Rethinking ROTC?

"Meanwhile: As Columbia welcomes Ahmadinejad to campus, Columbia students who want to serve their country cannot enroll in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Columbia. Columbia students who want to enroll in ROTC must travel to other universities to fulfill their obligations. ROTC has been banned from the Columbia campus since 1969....
A perfect synecdoche for too much of American higher education: they are friendlier to Ahmadinejad than to the U.S. military."
-William Kristol, The Weekly Standard

Some of you mentioned at the Dems' Ahmadinemania debrief that you were interested in reopening discussion on Columbia's ban on ROTC recruiting (for violating University discrimination policies). We here at L&D are willing to stay above the fray, for now, but tell us what you think. Outmoded, unpatriotic policy or principled defense of civil rights? Comment away...

Bush at the UN: Sound it out

It appears that the White House has learned just a bit too late that the President requires some assistance in public speaking. From Australia's Daily Telegraph:

How do you keep a leader as verbally gaffe-prone as US President George W. Bush
from making even more slips of the tongue?When Mr Bush addressed the UN General
Assembly yesterday, the White House inadvertently showed exactly how -- with a
phonetic pronunciation guide screened on the teleprompter.It included phonetic
spellings for French President Nicolas Sarkozy (sar-KO-zee), a friend, and
Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe
(moo-GAH-bee), target, and for Kyrgyzstan (KEYR-geez-stan), Mauritania
(moor-EH-tain-ee-a) and Zimbabwe capital Harare (hah-RAR-ray).

The U.S. press, when reporting this, was much kinder. From the LA Times, for example:

For his address at the General Assembly, President Bush was not taking any chances. His speechwriters put phonetic
guides into his speech, so that the leader of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe
(moo-Gah-bee), would understand he was being told to stop the crackdown in
Harare [hah-RAR-ray]. Bush didn't talk
about Ahmadinejad because the Iranian president had gotten enough attention, not
because Bush couldn't pronounce the
name, an aide said.

This was subsequent to several paragraphs on the difficulty of pronouncing Ahmadinejad, thus situating this barb at Bush's oratory flaws within a larger, more acceptable context.

Transcript

There is a transcript available courtesy of the Washington Post. Video is expected eventually at CTV News, but it looks like there is some delay.

ps

"Women are ten times more respected than men in Iran. "

... just thought we should let the world know that... Which explains the rape rallies, and the drastic and draconian punishments and daily restrictions they live under.

uhm....

"We don't have homosexuals in our country, and I dont know who has told you that"



.... There really isn't commentary on this. I'm not sure there can be...

Holocaust + Physics...

Ahmadinejad, in his infinite wisdom, has decided that we should continue to investigate the Holocaust like we continue to question physics...

... becuase they're clearly very similar. And we have no research or evidence about concentration camps, or the number of dead - while Ahmadinejad says "there are no absolutes" I'm pretty sure that death is absolute.


He's starting to make those people who question evolution or global warming sound sane...

And the questions

**"Do you, or your government, seek the destruction of the state of Israel as a Jewish state"

"We love all nations; we are friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran living peacefully with security."

Now he is talking about the special Jewish MP in Iran (despite having too small a population).

He stated that Palestinians must decide about their future themselves--as part of Greater Palestine, of course, not the Palestinian territories.

**"Mr. President, I think many members of our audiences would like to hear a clearer answer to that question." And he asked for a yes or no answer.

"You asked the question and then you want the answer the way you want to hear it..." He is calling this a Palestinian issue, not an international issue. Of course, he is not a Palestinian, either... "Our solution is a free referendum."

**"Why is your government providing aid to terrorists. Would you stop doing so and provide international monitoring to prove you have stopped."

He is now claiming that the Iranian nation is a victim of terrorism. "The elected president of Iran and the elected prime minister of Iran lost their lives." He is referring here to the assassination of Mohammad. This goes on for some time.

**"A further set of questions challenge your view of the Holocaust. Since the evidence that this occurred in Europe in the 1940s from the actions of the Nazi government. Since this is well-document, why are you asking for more research?..." This is a silly question--he is simply going to argue for ongoing research in all topics, and he is now doing so. Questions need to be tougher than they have been so far. Maybe he should be asked whether he thinks the Holocaust occurred...

