UN meeting turns into a circus

Although he was treated as the joke, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an just an example of the joke that the United Nations has become. [from the Detroit Free Press]

LAURENT GILLIERON/Associated Press
European Union delegates leave the UN conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacks Israel as cruel and racist.

UN meeting turns into a circus
Clown noses fly, then leaders walk out after anti-Israel speech

By FRANK JORDANS ASSOCIATED PRESS GENEVA, Switzerland — Dozens of Western diplomats walked out of a Unit­ed Nations conference, and a pair of rain­bow- wigged protesters threw clown noses at Iran’s president Monday when the leader called Israel the “most cruel and repressive racist regime.” The United States decried the re­marks by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as hateful — reinjecting tension into a rela­tionship that had been warming after President Barack Obama sought to en­gage Iran in talks on its nuclear program and other issues. The United States is not attending the conference. Ahmadinejad delivered a rambling, half-hour speech that was, by turns, con­ciliatory and inflammatory. At one point, he appealed for global unity in the fight against racism and then said the United States and Europe helped establish Isra­el after World War II at the expense of Palestinians. “They resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering,” he said. A spectacle all around The meeting turned chaotic almost from the start, when the two wigged pro­testers tossed red clown noses at Ahma­dinejad as he began his speech with a Muslim prayer. A Jewish student group from France said it had been trying to convey “the masquerade that this con­ference represents.” During his speech, he accused Israel of being the “most cruel and repressive racist regime” and blamed the U.S. inva­sion of Iraq on a Zionist conspiracy. At the first mention of Israel, about 40 diplomats from Britain and France and other European Union countries exited the room. Most of his remarks were not new, but their timing and high profile could complicate U.S. efforts to improve ties with Iran. Alejandro Wolff, the U.S. dep­uty ambassador to the United Nations, denounced what he called “the Ahmadi­nejad spectacle.” He’d been warned UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Ahmadinejad before his speech and said he had counseled the Iranian leader to avoid dividing the conference. Ban later said he was disappointed the speech was used “to accuse, divide and even incite,” directly opposing the goal of the meeting. “It was a very troubling experience for me as a secretary-general,” he said. “It was a totally unacceptable situation.” Ahmadinejad has been praised by some in the Muslim world for his attacks on Israel. He has often used internation­al forums to criticize Israel.