United Nations – Cuba’s foreign minister walked out of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday in protest of President Bush’s speech in which he said the “long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end,” while Iranians objected to Americans’ treatment Monday of their leader.
The Cuban delegation issued a statement saying the decision by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque to leave was a “sign of profound rejection of the arrogant and mediocre statement by President Bush.”
Bush’s speech looked ahead to a Cuba no longer ruled by Fidel Castro, the ailing 81- year-old who has not appeared in public in more than a year.
“In Cuba, the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end,” Bush said. “The Cuban people are ready for their freedom. And as that nation enters a period of transition, the United Nations must insist on free speech, free assembly and, ultimately, free and competitive elections.”
Cuba’s U.N. Mission said the American president had no moral standing to criticize anyone.
It accused Bush of responsibility “for the murder of over 600,000 civilians in Iraq” and for “the torture of prisoners” at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The U.S. came under further criticism Tuesday, as Iranians expressed dismay at the tough reception given to their president in New York, saying his host was rude and only fueled the image of the United States as a bully.
The scenes at Monday’s question-and-answer session at Columbia University and the outpouring of venom toward President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by protesters during his U.S. visit could bolster the hard- line leader at a time of high tensions with Washington.
Columbia president Lee Bollinger’s statement – telling Ahmadinejad he resembles a “petty and cruel dictator” – offended Iranians on many levels, not the least that of simple hospitality.
The chancellors of seven Iranian universities issued a letter to Bollinger saying his “insult, in a scholarly atmosphere, to the president of a country with … a recorded history of 7,000 years of civilization and culture is deeply shameful.”
They invited Bollinger to Iran, adding, “You can be assured that Iranians are very polite and hospitable toward their guests.”
Ahmadinejad, at the United Nations on Tuesday to address the General Assembly, was asked about his reaction to the confrontation at Columbia.
“I think the meeting at the university was sufficiently loud enough to speak for itself. I’m an academic myself,” he said in Farsi, which was translated by the U.N. “I think the authorities and officials of the university should practice a little more listening to other points of view and listen to things they don’t like to hear.”
Ahmadinejad’s popularity at home has suffered, with many Iranians blaming him for failing to fix the faltering economy and for heightening the confrontation with the West with his inflammatory rhetoric.
But in the eyes of many Iranian critics and supporters, he looked like the victim. He complained about Bollinger’s “insults” and “unfriendly treatment” but kept a measured tone during the discussion.
“Our president appeared as a gentleman. He remained polite against those who could not remain polite,” said Ahmad Masoudi, a customer at a grocery store who had watched state TV’s recorded version of the event. Another customer in the store, Rasoul Qaresi, said Bollinger showed that even Americans “in a cultural position act like cowboys and nothing more.” Some critics of Ahmadinejad in Iran warn that U.S. demonizing of the Iranian president has only strengthened his hand and boosted his falling political fortunes.
