Matt Ortega

Leaders from around the world are in New York this week to attend the General Assembly meeting at the United Nations. Just the presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the country sparked outrage in the U.S. (Rick Perlstein remembers Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to the U.S., and how the politics of fear turned the right into “bed-wetter nation.”) Ahmadinejad’s appearance at Columbia University at the invitation of the school only drenched the flames with lighter fluid.

In his speech before at the U.N. summit, Ahmadinejad declared the Iranian nuclear issue “closed” and declared that Iran would defy Security Council demands to seize uranium enrichment. Representatives from the U.S. and Israel were noticeably absent during his remarks. (According to the Los Angeles Times, American diplomats walked out in protest.)

The Los Angeles Times piece noted President Bush’s address was nearly Iran-free:

President Bush, in earlier remarks to the assembly, was nearly silent on the topic of Iran, and adopted a conciliatory tone far from his confrontational stance here five years ago when he argued his case against Iraq. He mentioned Iran only once, among a list of “brutal regimes” that he said denied their people fundamental rights, along with Belarus, North Korea and Syria. (ed. note: Are Belarus and Syria September call-ups in the “Axis of Evil”?)

French and German leaders railed against the possibility of a nuclear Iran.

Earlier on Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that while Iran had the right to nuclear energy, allowing Tehran to develop nuclear weapons would mean an “unacceptable risk” for regional and world stability. [BBC]

“Germany together with its partners seeks a diplomatic solution” in the dispute with Iran and will “press for further, tougher sanctions if Iran doesn’t back down,” Merkel told the United Nations General Assembly. “For me as German chancellor, Israel’s security is never negotiable.”

Iran’s possession of a nuclear bomb would have “devastating consequences for Israel’s existence,” for the entire region, Europe and the world, she said. Merkel earlier said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s “inhumane” comments on Israel were “unacceptable” and couldn’t be condemned strongly enough. [Bloomberg]

Iran was not without its defenders. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega railed against a “North American empire.”

“The presidents of the U.S. change. And they may come to office with the greatest of intentions and they may feel that they are doing good for humanity, but they fail to understand that they are no more than instruments of one more empire in a long list of empires that have been imposed on our planet,” Ortega said, waving his arms. [...]

The world is under “the most impressive, huge dictatorship that has existed — the empire of North America,” he said. An “imperialist minority is imposing global capitalism to impoverish us all and impose apartheid against Latin American immigrants and against African immigrants.”

Ortega also defended the nuclear aspirations of Iran and North Korea.

He said the United States, as the only country to have used nuclear bombs in a war, was in no position to question the right of Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

“And even if they want nuclear power for purposes that are not peaceful, with what right does (the U.S.) question it?” Ortega added.

Latin American Leaders at the U.N.
Rafael Correa, the new President of Ecuador, spoke of his desire not to maintain power, unlike Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and other sweeping reforms.

Ecuadoreans are voting Sunday for a 130-member special assembly that will rewrite the constitution to reduce the power of political parties President Rafael Correa blames for the Andean country’s problem. He has said the assembly should have the power to dissolve congress and other elected officials.

Though the reforms of Correa and Chavez, both avowed socialists, strike the same populist tones, Washington has taken vastly different approaches to the two Latin American leaders.

Yet there has been little rhetorical vitriol between the two countries. While the Bush administration has called Chavez a threat to democracy, it has not directed such accusations against Correa. The top U.S. diplomat for the Americas, Thomas Shannon, has even voiced support for political reform in Ecuador, saying the country “spoke with a firm voice” in the April vote.

In the interview, Correa denounced the U.S. surveillance flights as a violation of Ecuador’s sovereignty. He insisted it would be “suicidal” for Ecuador to follow neighboring Peru and Colombia into a free trade agreement with the U.S.

Fellow newly-minted Bolivian President Evo Morales, the nation’s first indigenous leader, was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Morales nationalized the nation’s oil and gas reserves that forced roughly 25 companies, mostly from Europe and Brazil, to “renegotiate their contracts or be expelled,” reported PBS’ Ray Suarez. Per the terms of the decree, the companies were required to sell at least 51 percent of their holdings.

According to Morales, nationalizing oil and gas raised revenues from $300 million to $2 billion.

Chavez skipped the event this year. (Too busy meeting with actor, Kevin Spacey.) Just over a year ago, Chavez received the ire of many following his remarks that included calling President Bush “el diablo.”

Ahmadinejad will be visiting Bolivia and Venezuela this week, notes Vivir Latino’s Maegan la Mala.

More Read President Bush’s full remarks, courtesy of the Associated Press and the Washington Post.