Ahmadinejad Talks Peace & Justice As US Boycotts Address.

*Source: RT


Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the 67th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York.(Reuters / Mike Segar)


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s eighth address to the UN General Assembly was defined mostly by its absences: The Syrian conflict and an infamous anti-Muslim film weren’t mentioned, and the US delegation wasn’t present in the chamber.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for world leaders to serve their people, not rule over them during his speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
In a surprise turn, Ahmadinejad’s speech took on an almost poetic bent evoking “the spring of humanity and the greenery of all ages.”
During his address, the word “peace” was used 12 times, “justice” 15 and “love” 13.
Peace and love were not the only items on the agenda, as Ahmadinejad enumerated a litany of injustices that had occurred throughout history despite the striving of “righteous people and justice seekers.”
Several barbs were specifically directed towards the West.
Ahmadinejad decried the “current abysmal situation of the world,” saying it resulted from “the self-proclaimed centers of power who have entrusted themselves to the Devil.”
He further lambasted the“arms race” and “nuclear intimidation" being perpetuated by “hegemonic powers," as well as “the continued threat by uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action.”

US leans on Jewish holiday to explain UN absence

The Iranian leader's comments came as the seats for the US diplomatic mission remained conspicuously empty.
The US had called for a boycott of Ahmadinejad's address on Wednesday, accusing the Iranian President of spouting "paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel."
"It’s particularly unfortunate that Mr. Ahmadinejad will have the platform of the UN General Assembly on Yom Kippur, which is why the United States has decided not to attend," a statement posted by Erin Pelton, the spokesperson for the US Mission to the United Nations, read.

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Ahmadinejad's last serenade

Before delivering his last address the the UN assembly before his term expires next year, the president of the Islamic Republic had made several comments in the run-up to Wednesday's address which incited the ire of  Western powers.
On Tuesday, Ahmadinejiad talked at length with the AP on the sidelines of the UN summit in which he unfavorably characterized Western policy regarding Iran.
Speaking through a translator, the Iranian president claimed that Western outrage over Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program was a pretext for dominating Iran, as “even elementary school kids throughout the world have understood that the United States government is following an international policy of bullying.”
While speaking before the UN General assembly on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama said that the window of opportunity to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Though Obama charged that the US would not allow Tehran to acquire of nuclear weapons, Ahmadinejiad reiterated his country’s longstanding claim that their uranium enrichment program was strictly for energy production.
“Everyone is aware the nuclear issue is the imposition of the will of the United States,” Ahmadinejiad said. “I see the nuclear issue as a non-issue. It has become a form of one-upmanship.”

'Same slave masters rule the world'

One problem central to the current tensions is that the US never accepted the legitimacy of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, Ahmadinejiad said, calling for the creation of a new, less polarized world order.
"I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it," he said.
His comments echoed the contentious statements he made before the UN Generally Assembly last year, when he referred to current international powers as “the same slave masters” who “imposed colonialism for over four centuries upon this world.”
He incited further walkouts with his insinuations that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks, proclaiming that “instead of assigning a fact-finding team, they killed the main perpetrator [Osama bin Laden] and threw his body into the sea.”

'Israel has no roots'

The Iranian president also stirred controversy on Monday when he referred to modern-day Israel as a mere blip in world history.
“Iran has been around for the last seven, ten thousand years. They [Israelis] have been occupying those territories for the last 60 to 70 years, with the support and force of the Westerners. They have no roots there in history,” Reuters quoted him as saying. “We don't even count them as any part of any equation for Iran. During a historical phase, they [Israelis] represent minimal disturbances that come into the picture and are then eliminated.”
Ahmadinejiad also dismissed threats of an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities: "Fundamentally we do not take seriously the threats of the Zionists…We have all the defensive means at our disposal and we are ready to defend ourselves."
Despite Western condemnation of his remarks, the Iranian president refused to back down during Wednesday interviews.
“When have we threatened to attack the Zionists? We have never threatened them,” Ahmadinejiad said in an interview broadcast on CBS’s ‘Early Morning.’ He argued that Israel’s “occupation,” “war-like behavior” and “terrorism” need to end, repeating his long-running claim that Palestinians should be allowed to achieve democratic self-determination on their own historical lands.
He also called on the United States to patient, as he routinely was forced to exercise patience as he listened to the US president berate Iran before the General Assembly.
Having served two terms as Iran’s president, Ahmadinejiad will step down once his term ends next year.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Calls For New World Order.

