The Top 10 Craziest Things Ever Said During a U.N. Speech

As compiled by Joshua Keating for Foreign Policy. Among the entries:

Fidel Castro in 1960: ''Were Kennedy not a millionaire, illiterate, and ignorant, then he would obviously understand that you cannot revolt against the peasants.''

Yassir Arafat in 1974: "An old world order is crumbling before our eyes, as imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, and racism, whose chief form is Zionism, ineluctably perish."

Daniel Ortega in 1984: "Before consulting the hotheads who present various military options such as a military invasion: remember, President Reagan, Rambo only exists in the movies.''

Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2009: "It should not be called a security council, it should be called a terror council."

Whole list here.

Comments

[Tsu Dho Nihm]

Perhaps I'm just crazy too, but I completely understand Qaddafi's statement and agree with it to an extent. When the any five permanent members of the security council can simply veto any resolution, it essentially means that any of those five (and their protectorates) can do as they please without any UN retribution.

[dbcooper]

Yeah but it also means that the UN doesn't dissolve every time one of the permanent members does something.

[John]

"Mr. President, call that toady of American imperialism to order."

If they had had the internet in the 1950s, Kruschev would have had his own blog. And it would have kicked ass. Even though he was a former Stalinist toady responsible for the deaths of millions and is rotting in hell as I type this, he was entertaining.

[Lamar]

Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2009: "It should not be called a security council, it should be called a terror council."

Under those circumstances, Libya would qualify for membership.

[SugarFree]

The comments are nice:

Quantum mechanics is a Zionist lie!

Sarcastic, but still funny.

[Abdul]

The stupidity pretty much started right after the man said "I now officially open the UN for it's first session!"

[mark]

From what I can tell, the UN is just a sideshow for third world despots to embarrass themselves for hours at a time. If only our president treated it as such, and not as some kind of important decision-making body.

Can someone please point me to an example of the UN actually helping prevent violence of any kind? Or of taking action that would not have happened anyway?

[Pro Libertate]

Well, there was that time that they condemned Israel and the United States, then fought off an alien invasion.

[John]

"Can someone please point me to an example of the UN actually helping prevent violence of any kind? Or of taking action that would not have happened anyway?"

I would say Korea and Kuwait maybe. Without the UN's approval we might not have gone into Korea. But that is a big maybe. But even then it took the Russians walking out for it to happen.

[John Tagliaferro]

Lightning flash of brilliance! I finally figured out how the war with Iran starts 25 years from now for Suki IV!

Back to the on-topic comments.

[Barack Obama]

"I have outlined a comprehensive agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons."

"The danger posed by climate change cannot be denied. Our responsibility to meet it must not be deferred. If we continue down our current course, every member of this Assembly will see irreversible changes within their borders. Our efforts to end conflicts will be eclipsed by wars over refugees and resources. Development will be devastated by drought and famine. Land that human beings have lived on for millennia will disappear. Future generations will look back and wonder why we refused to act; why we failed to pass on -- why we failed to pass on an environment that was worthy of our inheritance."

"There are basic principles that are universal; there are certain truths which are self-evident -- and the United States of America will never waver in our efforts to stand up for the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny. (Applause.)"

[John Tagliaferro]

Or of taking action that would not have happened anyway?

They used to run ads in magazines, during the 1970's(?) about things the UN was responsible for making happen. Something about all making English the international language of aviation was one of them.

[John Tagliaferro]

There are basic principles that are universal; there are certain truths which are self-evident -- and the United States of America will never waver in our efforts to stand up for the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny.

Now, let me tell you what your own desciny will be . . .

[Jesse Walker]

Rambo only exists in the movies

Crazy Ortega never heard of the Rambo video game and TV cartoon!

[Pro Libertate]

No Security Council, no U.N. The Union of Pissant, Undemocratic Nations might not have much clout and certainly wouldn't be meeting in New York.

