Posted by
Rob Stevenson on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 6:33:22 PM
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech and at Columbia legitimizes him
on a global level.
Or does it?
Lee Bollinger, the President of Columbia University,
prefaced the speech with a long diatribe against Ahmadinejad's human rights
violations and speech restrictions. Furthermore, Ahmadinejad was interupted
several times by laughter and booing.
Ahmadinejads visit will have two main effects on world
relations:
1) He
will have virtually no credibility or legitimacy in the Western World. He
has made a fool of himself on a world stage with the eyes of American and
European academia intently watching. This will wake the left out of their apathetic
slumber and galvanize what will become an appropriate unity against the sort of
fear-mongering to which Ahmadinejad is so accustomed.
2) Despite
his insanity, his claims resonate with the radical extreme wing of Islam.
Rather than being appalled at his claims, they will support him all the more
fervently. There are fewer ways to gain popularity among the enemies of freedom
than television clips juxtaposing you with the mainstream culture of the United States.
In summary, Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia
will incite greater vitality in movements both for and against him, the final
effect being increased tension and a giant step toward a cultural war between Persia and West that began 2,500 years ago when
Thracians subdued Xerxes at the battle of Marathon.
We have lived in relative peace for the last 300 years, but I fear that the
time has come to steel ourselves once more.
“And Conquer We Must,
if Our Cause, it is Just;
And this be Our Motto:
In God do We Trust”
-The National
Anthem, Francis Scott Key