Given that the everytime Ahmadinejad come to the US, it is to insult us, can we declare him a persona non grata like any other diplomat and prevent him from entering the US or is there a treaty/international law/UN rule that as a head of state, he can come to the US anytime he wants.
The US is free to ban any non-citizen they like. The only exception would be that they can’t restrict him access to the UN in New York.
And that’s the rub. Don’t you have to enter the US to go to NY to go to the UN?
Much as I’d like to say otherwise, doing so would defeat the purpose of the UN.
Delegates traveling to the UN have diplomatic status and thus cannot be prevented from going there.
I’m not so sure we should ban Ahmadinejad and his ilk. We need to be reminded once in awhile that we have it pretty good in the leadership department compared to some parts of the world.
Castro has been coming to the US for years to visit the UN. We allow it because we’re the host nation for the UN General Assembly. But everyone coming to the US is required to show a passport; even Castro and Ahmadinejad are required to show one. Whether they really do or not–that’s up to the US government.
Why do you care? He makes a fool out of himself most of the time . Let him talk. He is not a danger to us.
It is part of the treaty governing the UN Headquarters in New York. The US is obligated under the treaty to allow foreign heads of state and other diplomats come into the New York area for purposes of attending the UN, even if we wouldn’t let them into the country otherwise.
Yes, and it is part of the deal we struck with the world to house the UN.
Of course, doing so would also defeat the purpose of the US itself, which is an even better reason not to think of it.
Well, it’s not as if the US is that complimentary about him.
As a compromise, America could give up hosting the UN and it could move to Tehran.
If that’s really the rule, then I suspect it’s routinely waived for certain people. Queen Elizabeth II, for example, does not have a passport (the reasoning being that all UK passports are issued in her name, so it would be ridiculous for her to issue one for herself) and yet she’s visited the US at least six times.
…his speech 2006 was right on the money
Yesterday he just added some truther’s elements - maybe he watched this documentary
How did Ahmadinejad insult the US? Did you read the text of his speech?
Diplomats must receive visas to visit any country. As far as I can tell, there’s no legal obligation for the United States to issue a visa to any diplomat.
In fact, the State Department website makes clear that visitors to the UN must receive visas, although at no charge. In fact, there was clearly an application by the Iranian delegation for a US visa, as has been done in the past. And the US has denied visas to delegations visiting the UN from countries the US does not recognize.
However, the political implications of denying a foreign head of government access to the United Nations are significant. Since the Republic has managed to survive Castro, Khrushchev, Chavez, Idi Amin, and many other notorious figures, I hardly think that the presence of Ahmadinejad is anything to get too worked up over.
He did say that the majority of Americans believe that a Zionist conspiracy in the U.S. government orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. I’d say that that insults the intelligence of the American people.
Given that 24% of Americans believe that Obama is a Muslim, it’s not too much of a stretch to think a majority believe something equally stupid, such as a government and/or Zionist conspiracy behind 9/11.
So much for the freedom of speech, eh?
http://gadebate.un.org/Portals/1/statements/634208557381562500IR_en.pdf (PDF warning)
Ahmadinejad’s statements, 9/23/10
This is potentially insulting to past and present elected leaders of the U.S., besides being factually incorrect.
also:
Forbidden? By who? WTF is he talking about?
It would undoubtedly be jarring for the poor guy, as the figurehead of a nation where free speech is held in such high esteem.