The air was thick with apprehension as the United Nations General Assembly prepared to meet in New York this week. Some of the most distasteful, if not outright eccentric figures in the world arena traveled to the United States to attend.
There was a general mood of distain throughout America as several leaders that are openly hostile to the United States were allowed entry into this county so they could engage in yet more angry ridicule of America and her allies.
While one could easily predict the hateful rhetoric of these “gentlemen”, there were a few surprises. Moammar Gadaffi, leader of Libya since 1979, tore up a copy of the UN charter and demanded an investigation into the assassination of John F Kennedy during his ninety minute rambling dissertation.
While he was giving us a surreal look at his personal quirks he did take a few moments to heap praises upon American President Barack Obama calling him “our son” and expressing the hope that he would remain President forever. I’m not sure what he meant by saying “our son” but I do wonder if that means he might be in a position to help us settle the Obama birth certificate issue once and for all. Truthfully, I was more disturbed at his hopes that Mr. Obama would remain President of The United States forever since I suspect that given the opportunity, the title of President for life would suit Barack Obama just fine.
Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, who remained dedicated to his usual rants to promote socialism had eased his rhetoric of Obama as well. Chavez, who had previously called President Bush a devil that had made the podium “smell” of sulphur, said of Obama, "Yesterday he spoke here and it no longer smells of sulphur. It smells of something better: hope." He then urged Mr Obama to end the embargo on communist-run Cuba and to refrain from deploying military bases in Colombia. "Obama, come and join the socialists," Mr Chavez quipped in the address to the UN General Assembly. "We invite you to join the axis of evil."
Well, why wouldn’t Chavez find Obama a kindred spirit? After all, Chavez and Obama are both Constitutional tinkerers; Chavez to retain power beyond what was lawfully allowed and Obama to place Marxists and radicals in positions within the government that were traditionally off-limits to them. Mr. Obama is not only ignoring the voice of the citizens but the Tenth Amendment itself, to force his vision of healthcare reform and climate regulation on an unwilling nation. His takeovers in the banking and mortgage industries and of General Motors are not really all that different that the nationalization of Venezuela’s oil industry.
Even Fidel Castro praised President Obama’s speech on climate calling it “brave”. He added "It would only be fair to recognize that no other United States President would have had the courage to say what he said.”
As an illustration as to how ridiculous the United Nations has become, The UN named Castro a “World Hero of Solidarity” at a recent South American conference in Mexico. In giving that award, the President of the U.N. General Assembly stated that Castro was one of a few South American leaders who “embodies virtues and values worth emulation by all of us.”
By far, the most divisive speech given was that of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His assertions that Israel is a ruthless aggressor and is responsible for slaughter of innocent Palestinians of the Gaza region was met in silent protest as delegations from several nations including Canada, The United States, France and Great Britain vacated their seats in the General Assembly. He did not restate his incendiary remarks from previous speeches regarding "the ambiguous and dubious question of the Holocaust" nor did he chant his usual call for the destruction of Israel but he did accuse Israel of 'inhuman policies' in the Palestinian territories and of dominating world political and economic affairs. Of course the million dollar question remains unanswered and there was no mention of Iran’s nuclear program or their intention to continue it in the face of worldwide opposition.
The Most compelling speech was that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He spent nearly the first ten minutes of his speech addressing Iran’s repeated assertions that the Holocaust was a manufactured event founded in lies by producing copies of several documents that were given to Mr. Netanyahu by the German government. The documents not only included the plans for the infamous Auschwitz- Birkenau death camp where one million of the over six million Jews lost to the Holocaust were murdered at the hands of the Nazis, but the actual meeting notes that were kept when the operational plans for carrying out Hitler’s “final solution” were discussed. He asked rhetorically “Did all these people lie too?” He recounted the personal losses suffered by his family and added that no family of the Jewish community was spared the suffering of loss.
While he made an impassioned plea for unity to prevent Iran from developing nuclear arms his most memorable moment was his assessment of the United Nations in general. He gratefully acknowledged the delegations that left the chamber during Amahdinejad’s speech but added his disgust that the United Nations would offer a forum for someone so hateful, so corrupt and so devoid of civilized morals. He questioned “Have you no shame? Have you no decency?” I would have added, “Have you no soul” but I fear we already know the answer to that. He admonished the UN’s Human Rights Council for ignoring the Palestinian rocket attacks on the civilian population of Israel and then condemning the measures Israel took in self defense; measures that took great care not to inflict civilian casualties on their enemies.
Mr. Netanyahu reminded the assembly that every time that an Arab nation sought a sincere peace, Israel accepted. They have an honorable peace with Egypt and with Syria and no one notices. They would offer the same peace with Palestine but it must be a peace with security for all and not a safe haven for more faceless attacks. He especially emphasized that this is the twenty-first century and we can no longer tolerate those that would try and revert all of our progress back to the ninth century when barbarism was currency of men.
I think what surprised me the most was the choice of language that Mr. Obama used in his speech; calling the Israeli settlements an “occupation” intimating that he would seek concessions in future peace talks with Israel. This past week President Obama alienated Poland and the Czech Republic by backing out of a deal to install a defensive missile shield in those two countries. Not only did he back out of an agreement, but he foolishly announced it on the seventieth anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. The move was seen by all as weakness in the face of Russian opposition to the missile system.
There are reports that Obama has also snubbed attempts by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to meet with him not once, but three times. Now he has openly insulted Israel at a time when they desperately need reassurance from her allies or face the choice of taking unilateral military action to disable Iran’s nuclear program. If it happens now, the blame for this will be partially Obama’s. If he stood by Israel he might have been able to convince them that military action was not needed but he didn’t. Now if severe sanctions are not imposed and if Iran does not acquiesce to them, I fear a pre-emptive strike by Israel against the nuclear facilities in Iran is unavoidable and I don’t blame them.
Mr. Obama delivered his speech as if he were Harry Truman and the United States is still holding all the cards. We aren’t. We are financially beholding to China, our Federal Reserve is destabilizing the dollar, we have a President that is more concerned with campaigning for healthcare than the needs of his generals and troops in a war zone and the move to appease Russia by reneging on a promise to two of our allies is being viewed across the planet as irresponsible and spineless.
The coup de gras came today when he presided over a meeting of the UN Security Council in which he obtained unanimous approval of a U.S. drafted resolution to rid the world of all nuclear weapons. The resolution outlines the step that would be taken to eliminate nuclear weapons from the world’s arsenals. Mr. Obama is falling flat on his face at home with his healthcare proposal hopelessly stalled and his climate bill facing almost certain death in the Senate. He needed a victory somewhere and this was as good as any. The fact is: it is meaningless. UN resolutions did not get Iraq out of Kuwait, military intervention did. Nor have UN resolutions dissuaded North Korea or Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons themselves. The fifteen members approved the resolution because not one of them has any intention of enforcing it.
I suppose we should just try and guess which of our closest allies he will insult next as he continues to cuddle up to dictators and despots. This is nothing less than a disturbing display of his naivety and inexperience in dealing with people that haven’t read the same childish manuscripts on how we are all one big family with an underlying desire to take care of each other. I suppose that something amazing could happen that would surprise us all if these thugs were to suddenly change their minds on even one of these issues. And if my grandmother had wheels she’d be a wagon.
Paul
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