He said, "I am not saying that this didn't happen at all. That is not the judgment I am passing here." He appears to have just said that the Holocaust did happen, and he wants to know why it has to affect the Palestinian people.

**The next question is about persecution of women in public society and homosexuals.

"Freedoms in Iran are genuine, true freedoms. The Iranian people are free. Women in Iran enjoy the highest levels of freedom. We have two vice presidents that are female at the highest levels of speciality; in our parliaments, in our governments in our universities, they are present..." He is now accusing the American government of spreading falsehoods about freedom in Iran.

"But as for the executions, I like the wasted questions. If someone comes and establishes a network for illicit drug trafficking..." We do object to executing them, but I don't think those are the most objectionable cases. "Don't you have capital punishment in the United States? You do, too." Yeah, let's do something about that. Look whose company we keep.

**"The question was about sexual preference and women"

"In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country." Finally, something completely and totally absurd! And laughter! "In Iran, we don't have this phenomenon, we don't know who's told you that we have it." "Maybe you think that being a woman is a crime; it's not a crime to be a woman." That's nice to hear, even if the explanation was a bit draped in religious language, but let's hear about your government's complete failure to reflect that view in its policies...

Women are "exempted from legal responsibilities" out of respect! Oh, how nice. I can't believe we missed that one the first time. "We are proud of this culture." Well, that's nice.

**"What did you hope to accomplish by visiting Columbia today, and what would you have said if you were permitted to visit the site of the September 11th tragedy."

"Well here I'm your guest... In Iran, when you invite a guest, you respect them..." Now he is talking about the rejection of his invitation to Ground Zero. He just wanted to pay respect! Blah blah blah. This is not interesting.

"I wanted to speak with the press. The September 11th tragedy was a huge event. It led to a lot of events afterward..." And then Iraq and Afghanistan. "Insecurity, terror, and fear" in "our region" for six years.

Now he is talking about "root causes" of 9/11, but he doesn't say anything specific about them.

*"...Why is your government seeking to acquire enriched uranium, suitable for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Will you stop doing so?"

He is, of course, claiming still that his nuclear program is peaceful, that it is within the law, and that he will not refine uranium above the 5% weapons threshold. Now he is complaining again about the monopoly on nuclear technology (he should be challenged on the inconsistency of this with his statement that he supports IAEA regs, which codify this monopoly."

A joke! "I think the politicians that are after atomic bombs--making them, testing them--I think that politically they are backward, retarded." Ha ha?

**"...How do you see resolution of the points of conflict between the United States and Iran?"

He can obviously just argue here that they are ready to talk to all nations and that Bush will not talk to him. This is one of the most damning weaknesses of Bush foreign policy--a world leader that fails to engage others denies his entire nation leverage in challenging the terrible foreign policy of other world leaders. The Bush administration is completely to blame for the lack of useful, specific disputes to which questioners might be able to allude in pointedly criticizing Iranian foreign policy as it relates to the United States.

He is now bashing American support for Saddam in the Iran-Iraq War, another idiotic Republican venture that has destroyed our ability to challenge other world leaders from moral high ground.

He is thanking the audience. Pat yourselves on the backs.

He is inviting Columbia faculty and students to Iran, to speak to their university students. Ok, let's get the administration to put up some money and pay for a trip! This could be interesting, and challenging Ahmadinejad on his home ground could really put more pressure on him than challenging him in New York. I wonder if the invitation will still stand a week from now.

"Best of luck to all of you." How nice. Ahmadinejad must now leave to give his UN speech. The questions could have been more tough, but this was interesting overall. The real test of our country will be whether American foreign policy starts to directly challenge Ahmadinejad similarly, or whether we continue to restrict opportunities for debate to the occasional visit to a college campus with more foreign policy legitimacy than the White House.

And the question time begins...

Do you seek the destruction of Israel?


"We love all nations and we're friends with the jewish people? Many jews living in Iran peacefully... "

... and yet... denies the holocaust.


"Democratic proposal to the palestinian plight for a sixty year old problem and let the palestinians decide for themselves and determine their own fate."


AND SIPA PRESSES FOR A CLEARER ANSWER WITH A YES OR NO ANSWER.


Damn it's good to be a Columbia student today.

Questions

Ahmadinejad is now asking questions of his own. To paraphrase...

As he remains primarily an academic who teaches university courses, he addresses us a fellow academic, but was attacked by "certain groups". "Palestine is an old wound." Repeating "sixty years" and outlining all of the bad results of the Israeli occupation. Nothing incorrect so far, but I bet he's going to finish with something just a bit offensive. "As an academic, I ask two questions":

1. "Given that the HOlocaust is a present reality of our time, a history that occurred, why is there not sufficient research that can approach the topic from different perspectives?" Uh, right... "There are researchers who want to approach the topic from different perspectives, why are they being put in prison?" Fine, Europeans shouldn't be putting Holocaust deniers in prison--I agree--but calling these people "academics" is beyond ludicrous. And the Holocaust is not nuclear physics--it's pretty clear what happened.
2. "Given this historical event, if it is a reality, we still need to ...?... why the Palestinian people need to pay for it." And so on--you can guess the rest.
   

Now he's talking about Iranian nuclear ambitions. Since the bylaws of the IAEA state that member states have the right to peaceful nuclear technology, he wonders why his program is a problem? He is apparently going to stand by his claim that Iran only has peaceful nuclear ambitions, which no one really believes. He's also challenging Americans about our insistence on a right to nuclear energy. Unfortunate that his solution is more nuclear proliferation instead of a reduction in existing use of nuclear technology.

I doubt that spare parts for civilian aircraft are really a major plank of Iranian nuclear energy policy.

"We are a peaceful, loving nation--we love all nations". And scene. Questions now.

For the love of god...

"All researchers and scientists are loved by God" which is why Ahmadinejad locks up and tortures those who disagree with him and restricts scientific research in Iran...

Scientists

Now he is attacking scientists for helping develop chemical and nuclear weapons. Ok, fair enough...

He has started to complain that "big powers" are preventing other nations "from developing and advancing" in the sciences, presumably a reference to the Iranian nuclear ambitions currently thwarted forcefully by, among others, Sarkozy.

Physical and spiritual knowledge

"If humanity achieves the highest level of physical and spiritual knowledge, but its scientists are not pure..."

I'm beginning to see where he is going with all of this. He is probably about to attack Israeli scholars and American secularists.

The international Influence of Karl

Indeed. Karl Rove seems to have managed to inspire Ahmadinejad as he makes no political statements, liberally apply and mangle religious statements and make outright lies that put our own hypocrites to shame... encouraging to see though that while the Bush administration has indeed succeeded in exporting a part of the American political spectre...

Ignorance...

... Starting to be a ripple of wonder about if this man knows what he's talking about or is just going to read from the Qu'ran.... "The almighty taught human beings what they were ignorant of" Too bad they forgot to educate the man spouting the quote...

Science + Religion

Ahmadinejad is trying to compare science to "a conversation between the Almighty and his Angels." That might be a bit of a stretch, but I guess this guy can't go too long without pouring pseudo-religious nonsense all over his speech.

This has turned into a bad scripture lesson dotted with references to the sciences. He just flew through the Hebrew Bible, the Greek scriptures, and the Qur'an in about six minutes. If we wanted a convoluted attempt to turn science into religion, we'd turn to one of our own conservative politicians. Still no political statements...

hip hip... hooray?

While Ahmadinejad continues to berete the University for its disrespect towards him and what he says is disrespect for the audience for not allowing Ahmadinejad to voice his views and convince his audience on his own (because I'm sure there are lots of people on the fence about these subjects... ) More about god, and odd cheering from occasional comments made by Ahmadinejad - anyone who is aware of WHY there is cheering, we'd love to be enlightened...

Science

Ahmadinejad is reciting platitudes about the importance of scholarly inquiry and the sciences right now. Let's hope he says something that doesn't sound like the first day of an overenthusiastic middle school science class soon.

liveblogging from the lawn

While Stephen and Sarah are blogging from John Jay, Evan and I will be blogging off the lawn directly about the Columbia reaction to the comments made.. a well deserved standing ovation was given to Bollinger's powerful challenge to Ahmadinejad... Bollinger did take Ahmadinejad to task over everything from his nuclear program to the denial of the holocaust. From shirtless frat boys to islamic women wearing the hijab cheered for a call to truth...

Foreign Relations

Bollinger is bringing up all of the international criticism surrounding Ahmadinejad and the domestic criticism he faces--hey, what a novel idea. It's nice that the president of our university understands working with and speaking alongside other world leaders in trying to solve a rough diplomatic situation--too bad the president of our country doesn't get it.

