SALON

Wednesday, Sep 26, 2012 4:17 PM UTC

Ahmadinejad wants to undo most of history

In a platitudinous U.N. address, the Iranian president says even nuclear-armed nations feel unsafe these days VIDEO

By

Topics: U.N., Israel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nuclear Weapons, Iran, United Nations, Zionism, ,

Ahmadinejad wants to undo most of historyIran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the high level meeting on rule of law in the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. (Credit: AP/Richard Drew)

Addressing the United Nations Wednesday (or at least the delegates who did not leave in protest) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized pretty much the entirety of history — going back as far as Adam in the Garden of Eden, with a few gaps for brevity’s sake.

He decried U.S. geopolitical hegemony, “uncivilized Zionism,” environmental destruction (ironic given Iran’s role as a major oil exporter) and capitalism. He pondered what the world would be like had the First World War, Second World War, Vietnam War and his nation’s war with Iraq not happened. He delivered aphorisms on divine peace. And, in line with what he told the media earlier, he invoked the idea of a “new world order.”

It was Ahmadinejad’s eighth U.N. appearance and, as in previous years, it drew high-profile protests and walkouts. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, alongside Newt Gingrich, Patrick Kennedy and others, joined protests outside the U.N. Wednesday. The U.S. United Nations delegation decided not to attend Ahmadinejad’s speech.

Aside from platitudes about humanity and de rigueur barbs at the U.S. and Israel, the fiery leader said little to make headlines. Commentators are, however, already mulling Ahmadinejad’s statement that no country “feels secure or safe, even those who have a stockpile of atomic bombs.” The comment will likely be taken as a veiled assertion that Iran feels it needs nuclear armaments to feel at all safe.

Watch the video of Ahmadinejad’s entire address below:

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 8 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation
55 points56 points | 3 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator who voted against federal funding for Hurricane Sandy victims: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
37 points38 points | comment
vote
"Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation": long, detailed narrative of legal and historical complications in red-white-black relations
23 points24 points | comment
vote
Obama opposes GOP bill on Keystone XL oil pipeline: The White House said Tuesday that the bill “seeks to circumvent longstanding and proven processes” by removing a requirement for a presidential permit. The legislation also says no new environmental studies are needed.
23 points24 points | 2 comments
vote
Here come the tornado truthers. Already
8 points9 points | 8 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations