Iranian president calls for "wiping out Israel"

The new president of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shocked the international community by calling for Israel to be wiped off the world map during a speach held at a conference called "The World without Zionism". Later on, Iran is reported to have accused the world of "over-reacting" to its comments in an attempt to smear Iran's image. Quite a bummer having a neighbour like these guys, ain't it?
BBC
Spiegel International

Hey, when they seat nations alphabetically we have to sit between the feckers. No fair.

Surely with Iraq by your side you feel safe?

Super. And if things get hairy we can always count on Italy for backup...oder?

I think I'm gonna put in for an additional letter. We start with a vowel so we could put pretty much anything in front of it. With the exception that is of Direland, Tireland and Wireland 'cause they're just silly. Fireland's not bad but then we'd be sitting with the Finn's who are all barking and the Frenchies who...well they're French.

This truly disturbed me. It has been on my mind for two days now.

What kind of nation has a leader who would speak publically in such terms.

I hardly think the world is overreacting. And I believe Israel is about to do some ass-whooping on their "peaceful" nuclear reactors. Israel has wanted to do this for a while, and it is only the West that has kept them in check. Now Iran has handed Israel a permission slip to do what it wants to protect itself.

Wait, I know this one!! It's, it's Iran right?

Fireland as a kind of anti-Iceland?
*sees topic drift off into sunset*

Edit: too slow for Keydeck's own edit

Just shows that religion (ok, fanatic religion) is the worst thing to have if you are a leading politician. Stuff like that leaves me fuming.

From the Iran entry in the CIA World Factbook...

With the economy doing so well, who can blame the guy for focusing on other "pressing issues" like the destruction of Israel?

Think I'm leaning towards Jireland. Then we get to hang with Jamaica, Japan and Jordan. Toke up a doobie, lash into the saki and check out those monster jubblies. Sounds like a party we could roll with.

There will NEVER be peace in the middle east.. They've been warring for the past 2500+ years and they ain't gonna stop anytime soon... Just Face it..

Hahahaha the hypocrites that were the first to criticise him thats who. I could harldy believe my ears when I heard Blair whinging about it. How is it any different to Blair not only talking about Iraq in such a manner but actually acting on it? Well I guess people actually die in the latter case.

Israel is a huge problem, a failed experiment if you will, and the world would indeed be a better place if it were not there at all. I was cracking up listening to Havoc on the radio this morning, took the absolute piss out of Blair. It was especially funny as it immediatley preceeded by yet another news report about yet another round of air attacks on the Palestinian people.

Besides, the prophet Isaiah has prophesized a glorious future for the people of Israel, and that cant happen until they accept their messiah and king lord Jesus Christ, its no wonder they suffer, if I was an Israeli I would be looking at that aspect of things first.

Zionism IS terrorism, and im not adding anymore to this thread, its not the vibe I need as I head into the weekend.

Lireland? Lebanon (iffy), Liberia (ravaged by civil war), Liechtenstein (tax dodge and tiny), Lithuania (now we're getting somewhere).

Since Italy has been one of the most active participants in UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, you should be fine.

I don't see why anyone's shocked, Iran is hardly alone in wanting to wipe Israel off the face off the planet is it.

errrm? The USA (Axis of Evil etc)

@ Keydeck:

you could always sit between Zaire and Zimbabwe if you change it to Zireland. I heard that Mugabe is a really nice chappy.

Maybe because they are openly saying it and might have the weapons to actually go through with it?

exactly

Happy to see that Kza has the balls to say what I was just thinking.
*senses the call of the Dark Side*

To our more pressing problem: what about something like Érinn? Lots of fun with Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia and Ethiopia.

Obviously condemning Islamic fundamentalist rhetoric coming from a national leader (i.e. not some chickenshit Imam at a local mosque) is too much for some people, isn't it?

No radical muslim nutjob has ever been too concerned about blabbing on about wiping out Israel. I think the media are blowing it out of proportion simply to highlight the fact that Iran are moving towards nukes (also all over the news a story).

