It’s a bit bizarre to see everyone get their knickers in a twist over a guy who has very little actual power:
NEW YORK – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioned the official version of the Sept. 11 attacks and defended the right to cast doubt on the Holocaust in a tense appearance Monday at Columbia University, whose president accused the hard-line leader of behaving like “a petty and cruel dictator.”
Ahmadinejad smiled at first but appeared increasingly agitated, decrying the “insults” and “unfriendly treatment.” Columbia President Lee Bollinger and audience members took him to task over Iran’s human-rights record and foreign policy, as well as Ahmadinejad’s statements denying the Holocaust and calling for the disappearance of Israel.
“Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” Bollinger said, to loud applause.
The problem with this is that he’s not a dictator. He has a low level of power in Iran. The country is primarily run by a small group of clerics who are not elected, unlike Ahmadinejad who barely won election because the reformers split the vote. He’s not terribly powerful, he doesn’t have much influence, and he’s not well liked. But other than that, he’s a real danger.
Iran is far from a dictatorship–it’s an oligarch theocracy run by people who are bad people in general, but not insane. The guy doesn’t have the authority nor the power to make decisions over Iran’s nuclear program and he doesn’t have the ability to command the armed forces. He’d end up with a slit throat in bed if he were to try and start a war with Israel. Not to mention the Sunni countries in the way may not be too happy to have Shiites crossing their territory.
It’s baffling to me that people have gotten into a tizzy over a guy who is largely irrelevant other than making a fool of himself. But there you have the state of American foreign policy discussion today.
ArchPundit