*Source: The Telegraph

A new world order needs to emerge, away from years of American bullying and domination, according to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president.

In a wide ranging interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly - his last as president of Iran, he also discussed solutions for the Syrian civil war, dismissed the question of Iran's nuclear ambition and claimed that despite Western sanctions his country is better off than it was when he took office in 2005.

"God willing, a new order will come together and we'll do away with everything that distances us," Mr Ahmadinejad said, speaking through a translator. "I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it."

"Now even elementary school kids throughout the world have understood that the United States government is following an international policy of bullying," he said.

President Barack Obama warned Iran earlier Tuesday that time is running out to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program. In a speech to the General Assembly, Obama said the United States could not tolerate an Iran with atomic weapons.

Mr Ahmadinejad would not respond directly to the president's remarks, saying he did not want to influence the US presidential election in November.

But he argued that the international outcry over Iran's nuclear enrichment program was just an excuse by the West to dominate his country. He claimed that the United States has never accepted Iran's choice of government after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"Everyone is aware the nuclear issue is the imposition of the will of the United States," he said. "I see the nuclear issue as a non-issue. It has become a form of one-upmanship."

Mr Ahmadinejad said he favored more dialogue, even though negotiations with world powers remain stalled after three rounds of high-level meetings since April.

He said some world leaders have suggested to him that Iran would be better off holding nuclear talks only with the United States.

"Of course I am not dismissing such talks," he said, asked if he were open to discussions with the winner of the American presidential election.

Israeli leaders, however, are still openly contemplating military action again Iranian nuclear facilities, dismissing diplomacy as a dead end. Israel and many in the West suspect that Iran is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, and cite its failure to cooperate fully with nuclear inspectors. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Mr Ahmadinejad also proposed forming a new group of 10 or 11 countries to work to end the 18-month Syrian civil war. Representatives of the nations in the Middle East and elsewhere would meet in New York "very soon," he said.

Critics have accused Tehran of giving support to Syrian President Bashar Assad in carrying out massacres and other human rights violations in an attempt to crush the uprising against his rule. Activists say nearly 30,000 people have died.

He said the so-called contact group hopes to get the Syrian government and opposition to sit across from each other.

"I will do everything in my power to create stability, peace and understanding in Syria," Ahmadinejad said.
Earlier this month, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi announced the formation of a four-member contact group with Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. But Saudi Arabia so far has not participated.

He denied Iranian involvement in plotting attacks on Israelis abroad, despite arrests and accusations by police in various countries. He also vehemently disputed the U.S. claim that Iranian agents played a role in a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States last year.

Mr Ahmadinejad will leave office next June after serving two four-year terms. He threw out numbers and statistics during the interview to show that Iran's economy and the lives of average Iranians have improved under his watch. Since his 2005 election, he claimed, Iran went from being the world's 22nd-largest economy to the 17th-largest; non-petroleum related exports increased sevenfold; and the basic production of goods has doubled. Median income increased by $4,000, he said.

"Today's conditions in Iran are completely different to where they were seven years ago in the economy, in technical achievement, in scientific know-how," Ahmadinejad said. "All of these achievements, though, have been reached under conditions in which we were brought under heavy sanctions.

"Iran has called for the U.S. and its European allies to ease the sanctions that have hit its critical oil exports and left it blackballed from key international banking networks.

Mr Ahmadinejad said he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of Robert Levinson, a private investigator and former FBI agent who vanished in Iran five years ago. He said he directed Iranian intelligence services two years ago to work with their counterparts in the US to locate him.

"And if any help there is that I can bring to bear, I would be happy to do so," he said.

He also claimed never to have heard of Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who is imprisoned on espionage charges in Iran. Hekmati was arrested while visiting his grandmothers in Iran in August 2011, and his family has been using Ahmadinejad's visit to New York to plead for his release.