[John Tagliaferro]

Crazy Ortega never heard of the Rambo video game and TV cartoon!

Maybe those designer sunglasses he was given on his tour of Manhattan were mirrored on the inside?

[Kool]

to determine their own destiny.

YOU LIE!

[John]

"Maybe those designer sunglasses he was given on his tour of Manhattan were mirrored on the inside?"

No they just said ESTRADA in big letters accross the lenses.

[EJM]

Mr. Keating was actually live-blogging some of the speeches last week; Qaddafi's was one of them.

[joshua corning]

When the any five permanent members of the security council can simply veto any resolution, it essentially means that any of those five (and their protectorates) can do as they please without any UN retribution.

and

Yeah but it also means that the UN doesn't dissolve every time one of the permanent members does something.

Perpetual and powerless...you know perhaps my hate on the UN is misplaced. It seems to be a good place holder for a real, and far more menacing, world government.

[New World Dan]

Of all the crazy despots out there, I still think Quaddafi is the most entertaining.

[Kool]

"...the UN is just a sideshow for third world despots to embarrass themselves for hours at a time."

Yes, and if they would all get killed by NYC bus drivers... Oh, wait, they'd have to move the UN to DC. My bad.

[Meta4]

"No they just said ESTRADA in big letters accross the lenses."

I would love a pair of those!

[Charles Davis]

My nomination:

"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."
-- Colin Powell, Feb. 5, 2003 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/feb/05/iraq.usa)

[Punctuation Mullah]

Abdul | September 29, 2009, 1:53pm | #

The stupidity pretty much started right after the man said
"I now officially open the UN for it's first session!"

Are you saying that people who don't know the difference between "its" and "it's" are stupid?

[Nipplemancer]

in sixth grade I went to the UN on a school trip. it was quite possibly the most boring tour ever.

[highnumber]

Daniel Ortega in 1984: "Before consulting the hotheads who present various military options such as a military invasion: remember, President Reagan, Rambo only exists in the movies."

That seems like good advice, not so crazy.

(Apart from the fact that Rambo did exist in multiple fictional forms, as Jesse pointed out. Don't forget the books.)

[J sub D]

Perhaps I'm just crazy too, but I completely understand Qaddafi's statement and agree with it to an extent. When the any five permanent members of the security council can simply veto any resolution, it essentially means that any of those five (and their protectorates) can do as they please without any UN retribution.

Yeah but it also means that the UN doesn't dissolve every time one of the permanent members does something.

That's a bug, not a feature.

[Tulpa]

No they just said ESTRADA in big letters accross the lenses.

Great, thanks for reminding me of that commercial. My Carrot Top nightmares will surely resume.

[R C Dean]

No kidding, Tulpa. The 'roided up Carrot Top in that commercial seriously weirded me out.

[Pro Libertate]

When I was in high school, I was in Model United Nations my senior year. We attended an MUN conference at USF, where I represented Nigeria. Me and the guy representing Singapore basically took control of the entire third-world portion of the General Assembly (including China) through some hallway caucusing that created a coalition called C.O.D.I.N.E. (Coalition of the Developing Independent Nations of the Earth).

It was great watching the college students who got to represent the most powerful nations )high school kids got all the smaller/weaker nations) sputter and insult us, which just made us stronger and stronger. I remember responding to the representative from the U.K. after he made a snide remark about our coalition's name being drug-inspired with the remark, "English is not our first language." Which was a damned lie, because it is the official language of Nigeria, but it was a great zinger, anyway. Damned imperialist scum. Hegemony, hegemony!

Anyway, the point of this story is that we won some awards for taking over the U.N., and the one real United Nations rep. (from the U.S.) who was there pulled us aside and said, "That's what really happens in the U.N. and that's why it doesn't work very well."

[Syd Henderson]

The Ortega quote doesn't sound crazy at all.

[guy in the back row]

PL, that's a funny story!