Iran scores an own goal

Time to restart blogging, since I am now settled at McGill.

Whatever we may think of Mr Ahmadinejad, we have to admit he knows how to grab media attention and put himself in the spotlight. Today's performance in New York was probably the best gift the Republican Party has received in ages. The man is not only a dangerous lunatic on a headline domination quest, in politics and international PR he is like a bull in a china shop.

His pathetic rantings at Columbia university would be comedy if he wasn't a head of State, especially of a State with nuclear ambitions. Of all the topics he could have rambled on, there were certainly some on which the audience might have agreed with him had he said things the right way. Ramble on about the failure in Iraq, ramble on about the right to access to energy sources, ramble on about the fact that war doesn't solve anything.

But NO! Unleashing his usual repertoire of nonsense made him unpopular even in a university, a place that usually treasures freedom of expression and open-mindedness. His reaction to the rector's negative introduction takes the biscuit: no-one greets an assassin with a smile and flowers. Whether it's plain stupidity or calculated folly, Ahmadinejad is both a challenge and a blessing for the currently weak West.

By being such a divisive leader he prevents any kind of Arab unity in the face of global challenges. Not even Islam can unite people behind such a jerk, while the absence of an alternative Arab leader with a solid international standing is evident. For the time being the only ways the Middle East can count on the world stage and influence world policies are oil from Saudi Arabia and the money in Dubai.

If we wanted to divide and rule the Arab world Ahmadinejad would have done part one of the job for us. When a player of the opposing team scores an own goal, is it sarcastic or polite to give him a pat on the back? Just watch his hands in case he freaks out, and keep that TASER ready.