Charlie Boy gets on well with Him

Well I see two possibilities:
a ) it was meant as an internal comment to keep sweet with the crazies in his own country and they didn't expect the international media to pay any attention to a muslim bagging israel
b ) they already have nukes and are letting everyone know. Didn't North Korea say something outrageous a couple of years back too. Kind of a two fingers to the schooltyard bully (ie the US).

I found a song on my harddrive by David Bowie and Trent Renor (who?) - I'm afraid of Americans !!

@Keydeck

how about Cireland - we could hang out with Canada eh ? who else begins with C ? Cambodia - they peaceful these days ? edit: - ooo I forgot err China and the Congo. Maybe we'll not go with the Cireland than - sorry Canada !!!

Trent Reznor innit? From NIN

Bloody moustachioed nutjob. The sooner old leather-face bites the big one the better.


Whilst the parties in Riga and South America would no doubt be a lot of fun I think I want to get away from any civil unrest and/or propensity for natural disaster.

I can see I'm gonna have to put some serious thought into this before I approach my local TD.

yeah resnor

they're singing God is an American right now - its funny

Not too be too pedantic, but it's Reznor with a "z"...

@keydeck - get the rest of the world to use EIRE instead of irleand. then you'll be sat next to stunning blonde estonia chicks. you may though also end up next to egyptians or ethiopeans which aint that bad, but the ethiopeans will nick you're sandwiches when you go to toilet.

as to iran. he was at a anti-zionist rabble raiseing publicity stunt. he's hardly going to delivery a speach about doves and olive branches is he? i bet behing the doors he's licking ass to make sure he doesnt get visited by B52s. (thinks contra)

EDIT: whoops see someone else has already chosen the E route. just chnage the name to guiness. then you'll be next to the germans and guatamalo.

Posted in the wrong thread.

There's a very bad taste joke in there using the common Irish slang for sandwich, but we won't go down that road.

I'm still considering the options. Have now also eliminated Oireland as it panders to the bizarre accent learned by people whose closeness to the emerald isle consists of having seen Far and Away, The Quiet Man and Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

C'mon Keydeck, make my weekend. I'll say hi to your mates in Vienna tonight, promise!!!

I’ve been to Iran a few years ago and talked to a lot of people. The impression I got is that the country is very much torn internally, and the government isn’t monolithic either. It’s hardliners against somewhat-more-moderate-hardliners against moderates. And now, after the election, the hardliners are happy that they finally got all the government back into their hands, and they want everybody to know that they are calling the shots again.

The rhetoric has always been there since the Islamic Revolution. “Death to the Great Satan America� is written on lots of walls, and sometimes accompanied by nice “artwork� showing bombs dropping on a city with lots of skyscrapers… But most people don’t really care about it at all. It’s propaganda. I haven’t encountered any sort of hostility from anyone during two weeks of travelling in Iran.

That said, of course a crazy government can always do things that the people don’t endorse. But the the real powers in Iranian politics haven’t changed all that much: One powerless president was succeeded by another powerless president. The powerful people calling the shots in the background are still the same. Nothing much has changed really in that sense.

I would like to comment on this issue as an Iranian. First of all the Iranian people have suffered the most at the hand of these assholes.
They have destroyed the image of Iran across the whole world, and incite comments such as these that I read here, which are quite sad because they are targeted towards the whole nation and not just this dumbass monkey.
Secondly, he was citing the revolutionary leader of Iran (Khomeiny) who made these comments about 20 years ago, so there is actually nothing new about it. As for a reason for these remarks I am guessing that it is an attempt to create a new crisis for the survival of the Mollahs' regime, and maybe it also shows their anxiety in face of new developments such as the fact that Syria is being caught for the first time, Lebanon is separating itself from Syria and Iran, Pakistan is on its way to recognize Israel, and this is not good news for a regime that has always been engaged in brinkmanship and crisis.
A last point I would like to mention is that all of these are just tough BS talks as they have been doing for the last 26 years. Iran has never openly attacked another nation. When I read the comments by all the Americans and British maybe you should step back and take a little look at your own history and all of the attrocities your leaders have been committing for centuries and are still continuing to do.

