THAT SPEECH

by RAY FLEMING
WHO invited him? seems the most obvious question about President Ahmadinejad's speech to the UN Conference on Racism in Geneva on Monday. Why was he invited to be the first speaker? is another. The answer, it seems, is simple. Ahmadinejad was the only person of President-rank to attend the conference and therefore, as a matter of diplomatic courtesy, was given pole position. He was the leader of the Iranian delegation whereas other countries sent mere ambassadors or left their seats empty. So why was the Secretary-General of the United Nations chairing the meeting? Ban Ki-moon must have better things to do with his time but perhaps he hoped that by being there he would prevent a repeat of the debacle at Durban in 2000 when the first Conference on this subject broke up in disarray. Mr Ahmadinejad dashed such hopes but at least stirred Mr Ban into an unusual display of passion: “I have not experienced this kind of destructive proceedings in an assembly, in a conference, by any one member state. I deplore the use of this platform by the Iranian president to divide and even incite.” And he advised delegates to “turn away from such a message both in form and substance.” An even more pointed comment came from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, who said: I would have expected the president to tell us how he is addressing the racial discrimination and intolerance in his own country.”