Mahmoud Hitler and Hugo Mussolini go to the UN
By Frank Salvato
web posted September 25, 2006
Amid all the rhetoric, politicking, positioning and allegedly, the smell of sulfur emanating from the world leaders gathered recently at the United Nations, one thing stood out. The United States, for all it does for the UN financially and militarily and for all it does for those who benefit from UN programs, is disliked; but then when you are the only superpower left on the planet you do become the target for every Mahmoud, Hugo and Harry that comes along.
To say that the US took a rhetorical beating during the recent gathering of despots and tin-cup dictators would be an understatement. The insults were so prevalent that the speeches rivaled those given at any number of anti-American rallies that take place around the globe on a daily basis. The only thing missing was some under-educated, Third World Neanderthal – or perhaps a student from Berkeley or NYU – setting an American flag afire and tossing it to the Security Council floor.
And just like the myriad anti-American protests there were power-hungry opportunists present to try to capitalize on the discontent.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the same guy who denies the Holocaust happened, calls for the genocide of the Jews and for Israel to be "pushed into the sea," the same fellow who calls for an Islamic Caliphate and the defeat and destruction of the United States, did his best John Kerry impersonation by "voting" for respecting human rights after "voting" against them.
In a post-speech press conference, Ahmadinejad spoke of adhering to the rule of law and "submitting" to justice. Of course, in Ahmadinejad's warped view of the world, submitting to justice includes submission to Sharia Law, the jailing and beating of political dissidents, the stoning of rape victims, the beating of women who are not dressed properly, honor killings and the beheading of "infidels."
Ahmadinejad went on to state that the current UN system is antiquated, complaining that the world body was created and monopolized by those who reigned victorious in World War II, referring to the United States and Britain. He effectively called for a re-writing of the UN charter that would eliminate the veto power of the UN Security Council's permanent members, so that every nation, no matter how tyrannical their government, has an equal voice in voting on the UN's actions.
 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shows a copy of Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky during his address to the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Chavez also called US president George W. Bush "the devil," "a liar" and a "tyrant" in his address. |
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad's oily puppet, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, took to the podium and claimed he could still smell the sulfur from when "the Devil" was standing there just the day before. Mr. Chavez was referring to President Bush and said as much just moments later. Chavez's diatribe will go down in the history books as rivaling the shoe-pounding of Nikita Khrushchev as the most inappropriately simplistic action ever taken on the UN floor, yet those in attendance offered him extended applause for his opportunistic degradation of another world leader.
Chavez went on to equate the United States government with the Mafia and President Bush to Al Capone.
The next day, Hugo Chavez marched through New England – the seat of Progressive-Liberalism in the United States – bribing the "attention span challenged" masses with free oil in an effort to court their support for his anti-American propaganda. Chavez's actions draw directly from the tactics used by Hezbollah for buying into the hearts and minds (and political favor) of the Lebanese people, who they used as disposable tools and shields during the recent conflict with Israel. The question here is whether or not the Progressive-Liberals of New England are bright enough to identify this ploy.
For his part in the gathering of "world leaders," President Bush used his speech to call for the spread of democracy and freedom throughout the world, renewing his call for a genuine respect for human rights, especially in the Middle East. He spoke around the despotic governments of Iran and Syria, addressing the Iranian and Syrian people directly, inviting them to not be fooled by the caustic propaganda of their self-installed leaders. He invited the world to stand as one against Islamofascism and terrorism. And while he directed some tough talk to the leaders of Iran and Syria, he did so without mentioning whether or not he "smelled sulfur."
The disdain many nations feel for the United States wasn't something that manifested overnight. The self-absorbed politics of the 1990s that saw the United States refuse to act during the Rwandan genocide, that found the United States too squeamish to stay the course in Somalia, the same impotent policies that empowered terror organizations like al-Qaida and Hezbollah, contributed in a great part to the disrespect the United States receives from nations around the world; nations that literally survive on the foreign aid the US provides.
Just as there is no free lunch, there is no "free oil"; the price this time being the difference between a world that accepts oppressive totalitarianism and one that champions the proliferation of freedom and democracy.
Ahmadinejad was correct about one thing. The United Nations is broken. If the world is to survive this crisis of despotism the United States needs to call for the disbanding of the UN in favor of a world body consisting of functioning democracies, not those bought with the ill-gotten and oily gains of terrorism and tyranny, and not one that would seat the likes of Syria, Cuba and China on its human rights council.
The choice is clear. Either we stand pat with the United Nations, an organization that can't even produce a definition for terrorism as it teeters on voting Venezuela a seat on the Security Council, or we move forward creating a new world body consisting of functioning democracies that embrace a common definition of right and wrong, good and evil. The question now is whether or not we have the guts to do it. 
Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal. He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative. His pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and internationally. He has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, and is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network, as well as an occasional guest on numerous radio shows coast to coast. He recently partnered in producing the first-ever symposium on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism in Washington, DC. His pieces have been recognized by the House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict. He can be contacted at oped@newmediajournal.us. Copyright © 2006 Frank Salvato