President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke ealier today--at noon. Security in the press room was greater than for previous dignitaries. The security however was less than I would have expected. The gentle demeanor he exuded was in sharp contrast to his words. He graciously extended his interview from 30 to 60 minutes and entertained many questions.
"In the name of God Almighty, I would like to thank you all for coming...The world is on the verge of great changes...An era has come to an end and a new era has begun. Marxism was not able to solve all of the human problems. Capitalism cannot fix the world's problems. The capitalist system is almost at its end because it is not able to solve all the problems of human beings.
The problem of Palestine has been going on for 60 years...The issues of Iraq and Afghanistan have added to all the problems.
A large number of the world's population is living in poverty, and the economic crisis has worsened this problem. Capitalism is not able to solve this problem...Those who produce the most are the most demanding. This kind of thinking can't solve the problems of humanity. Soon a new political system will take hold. In that system there will not be any injustices.
God has created people to live in peace and harmony with each other, not to violate each other's rights, not to invade countries like Iraq and Afghanistan and kill more than one million of their people. We need fundamental changes. This will happen, and we are waiting for that bright future--a future where all human beings and all nations are respected. That era is close by and will arrive.
Regarding other energy sources, he said, "Iran wants to use geothermal and wind energy. We want to make nuclear power, too.
The environment is the greatest blessing from Allah. Muslims are obligated to protect the environment. No one has the right to cut down a tree without a reason. If someone pollutes, they have committed an arch sin. Saving the environment is doing good work. We are all here to make an effort for the protection of the environment.
One thing we can do is promote the production of new energy technologies. Unfortunately, some countries monopolize [the energy issue].
We have also proposed that countries with the largest military budgets should put 10% of those budgets aside for new energy production. They spend hundreds of billions on the war in Iraq, though.
What is the use of stockpiling nuclear weapons? They can use that money to improve the climate.
The U.S. has the largest military budget, and it does nothing to help in this regard. This has limited ability to find solutions.
The questions and answer period follows:
Why haven't the talks been successful yet? We need 100% effort [from the developed countries]. They've been putting out 10% or 1%.
What do you think of the proposed need to verify that emissions cuts promises are being achieved? I agree totally.
What is the difference between the Bush and Obama administrations? We expected that there would be a difference, and we have not been disappointed. Hopefully change will take place, practically, on the ground. The troop increase in Afghanistan is a continuation of old policies. Many U.S. lawmakers think they are the masters of the world. We like the calls for change and are ready to help. Obama is making decisions like the old administration, though. We still have doubts about the situation. We think we will see improvement, though."
As Ahmadinejad left the room, he waved and said,
"I hope you all will continue to be harbringers of peace and friendship in the world."
About
Roughly, we currently have 7 Billion people on the Earth, where China and India have a good chunk of the Earth's Population. And these countries are certainly not going to stop their industrial momentum to appease the rest of the world. And in Brazil, the Amazon Forest still is being destroyed, which is a major source of the planet's oxygen.
So putting the blame solely on the US is just a quick fix. Because you don't see people blaming England, Germany, or other European Countries that participated in the Industrial Revolution, having the fingers pointed at them.
To be honest this climate debate is pretty frustrating. I would like to point out a good point, "We have also proposed that countries with the largest military budgets should put 10% of those budgets aside for new energy production. They spend hundreds of billions on the war in Iraq, though".
Yes, we do need to get the heck out of Afghanistan and stop wasting billions of dollars the US cant afford to spend.
http://www.yorkblog.com/hot/2009/12/ahmadinejad-critiques-the-west.html#comments
Some of the suggestions that the President of Iran were very good ideas. I feel that each country contributes their own unique harmful things to the climate change. I think that the President of Iran had an idea for the U.S. to use, the budget of the military could be cut in some areas and put aside for improve in the energy production. But then you have China that definately needs to cut the emissions from its factories, and Iran themselves should stop wasting their money on nuclear weapons. Each country needs to admit their wrongs and try to improve them for the people of the future, hopefully the leaders can come together and agree on something.
This debate is frustrating, the US can't be the one to blame for all the problems in the world. We do have the largest military fund in the world but look at the things we get ourselves into. The US is basically the world peacekeeper because I think we can all agree that the UN doesn't do anything to help military wise. The Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, and now Iraq are a couple examples of the wars the United States has gotten into to protect others and promote democracy. If we put money aside, thats less going into the war obviously which can be detramental to world but at the same time, the green house gasses are destroying the ozone layer. It's almost as if we have to pick our poison. Plus, the United States is in an $11 trillion debt so we don't even have the money that we're spending. The United States does a lot of good for the world that people don't see. We are currently researching many ways to "go green" and when we find a cost effective way, it will become popular and people will do it. We'll just have to wait and see what happens...
With all honesty, I feel like all the countries in the world should cut down on military spending a bit. With all the money that the world spends on military some of the money could be used to find a solution to our greenhouse emissions problem. It should be a fair and equal amount from everyone that way no one can complain that they had to give up more than the others. Nation leaders should be working together to find a solution for greenhouse emissions. Maybe one nation is farther than another with technology or ideas that can help with the problem, if they all worked together everyone would be able to put their own input and ideas to reach a common goal.