Ahmadinejad just came on and is going through the usual cordial welcoming statements, praise for academia, lots about God. He's now complaining about the lack of hospitality shown by Bollinger--a bit of an understatement.

Reciprocation and the Holocaust

Bollinger just asked Ahmadinejad to conduct similar open debates in his own country--a very important point to drive home since our ability to uplift Iranian academia by speaking freely as they cannot is key here.

He has also just brought up the Holocaust, and asked Ahmadinejad to stop the outrage of Holocaust denial and to retract his offensive statements about the destruction of Israel. He is now bringing up the boycott of Israeli scholars, which seems a bit tangential--asking him if he wants to "wipe us off the map, too" is just going to give him an easier point to address than what he has actually said about Israel.

Liveblogging!

Sarah Leonard and I are liveblogging the speech. Bollinger is giving his opening statements right now and has just switched from speaking about our freedom to engage in controversial debate to speaking directly to Ahmadinejad's policies. He just invited Haleh Esfandiari to be a visiting professor at Columbia next year, which is cool. He is being very direct and critical--just the kind of engagement that makes this event so essential to helping turn around American isolationist foreign policy. He has just called Ahmadinejad a "petty and cruel dictator" and is asking him about oppression of women, academics, Baha'i, the press, and other minorities and dissidents.

Columbia Dems Official Statement on Ahmadinejad

Below is a copy of the body email sent out yesterday to the 1,500 strong organization we call the Columbia University College Democrats. It's our official statement on where we've been and where we're going.

College Democrats,

Over the past few days the news of President Ahmadinejad's appearance has sparked intense debate on our campus.

As your President and Vice President we want to take a moment and outline some of the controversies happening right now and explain our organization's role in this process.

It is our belief that the general body of students at this school has been shut out of these important decisions and we'd like to change that right now.

Many of you first learned about the Ahmadinejad's appearance at our general body meeting this past Wednesday. By the time we announced the event, registration had closed, meaning few if any of us were able to register. This was the product of the administration only announcing the event to a select few campus leaders before opening the registration process. The leadership of the Democrats spoke with President Bollinger on this issue and he assured us it will not happen again.

Over the past 24 hours we have worked hard to ensure that this event live up to it's billing - 'a free exchange of ideas.' It would be difficult to meet that standard if most of the students on this campus were not allowed to participate. We're proud to say that through the leadership of the democrats, the councils and various other campus groups, we have gotten the administration to agree to simulcast the speech in both John Jay and Wien Lounges. Additionally, students will be allowed to email in questions from now until the middle of the speech. Please send any questions to worldleaders@columbia.edu. These are relatively small concessions but they can help turn this event from a spectator show into an opportunity to challenge one of the most controversial figures of our time.

The Democrats have also decided to organize a '10 Questions' campaign. The concept here is to craft, along with other student groups, a series of 10 questions that we feel President Ahmadinejad must address. A copy of these questions will be submitted to everyone entering Lerner on Monday in the hope that a few of these questions are asked. Everyone is encouraged to submit these questions through email before the event. If anyone would like to help in the process of putting together these questions please email Kate Redburn at krr2105@columbia.edu

You may or may not also know that an adhoc coalition of students- the Columbia Coalition- has formed in response to the event. We'd like to take this opportunity to explain how the Dems board has been involved up to this point, and to solicit your input as to how we should go forward.

Today, there has been an unfortunate campaign of misinformation by another coalition, the Columbia Coalition Against the War (CCAW). Although none of their
representatives have attended any of the Columbia Coalition meetings, they have issued an open letter accusing the Columbia Coalition and any forum participants of advocating for a war with Iran. This could not be
further from the truth.

The Columbia Coalition itself is a non-partisan group which itself is expressing no views on the Iranian President or his visit to our campus. It is not
advocating for any action toward Iran, belligerent or otherwise. It is providing a public forum on Low Plaza giving any and all interested
student groups the opportunity to speak for around 15 minutes each. The forum will not be a pro-war rally, and it will include only Columbia
affiliates, not outsiders. To suggest anything to the contrary is a ploy for attention, not an informed comment.

The board feels that the forum is a positive and appropriate response to the event, and that it is in keeping with our dedication to free speech on campus. Our board has also voted to accept a slot during the Columbia Coalition's Forum. We welcome and encourage your input in helping prepare our remarks for the event.

