UN condemns Ahmadinejad comments

[democratic]

Source: BBC

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he was "shocked and dismayed" at recent comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Israel.

Iran's official news agency reported Mr Ahmadinejad saying that the world would soon see Israel's destruction.

Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted by Irna, the official Iranian news agency, as saying: "The hegemony of the occupier regime had collapsed, and the Lebanese nation pushed the button to begin counting the days until the destruction of the Zionist regime."

"God willing, in the near future we will witness the destruction of the corrupt occupier regime," Mr Ahmadinejad said.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6733487.stm

[slackmaster]

1. Ban Ki-moon is just being culturally insensitive

:sarcasm:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. I'm sure it was just a mistranslation. n/t

[BushOut06]

3. Actually, he never once called for the destruction of Israel

If you bother to actually see what's being said, he keeps talking about the Israeli government - the "Zionist regime". Guess what? I'd love to see the Bush regime destroyed! Does that mean I want to see the United States destroyed? There are ways to destroy a regime without violence.

[Rage for Order]

5. And how exactly do you destroy a regime...?

Without harming the country where the regime is located? He could've said "brought to justice", "arrested", "tried for war crimes", or "replaced". Why use the word destroy? I guess the UN Secretary General is just assigning malicious intent where there is none? What happened, did Rove get to him? You know, it's okay to not be an apologist for a backwards, jackass, tin horn dictator.

[daleo]

6. Think of the history of Germany

The Kaiser fell, who was replaced by the Wiemar Republic which also fell, which was replaced by the Nazis, who also fell, which was replaced by the split cold war German state, which also fell, which has been replaced by the current German state.

You could say the same about the various manifestations of the French state (monarchy, revolution, Bonapartism, liberalism, etc) or the Russian state (monarchy, liberal democracy, communism, democracy) or many others.

It isn't necessarily incoherent to say that a particular political ideology and governing structure (i.e. a regime) can change, but the people and the nation can persist. In fact, that is the normal historical experience.

Granted, Israel exists in a rather exceptional historical framework, and one could argue that this reasoning doesn't apply. But that is a different argument.

[Rage for Order]

7. I didn't say that it couldn't change

I agree with you, regimes can "change" without the subject country suffering grievous injury, but regimes are rarely "destroyed" without grievous injury having been inflicted. He could've said he hoped the regime would be removed, voted out of office, impeached, or any other number of expressions, but instead he chose "destroyed". The choice of words by Ahmadickheadinajan was deliberate, not off the cuff.

[daleo]

8. I agree that he might have used less strong words (probably should have)

That assumes that the translation is accurate, of course.

U.S. presidents and other politicians often called for the destruction of communism, but that didn't necessarily mean genocide against Russians. Semantics are always a valid issue in politics and diplomacy, though.

I can't honestly claim I know how Iran's political elites feel about Israel as a state or Jews as a people. One would expect that they would not want to see Jews destroyed, since Islam is descended from Judaism. But religions can often be irrational, in practice.

[democratic]

9. Now we are getting beyond ridiculous..

Can i ask you how the Iranian governments own news agency under the direct command and control of Supreme Leader Khamenei and Ahmadinejad can mistranslate themselves?

Its like saying Ahmadinejad was mistranslating himself. What he actually said and allowed to be printed was actually a mistranslation of what he said and allowed to be printed?!

[daleo]

13. I have never heard Ahmadinejad speak English

I presume he doesn't know the language. If that is the case, he is not really in a position to judge the translation, although one would assume the translation would be made with a great deal of deliberation.

I haven's seen the IRNA report in question. It would be interesting to read the original.

On edit - I searched the IRNA site, using the quote in the BBC article but the search didn't turn up any relevant hits.

[frankieT]

12. Every day I read american official declarations

speaking of destroying the Iranian regime. No UN protests. How odd.
I hope that we'll be able one day to condemn all these bellicose declarations.

[sam sarrha]

10. i believe before our offical translation he said.., 'to remove Israel from the map'..

or to give back to the Palestinians what is theirs.. to change the name back to 'Palestine', what else he said that was true, scripted or twisted by us is yet to be resolved.. he is just their Tony Snow.

[sam sarrha]

11. one thing is indisputable.. he is a Whore and a Pimp for the Extremist Mullahs

[NeedleCast]

4. Batman and Robin?

Every time this dude speaks I get this mental image of the old Batman and Robin cartoons, staring Ahmadinejad as Robin and Khomeini as Batman.

Khomeini: "G-Dubs and Putin are stealing the spotlight again! Quick Ahmadinejad, say something stupid!"

Ahmadinejad: "To the Microphone!"