After Columbia's President Lee Bollinger let fly with his `petty dictator' screed, Ahmadinejad made some remarks to the effect that this was a pretty lousy way to treat an invited speaker.
I agree with him. Once you invite someone into your house, abusing him is beyond the pale..which is why I'd never have invited Ahmadinejad in the first place. The preferred interaction with that particular species of varmint ought to be limited to sighting up through the crosshairs prior to squeezing off a round or three.
While Bollinger's remarks may have gotten him some slack with Americans, that's not at all how it looked in the Islamic world, where an invited guest is treated with hospitality and courtesy no matter what. To Ahmadinejad's real audiencein the Muslim umma, Bollinger looked like a rude , ill-mannered pig and Ahmadinejad came across as dignified and restrained...especially after the videos and transcripts were heavily edited and released via the controlled Muslim press.
As I've seen first hand, the concept of treating an invited guest well is deeply ingrained in this culture, and many Iranians, even those who don't particularly care for Ahmadinejad and his mullah bosses found his treatment by Bollinger a deadly insult.
As for Ahmadinejad, he realized that the legitimacy of being received at Columbia in the first place was a win, and that Bollinger's conduct only enhanced it, saying the U.S. only damaged itself with the rude reception he received in New York.
He has a point there....especially when you realize that he was playing to his real audience, not a handful of students at Columbia and their sadly clueless professors.
You know, FF, if we take a look at history, we would find that wars are not caused by behind-the-scenes conspirators as many people think. In fact, wars are started through blunders, two sides misunderstanding the intentions and psychology of one another. This is a perfect example.
ReplyDeleteAhmendinijad thinks that he would be doing us a favor by visiting Ground Zero, thereby insulting us, and one of our own prominent academics treats him like garbage, thereby insulting many Iranians.
Something has to change. How many miscalculations will it take until we are at war?
Hi Nazar,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate what your saying, but frankly I think I understand Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs all too well. I would disagree with you that he wanted to visit Ground Zero `to do us a favor'. He should have been restricted to the UN and his hotel room, and Columbia should never have invited him - but then, as you read on this site, they seem to have a real fondness for Jew haters.
It's all about public image and how this looked in the Muslim world.
Unfortunately, Lee Bollinger played right into his hands.
I can't imagine someone with those kind of academic credentials being so stupid...but there it is.
All Best ,
ff