Keydeck, just call the country "The United Provinces of Ireland"

Then you get to sit between two great and peace loving countries as the United Kingdom and the United States!

The best version of "I'm afriad of Americans" is a remix by Ice Cube...a must have
but it makes me paranoid...or is it autonoid?

@keydeck

I have it !!
TCFKI - The Country Formally Known as Ireland !
That way we can hang out with Thailand, Tazmania, Tibet and Taiwan (if China let us), Timbuktu (is that a country?), Tanzania.

But mainly...Thailand !!

That's true.

Khomeini could have chosen to end the Gulf War a lot earlier, though. Would have saved both Iran and Iraq a lot of suffering. But you're right, Iran's never attacked anybody.

Akeiri, thank you for your brave words. I hope you don't have family in Iran that may suffer for them.

sarabyrd, unfortunately my whole family except of my parents are in Iran.

Hezbollah? It builds terrorist organisations (and hospitals)! How far do you want to go back in history? Cyrus the Great? Xerxes? Darius I & II? 1 week, 1 year, 1 century, 10000 years...

Had Iraq not attacked Iran, Iran would have been seeking more power. Because these Islamic leaders no nothing of economics, they are unable to project power. We all know of the double-crosses that Khomeni used on his own people and had many founders of modern Iran put to death.

I have Iranian family friends and a collegue who were glad that the US/UK invasion of Iraq. They felt it would be the best opportunity to sandwitch Iran between two governments that had democratic foundations... Maybe it would rub off...

techincally you have. the land on which an embasssy is built is considered under international treaty to be the possesion of the country who has their embassy there, and under their juresdiction etc. but thats splitting hairs. i have a good friend here whose father got them out in 79. its sad to see what has happened to the country. but the shah was hardly a cake walk either. lets hope it gets better n the next 20 years.

hmmm http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051028/wl_nm/iran_israel_dc

Actually, if the Americans hadn't been helping the Iraqis during the war, Iran would have whooped their asses, mainly because of Iran being the much larger nation with a higher population. I think they called it the human wave attacks that saddam fought against with his chemical weapons.
A couple of days ago, I found these declassified US government documents that let one see how the US supported the Iraqis during the whole war even though they knew about their use of chemical weapons.
It's also interesting that none of the charges against Saddam include the gassing of thousands of Iranian soldiers. I wonder whose justice Saddam will get
Here are the documents if anyone is interested:
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/#docs

This discussion is not about US foreign policy.

I wouldn't have believed this before, but there was an Iranian woman in my German class and she told me that she was praying that the US would come in and attack Iran like they did Iraq to restore democracy there.. she said everyone in Iran thought the same..

Of course, I argued with her that the fact that this new hard liner had actually been democratically elected so obviously not everyone was thinking like this.. but anyway, that is what she thought about the whole issue..

I much rather have my family live under the current regime than the "democratic" Iraq and Afghanistan we see everyday on the news.

@Tom_a

In all fairness Tom, you are a German citizen. They will be very friendly to you because of Germany's past ..
@Akeiri
This post was not aimed at defaming the Iranian people at all, but at pointing an eye at what your government could possibly be up to. I have Iranian friends in Berlin as well, one got political asylum here in Germany (which is quite an achievement). I wouldn't want any harm to come to Iran nor to its people and I can fully understand why you don't want Iran to become a second Iraq. But I also don't want any harm to come to Israel nor to its people and what your president says there is rather worrying. I realise that many Iranians are completely against this kind of fundamentalism.

It's a technique I have learned from American politicians. Whenever a situation gets tight, change the subject and blame someone else
Seriously though, in 1953 the Americans and the British overthrew one of the first democratically elected governments in the middle east because of their fear that Iran was going to nationalize its Oil Industry and installed a dictator instead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax

Several Iranians have told me that they totally hate their government, but that they would deeply resent any outside interference as well, especially by the US. It's a matter of national pride as well.