The Top 10 Craziest Things Ever Said During a U.N. Speech
History is rich with memorable orations delivered by the world's leaders as nations convene to discuss the critical issues of the day. From the impassioned to the provocative to the truly bizarre, here are the 10 most unforgettable remarks to come out of the United Nations general assembly speeches in the last sixty years.
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Castro Goes Long Year: 1960
History is rich with memorable orations delivered by the world's leaders as nations convene to discuss the critical issues of the day. From the impassioned to the provocative to the truly bizarre, here are the 10 most unforgettable remarks to come out of the United Nations general assembly speeches in the last sixty years.
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Castro Goes Long Year: 1960
Quote: ''Were Kennedy not a millionaire, illiterate, and ignorant, then he would obviously understand that you cannot revolt against the peasants.''
Impact: He's not quite in Menon's league, but Cuban President Fidel Castro's debut speech at the U.N. clocked in at four and a half hours, the longest ever in the General Assembly. Castro's first visit to the United States in 1959 had been a bit friendlier, but by 1960 he was firmly in the Soviet Camp and used his speech to blast U.S. imperialism and insult John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the U.S. presidential candidates at the time. Castro provided another bizarre memory from that year's assembly by keeping live chickens in his hotel room.
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Chavez Sniffs out a SinnerYear: 2006
Impact: He's not quite in Menon's league, but Cuban President Fidel Castro's debut speech at the U.N. clocked in at four and a half hours, the longest ever in the General Assembly. Castro's first visit to the United States in 1959 had been a bit friendlier, but by 1960 he was firmly in the Soviet Camp and used his speech to blast U.S. imperialism and insult John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the U.S. presidential candidates at the time. Castro provided another bizarre memory from that year's assembly by keeping live chickens in his hotel room.
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Chavez Sniffs out a SinnerYear: 2006
Quote: "The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulfur still."
Impact: Venezuela's theatrical president, Hugo Chavez, has always loved the spotlight that the General Assembly provides and it was never more in evidence than when, with a flourish, he compared U.S. president, George W. Bush, to Satan. Chavez also began his regular habit of using his speeches to plug books by prominent leftists authors, when he held up a book by U.S. professor Noam Chomsky. Chavez referred to this famous moment in his speech this year, saying that it "no longer smells like sulfur" now that Barack Obama is president.
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Impact: Venezuela's theatrical president, Hugo Chavez, has always loved the spotlight that the General Assembly provides and it was never more in evidence than when, with a flourish, he compared U.S. president, George W. Bush, to Satan. Chavez also began his regular habit of using his speeches to plug books by prominent leftists authors, when he held up a book by U.S. professor Noam Chomsky. Chavez referred to this famous moment in his speech this year, saying that it "no longer smells like sulfur" now that Barack Obama is president.
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Ahmadinejad Hates on Zionists Year: 2008
Quote: "The dignity, integrity and rights of the American and European people are being played with by a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists. Although they are a miniscule minority, they have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the U.S. in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner."
Impact: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has regularly used the UN as a platform to rail against Western powers, particularly his arch-enemy Israel. In his 2008 speech he accused "the Zionist entity" of an array of crimes including causing the South Ossetia war. Another notable feature of Ahmadinejad's speech is the heavy use of religious rhetoric and his use of Shiite religious teachings.
Quote: "The dignity, integrity and rights of the American and European people are being played with by a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists. Although they are a miniscule minority, they have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the U.S. in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner."
Impact: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has regularly used the UN as a platform to rail against Western powers, particularly his arch-enemy Israel. In his 2008 speech he accused "the Zionist entity" of an array of crimes including causing the South Ossetia war. Another notable feature of Ahmadinejad's speech is the heavy use of religious rhetoric and his use of Shiite religious teachings.
More info:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/09/24/the_top_10_craziest_things_ever_said_during_a_un_speech