8 replies to this topic

[Tuatara Taupo]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is in New York today for a United Nations event, spoke at  New York's Columbia University. (Imagine that, the head of a country that damns the USA as satanic, but that's free speech, something those in his country do not have.)

When asked about executions of homosexuals in Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad replied: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

Reacting to laughter and jeers from the audience he added: "In Iran we don't have this phenomenon, I don't know who you told this."

There you go. How's that for ignorance and pure stupidity? This is of the same ilk that deny the holocaust. The Iran prez said it needed more research.

BBC article is at: http://news.bbc.co.u...ast/7010962.stm

[OneArpeggioPete]

hm yeah, they probably HAVE executed them all by now...

:-)

oneArpeggiopete:cool:

[MeanCat]

Well the good news is that the Iranian people seem to be more than tired of their president and his party.

He also said that, "The freest women in the world are the women in Iran" and that the Iranian people were the best informed in the world because of all the information they get in the media. What a fucker.

This belongs into "News of the weird/crazy" rather than Crossfire.

[wagtail]

MeanCat said:

He also said that, "The freest women in the world are the women in Iran" and that the Iranian people were the best informed in the world because of all the information they get in the media. What a fucker.

Is that part about women a direct quote? If so, where did you read it?.... I've been trying to find a transcript of that speech.  I'd be really interested to read it in it's entirety, to read his reaction to that introduction he got, which pretty much called him out on all the Holocaust denial etc.  

The only direct translation and footage I have actually seen from his speech is the part about homosexuality...my initial thought about that was that it was the exact same "don't ask, don't tell" attitude that you find in some parts of regional Australia, it exists amongst Aboriginal people particularly.  I think it also still exists in the US military.

I confess I have a morbid fascination with him, I've been trying to figure out whether he is completely insane or simply a bastard.

I did find a transcript of his 60 minutes interview:

http://www.cbsnews.c...in3286690.shtml

It's worth reading, to see what the people of Iran have as a leader, I think it probably offers some insight into how he got there.  I think he sounds like a slick politician with very polished rhetoric and I think that is even more scary than the notion that the guy is stupid or ignorant - insane or a bastard.  He clearly is not an idiot and he is not the first politician in the world to make use of emotive issues for politican gain.  I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have the arsehole we have in charge of our country if Australian's applied their bullshit detectors to that lying prick Howard in the same way we apply it to the Iranian president.

[MeanCat]

Well as for transcripts, I found this:
http://www2.irna.ir/...69340123606.htm

The part about women was a direct quote from various sources I found via news.google.com, no full transcript tho. IN his reaction to the introduction given by Mr. Bollinger he said soemthing to the effect that "in Iran it is not customary to insult our guests before we let them speak".

wagtail said:

It's worth reading, to see what the people of Iran have as a leader, I think it probably offers some insight into how he got there.  I think he sounds like a slick politician with very polished rhetoric and I think that is even more scary than the notion that the guy is stupid or ignorant - insane or a bastard.  He clearly is not an idiot and he is not the first politician in the world to make use of emotive issues for politican gain.  I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have the arsehole we have in charge of our country if Australian's applied their bullshit detectors to that lying prick Howard in the same way we apply it to the Iranian president.

I absolutely agree with you. If he was really dumb, he wouldn't be where he is today.
and yea I too wish more politicians in this world would be under the same scrutiny as Ahmadinejad.

[wagtail]

Thanks for the link.  On the first page talking about women and 'family' values, he sounds exactly like the Aussie Christian fundamentalist political party "Family First".

It get's worse, 'cause here I think he's channeling Bono:

Quote

4. Poverty, illiteracy, healthcare issues and the gap between the poor and the rich
While a major part of the natural environment in Asia, Africa and Latin America is being plundered by the political and economic domination of certain powers, the situation of poverty and deprivation is very alarming. Let me draw your attention to some data issued by the United Nations:
- Every day close to 800 million people go to bed hungry and about 980 million suffer from absolute poverty, with less than one dollar a day in purchasing power.
- People of 31 countries, equivalent to 9 percent of the world's population, have an average life expectancy of 46 years, which is 32 years less than the average of developed countries.
- The gap between the rich and the poor in some parts of the world has increased by forty times.
- In many countries, the majority of the people are deprived of access to education and schooling.
- In developing countries, the maternal mortality rate during pregnancy is 450 per 100,000. This ratio is 7 in the richer nations and the ratio of mortality of new births is 59 for developing countries and 6 for the richer nations.
- One-third of deaths in the world, or 50,000 persons daily, result from poverty.
I believe this data clearly demonstrates the tragic situation dominating economic interactions in the world.

[DericksHam]

he sounds like bush's buddy. in a different world, they could share some great male bonding moments.

[pebbles]

dikhead said:

he sounds like bush's buddy. in a different world, they could share some great male bonding moments.

Touch football?

[Tuatara Taupo]

Male bonding is a curiosity, isn't it? It's not necessarily homosexual behaviour, but it can have homoerotic connoctations (sp?). Is female bonding any different? Is male bonding more spontaneous? I don't know.