Two UN speeches yesterday provided a glance into the Mideast’s future: Iran’s Crazy Cop and Egypt’s Scary Cop showed that America has fewer friends and plenty of enemies in that volatile region.
Veteran flamethrower Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in his eighth and final UN appearance as Iran’s president, worked hard to prove wrong all the “experts” who accuse the mullahs of being sane and capable of responsibly handling a nuclear bomb.
Channeling John Lennon’s “Imagine” (well, except the “no religion” part), Ahmadinejad envisioned a world with no “crusaders” or “capitalists,” where “an independent fact-finding team” would inform the public of the “truth” behind 9/11 and “world Zionism” would no longer control the media.
He attacked America’s “domination” and complained endlessly of threats to Iran from “uncivilized Zionists” (a k a “the fake regime” imposed on Palestine.)
Feckless European diplomats didn’t even bother, as in years past,to walk out on Ahmadinejad, saying this time he was merely guilty of the “crime of incoherence.” (Admirably, their US and Canadian colleagues boycotted the speech altogether.)
Then came the newbie, Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi — who seemed set to pour cold water on all the warm words that Western leaders (including President Obama a day earlier) have heaped on his Tahrir Square revolution.
Showing that he can’t be less offended than our president by an obscure video, Morsi railed against “obscenities recently released as part of an organized campaign against Islamic sanctities.”
And in apparent answer to Obama’s attempt to recommend our First Amendment as a worthy principle for budding Arab constitutions, Morsi said that, sure, his country respects freedom of expression — but not if it’s “used to incite.” Freedom is good, you see, unless it’s directed toward one religion or culture” or “deepens ignorance.”
OK: So the newest Pharaoh, a Muslim Brotherhood veteran, is no Thomas Jefferson. But would it have hurt him to make one gesture toward Obama, who is now fighting to add debt forgiveness to our $1.3 billion-a-year support of Cairo’s army?
Obama recently wondered if Egypt is still an ally. Morsi yesterday gave no hint that it is.
But he had plenty to say about his first priority in the region: the need to end Israel’s “alteration of occupied Jerusalem.” He said he’ll respect Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel, but he indicated he wont’t keep it for long if Palestinian “inalienable rights” aren’t fully realized.
The bloodbaths in Syria and Sudan registered further down in Morsi’s priority list. And yes, he called for a nuke-free Mideast — but that seemed directed more at Israel’s arms than Iran’s.
True: We heard much the same in past Egyptian UN speeches. But at least behind the scenes we were fairly confident the country was a staunch US ally. No one’s as sure of Morsi, and his debut yesterday on the world stage did nothing to allay concerns.
In fact, while the new kid on the block can’t yet top Ahmadinejad’s “crazy uncle” act, Morsi seems to be appealing at the same excitable audience.
Twitter: @bennyavni