagine that hatred actually exists--it must be a rational response to some real injustice. Paul Berman wrote a whole book about this, Terror and Liberalism. They look the other way, and come down on Israel for exacerbating the already bad mood.
ReplyDelete