Incredible verbal bashing

[Vlad the Impala]

Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University in New York, has just launched an incredible tongue lashing of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he did it right to his face. Usually those addressing presidents of other countries seem to feel obliged to observe diplomatic niceties but this guy didn't hold back.

If memory serves me correctly, he told him he "displays the mindset of a cruel and petty dictator" or something close to that. He spent most of the time (a good ten minutes) basically telling him to his face that he is an uneducated idiot.

(Edit: apparently it was "Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator")

If you didn't see it, it is worth hunting down. How incredibly refreshing to actually someone say exactly what he is thinking rather than being a two-faced diplomat.

 

[Franks Wild Years]

I was wondering what might be said to him about holocaust denial. Where did you see this Vlad ?

 

[Robot Chicken]

Yes, let's annoy the dictator of a country with nuclear aspirations.

 

[Vlad the Impala]

I was wondering what might be said to him about holocaust denial. Where did you see this Vlad ?

There have been several questions about the holocaust, which the president is answering with quite well thoughout responses that make him seem very reasonable, but in fact are little more than smoke and mirrors. They have asked him his position and asked him why further research needs to be done on "the most documented event in human history." He went on about the values in academic research being an ongoing thing, never complete. He also tried to link it to the Palestinian question "What's it got to do with them? Why should they suffer for something that happened in Europe?" (not verbatim).

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

I was wondering what might be said to him about holocaust denial. Where did you see this Vlad ?

Jon Snow got him about that on the channel 4 news a few weeks ago

 

[Vlad the Impala]

Yes, let's annoy the dictator of a country with nuclear aspirations.

The university president pointed to the fact that similar criticism in recent times provoked Ahmed.. into such silly answers that he then lost influence in mayoral elections as intelligent Iranians saw through him. He said he hoped his criticism would lead to a similar loss of power back in Iran.

The Iranian president has responded with a fluency that shows why he got to where he is.

 

[Mr C]

But why was he invited to speak in the first place?