Mahmoud Ahmadinejad- No one s laughing at this bizarre joke

No one s laughing at this bizarre joke


Remember all those jokes about France s lack of backbone in dealing with international bullies and supposed indifference to terrorists?

No one s telling those jokes anymore.

After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad s bizarre performance at Columbia University, it s unlikely anyone will chide France for taking a tough and unflinching stand against a nuclear-armed Iran. The Iranian president s speech ranks up there with other infamous lectures from past tyrants, including Hitler s I have no more territorial ambitions... after he subdued Czechoslovakia and Khrushchev s We will bury you , offered up during a Cold War rant at the U.N.

This summer, in his first major foreign policy speech, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said a diplomatic campaign by the world s powers to stop Tehran s nuclear program is the only alternative to an Iranian bomb or (the) bombing of Iran.

More than just a casual remark, Sarkozy used his speech to dismantle traditional French policy, which has long resisted sanctions because French corporations have sought to be the profiteers in the standoff between the Islamic radicals and Western democracies. Sarkozy drew a moral line in the sand, although many said at the time that he was out of step with Europe and his own countrymen.

If there had been any debate about the strategic vision of the French leader, Ahmadinejad s behavior should end that discussion.

Consider how a leader armed with nuclear weapons could rewrite the deaths of 6 million Jews as a question to be studied. Taking another step away from sanity, consider Ahmadinejad s pronouncement that there are no gays in Iran. While it brought derision and laughter from an incredulous student body, it pointed out just how removed from reality this political leader is, a man who is trying very hard to access weapons of mass destruction.

That s a poisonous brew, megatons mixed with psychopathic behavior.

Iranian leaders have leveraged Ahmadinejad s provocative nature for the purpose of positioning Iran as the heir apparent to an embattled Middle East. There can be no doubt that they seek an unstable Iraq, a cowed Saudi Arabia, a meek Europe and an isolated (if not destroyed) Israel. In that world, they can control the destiny of our global economy by keeping control of oil wells throughout the region.

However, in supporting Ahmadinejad, they may be dancing with the devil. His actions and words have triggered a response in France that may well be a fateful turning point in deciding whether Western democracies will protect their strategic interests. The Iranian theocracy may be thinking long and hard about their outspoken leader, who, by statements and actions, has invited ridicule " and worse, woken up Western leaders.

Interestingly, the French get it. Now, in the wake of Columbia, there is no excuse for the rest of us not to understand what we are facing in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

(This article appeared in the September 28, 2007 edition of Long Island Business News www.libn.com)

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