As Democrats, we seek to engage in dialogue with Iran, and we endorse the decision to invite him unto our campus. This is a unique opportunity to challenge and expose one of the most radical leaders in the world, and as Democrats we welcome this chance. We believe in preventing another war in the Middle East. And we believe that Iran's state sponsored terrorism represents a serious threat to the United States and her president's anti-antisemitism and Holocaust denials represent a serious threat to moral sensibilities across the globe.

And that is precisely why we need to grill and engage Ahmadinejad in every forum possible - not avoid him.

Hopefully everyone made it through the email - it's a long one.

Thanks to all of you who have joined in this debate in the last few days and we hope more of you email us and get involved and continue to give us feedback.

- Josh & Chris

Freedom of Blog

Welcome back to the columbia dems blog! This is the place to come for constant updates on everything the Dems are doing with the Ahmadenijad event from start to finish.

Transatlantic Trends from citizenry and élites

Two reports were released earlier this month containing survey results of Europeans and Americans on transatlantic affairs. The first report, Transatlantic Trends from the German Marshall Fund of the United States, 'is an annual public opinion survey examining American and European attitudes toward the transatlantic relationship.' Here are some highlights:

Fifty-eight percent of Europeans viewed U.S. leadership in world affairs as “undesirable,” compared with 36% who saw it as “desirable.”

European attitudes toward Bush’s international policies remained critical (77% disapproval compared to 17% approval).

Forty-six percent of Europeans felt that transatlantic relations will stay the same following the U.S. presidential election in 2008 regardless of who is elected, compared with 35% who felt relations will improve and 6% who felt relations will get worse.

Though these numbers signify much less European confidence in US leadership than is desirable, European citizens could still be persuaded back into support of US policies if properly packaged (and sold by a different administration).

A second survey, by the University of Siena, Italy, looked also at the opinions of EU officials. The European Élites Survey 2007 found that 74% of Members of European Parliament and 77% of top EU officials 'felt strong US leadership to be desirable.' Over half of élites thought the swearing in of a new president will improve transatlantic relations.

The entirety of both reports are available online, and they contain many more interesting insights into the divisions and commonalities in American and European opinions.

The Activist Council Kicks Off Today!

Dear (new and old) Democratic Activists,

Our year is beginning and our first meeting is TODAY (Sunday) from 5:00 - 6:00 PM in 502 Lerner Hall. Here's why you want to be there:

1. YOU will guiding us this year. What's your passion? Universal healthcare? The Iraq War? Protesting the shit out of idiotic Republican policies (and fighting for better ones)? You want it, we're doing it.
2. You can take charge of our efforts. We are a collective of equals. If there is an issue that you are passionate about and would like to plan an event around, we can help you.
3. We have crazy amounts of fun. See our global warming bash.
4. You will be helping to develop the voice of the campus left in America. The CU Dems were proud to win Chapter of the Year this summer and we will continue making our presence felt throughout the 2007-2008 school year.
5. We want to be your new liberal friends.
6. We're planning a trip to KENTUCKY for November to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear. Kentucky.

These are just a few reasons why you'd be crazy to miss out on the Activist Council. We want you to be part of the pulse of liberal activism at Columbia and Barnard this year. Or, as our recent posters put it:

We're taking over. Wanna help?

Democratically Yours,
Sarah Leonard
1/3 of your Lead Activists

Welcome to the Columbia University College Democrats Official Blog

As the new year kicks off in style I wanted to take a moment to welcome everyone to the Democrats and our shiny updated blog. Last year ended with a promise to make this campus the hub for progressive activity in the New York are and that's precisely what we plan to do. Whether you're interested in equal marriage rights, legislative action, the primary season (and who isn't interested in that), or just partying with fellow liberals, the democrats have a place for you. Our organization is one of the few on campus that not only allows but strongly encourages freshmen to take on leadership positions and start working towards our goal of creating the pulse of liberal activism at Columbia. In the coming weeks you'll search around, look into some of the other student groups on campus and hopefully remember that the Columbia Dems mean Action. And this is college folks - everyone wants action. So post on the blog, come to our open house, join an umbrella group, and become part of the progressive movement in this country. And if you think it all sounds too good to be true just come to a meeting and we'll show you why Columbia Dems are the national college democrats chapter of the year.

Josh Lipsky
President, Columbia University College Democrats